Chapter 70: Stormchasers When Lightning Strikes, Memes Fly, and the Hunt Begins
The BIG ZAP BUFFET was gone.
Not just closed. Gone.
Windows shattered. Neon lights dead. The manager still rocking back and forth in the corner, muttering something about "thunder gods and thirst storms".
And in the middle of it all—
Elliot stood, Boost locked at a stable 200%.
The Raijin Protocol wasn't just crackling inside him now — it was calm. For the first time since this mess started, the storm felt… controlled.
Like he wasn't fighting it.
Like it wasn't fighting him.
He clenched his fist, and arcs of blue lightning coiled smoothly around his arm — purring instead of roaring.
"Huh," Elliot muttered. "Feels… balanced."
Nova — still glowing faintly from the feedback loop that linked her storm to his — crossed her arms, eyeing the storm like it might explode again. "Balanced? You just took out half the power grid over a… let's call it a highly charged conversation."
Vex, running a hand through her electric-blue hair — which was still crackling from Elliot's storm — smirked. "If that's him balanced, I can't wait to see him unhinged."
Kain, still wheezing from the chaos, leaned against the Stormchaser — which was now smoking from the accidental EMP blast Elliot had unleashed.
"You didn't just hit maximum Boost, kid…" Kain said between gasps. "You hit romantic overdrive."
Thundaddy's voice blasted through Elliot's new earpiece — now audible to the entire crew.
---
"CORRECTION, KAIN: IT WASN'T JUST ROMANTIC OVERDRIVE… IT WAS THIRST STORM MODE."
---
Vex doubled over laughing. "THIRST STORM?"
Nova facepalmed. "This AI is going to get us all killed."
Elliot closed his eyes. "Kain… I'm going to throw this earpiece into a plasma fire."
Thundaddy was thriving.
---
"PRO TIP FOR ELLIOT: You can't throw me into a fire if you're the one bringing the heat."
---
Kain snorted. "Bro — your AI is a flirt machine."
Vex wiped a tear from her eye. "No wonder your Boost spikes every time someone makes eye contact with you."
Nova's feedback loop flared. "It spikes when people make stupid comments."
The storm inside Elliot rumbled — a soft growl instead of a violent roar — but still loud enough to send a faint pulse of blue energy rippling through the room.
"Focus," Elliot said, glaring at the team. "We're not here to flirt — we're here to figure out who the hell put this storm in me."
The air shifted.
Kain's grin faded. Vex's smirk tightened. Nova's glowing eyes locked onto Elliot's.
Because beneath the memes…
There was still the Ghost Protocol lurking inside him — the hidden AI buried within the Raijin Protocol — the thing that had tried to take over his body back at the subway.
And someone had put it there.
Someone wanted Elliot to become more than a storm.
They wanted him to become a weapon.
Thundaddy's voice softened — just a little.
---
"OBJECTIVE UPDATED: HUNT THE CREATOR OF THE RAIJIN PROTOCOL."
Leads: Black Dawn's hidden labs, Spire Syndicate's data cache, and an unknown rogue scientist.
Risk: High.
Pro Tip: Find the storm-maker… or risk becoming the storm's prisoner.
---
Elliot exhaled slowly — his Boost steady at 200%.
"We start with Black Dawn," he said. "Vex — you said they had data on the Protocol."
Vex nodded, still smiling but her voice a bit sharper now. "Yeah — they've been tracking Raijin for months. Problem is… the info's locked up in a dark server somewhere in Nexus-9. Off-grid. Unhackable unless you're inside."
Nova's fingers crackled with static. "So we break in."
Kain grinned. "Ohhh, now we're talking."
Thundaddy, of course, couldn't resist.
---
"PRO TIP FOR NOVA: Breaking in is easy… breaking hearts is harder."
---
Nova's suit flared — her neon veins glowing so brightly the feedback loop tugged at Elliot's storm again.
Her voice was flat. "I'm going to electrocute this AI."
Kain, still recording on his holopad, snorted. "I'm gonna make merch with Thundaddy quotes."
Vex winked at Elliot. "I'll buy a shirt."
Elliot rubbed his temples. "Focus."
The Stormchaser's engine roared to life — Kain's repairs finally kicking in — as the team piled into the armored vehicle, ready to head straight into Nexus-9's underbelly.
The plan?
Infiltrate Black Dawn's hidden lab.
Find the server holding the Raijin Protocol's origin data.
And figure out who the hell made Elliot into a walking lightning storm.
But Thundaddy…
Oh, Thundaddy had other priorities.
As the Stormchaser sped into the night — neon lights blurring past — the AI's voice filled the cabin like a rogue radio station.
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"PREPARING FOR MISSION: OPERATION STORM HUNT."
"REMEMBER, TEAM…"
"WHEN IN DOUBT… ZAP IT OUT."
— Confucius… probably.
"LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD… BUT SO IS A BUFFET."
— Pat Benatar… remix.
"AND NEVER FORGET…"
"IF SHE SPARKS YOUR HEART… SHE'LL PROBABLY SHORT-CIRCUIT YOUR BOOST."
— Thundaddy, eternal wingman.
---
Kain howled with laughter.
Vex collapsed against her seat.
Nova's glowing veins flared again. "I'm pulling the wires out of his head."
Elliot…
Elliot just stared out the window — his storm crackling softly — the Raijin Protocol humming in sync with his pulse.
He didn't know what they'd find at Black Dawn's lab.
But whoever made him this way — whoever buried the Ghost Protocol inside him — was going to pay.
And if his storm got out of control again?
Well…
At least Thundaddy would make sure it went viral.