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# Rebellion ballads

## Chapter 3: Tempest

The air inside the abandoned station crackled with static electricity. The lights flashed frantically as the makeshift electrical system fought the growing storm outside. Through the cracked skylights, rays cut the sky into impossible standards, drawing warning symbols.

"He is playing with us," murmured Arthur, watching the monitors showing the electric dance above. "Graham always had an exaggerated theatrical sense."

Lia finished adjustments in her exoskeleton, the servomotors sibling gently when she tested the mobility of the arms. The device was an impromptu engineering masterpiece made of scrapped pieces and stolen components from Virtutec laboratories.

"Theatricality is a weakness," she answered, checking the connections in the communication system embedded on the wrist. "Anyone who needs a show to look powerful has insecurities we can explore."

Sofia moved her hands in a complex pattern and the roots that had made growing on the walls of the season intertwined, forming a natural shield that was beginning to absorb the electromagnetic energy that leaked from the sky.

"The plants are capturing his energy signature," she said. "It's stronger than last time. He's channeling something new."

Igor emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room, holding a leather -worn folder. His eyes, almost completely black when he wore his powers, slowly returned to the usual light gray.

"Project promised," he announced, delivering the folder to Lia. "I found this in the files we downloaded from the tower. Graham is not just a human battery; it is being used as a driver for something larger."

Lia opened the folder, quickly examining the documents. Technical schemes showed neural implants connected to a device called "Storm Amplifier", capable of channeling atmospheric energy on a global scale.

"Damn be," she whispered. "It's not just a weapon system; it's climate control. They are literally playing gods."

A deafening crash shook the whole season, making dust and concrete fall from the ceiling. On the central monitor, a figure descended from the sky, wrapped in a halo of lightning-blue lightning. Edward Graham had arrived.

"Acting Faraday," ordered Lia, adjusting one last connection to her exoskeleton. The device on his left arm began to emit a low tinnitus.

Artur ran to the main control panel and started a sequence of commands. Immediately, hidden metal filaments on the station walls began to shine with a bluish tone.

"Faraday cage activated," he confirmed. "We have ninety seconds before energy cells run out."

"Time enough," Lia nodded to Igor and Sofia. "You know what to do."

The two nodded and disappeared-Igor merging with the shadows and Sofia descending through a hatch surrounded by protective vineyards.

Lia went to the main entrance of the season, the footsteps of her exoskeleton echoing on the concrete floor. The plan was simple and desperate, like all good battle plans: attracting Graham into Faraday's cage, overloading their systems with reverse electromagnetic pulse and extracting information about the planned attack on sector 9.

When opening the doors of the season, Lia was received by a vision that would make any ordinary person back off. Edward Graham hovered three meters above the ground, his black up -to -all -flushing in an unnatural wind. Lightning ran through his body like light snakes, and his eyes shone with the same intensity as a headlight on a storm night.

"Lia Campos," your voice ribbed like a distant thunder. "The mechanics that has become a terrorist. You cause many problems for someone without real powers."

Lia step ahead, feeling the energy of the exoskeleton amplifying each movement. "Funny. I was going to say the same about you, Graham. A brilliant scientist reduced to Virtutec toy."

An expression of anger caught the face usually composed of Graham. He went down to the ground, lightning whipping the air around him.

"You know nothing about the importance of what we are building," he replied, advancing toward her. "Steel men are the only thing that prevents this city, this world, from diving into chaos."

"And even?" Lia retreated strategically toward the entrance of the station. "Because the last time I checked, it was you who drowned whole neighborhoods, tried civilians and extorted companies for 'protection'."

Graham launched lightning directly against her - a warning, not a full attack. Lia let the lightning reach her exoskeleton, the electromagnetic absorbers installed in the joints capturing the energy and redirecting it to the batteries.

"You are more resistant than it seems," Graham said genuinely surprised.

Lia smiled. "You can't imagine how much."

With a fluid movement, it retreated into the season, each step calculated to attract Graham deeper into the trap. He followed, lightning illuminating his way, the arrogance evident in each confident step.

"Do you know what's the problem with you, Men of Steel?" Lia continued to tease, observing the indicators on her wrist that showed the load of the capacitors increasing. "You started believing in your own lies. Captain Virtue with your selective justice, Deep Impact with your false ecological concern, and you ... The brilliant Dr. Edward Graham, who sacrificed his humanity for power."

"I haven't sacrificed anything," Graham growled, electricity, crrybling between his fingers. "I evolved. We evolved. It's the next step for humanity."

Lia stopped at the exact center of the season under the main dome. The above lights blinked when Graham entered the perimeter of the Faraday cage.

"Forced evolution is not evolution, it is experiment," answered Lia, her voice hardening. "And you are experimenting with innocent lives." She activated the communicator. "Trickster, now!"

The walls of the season came to life when hidden metal filaments began to shine intensely. Graham looked around, realizing the trap too late. He tried to launch massive lightning against the ceiling, but electricity simply ran through the conductors on the walls, forming a closed circuit around it.

"What is that?" He demanded, confidence giving way to confusion.

"Basic science," Lia answered, activating the final mechanism in her exoskeleton. "Something you should remember your pre-divinity days."

The device on his arm emitted an directed electromagnetic pulse, amplified by the energy that his exoskeleton had absorbed from Graham's own attack. The pulse hit Graham as an invisible wave, making it stagger. Small sparks jumped from hidden implants under their skin, and for a terrifying moment, his eyes blinked like computer screens restarting.

"You have control implants," Lia observed, advancing cautiously. "Like all other men of steel, isn't it? Virtutec doesn't trust you enough to leave them with total autonomy."

Graham fell to his knees, his body convulsing as complex systems tried to recalibrate. Lightning still ran through her skin, but chaotic, uncontrollable.

"You ... you don't understand ..." He managed to say among spasms. "The Divinity Project is not ... what you think."

Lia knelt before him, keeping a safe distance. "Then tell us. What is the planned attack on sector 9? Why did Captain Virtue activate the archangel protocol?"

Graham lifted his head, and for a moment Lia saw something unexpected in her eyes: fear.

"It's not an attack," he whispered. "It's a harvest."

Before Lia could question more, a sharp sound burst from the communicator on her wrist.

"Iron, we have problems!" Sofia's urgent voice filled the channel. "Virtutec squads are moving to sector 9 now. It's not just Graham; they sent Lady Vex and a complete Sentinel Squad."

Graham smiled weakly, blood dripping from his nose. "You underestimated us ... as always. This ... it was just a distraction."

Lia's stomach sank. They had fallen into a trap as they thought they were preparing their own.

"What is happening in sector 9, Graham?" She demanded, grabbing the lapel of her overcoat.

"The next phase," he replied, his eyes spinning up when a stronger seizure dominated him. "The ... chosen."

On the opposite wall, a monitor showed live transmissions of pirated security cameras. In sector 9, children were being separated from their families and escorted for virtutec transport. Soldiers in advanced exoeskeletons kept their parents desperate from a distance with force fields, while the elegant Lady Vex figure, with their violet hard and the ability to manipulate emotions, walking among them, calming them with their powers.

"My God," Muttered Lia, horrified. "They are taking the children."

Graham began to laugh, a sound intertwined with spasms. "They are not just children ... They are the next generation of Steel Men. The Storm Born."

Lia looked back at the monitor, noticing something she had initially lost. All children being taken had a similar mark on the forearm - a small pattern of scars that resembled branched lightning.

The same pattern she had seen in the project documents promised.

The same pattern that now noticed, visible by Graham's torn shirt, spreading through his chest like electric veins.

"What did you do?" She whispered, the understanding of the horror so overwhelming that she could barely breathe.

Graham smiled one last time before his eyes rolled back and he falls unconscious. "We evolved ... The species."

In the followed silence, interrupted only by the tinnitus of the Faraday cage and the distant alarms of sector 9, Lia understood that the battle they had imagined was just the beginning of something much bigger. It was not just about corruption and power; It was about the future of humanity itself.

"Arthur," she called for the communicator, her strangely calm voice in the face of the magnitude of revelation. "Prepare transportation. Igor, ensure Graham. Sofia ..."

She paused, looking at the kids on the monitor, her terrified faces while being separated from her parents.

"Sofia, find us in sector 9. Let's save these children."

As Lia rose, adjusting her exoskeleton to the battle that would come, a certainty crystallized in her mind: the rebellion needed to transform. It was no longer just about exposing the truth - it was about saving the future.