**Sterling Family Compound **
*Emergency Legacy Meeting*
"The Luther Cross cripple is Apex Grade."
Those seven words from Diana Sterling, matriarch of the Sterling legacy, killed conversation faster than a guillotine. Around the marble table, thirty of America's most powerful awakened sat in stunned silence.
"Impossible," Marcus Sterling—not to be confused with Marcus Luther Cross—slammed a fist that could shatter mountains. "No null becomes Apex Grade. It's genetically—"
"Tell that to the sensor readings." Diana's diamond-hard skin caught the light as she projected the data. "Cedar Sinai's equipment went haywire, but the baseline readings before system failure? Minimum Platinum Plus. The surge patterns suggest higher."
"How much higher?" asked Yuki Yamamoto, whose family controlled most of California's tech sector through a combination of Level 140+ powers and ruthless business practices.
"If the exponential curve holds? He could crack Level 200 within a year. Untrained."
The silence that followed was the kind that preceded declarations of war.
****
**Five Tower **
*The Five's Private Meeting Room*
"Turn that shit off."
Apex's command came with enough force to crack the reinforced windows. The wall of screens showing news coverage of Jayden Luther Cross went dark.
For a moment, the world's greatest hero looked exactly like what he was: a man watching his spotlight get stolen by a seventeen-year-old who'd been nobody twelve hours ago.
"Boss," Titanium ventured, his metal skin reflecting Apex's barely contained fury, "the kid's probably just Platinum. The readings could be wrong—"
"The readings aren't wrong." This from Psyche, the Five's telepathic member, her astral form flickering with distress. "I've been monitoring the psychic channels. Every sensitive in LA felt that awakening. It was like... like watching a star being born."
Nightshade, wreathed in living darkness that made Marcus Luther Cross look like a shadow puppeteer, spoke from her corner. "The timing's the real bitch. Yesterday we save Antarctica, kill a Level 200+ monster, honor Eagle's memory. Today? Nobody gives a fuck. It's all Luther Cross this, late bloomer that."
"We worked for YEARS to take down Lilith," Apex snarled, energy crackling around his perfect hair. "Coordinated strikes, sacrificed resources, lost Eagle in the process. And this little shit wipes it off the front page by throwing a fucking tantrum in a hospital?"
"Sir," their PR manager said carefully from the doorway, "you're scheduled for a statement. About welcoming new heroes to the—"
The manager vanished as Apex's energy blast vaporized the doorway. And the door. And part of the wall.
"New statement," Apex said, voice deadly calm. "The Five welcome all awakened individuals who wish to serve humanity through proper training, discipline, and respect for established protocols. We look forward to helping young Mr. Luther Cross channel his abilities responsibly." He turned to his team. "Publicly, we're supportive. Privately? "
"We watch," Psyche said. "If he's really Apex Grade or higher..."
"Then we make sure he joins us," Apex finished. "Or we make sure he doesn't join anyone. Ever."
"Postpone the event!"
****
**Netfix Documentary Studios **
"I don't give a flying fuck about his family's threats," Director Samantha Chen shouted into her phone. "We've got the exclusive with three classmates, two ex-girlfriends, and a fucking teacher who failed him for missing class during awakening tests. This documentary is happening."
Her assistant pulled up social media feeds. "Working title is trending. 'The Cripple Who Became a God' has forty million impressions."
"Good. What about corporate sponsors?"
"Bike's bidding fifty million for exclusive energy drink rights. Dadidas wants him in their new 'Transcend Your Limits' campaign. Kepsi's offering a hundred million for a single commercial where he powers their new Genesis Energy drink."
"He can't even control his powers yet," the legal advisor noted.
"You think they care? Kid could sneeze and power Manhattan. That's money, baby. Pure, electric money."
*
**Department of Superhuman Affairs - Washington D.C.**
Director Patricia Hawthorne hadn't slept in thirty-six hours. Not since the Luther Cross boy's readings hit her desk.
"Contingency Plan Omega is now active," she announced to the emergency assembly. "Uncontrolled Transcendent-level threat, location unknown, hostile to authority probable given psychological profile."
General Morrison, enhanced strength barely contained in his dress uniform, leaned forward. "Rules of engagement?"
"Capture if possible. Contain if necessary." Hawthorne paused. "Neutralize if required."
"He's seventeen," someone protested.
"He's a walking nuclear reactor with daddy issues and zero control," Morrison countered. "I've got authorization for a kill order if he threatens populated areas."
"The public backlash—"
"Won't matter if he levels LA having a temper tantrum." Hawthorne pulled up satellite imagery showing electrical anomalies across the city. "He's already causing rolling blackouts just by existing. What happens when he gets angry?"
*
Rico wasn't the only one getting calls.
In a chop shop in East LA, Domingo "Speed Demon" Reyes watched his phone explode with messages. Every crew chief, every racer, every connected player wanted the same thing: Where's J-Cross?
"Fifty grand if you know where he's hiding," one text read.
"Hundred K for confirmed location," offered another.
"Name your price," from a number he didn't recognize.
Domingo deleted them all. Jayden had funded his sister's surgery when she needed it. You didn't sell out family.
But not everyone felt that way.
*
**Yakuza Safe House - Little Tokyo **
"The Luther Cross boy has awakened," Takeshi Yamamoto informed his oyabun, the old man's scarred face impassive. "Our sources suggest Level 150 minimum."
"Angry young man with god-like powers and a history of illegal activities," the oyabun mused, exhaling smoke. "How much anger, exactly?"
"Seventeen years worth. His family called him 'cripple' since birth."
A smile cracked the old man's face like fault lines in concrete. "Contact him. Offer whatever he wants. Money, women, revenge on his family. A boy with that much rage and that much power? He's either our greatest asset or our greatest threat."
*
**Shadow Market - Location Unknown**
The villain community had its own networks, its own intelligence.
"Confirmed Apex Grade or higher," Massacre announced to the assembled crime lords, his blood manipulation powers keeping everyone honest. "Electrical manipulation, speed enhancement, possibly more. Completely untrained."
"Perfect recruit," suggested Toxic, her poison aura killing flies that ventured too close. "Young, angry, powerful. We could shape him."
"Or he could destroy us," Nightmare countered, reality warping slightly around her. "Uncontrolled power that level? He's nobody's weapon."
"Then we eliminate the threat," Massacre said simply.
"You want to assassinate the Luther Cross heir? The boy who just became the most famous awakened in America?" Toxic laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Good luck with that."
*
**Genesis Research Institute **
Dr. Elizabeth Cain stared at the data, her enhanced intelligence struggling to process the impossibility.
"Seventeen years dormant," she muttered. "No trace of Genesis Energy until the accident. Then boom—Transcendent level manifestation. It's impossible."
"Unless," her assistant suggested, "he was never really null. What if his body was doing something we've never seen? Storing energy instead of expressing it?"
"Seventeen years of storage..." Cain's eyes widened. "My God. He's not just Apex Grade. He might be something entirely new. We need samples. Blood, tissue, anything."
"The family won't—"
"The family doesn't have him." Cain smiled, cold and sharp. "He's in the wind. Unprotected. Untrained. Confused. The perfect time to make an offer he can't refuse."
*
**The Den**
Jayden, unaware of the feeding frenzy surrounding his name, managed his first successful walk across the room without destroying anything.
It had only taken six hours.
Blue lightning still crawled across his skin, but softer now. More controlled. Like he was finally learning the rhythm of his new existence.
He had no idea that half the world was looking for him. That his family was rewriting history. That heroes wanted to recruit him, villains wanted to turn him, and governments wanted to control him.
He was just trying to take another step without breaking the sound barrier.
Outside, Los Angeles glittered with a million lights, each one representing someone who'd heard his name today. Someone who wanted something from him.
The vultures were circling.
And Jayden Luther Cross was about to learn that having power everyone wanted was more dangerous than having none at all.
****
Don't be surprised by the sudden interest, Apex Grade were that rare in the entire world!