Arcbound: Tale of The Guardians

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Guardian Base Alpha 2.0 – Arc Chamber

Leo stood in front of the curved holo-table, pacing.

"All right," he said, fingers dancing across glowing panels. "I've finished building the scan. Took twelve hours and a near meltdown from ECHO, but it's stable."

The team stood in a loose arc around him—Henry, Nora, Natasha, Carl, Kai, and Jay off to the side.

Jay folded his arms. "Explain."

Leo tapped the screen. A holographic model of the school flickered to life, overlaid with light-blue pulses.

"This is an Arc signature trace—built to detect anomalies in emotional frequency, Oria pulses, and sub-layer dimensional echoes."

Kai blinked. "...English?"

"It finds Alastor."

Henry perked up. "Wait—you mean it can tell if someone's being mimicked?"

"Yes," Leo confirmed. "Alastor doesn't copy powers. It copies patterns. Emotional behavior. Speech rhythm. Physical form. But even it can't fake your Oria pulse exactly right."

Natasha stepped forward. "You think it's still here?"

"I know it is," Leo said. "I caught a fluctuation yesterday. A tiny delay in resonance. Just enough to show it didn't fully sync with the Arc."

Nora raised a brow. "So… it's still pretending to be someone."

Carl nodded slowly. "Which means we can't trust anyone until we check."

Leo tapped the interface again.

"Which is why I'm scanning all of us."

He activated the device—an emitter on the Arc pedestal glowed with hex-blue light, washing over each Guardian in turn.

Henry.

Clean.

Kai.

Clean.

Natasha.

Clean.

Carl.

Clean.

Nora.

Clean.

Leo squinted. "No deviations. All normal."

A sigh of relief moved through the room.

"Well," Kai said, "that's a win."

"Good," Henry said. "We stay paired and sweep the school."

Nora casually stepped forward. "I'll go with Henry."

Henry blinked. "You sure?"

"Someone's gotta keep you from rushing in again."

Leo watched Nora walk past him, his eyes narrowing just slightly.

Carl raised his hand. "I'm with Kai. Wrap bros on patrol."

"Guess that's me and you," Natasha said, walking toward Leo.

He swallowed. "Right."

Jay waved them off. "Stay in contact. And stay sharp."

---

Hillstead Academy – Search Begins

Henry and Nora moved through the library tunnels, silent at first.

Nora walked slightly ahead, calm. "So… you never said anything about—"

Henry cut in, voice strained. "Not now."

She arched a brow, amused. "You really are nervous."

"Not nervous. Focused."

She grinned, flicking her scanner forward. "Sure."

---

Carl and Kai climbed through the old gym rafters, checking vents and storage units.

"This feels like a filler episode," Carl muttered.

Kai adjusted his scanner. "You think Nora's acting weird lately?"

Carl shrugged. "I dunno, man. She always acts like she's got a secret."

Kai frowned, watching the hallway far below. "This one feels bigger."

---

Leo and Natasha searched the east wing classrooms, the scanner in Leo's hand blinking steadily.

"You sure about that delay yesterday?" Natasha asked.

Leo nodded. "Positive. Someone—or something—was out of sync."

They moved past a stairwell.

Just then, footsteps approached from down the hall.

Caleb.

He walked toward them casually, backpack slung over one shoulder. "Hey, Nat. Leo."

Leo's scanner flickered.

Just once.

A pulse.

Not red. Not alarming. But enough.

Enough to make Leo stare.

"Hey, Caleb," Leo said tightly. "Question. What's your blood type?"

Caleb blinked. "...What?"

"What's your favorite food? Are you afraid of dogs? Can you play the harmonica?"

"Leo," Natasha said, sharp. "Stop."

"I'm just making conversation."

Caleb laughed awkwardly. "Okay, you're weird. Later."

He and Natasha turned to leave.

Natasha slowed.

"You seriously think Caleb is Alastor?"

Leo lowered the scanner. "I saw a flicker."

"Or maybe you wanted to," she said coldly. "Because he said hi to me."

Leo looked stung.

"Don't turn this into a thing," he said.

Natasha narrowed her eyes. "You already did."

She walked off.

---

Guardian Base – That Evening

The team sat in the Arc Chamber, going over their data.

"Nothing," Kai said. "Every scanner sweep came back clean."

Carl tossed his wrap paper aside. "Alastor must've left campus."

Jay shook his head. "Or it's hiding deeper."

Nora leaned back in her seat, just a bit too casual.

Henry sat beside her, arms folded. Silent.

Natasha leaned against a wall, still tense from earlier.

Leo sat at the console, barely looking up.

ECHO buzzed faintly. "Emotional levels elevated across multiple team members. Recommend group meditation."

Carl laughed. "Hard pass."

But then—

Kai looked over at Nora.

Her fingers tapped her arm. One-two-three. The rhythm.

A habit she'd dropped weeks ago.

He tilted his head.

"…Nora?"

She looked up, smiling just a bit too slow. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Of course," she said lightly. "Why?"

He didn't answer.

He just kept watching her.

---

The Arc Chamber buzzed quietly with activity.

Carl and Leo argued over wrap combinations near the kitchen module.

Natasha lounged by the glass corridor, scrolling her holo-pad.

Henry paced, training gloves slung over his shoulder.

And Kai… was unusually quiet.

He sat at the table near the fabrication station, chemistry kit spread out. Vials. Arc reagents. Tubes. He pretended to measure doses—but his eyes kept drifting across the room.

To Nora.

She stood at the far console, flipping through report files, calm and unreadable. But Kai's gaze lingered.

Something had been off since that day. The way she walked. The way she talked. Even the subtle things—like how she never hummed under her breath anymore. How she didn't flinch when Henry accidentally zapped her finger last night.

Or the way she hadn't once mentioned their old inside joke about ducks and lightning boots.

This wasn't Nora.

He was almost sure.

But he needed proof.

So he called out:

"Hey, Nora! Help me with this? I'm working on that chem module we missed during school."

She turned, smiling slightly. "Sure."

She walked over—same gait, same voice. But as she leaned down to inspect the test tubes, Kai pretended to clumsily bump a flask filled with Solvex-92—a minor corrosive used in Oria bonding.

The greenish liquid splashed across her glove and onto her wrist.

It sizzled.

Burned through the glove.

Hit skin.

She didn't even blink.

No gasp. No flinch. No pain.

Just—nothing.

Kai stared, heart thundering in his chest.

"You okay?" she asked casually, brushing her wrist off like it was water.

"...Y-Yeah," he stammered. "All good."

He stood up, slowly backing away. "I forgot—I was supposed to check something… over here."

He moved toward the backup workstation—near the weapon lockers.

His pulse was screaming in his ears now.

It all made sense.

The rhythm shift.

The strange way she talked to Henry.

The fact that she never even looked tired anymore.

He reached into the cabinet behind him. His fingers brushed against the Oria plate embedded in his wrist.

And as realization crashed into him like thunder—

He whispered to himself:

"No… That's not Nora."

The chair behind him scraped.

Her voice.

"Kai? What's wrong?"

He didn't answer.

He turned.

And leapt into the air.

A shockwave of green earthlight spiraled around him as his Oria activated. Stone locked to his arm, his body shifted mid-air—

And he hurled his shield.

Hard.

It spun through the air, humming with Guardian energy.

Nora—back turned—whirled instantly.

Caught the shield mid-spin.

With one hand.

Like it weighed nothing.

Everyone in the room froze.

Henry stepped forward. "Kai?! What the heck are you doing?"

Nora slowly stood, shield still gripped in her hand.

Her face… changed.

Not her features—but her expression.

Like she'd been wearing a mask this whole time, and now it didn't matter.

Kai pointed, voice shaking with fury.

"That's not my sister. That's Alastor."

Silence.

No one moved.

Even Leo's soda slipped from his hand and rolled on the floor.

Natasha's hand drifted toward her Oria.

Carl's smile vanished.

Then—

Her form shimmered.

Flickered.

Distorted.

Her voice layered and unnatural.

Her skin warped—her hand melting slightly, flexing, reshaping.

The eyes stayed the same.

But the person…

Was gone.

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