Acceleration

Chapter 3: That Corperation

Erin sat silently on the couch beside his aunt. The room was quiet, lit only by the dim gray light of an overcast sky pouring through the tall wall-length window. Jessica stared out at it for a long time, her expression unreadable, until finally, she spoke.

"When your father and I were young, we both wanted to make a difference. He had this insatiable need to understand what things were made of. Me? I wanted to know how they worked. So, after we graduated high school, we made a pact—to figure out the secrets of the world together."

She paused, the weight of memory settling in her voice.

"We joined the same research company. Made discoveries no one else had even come close to. But... we got greedy."

She reached under the coffee table and slid over a small glass case. Inside were a handful of black, glinting shards—no larger than fingernails.

"Years before that, Marcus—your dad—was nearly struck by lightning. When he examined the crater it left behind, he found these. A new element."

Her voice lowered.

"He called it Vornium. It's extremely rare. It only appears in the heart of the most powerful lightning strikes. This," she tapped the glass, "is all I have left."

Erin leaned forward, his eyes scanning the jagged pieces.

"Testing showed it was unbreakable. Completely impervious to pressure or heat. But there was something more—something terrifying."

She hesitated before continuing.

"When injected into the bloodstream, Vornium can bind with a host's biology. It creates a kind of electrical fusion, allowing the host to generate bio-electric energy. Move at speeds the human body was never meant to endure. We called it the velocity effect."

Erin's eyes widened.

"Your father believed it could help people. But I... I saw opportunity. A tech conglomerate offered us billions for it. I pushed to take the deal. He refused. He wanted to protect it."

She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, hollow with guilt.

"They went back on their word. Once we handed over our research, they came after Marcus. After his family. After you. So he ran—took most of the remaining Vornium and boarded a plane. They followed him."

She looked down.

"I haven't seen him since."

Erin sat frozen. A tear traced a slow line down his cheek. His voice cracked when he finally spoke.

"I have his Vornium in me?"

Jessica nodded slowly.

"More than that. Erin, there's more liquid Vornium flowing through your veins than blood. You're a living battery. A scientific impossibility. If they find out what you are..."

She trailed off, her voice heavy with dread.

"They won't just kill you. They'll drain you. Dissect you. Use you. And they won't stop."

Erin stared at the case, his mind racing.

"...Who are they?"

Jessica's lips thinned into a bitter line.

"They were called A.G.E.N.T."