Project Renegade: Genesis (Being Updated)

Genesis

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Sky City General Hospital

" CLEAR! "

ZAP!

The hospital room filled with the defibrillator's hum and crackle, and Ryan's battered body was lifted off the bed with each jolt. 

ZAP!

Ryan jolted awake, his body convulsing as air rushed back into his lungs. The frantic thud of his heart synced with the defibrillator's sharp pulses.

A faint neon-blue glow spread under his skin, tracing his veins like lit circuitry, flickering with each unstable beat.

Inside the operating room, doctors worked in a relentless blur, fighting to stabilize Ryan as machines pulsed and alarms flickered.

Outside, his family waited in a heavy, suffocating silence. Time lost meaning—days folded into nights, nights into days—while every update grew thinner, more uncertain. 

Thankfully, today that would all change. 

Ryan's eyes shot open, his body heaving with powerful, ragged coughs. Nurses and doctors scrambled to his side. The indistinct shapes around him came into focus.  Ava rushed and hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"Mom? "Ryan winced, "Where... am I?" What happened? "

"It's okay. "  Ava tightened the embrace, " You're safe now. "

"I don't believe it." A doctor read their notes, "By all means, you should be...son, you're lucky you survived.

"Wait....where's Emma? " Ryan watched everyone's faces drop.

"She...hasn't woken up yet. It's probably unlikely she'll..." Jennifer lowered her head.

Ryan's face tightened as the words sank in, like something inside him had been quietly pulled apart. His breath hitched, then broke into uneven fragments as he stared down at his hands, unable to steady them. 

The memories crashed back all at once—faces he couldn't save, moments slipping through his grip no matter how hard he fought—and his throat closed as guilt swallowed everything else. 

"No....no...." Ryan gripped the sides of his mother's shirt, "I tried to be like you, but...there was nothing I could do..."

"But you did what you could, and I'm so proud of you. "

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One month later. Phoenix High.

Alex and Ryan walked through the crowded hallways. Alex couldn't ignore the dullness of Ryan's eyes; it was as if he could see straight through his friend to the emptiness within. 

"So...last night taught me something. We have to stop throwing away those ranked matches. " Alex chuckled.

"Yeah. " Ryan mumbled.

"Okay. " Alex sighed, "I thought you were just dry last night because you were tired, but- "

"I'm fine. Just thinking. "

"About? "

"Never mind. " Ryan turned his gaze to the floor, images of the massacre replaying behind his eyes. 

"Well, if it isn't the man back from the dead!" Prince crept up behind Ryan.

Suddenly, Prince's world turned upside down! 

BAM!

He felt the brutal impact of the floor beneath him. Dazed, Prince looked up to see Ryan standing above him.  Whispers and gasps rippled through the crowd.