Jack awoke with a violent jolt, his breath catching in his throat. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been wrung dry, leaving him hollow and aching. The faintest noises, the distant creak of pipes, the whispering wind outside, the low, mechanical hum of unseen machinery, stabbed at his skull like tiny shards of glass. But none of it mattered.
Joan was gone.
The thought struck him like a thunderclap, raw and merciless. His chest tightened with a pain more profound than any wound. Her death wasn't just a tragedy, it was his fault. He had sworn to protect her, had whispered promises in the dark, had clung to the hope that he could shield her from the horrors chasing them, and he had failed.
The memory of her final moments clawed at the edges of his consciousness, her wide eyes filled with terror, the choking sound of her last breath, the echo of gunfire, and the face. That face. Scarred and cold, half-hidden behind tinted combat glass. A monster in human skin.
But then a new, more unsettling realization took hold.
He was still alive.
How? That attack should have killed him. Unless… Had the serum worked? The experimental injection, the one designed to push the body beyond its limits, to rewire the damage, to cheat death itself, had it truly done the impossible?
Jack forced himself upright, though every joint screamed in protest. His surroundings didn't match the sterile brightness of his lab. This place was dim and unfamiliar. The walls were old and weathered, lined with shelves of forgotten equipment and faint outlines of graffiti. Dust hung in the air like ancient ghosts.
This wasn't his world.
Then he heard it, footsteps.
A door creaked open slowly, and a tall figure stepped inside. A woman, poised and commanding, with eyes sharp as a hawk's and a presence that sucked the air out of the room. Intricate tattoos curled along her arms, and a gleaming katana hung at her side, swaying slightly with each step.
Jack didn't flinch. Strangely, he wasn't afraid.
"Who are you?" he rasped, his voice dry as sandpaper.
She studied him with a calm, almost reverent gaze. "My name is Maya," she said. "And… I'm from the future."
He blinked, unsure whether to laugh or collapse. "From the future?"
"I'll explain everything," she said, taking a step closer. "Just try to stay calm."
He gave a faint nod. After everything he'd been through, the concept of time travel didn't seem as absurd as it once might have.
"In the future," Maya began, her voice quieter now, touched with emotion, "I was close to you. And Joan. You were… like family."
Jack's throat tightened.
"I wasn't supposed to come back," she said. "But the timeline's already fractured. Things are spiraling out of control."
She paused, drawing in a shaky breath as if steadying herself.
"You're known, you will be known, as the most powerful man alive. You cracked time travel, created the machines that ended wars, made Mars livable. Some even whispered that you conquered death. But through it all, Joan was your heart. Some believed she had powers from birth. Others said you gave them to her."
Jack's heartbeat quickened. He could barely process what she was saying. But the mention of Joan, how central she was to everything, they'd never seen her for what she truly was. Not a weapon. Not a symbol. Just… Joan.
"In your future," Maya continued, "President Jacob Arc feared you. Feared your influence. He demanded your allegiance to help him consolidate power, to become a global tyrant. You refused."
Jack's jaw clenched. "He saw that as betrayal."
Maya nodded. "He sent someone to eliminate you. His own son. Roland. A genetically enhanced soldier fitted with experimental tech. Deadly, fast, and loyal only to his father."
A chill slithered down Jack's spine.
"That's who killed her," he murmured, the scarred face flashing in his mind. "Scar on his cheek. Cold eyes."
Maya's expression hardened. "Roland."
Silence fell between them, heavy and bitter.
"I tried to stop them," she said quietly. "But I was too late. By the time I got here, Joan was already…" Her voice cracked, and she looked away, jaw tight with grief.
Jack's hands curled into fists. The pain in his chest threatened to consume him, but beneath it, something else stirred, rage. Cold. Righteous.
Maya had saved him. Pulled him from the wreckage of his lab. Fought off Arc's soldiers. Risked everything to get him to safety. He didn't know why, but something in her voice, in the sorrow behind her eyes, made him believe every word.
"I need to stop him," Jack said, each word laced with steel.
Maya met his gaze. "Then we'll stop him. Together."
The future wasn't written. Not yet. And Jack still had one thing left to fight for.
Vengeance.
And redemption.