Chapter 261 The Warden I

Liam and Lana carefully laid Vanessa down on the flat metal table at the center of the underground chamber. Its surface was unnaturally clean—so pristine it almost shimmered under the overhead lights. Lana adjusted Vanessa’s head to rest comfortably while Liam supported her back gently.

But before they could take a full breath, something completely unexpected happened.

Whirrrr—Clank—Click.

Mechanical sounds echoed from beneath the table. In a sudden burst of motion, robotic arms emerged from hidden compartments beneath the frame. Sleek, multi-jointed limbs made of chrome and black carbon fiber extended fluidly, moving with surgical precision. One of them hovered over Vanessa’s face and lowered an oxygen mask, fastening it gently over her mouth and nose.

Both Liam and Lana instinctively took a step back, their expressions stunned.

"What the hell..." Liam muttered, his voice trailing off.

Another arm swung over, this one ending in a high-frequency laser emitter. Without hesitation, it targeted the wound on Vanessa’s temple—a deep gash that had bled heavily during the crash. A thin red beam hummed quietly as it traced along the injury, the laser sealing tissue back together on a cellular level.

Before their eyes, the gash disappeared.

No stitches. No blood. No scarring. Just a faint redness that was already fading.

Lana was frozen beside him, wide-eyed. "That’s... advanced. That’s insane."

Liam didn’t reply. He simply watched with a sharp gaze, noting every detail. He had seen military tech, combat drones, bio-suits—but this was different. Refined. Hidden. Personal.

Then, without warning, two of the mechanical arms rotated toward them and gently nudged their shoulders, guiding them back a few feet from the table.

Neither resisted.

They obeyed in a quiet, stunned silence.

The remaining limbs wrapped around Vanessa’s torso with care, lifting her slightly from the table. Then came a faint buzz—like static charging through the air.

Zap!

Electricity surged from the table into the metallic arms. Sparks leapt across Vanessa’s body.

She jolted violently.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then—

Gasp!

Her eyes shot open as she inhaled sharply, her chest heaving as if she had just burst out from underwater. Her pupils dilated wildly, and she sat up abruptly, pulling the oxygen mask off her face with trembling fingers. Her breaths came quick and shallow at first... but then gradually leveled out.

The robotic arms, as if satisfied with their work, silently retracted back into the floor beneath the table—vanishing like ghosts into their hidden compartments.

Liam stepped forward slowly, Lana following.

Vanessa blinked rapidly as she turned her head, her eyes landing on the two of them.

"You made it here?" she said, voice raspy, barely above a whisper. "How?... We were surrounded."

She looked like someone who had woken up from a nightmare—surprised to be alive.

Lana opened her mouth to answer, but Liam’s voice cut in first, steady and calm. "Are you okay?"

Vanessa’s eyes lingered on him for a moment, then she nodded. "Yeah... thanks"

Liam nodded back, relief flickering through his expression. "Thank you for coming to get us. You didn’t have to. But you did."

A soft smile touched her lips. It wasn’t the confident, cocky one she wore in uniform—it was gentler, vulnerable. "I couldn’t let them take you."

For a moment, nothing else needed to be said.

But Liam wasn’t here just to offer thanks.

He stepped around the table, folding his arms slowly, and looked around the room again—the vault-like chamber, the arsenal of high-tech gear, the silent monitors still glowing with surveillance feeds.

His voice dropped low. "Vanessa... what is this place?"

She didn’t answer right away.

He turned back to face her. "Why do you have something like this in your house?"

Lana folded her arms too, eyes narrowing slightly. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. You’re a cop. Not a billionaire tech vigilante."

Vanessa let out a long, tired sigh. She leaned her back against the table’s edge and ran a hand through her hair.

"There’s a lot I need to talk to you both about," she said finally.

Her voice was calm—but underneath, Liam could tell. There was weight in those words. Layers of things she hadn’t told anyone. Secrets that had been buried under her badge, her smile, her flirtation. Something deeper.

Liam didn’t press her yet. He just watched her closely.

"My father..." she began, turning her gaze to Liam. "He wasn’t an ordinary man either. Before I was born... before any of us were born, he worked the streets too. Not as a cop. Not even as part of some official group. He was a vigilante. One of the first. A ghost that hunted the worst scum in this city."

Lana looked at her and nodded slowly, as if she already knew.

Vanessa’s eyes dimmed slightly, a hint of pain flashing through them. "He tried to erase every gang from this city. Crimson Hand, Serpent Claws, Iron Blades—all of them. He wanted to burn them from the roots."

Liam cut in softly, arms folded. "But the gangs are still around. And he’s not. So I’m guessing... he didn’t succeed."

There was no sarcasm in his tone. Just reality.

Vanessa nodded, her gaze falling to the floor. "Yeah. He didn’t. Every time he cut off a head, two more grew in its place. He got close. So close. But the city fights back. And fighting it alone?"

She shook her head.

"It became an endless war for him. A losing one."

Liam stayed quiet, absorbing every word.

Vanessa took a breath, then her eyes met his again.

"That’s when he made a decision. He couldn’t do it alone anymore. So he decided to adopt. Not just out of kindness—but with purpose. He searched for children who had potential. Children that could carry his legacy... and maybe go even farther than he ever could."

Lana blinked, her face contorting slightly. "You’re saying... you were one of them?"

Vanessa nodded, her expression tight. "I was the first."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "The first of what? What was he trying to do exactly?"

There was a pause.

Then Vanessa said something that made Liam’s spine stiffen.

"He gave us powers."

Liam’s face froze.

For a second, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think.

Powers?Vanessa?

He took a step closer, eyes narrowing just slightly. "You have powers?"

Vanessa’s expression didn’t change. But her body... did.

In one blink, she vanished from the edge of the table—gone like a puff of smoke. No warning. No sound. Not even a blur of motion. Just... gone.

Lana gasped.

Liam instinctively looked around, body tense, eyes scanning the entire chamber.

Then—

Fwoosh.

Vanessa reappeared, standing directly in front of Liam—barely a foot away. Her body faced his, her eyes calm, almost amused.

It hadn’t been speed.

It wasn’t teleportation in the traditional sense either.

It was as if she had folded through space itself.

Liam didn’t react immediately. He didn’t flinch, didn’t jump. But his mouth parted slightly, and his brows furrowed in shock. "What... was that?"

Vanessa gave a small smile. "Spatial rift movement. I can bend a tiny piece of space and step through it. Short-range only. But it’s damn effective."

Lana looked at her like she had just grown wings. "You’re serious? You’ve had that kind of power all this time?"

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "You two look like I just revealed I’m an alien. Don’t tell me you thought you were the only ones keeping secrets."

Neither of them responded. The silence said enough.

Vanessa crossed her arms and turned slightly away. "I know about you, Liam. All of it. The fights. Your strength. I know about Lana’s fire. I know Lilith’s ice. Hell, I even know that the explosion in Liam’s father’s lab wasn’t just an accident."

Liam’s eyes narrowed. "You know everything?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Close enough. When you’ve got your own surveillance network feeding off half the city’s satellites, government nodes, and private terminals, there’s not much that stays hidden. Especially when I already knew what to look for."

Lana stepped back, stunned. "So... all this time, you were watching us?"

Vanessa turned to her. "Not watching. Protecting. Or trying to, anyway."