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** Rebellion Ballads **
** Chapter 6: Prometheus Scars **
The light of the virtue lighthouse cut the night like a heavenly sword, its bluish beam sweeping the city at precise intervals. Lia watched the 300 -story tower from the roof of an abandoned building, feeling the scars on her wrist burn in tune with the structure. Virtutec's archives revealed the truth: every inch of that building was a living circuit, fed by the same genetic code that ran in its veins.
"Background radiation is changing our DNA," Sofia warned, examining the leaves of a plant that withering quickly in her hands. "We can't stay here for more than two hours."
Igor adjusted the blades made of solidified shadow, his black eyes reflecting the lighthouse. - Security systems are based on emotional biometrics. Only who they * want * to come in.
Lia looked at Lucia, now sleeping wrapped in therapeutic roots. The girl was the key - her genetic marker was identical to that of Captain Virtue. "Let's give them what they want," he whispered, injecting a green serum stolen from the Blight Bug laboratories.
The plan was a symphony of despair:
1. Artur hack the communication satellites to convey the truth globally.
2. Igor and Sofia would lead children to the underground energy nuclei.
3. Lia, using the DNA of Lucia, would attract Captain Virtue to the apex of the lighthouse.
As they crossed the force field disguised as refugees, Lia felt the building *breathe *. The walls pulsed like veins, recognizing it. In the main lobby, statues of steel men spit genetically modified holy water jets - a purification ritual for the faithful.
"He knows we're here," Artur whispered at com, while falsifying credentials in a terminal. - The main system is taking me to logical traps.
Lia didn't answer. His bones hurt where the exoskeleton had founded the flesh, a need after the confrontation with Seraphiel. Going up the main staircase, he found the frescoes confirmed his suspicions: Captain Virtue images receiving the "divine fire" from a cosmic entity, surrounded by children with scars identical to his own.
On the 150th floor, Graham was waiting for them in a glass cell, his face deformed by tumors caused by defective implants. - Did you come to kill me? Her voice was a symbilo.
"I came to understand," Lia put her hand on the glass, which scanned her DNA and released the door. "Why do you create gods if you know they are flawed?"
Graham laughed, showing broken teeth. - We do not create gods. We created *containers *.
A tremor shook the building. In the monitors, Igor and Sofia appeared fighting degenerate versions of the men of steel - corpses revived with the same technology that kept Graham alive. Panic children began to emit energy pulses that cracked the foundations.
"Run," Graham grabbed Lia's arm, implanting a stolen chip on her exoskeleton. - True power is in solar sanctuary.
At the apex of the lighthouse, Captain Virtue expected wrapped in golden light. His costume was not armor, but bionic skin that breathed. "Welcome to your father's house," he said, and for the first time Lia understood: the scars, the DNA, all inherited from him.
"You created me as an experiment," Lia advanced, feeling the Blight Bug serum burning her veins.
"I created you as a legacy," he corrected, raising his hands. From heaven, a cosmic radius descended, fed by the Virtutec satellites. "Prometheus's fire needs a decent bearer."
The battle went beyond physics. Lia diverted from attacks that folded the space, using the Graham chip to redirect cosmic energy. Meanwhile, Arthur conveyed the images to the world: children bleeding gold, revived corpses, and the truth behind the "miracle" of heroes.
When Lia stuck her mechanical hand from Captain Virtue's chest, she found not a heart but a quantum reactor pulsating with stolen energy. "You're as mortal as us," she spat, pouring the toxic serum into the reactor.
"Fool," he laughed as the poison spread. - Fire never dies.
The explosion of the reactor swallowed the apex. Lia fell through flames, protected only by her melted exoskeleton. In the ruins, he found Lucia radiating a silver aura - the girl had absorbed part of the cosmic energy.
- Everything is fine? Sofia asked, half of her face covered with flowers that kept the meat together.
Lia looked at the sky, where the beam beam went out. - They will send another. Always send.
But on the streets, something had changed. Ordinary people destroyed heroes statues. Men and women burned fake uniforms. And in the midst of the rubble, one word was engraved on the walls by anonymous hands: ** rebellion **.
In the secret bunker under the rubble, Graham died smiling. "You won a battle," he whispered to Lia. "But war ... War is just beginning."
When the sun was born, there was no lighthouse virtue anymore. Only a steaming scar in the city, and the people finally understanding: some gods may fall, but the fire of rebellion never goes out.