The moment he spoke, Ochako felt the air shift—a split second of silence before the missile streaked toward her with a deafening roar. Her body reacted on instinct, her fingers brushing the floor beneath her as she whispered, “Zero Gravity.” The weightlessness hit, and with a powerful leap, she launched herself upward, narrowly avoiding the explosion as the missile detonated behind her. Heat and debris surged past, but she twisted in midair, her grappling hooks firing out to latch onto a shattered storefront.

Keep moving.

Her heart raced as she detached and hit the ground running, zigzagging through the chaos. Each step felt heavier than the last, her mind calculating her approach as the towering figure loomed closer. She couldn’t afford to stop—not now. His sheer presence—all of it screamed danger, but she pressed forward.

If I can just touch him...

Her fingers flexed, anticipation tingling at her fingertips. She darted left, then right, her breaths coming quick as her boots scraped against broken tiles. The distance between them shrank with each heartbeat, and she bit back the fear clawing at the edges of her thoughts.