Chapter 36

Location: Hammer Tech Development Facility, Smallville, Kansas - 2003

Justin Hammer had always prided himself on being prepared.

He had bodyguards. Security teams. State-of-the-art surveillance.

None of it mattered.

The walls of his private office shook as a figure tore through them.

Ted Grahame—his skinny body encased in monstrous, jagged bone armor—stood in the wreckage, eyes burning with fury.

Justin scrambled backward, heart pounding.

"Woah—hey, hey—let's talk about this, bone guy!" Justin began to plead.

Ted growled. Images of Justin flashing through his head, he was his target. Other flashes showed too, Hammer Tech supplying medical tech to the hospital from before. Back when he was weak.

"You're one of them," he snarled. "One of the men in suits who let this happen."

Justin swallowed hard. "Alright, I think there's been a misunderstanding—"

Ted didn't listen. With a roar, he lunged forward—

And was instantly knocked back by a blue-and-red blur.

Ted slammed through a concrete pillar, skidding across the ground.

Justin gasped, eyes wide as he looked up at the figure hovering above him.

A man. No, something more than a man.

The costume. The cape. The crest.

Apollo Kent stood in midair, his presence larger than life.

Justin could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"You—" He exhaled sharply. "You're real."

Apollo lowered himself to the ground, his boots barely making a sound as they touched down.

"Are you hurt?" Apollo asked disguising his voice.

Justin shook his head, still in disbelief. Then, his lips curled into a small smirk.

"You know, I've heard whispers about you" Justin said.

Apollo didn't react.

Justin adjusted his tie. "I think we've even met before."

Apollo narrowed his eyes from behind his goggles slightly.

"We haven't" Apollo replied.

Justin waved a hand.

"No, not formally, sure. I was a little unconscious but a few months ago, I had a little run-in with a glowing atomic skeleton freak. When I woke up he was out cold and I was still breathing. You saved my ass."

Apollo didn't reply.

Justin tilted his head. "And now you're saving me again. I'm starting to think I should put you on payroll."

Apollo frowned.

"I'm not for sale, Justin" Apollo told him.

Justin chuckled. "Oh, I don't mean as some grunt. I'm talking about partnership."

He stepped closer, eyes gleaming with something unreadable.

"Look at you. You're powerful. You could change the world. You could be a modern day Steve Rogers. And I've got the resources and the connections to help you do it. Imagine how many people you could help if you and I teamed up with the military to protect America"

"The world's not at war Justin. Who exactly would we be protecting America from?" Apollo questioned.

"The people who are our threat to freedom and democracy" Justin replied smoothly.

"I'm not a weapon and I'm not a soldier" Apollo said his voice filled with an edge of finality to it.

Justin's smirk faltered slightly and then he spread his hands to signify he was relenting.

"Well you know where to find me if you change your mind" Justin said.

"I won't"

Before he could say more, a roar ripped through the air.

Ted recovered, shaking off debris. He turned his burning gaze toward Apollo.

"You stopped me." His voice was filled with rage. "Get out of my way."

Apollo's gaze didn't waver. "I can't do that, Ted."

Ted charged.

Apollo reacted in an instant.

He met Ted head-on, catching his armoured arm mid-swing and slamming him into the ground. The earth cracked beneath the impact.

Ted snarled and lashed out again, but Apollo was faster—dodging, weaving, countering.

Then, with a powerful flap of his cape, Apollo launched into the air, grabbing Ted by the armor and carrying him into the sky.

He flew them both toward an empty cornfield—a place where no one else could get hurt.

Location: Sullivan Residence, Smallville, Kansas - 2003

At the same time across town, Chloe Sullivan was alone.

She had left The Torch's office just minutes ago, her mind still racing from the aftermath of the article. She had spent the entire day dodging phone calls and reading the chaos in the comment section.

This was big.

She had exposed something huge.

And she wasn't done yet.

As she walked down the dimly lit street, she pulled out her phone and checked the article stats—

And that's when she heard the footsteps.

Chloe froze.

Slowly, she turned her head.

Two men in dark suits were walking toward her.

She swallowed, forcing a smirk. "Sorry, guys, I don't do interviews this late."

The first man didn't respond.

The second one reached into his jacket—

Chloe ran.

She turned on her heel and bolted, sprinting down the sidewalk. She could hear them following, their heavy footfalls quick and relentless.

She cut down an alley, heart pounding—

And slammed right into a third man.

Before she could react, a hand clamped over her mouth.

She struggled, thrashing against them, trying to bite—

A sudden shock jolted through her body.

Electric.

Her vision blurred.

The last thing she saw was one of the men looking down at her.

And then everything went dark.

Location: Smallville, Kansas - 2003

Apollo landed in the middle of the vast cornfield, the stalks swaying violently from the sheer force of his descent. The golden field stretched endlessly beneath the pale moonlight, an isolated battleground beneath the heavens. His cape fluttered behind him, the red fabric stark against the sea of crops. His shaded aviator goggles reflected the setting son, obscuring his eyes, but his voice was firm when he spoke.

"We don't have to do this, Ted."

The skinny figure across from him emerged from the shadows, his bone armor gleaming dully beneath the night sky. Ted's breathing was ragged, his muscles taut with tension. His mind was a storm—flashes of pain, of experiments, of cruelty. The command to kill echoed in his skull, but so did Apollo's words from before.

"I tried to save you."

Ted clenched his fists. He tried. And yet, here they were.

"I don't get to choose," Ted growled, his voice a low snarl. His feet dug into the dirt as his hands balled into fists. "They made sure of that."

And then, he charged.

Ted moved like a freight train, fast and heavy. Apollo barely had a second to react before Ted swung a fist at him. The impact sent shockwaves through the air as Apollo crossed his arms to block it, skidding backward several feet, his boots carving trenches in the dirt.

Ted didn't stop. He lunged again, his armored shoulder slamming into Apollo's chest, sending him hurtling through the cornstalks. Apollo twisted midair and caught himself, flipping backward and landing in a crouch.

"Alright, then," he muttered. "You wanna go all out? Let's go all out."

He blurred forward at super speed, a gust of wind flattening the crops around them as he closed the gap in an instant. His fist struck Ted's gut with super strength, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying into the air. Before Ted could recover, Apollo launched himself after him, a sonic boom cracking through the night sky.

High above the field, he caught up to Ted and spun, slamming him back down to earth. Ted crashed into the dirt, leaving a deep crater.

A deep, guttural growl echoed from the pit. Then, with an earth-shaking roar, Ted unleashed his own power, bones bursting from his arms like jagged spears. He slammed his fists into the ground, and a wave of sharp, bony spikes erupted from the earth, racing toward Apollo.

Apollo's super senses flared, calculating the path in an instant. He jumped, twisting and weaving through the spikes with super speed. One nearly grazed his leg, but he flipped midair, landing on one of the spikes before launching himself toward Ted again.

BOOM! He struck Ted in the jaw.

Ted barely staggered. He grabbed Apollo midair and hurled him into the corn, where he crashed through several thick stalks. Dirt rained around him.

Apollo exhaled sharply and stood, brushing debris off his suit. Alright. Enough holding back.

His eyes glowed red.

Ted roared and charged again, but this time, Apollo didn't dodge. Instead, twin beams of searing heat shot from his eyes, striking Ted in the chest. Ted howled as the heat seared his armor, forcing him to stumble.

Apollo used the opening. He surged forward, grabbing Ted by the shoulders and lifting him high into the air before throwing him across the field.

Ted crashed through an old wooden fence, tumbling across the dirt before finally coming to a stop.

He groaned, trying to push himself up. But then, the air grew cold.

Apollo floated above him, his breath fogging in the night air.

Then, he exhaled.

A blast of arctic breath swept across the battlefield, encasing Ted's arms and legs in a thick layer of ice. He struggled, but the frost weakened his movements, making his limbs sluggish.

Apollo landed gently in front of him.

"It's over, Ted."

Ted's chest heaved. His body was battered, burned, and frozen, yet it wasn't the pain of battle that shook him. It was Apollo's voice.

Not angry. Not condescending.

Gentle.

"They did this to you, Ted. They hurt you. They made you feel small. They made you feel weak. But that was never true."

Ted's body tensed. Flashes of memories burned in his mind.

— His body wracked with pain, strapped to a cold steel table.

— Needles piercing his skin, extracting marrow, injecting chemicals that made his bones ache until he screamed.

— The Hydra leader standing over him, calling him a failure, a test subject, not a person. "Discovery requires Experimentation".

His breathing became erratic.

Apollo crouched beside him, pressing a hand against his frozen shoulder.

"They treated you like a weapon, but that's not who you are. You're not a monster, Ted. You're not a failure. You are person and you're capable of being more than what they made you. You deserve a life beyond this. I know you're not a monster Ted, you're a victim… I see you."

Ted's body trembled.

"You don't have to fight anymore," Apollo whispered. "You don't have to hurt people just because they told you to."

Silence.

Then, for the first time since the battle started, Ted stopped struggling. His breathing steadied, his shoulders slumped.

He slowly looked up, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Then… what do I do?"

Apollo extended a hand.

"You let me help you."

Ted stared at the offered hand for what felt like eternity.

This was the second time he had offered his hand to him, Ted's hand twitched. The memories of everything he'd been through and everything he'd done filled his mind. He had been trapped and tortured, he felt like he was drowning.

Then he looked up at Apollo, stared at the symbol on his chest and saw the warm smile on his face. Ted let himself hope for the first time in years as he looked at Apollo's outstretched hand.

Then, slowly, he reached out and took it.

And for the first time in a long time, he felt like a person again.

As Apollo helped Ted stand, Ted looked at him and then Apollo did something Ted didn't expect.

He hugged him.

"It's going to be okay Ted, I promise" Apollo told him.

Tears formed in Ted's eyes as the weight of everything he'd been feeling came crashing down onto him.

The two broke away from their hug and Ted wiped his tears away as he looked at Apollo. Something new in his eyes. Hope.

"They took your friend, the journalist. The one who wrote the article" Ted said.

"What? When?" Apollo said shock in his voice.

"While I was attacking Hammer. It was coordinated attack" Ted told him.

"Then I need to stop them."

Ted looked at Apollo as he was preparing to take off and search for Chloe.

"And I need to stop the people who made me" Ted said, resolve in his voice.

Apollo turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder smiling at Ted once more.

"Then let's end this. Together" Apollo said as he put out his other hand for Ted to shake.

Ted shook his hand and nodded.

"Together"

With that, he turned toward the sky. His cape billowing in the wind as the dirt and rocks around them began to levitate and lift a little off the ground.

"I'll save Chloe and help you stop the people that made you."

Ted nodded.

And with a single powerful leap, Apollo shot into the sky holding Ted as they flew together. Ted instructing him on where to go.

Apollo's mind was filled with thoughts of saving Chloe and stopping the men that did this but Ted's mind was filled with only one thought; it was time to burn his past to the ground.

Location: The Lernean Building, Smallville, Kansas - 2003

The Lernean Building sat like a specter in the darkness—a lone, cold structure on the outskirts of Smallville, secluded from prying eyes. From a distance, it looked unassuming. Just another forgotten industrial facility, its concrete walls cracked with age, its exterior lifeless. But beneath the surface, something was happening.

Security cameras swept across the perimeter in calculated intervals. Armed guards patrolled the entrance and stationed themselves at key choke points. The entire building radiated the kind of quiet, oppressive menace that only came from people who had something to hide.

And tonight, Apollo Kent was going to rip it open.

The night sky stretched overhead, cold and vast, speckled with stars that felt impossibly distant. The wind whispered through the empty fields, carrying the scent of earth and iron. The facility loomed ahead, its floodlights sweeping the perimeter in cold, methodical arcs. Guard towers stood like sentinels, their high-powered rifles glinting under the moonlight. Automated turrets hummed from their perches, scanning for movement.

He stood at the edge of the darkness, his red cape fluttering softly in the night breeze. His blue suit, worn for the first time, felt unfamiliar but right—a second skin, a promise of something greater. The sigil on his chest, crafted with care by his mother, caught the glow of the moon.

Beside him, Ted Grahame's bone armor gleamed faintly, shifting like living stone with every breath he took. His hands were clenched into fists, knuckles cracking under the tension.

Ted's breath was heavy beside Apollo, his skinny form tense with barely contained fury. His bone armor shifted, the plates along his arms sharpening with each exhale. This was the place that had made him a monster. The place that had taken his body and mind and tried to strip him of everything else.

But they hadn't succeeded.

Not entirely.

Ted clenched his fists, the hardened bone along his knuckles cracking like stone under pressure.

"This is the place, they're probably waiting for me to return from my deployment" His voice was rough, but underneath it, Apollo could hear something else. Not just anger. Fear.

Apollo turned to him. His red cape rippled behind him in the wind, the deep blue of his suit blending into the night. He looked every bit the hero that the world hadn't yet named. But right now, to Ted, he wasn't only a symbol. He was a friend.

"This place took everything from you," Apollo said quietly. "But they didn't break you."

Ted let out a sharp exhale, his fingers twitching. "I don't know if that's true."

Apollo's gaze was unwavering. "I do."

Ted swallowed. He glanced at Apollo's suit—the costume his mother had made for him, a symbol of something greater. The emblem on his chest, stylized and bold, caught the light of the facility's searchlights.

Ted scoffed. "You're really going to do this dressed like that?"

Apollo smirked. "What? You think I should've worn the red hoodie and jeans?"

Ted gave him a dry look. "You look like a damn comic book character."

Apollo shrugged.

"Good. Maybe it'll scare them."

A flicker of amusement crossed Ted's face, but it was gone as fast as it appeared. His eyes drifted back to the fortress ahead, the weight of what they were about to do pressing down on him.

"You sure we can pull this off?" Ted asked.

Apollo took a step forward, eyes narrowing as he focused on the facility. His super hearing kicked in, filtering through the layers of concrete and steel.

Inside, he heard them.

The footsteps of guards patrolling the underground halls. The hum of machinery powering the laboratories. The quiet, agonized breaths of people inside containment cells.

A scientist muttering into a recorder: Subject O-17 shows signs of—

A guard joking about how much they were being paid good money to protect "a bunch of glorified science projects that nobody ever comes for or knows exists."

"Lot of security," Ted muttered, scanning the perimeter. His voice was low, controlled, but there was an edge of barely restrained fury.

Apollo nodded, his jaw tight. His mind wasn't on the guards. It wasn't on the security measures, the cameras, or the locked doors. It was on Chloe.

She was inside that building.

His super hearing had caught her voice hours ago, a weak, pained sound lost beneath layers of concrete. He had tried to focus again, tried to reach her through the walls—but something was interfering, a frequency buzzing in his skull like static. He didn't know what they were doing to her, but he wasn't going to let it continue.

His fists clenched.

"They took her," he said, voice hard. "And we're going to get her back."

Ted exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders. "Works for me. You got a plan, hero?"

Apollo smirked despite himself. "Yeah. I break in. You hit things."

Ted snorted. "Sounds like a plan."

Apollo's hands clenched into fists. His eyes began to glow faintly red behind his goggles.

He turned back to Ted, determination written across his face.

"We can pull this off," he said. "And we will."

Ted nodded, rolling his shoulders. His armor shifted again, plates locking into place.

"Then let's tear this place apart."

Without another word, Apollo launched himself forward —faster than a bullet, faster than the eye could follow right towards the Lernean Building.

Inside Chloe drifted in and out of consciousness.

She was strapped to a metal table, surrounded by high-voltage Tesla coils. Energy crackled around her, coursing through her body. Her eyes were wide in shock, her body twitching.

Her body felt like it was on fire and frozen at the same time.

Electricity crackled through the air—low voltage, a steady current snaking through her veins. It wasn't meant to kill her. It was meant to keep her weak, keep her compliant.

Pain.

That was all Chloe could feel.

Her body trembled, muscles spasming from the low but relentless current of electricity coursing through her veins. Her skin felt raw, her fingers numb, her vision blurred between moments of clarity and suffocating darkness.

She gasped softly, her breath shallow.

The room was dark, sterile. She struggled on cold metal table she was laying on, thick restraints locking her wrists and ankles in place. Overhead, dim yellow bulbs flickered, casting eerie shadows across the walls.

And then there was the meteor rock.

A chunk of it, glowing with blue, red and violet energy, like stardust.

It sat above her. Built into the ceiling, illuminating the room like a light and connected to the wiring all around the room no doubt powering the machine that was electrocuting her.

Every time she drifted too far into unconsciousness, the electricity surged just slightly, jolting her awake.

Chloe Sullivan was no stranger to danger.

She had faced bullies, corrupt businessmen, and meteor-infected criminals. She had risked her life chasing the truth, pushing boundaries no one else her age dared to cross.

But this?

This was different.

This wasn't a story she could write her way out of.

A door hissed open somewhere beyond her view.

Footsteps.

Two people.

A voice. Low, clinical. Amused.

"Subject is still responsive. Good."

Another voice, this one closer. A woman.

"Do we really need to keep her under like this? It seems… excessive."

The first voice chuckled.

"The meteor exposure is critical to the experiment. If we stop now, we might lose our window."

The second voice hesitated. "She's just a—"

"A variable," the first voice interrupted coldly. "Nothing more. Whitehall wants results"

Chloe tried to move—even just to lift her head—but the restraints held firm.

She wasn't sure how long she had been here—minutes? Hours? It all blurred together in a haze of agony.

Somewhere nearby, the voices murmured—cold, clinical, detached.

"Her physiology is adapting faster than expected. We may need to accelerate the process" said the man.

"If we push too far, she won't survive" the woman retorted.

"That's a risk we have to take" the man said an air of finality to his voice.

Chloe clenched her teeth. They were talking about her like she was a lab rat. Like she wasn't even human.

Screw that.

She forced herself to lift her head just enough to stare at the two figures beyond the dim lights.

One was a man—tall, broad-shouldered, military in stance but not in uniform. His features were sharp, his expression unreadable. A scientist, maybe. Or something worse.

The second was a woman—nervous, hesitant. She didn't belong here.

Chloe latched onto that.

"If you're gonna kill me," she croaked, her voice hoarse from pain, "at least have the guts to do it yourself."

The man chuckled.

"Oh, Miss Sullivan," he said smoothly. "We're not going to kill you. We're going to make you better."

Chloe's glare was sharp despite the haze of exhaustion. "You're gonna be real disappointed then because you don't get better than this"

The man chuckled as Chloe dropped her head, exhaustion once more taking her.

The voices continued, distant and uncaring.

"Let's increase the current"

The meteor glowed brighter as the electricity being sent through her increased in intensity.

Chloe screamed.

Outside Apollo breached the perimeter wall, his fist driving into reinforced steel.

The impact shattered the barrier like glass, sending shockwaves through the facility. Alarms blared. Floodlights snapped to attention, sweeping across the chaos.

The first wave of security forces rushed forward, rifles raised.

Apollo was already moving.

The world slowed.

A guard barely had time to squeeze the trigger before Apollo was on him, grabbing the barrel of the gun and twisting it into scrap. He ducked low, swept another off his feet, and sent him crashing into a security tower.

Gunfire erupted.

Bullets pinged harmlessly off Apollo's chest. He didn't even flinch.

"Stand down," Apollo warned. "You don't want this fight."

The guard panicked, reaching for a knife. Apollo sighed, shook his head, and flicked him in the forehead. The man dropped like a stone.

Behind him, Ted roared as he entered the fray.

A soldier charged him. Ted met him with a backhand that sent him crashing through a concrete barricade. Another came from the side—Ted caught him by the throat, lifted him effortlessly, and tossed him aside.

More soldiers poured out of the facility, their weapons aimed at both of them.

Apollo didn't care, their guns might as well have been water pistols.

He blurred and grabbed the nearest guard by the vest, lifting him effortlessly off the ground. The surrounding guards shot at Apollo the bullets bouncing off his body.

"Where is she?" Apollo demanded, voice cold.

The guard struggled, gasping. "Wh—who?!"

Apollo's eyes flickered red causing his goggles to light up with a fiery red tint.

"You know who."

The guard barely had time to shake his head before a skinny form barreled past them.

Ted slammed into the surrounding wave of guards like a wrecking ball, sending them flying with brutal efficiency.

Another group rushed forward—

Apollo stared at them already tired of this.

Heat vision ignited in his eyes.

Twin beams of powerful and unimaginably hot red energy lanced out, cutting through the soldiers' weapons with pinpoint precision. Guns melted, metal slag dripping to the ground.

The soldiers screamed as they dropped their now white hot weapons.

Ted smirked. "That's right. Run."

Apollo smiled confidently, as their weapons fell to the ground now useless molten scrap.

One of the guards fumbled for a radio.

"Alpha team, we need—"

A sonic boom split the air.

Apollo was suddenly in front of him, inches from his face. The man paled.

"Where," Apollo said slowly, "is Chloe Sullivan?"

The guard hesitated—then spat on the ground.

Apollo sighed. "Wrong answer."

And with that, he knocked the man unconscious with a single flick of his fingers.

Ted glanced at him. "You're having too much fun with this."

Apollo exhaled sharply. "Not nearly enough."

Another scream—Chloe's.

Apollo's heart pounded. He turned to Ted.

"I'm going in. Keep them off my back."

Ted nodded, stepping forward as more guards poured in.

"Go save your friend," Ted muttered. "I'll take care of these guys."

Apollo didn't need to be told twice.

He turned toward the steel entrance of the Lernean Building—

And with one devastating punch, he caved it inward.

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