El-hyper Protector -

EL watched it all, his remaining nanites dim but steady. He turned to the boy.

Not electrical overload. Something worse: feedback. Every harm he had ever prevented, every punch stopped, every fall cushioned, every scream silenced—it all came back at once, reversed. He felt the phantom agony of a thousand bullets he had frozen mid-flight. He felt the suffocation of a hundred drowning victims he had pulled from the canals. He felt the cold terror of every child he had ever comforted. EL-Hyper Protector

He extended a hand—not to restrain, but to offer. The boy hesitated. Then he dropped the copper rod and took it. EL watched it all, his remaining nanites dim but steady

No older than twelve, gaunt, with eyes that held the hollow shine of someone who had already died inside. The boy held a copper rod connected to a jury-rigged battery pack. On his chest, a crude drawing: a heart pierced by a bolt. Something worse: feedback