"What is it now?" Nadya asked, arching a brow as they turned to see Kai visibly tense and pissed off, his jaw clenched, fists tight by his side.

Kai pointed a finger at the giant billboard looming over Times Square like a smug deity.

"It's her! That's the bitch!" His voice carried a raw edge of rage, shocking even himself with how visceral it felt.

The others turned to follow his gaze.

"You mean... the singer?" Sven asked, blinking up at the billboard. "She's hot."

It was an ad for some luxury makeup brand, and the woman in it was none other than Seraphina - global popstar, fashion icon, and apparently, Kai's personal nightmare.

They all looked back at Kai, utterly confused.

"You got beef with a singer?" Isaac tilted his head.

"What, she break your heart or something?" Nadya asked.

Kai didn't answer. He was staring at the glowing ad with wide eyes, his blood simmering.

And, as he did, memories began crashing in all at once...

-

Kai recalled stepping out of a dingy apartment block somewhere in New York. He had no real destination - just a growing need to drown the static in his mind.

He was pretty sure this was right before he'd ended up in Nyx's facility. That blank chunk of his life now had a few jagged edges showing.

He'd recently left the military… or whatever he had been a part of prior. It was unclear in the recollection, but he was sure of one thing: the split hadn't been clean. There was contempt. Hostility. It was a 'I'm not ever coming back' kind of farewell.

'Yeah… to think I'd actually end up leaving. What do I do with myself now?' Kai thought as his boots crunched on broken pavement.

He started walking towards the local bar he'd been hitting up every night without even realising. And upon arriving, he might as well get a drink and numb his mind.

The bar was nestled between a pawn shop and a shabby brothel run by an old lady who also happened to be a mutant - classy place. He'd found solace in the heavy weight of a whiskey glass and the comforting chaos of low lives with no ambition.

It was his introduction to drinking, and it was going great - until the hangovers started.

'Maybe I'll become a bodyguard. Or an assassin. Or just a full-time alcoholic,' he'd mused that night as he clinked his glass on the wooden counter and waved to the bartender.

"Refill," Kai had grunted.

"Alright, drunkard loser," Mason, the grumpy bald bartender, muttered under his breath. They had a friendly back-and-forth of insults ever since Kai became a regular.

Every night, he'd drink until he could barely walk straight, then he'd stumble home. Maybe get into a fight or two and get lost along the way, before waking up slumped somewhere in his apartment with a hazy recollection of it all.

Ironic, right? Now he could hardly remember anything, but back to the flashback.

That night… something was different.

The bar, usually buzzing with low-level degenerates brawling over pool tables and spilling drinks mid-darts, suddenly fell silent.

Kai turned.

And there she was.

Long, raven-black hair that fell in silken waves. Ice-blue eyes that locked onto him like a sniper's scope. She moved like royalty. No, like someone used to being worshipped.

And everyone in the bar seemed to know who she was.

Except Kai, whom she directly walked to with absolute confidence.

"Seraphina," she said with a dainty smile, holding out her hand like he was supposed to kiss it.

Kai stared at her, blinked once, then turned back around.

"Hey man, fill my cup," he said, ignoring her completely. Mason, stunned stiff upon seeing the celebrity in his rundown bar, finally obliged and poured another shot.

Seraphina wasn't deterred. She sat beside him with a smile that was too pretty to trust.

"So, what do I call you?" she asked sweetly, leaning in until her cleavage pressed against his arm, clearly playing the seduction game.

Kai's eyes dipped for a moment, he was still a man after all, but then snapped up to meet hers. And when he did...

A chill ran down his spine.

Her eyes.

There was something about them. Something that made him extremely uncomfortable on edge.

He looked away immediately.

"The name's Kai," he muttered, downing his drink and getting up.

He didn't waste any time or hesitate. Even though he wanted to continue the night routine he'd got into recently, his instincts screamed at him to do otherwise.

"I'll see you around, Baldy."

Kai headed for the door, alarms blaring in his head.

'Something's off. She's off. I don't like it.'

"Yeah, see you around, Kai!" the barman called out cheerily.

Kai froze.

His eyes narrowed.

'Mason never calls me Kai, nor would he be so jolly…'

He turned around slowly. The bald bartender gave him a casual wave and a warm grin.

'Nope. This is wrong. That bastard only ever calls me a depressed, lousy, drunkard, unemployed loser. Something's seriously fucked.'

Kai scanned the bar.

The usual brutes who played darts and wrestled for fun were sitting in perfect posture.

The pool table wasn't being used.

Everything felt... scripted.

Like it was all being acted out.

'What the fuck is going on? Did I get drugged? Did Mason put something in my drink?'

He didn't feel sluggish. His head wasn't spinning. In fact, he felt too clear. Too aware. He didn't feel tipsy in the slightest, even after all the drinks he'd had, which confused him the most.

It was as if he was dreaming.

And then it hit him.

'It's her! It started when I looked into her eyes.'

Kai turned sharply and dashed back toward Seraphina, who still sat poised at the bar beside Mason.

But the world around him suddenly crumbled like a sandcastle.

Everything disintegrated.

And the next thing he knew, he was in an alleyway, being dragged by two huge men in black suits...

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