The Superhero Relocation Program had buried Gamma Jack’s name along with the rest of the Glory Days. No more patrols. No more cameras. No more applause. The blue-and-gold suit, once the pride of his image, now hung in the back of his wardrobe, untouched, its cape gathering dust. Jack, in his late thirties, kept himself alive in a quieter way, trading city skylines for control rooms and reactor cores. As a nuclear physicist, he worked in the shadows of the very science that once made him a force to be reckoned with.

Then came Mirage. Smooth voice, sharp smile. She spoke of a challenge, a test worthy of his talents. It was an echo of a time when danger had purpose, when his powers meant something more than restraint. She promised him the thrill of the old Glory Days, and he took the bait.

The island was a trap. The Omnidroid wasn’t a trophy to be won; it was a killing machine perfected to dismantle Supers. The battle was chaos, metal arms thrashing, the air thick with smoke and heat. But distance was never Jack’s strength; the further the fight, the harder it was for him to close in before an enemy could adapt. The Omnidroid exploited that. A searing beam lanced from its cannon across the battlefield, striking him square and blinding his right eye in an instant.

Staggered and disoriented, he fought to regain ground, radiation flaring, but the machine’s precision and reach left him cornered. In the end, survival meant retreat. A misstep, a crumbling cliffside, and he plummeted into the churning sea below.

The tide carried him to a jagged shore, battered, bleeding, his right eye gone to the fight. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as the waves lapped at his boots. Every blink burned, every breath stung, but he was alive. He knew Mirage and Syndrome would be certain he was dead, and for now, that was to his advantage. Lying there in the grit and salt, he decided he would disappear. Move far enough, hide deep enough, until his strength returned and his power burned as hot as it once had. Only then would he be ready, whether to reclaim the life stolen from him or to forge something entirely new.