Derek’s brother arrived at Derek’s apartment with irritation rather than fear because he thought Derek was wasting everyone’s time again.

The apartment building looked normal from outside while Derek’s car sat parked in its assigned spot with dust gathering on the windshield. The brother walked up to the third floor and stopped at Derek’s door before pulling out the spare key their father had given him years ago.

He unlocked the door before stepping inside.

The apartment looked normal at first glance with furniture in the right places and nothing obviously broken, but the silence felt wrong when he closed the door behind him.

Food had gone bad in the kitchen while the smell hit him immediately when he walked over and found rotting takeout containers on the counter and spoiled milk in the refrigerator. Clothes were scattered across the bedroom floor in a way that suggested Derek had left in a hurry rather than for a planned trip.

His phone charger sat plugged into the wall beside the bed, but Derek’s phone was gone or unreachable.

There were no signs of travel preparation anywhere because no bags were missing, no empty closet spaces showed where luggage should be, and no evidence suggested that Derek had left for a pleasure trip the way he usually did when disappearing for days.

Derek’s brother checked the bathroom, the living area, and even the balcony.

Nothing obvious stood out except the wrongness of it all.

He pulled out his phone and called his father.

"The place is wrong," he said when his father answered.

His father’s voice came through calm and controlled. "Define wrong."

"Derek hasn’t been home for days because the food rotted, clothes are everywhere, and his car is still here while the phone charger is plugged in but his phone isn’t here. No bags are missing and there are no signs he left properly."

His father was quiet for a moment before responding. "Check the apartment again. Check the building staff. Find out who last saw him. Look for recent visitors, driver logs, CCTV, anyone Derek may have been dealing with before he stopped showing up."

Derek’s brother listened while his father continued framing it as Derek being useless and careless, but the fact that Derek’s spending had stopped and his phone was unreachable had made him serious.

"Find out what happened," his father said before ending the call. "And don’t make noise until you know something real."

Derek’s brother walked back through the apartment slowly while looking for anything he might have missed the first time.

When he returned to the apartment door twenty minutes later, he noticed the door was slightly open.

He stopped in the hallway and activated his power without hesitation while fire spread around his body in controlled patterns rather than wild flames and heat wrapped around his fists and forearms like armor as the temperature in the hallway rose sharply.

He stepped inside quietly.

A man was searching Derek’s apartment when he entered. The stranger was going through drawers, documents, and anything that might explain what had happened. He didn’t notice Derek’s brother at first because he was too focused on rifling through a desk near the window.

Derek’s brother spoke. "Who are you?"

The man turned, but before he could answer, Derek’s brother closed the distance and punched him in the chest. The blow sent the man crashing into furniture with enough force to splinter the coffee table beneath him.

The man tried to scramble up and run toward the door, but Derek’s brother used a fire movement skill that burst under his feet and launched him forward with sudden speed. He caught the man mid-escape and punched him again, sending him flying sideways into the television while the screen shattered and glass scattered across the floor.

The man struggled to stand before touching a nearby metal lamp, then his body changed as skin turned hard and metallic while iron-like armor spread over him from head to toe.

The man stood fully now and asked, "Who are you?"

Derek’s brother laughed because he couldn’t believe poor, dirty people had been given the right to talk back to him.

The metal-bodied man rushed Derek’s brother and started throwing heavy punches. Each strike was powerful enough to crack concrete, but Derek’s brother didn’t take him seriously.

He evaded each attack with sharp fire-assisted footwork. Flames burst under his feet whenever he changed direction, leaving scorch marks on the floor. The man’s metal fists smashed walls, furniture, and the hardwood floor, but he couldn’t land a clean hit because Derek’s brother moved too fast.

Derek’s brother heated the fire around one hand until the flame turned sharper and brighter. Then he punched the man hard in the chest.

The lackey flew upward and crashed into the ceiling before slamming back down onto the floor. The metal over the area Derek’s brother had punched had melted, showing burned skin beneath while smoke rose from the wound. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The man tried to stand, but Derek’s brother stepped on him and grabbed his face. He poured heat into his hand while melting the metal covering the man’s face. The iron-like layer warped and burned against skin while the man screamed.

Derek’s brother stopped before killing him.

"I won’t kill you yet," he said while keeping his hand on the man’s face. "I’ll torture you until you wish you were dead."

He released the pressure slightly. "Now. Who are you?"

The man’s face was burned and deformed, so his words came out muffled and broken. "I’m one of Roman’s boys."

Derek’s brother repeated the name slowly. "Roman. Roman. Roman."

Then he remembered. Roman was one of the useless people who had followed Derek around and done whatever Derek paid him to do. Low-level trash who survived by taking orders from people with money.

"Why is Roman’s boy searching Derek’s apartment?" Derek’s brother asked.

The man struggled to breathe properly while answering. "Master Derek told Roman to help him look into someone. After Roman and his men found the target, they planned to threaten him at Dock 7. I wasn’t able to follow them that day. Later, I heard Dock 7 had been wiped out. Roman disappeared. Derek disappeared. Nobody came back. That’s why I came here looking for clues."

Derek’s brother became still while processing that information because Dock 7 had been wiped out weeks ago and Roman and his men were part of that, which meant Derek had been there too.

"Who was Derek looking for?" he asked.

The man struggled to remember while his burned face twisted with effort. "The name was... James. James Tanner. Or something close to that."

Derek’s brother went completely still when he heard the name James because he started wondering why Derek would go after someone named James when their family’s last name was Ganner, which meant the target was probably James Ganner.