CHAPTER 293: CHAPTER 293 LYLA II

Vanessa looked directly at Liam, her expression unreadable for a second before she finally broke the silence.

"I knew I could take them," she said quietly. "There were four of them.... I knew I could handle it."

Liam watched her closely, his arms folded as he leaned slightly against a nearby beam. He didn’t say anything. He just let her speak.

"Lyla told me not to go," Vanessa continued. "She begged me to just let it go. Told me it wasn’t worth it. But I didn’t listen. I was so sure of myself... so stupidly sure."

She took a breath, steadying her voice.

"What I didn’t know... was that she followed me. I didn’t hear her. Didn’t sense her. I was too focused on the fight."

Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"I took on the first three easily," Vanessa went on. "The fourth one had the old woman’s purse and a knife. I was dealing with the others when he slipped out of the fight and tried to run."

Liam already felt where the story was going, but he let her finish.

"Lyla tried to stop him. She blocked his path, probably thinking she could stall him until I got there. But the bastard... he didn’t hesitate. He stabbed her. Deep."

Vanessa’s voice cracked at the last word, just slightly.

Liam’s expression shifted. His brow lifted subtly in realization, and his eyes softened. "So that’s what you meant," he said quietly. "That it was your fault."

She nodded once, eyes lowered.

"By the time I got back to Lyla..." Her jaw clenched. "She was already fading. I tried to get her to the hospital. I teleported as far as I could, recharged, then again. But carrying her slowed me down. Cut my range in half."

Liam could picture it. Vanessa, breathless, pushing herself past her limit with a dying girl in her arms, desperate to cover every meter between them and the hospital.

"I tried," she whispered. "But it was too late. She lost too much blood. And the doctors said the blade was a zombie knife—it tore her up inside. There was nothing they could do."

For a moment, the silence between them was heavy.

Liam exhaled and looked off to the side, then back at her. "So Clark blames you for it," he said. "And now he’s trying to kill you."

Vanessa gave a small, sad nod. "Yeah."

A quiet pause hung in the air before she spoke again.

"The next day... I went to his place. I wanted to apologize. I didn’t even know what I’d say—I just... I wanted to explain. But when I got there, he was already gone. Packed up, disappeared."

She paused.

"And then a few hours later, the police found the body of the guy who stabbed Lyla."

Liam’s gaze sharpened.

"His body was... mangled. I’m not talking one or two hits. I’m talking ripped apart. Limbs torn, pieces scattered. The walls were soaked in blood, and they said it looked like he’d been tortured before he died."

Vanessa’s voice was flat now. Not numb, not emotionless. Just heavy.

Liam’s brow tightened, his thoughts racing. "You think Clark did it?"

Vanessa didn’t even hesitate. "I know he did it. Everything about the scene screamed revenge. But the thing is... I don’t know how. I don’t know what he used. I didn’t even think he was capable of that... but after what happened... I don’t know anymore."

Liam stood there silently, his mind running through the pieces. The bird tattoo. Clark’s sudden appearance. His attempt to kill Vanessa. And now... a brutal murder that had all the signs of a man who had snapped.

Something about this was deeper than just grief.

Liam’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait..." he said, straightening from where he leaned. "Vanessa, did the murder back then... the one with the guy who stabbed Lyla, did it look anything like what the Nightcrawler is doing now?"

Vanessa blinked, confused. "What?"

"The pattern," Liam said, urgency creeping into his voice. "The brutality. The body ripped apart. The blood on the walls... Does it match?"

For a moment, she just stared at him.

Then it clicked.

Her eyes widened. She stood up so fast the chair screeched against the floor. "Shit..."

She turned and rushed over to her computer setup. Multiple screens flickered to life as she dropped into her chair and began typing furiously. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up files, reports, surveillance clips.

"The Nightcrawler’s victims..." she muttered under her breath. "He’s been killing for months now, random people, but always the same way. Brutal. Sadistic. Like it’s personal."

Liam stepped behind her, eyes locked on the monitor.

Vanessa pulled up the file on the man who stabbed Lyla. An image flashed on the screen.

It was worse than Liam expected.

The body wasn’t just killed, it was destroyed. The limbs had been ripped apart like someone had tried to tear him into puzzle pieces. His face was unrecognizable, crushed into a mess of bone and blood. Across the walls, long streaks of red where he’d clearly tried to crawl, or maybe had been dragged.

Liam’s jaw clenched.

Then, on the screen to the left, Vanessa pulled up a Nightcrawler crime scene.

A middle-aged man this time. The body was completely dismembered. The blood wasn’t just splattered, it was painted across the walls, thick and deliberate. And scrawled in long, jagged strokes across the far end of the room: NIGHTCRAWLER.

Liam took a step back, eyes darting between both screens.

Ding.

A sharp chime echoed in his head.

[SYSTEM ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS...]

Comparing MURDER FILE #1732-A (Victim: Lyla’s Killer) and MURDER FILE #NC-026 (Victim: Unknown Male, tagged "Nightcrawler").

Analyzing...

Matching Patterns: Blunt-force trauma across torso

Dismemberment of limbs

Internal organs removed post-mortem

Blood-smearing pattern consistent with multiple high-velocity impacts

Weapon match: Unknown—assumed strength-enhanced or ability-based

Conclusion: 94.6% probability both crimes committed by same individual.

The translucent interface blinked twice before vanishing from Liam’s vision.

He kept a neutral face.

He couldn’t exactly explain the system to Vanessa, not right now, so he just looked at her and said, "It’s the same guy. The same person who killed that man... is the Nightcrawler."

Vanessa didn’t argue. Her eyes were still locked on the two screens. "I know," she said softly. "I can see it now. Everything about it... it’s identical."

Liam stepped closer, but his thoughts were racing.

There was something that still didn’t add up.

"But I don’t get it," he muttered. "Clark... did he always have those wings?"

Vanessa turned to him slowly, shaking her head. "No. Not once. Not when I knew him. He was normal. No powers. No tattoos. Nothing."

"You’re sure?"

"I’m positive," she said firmly. "Back then, he was just a military guy. Fit. Trained. Smart. But definitely human. And I would’ve noticed the tattoo if he had it."

Liam exhaled slowly.

So whatever Clark had now... wasn’t always there.

And if he changed—if he became something else—then the question was how?

And worse... why now?