DC: Tyrant

Bardi smiled faintly as the elevator doors closed, shutting Slade and Bori out of sight. Watching them leave, he felt an immense sense of accomplishment, the culmination of all his planning.

One might expect him to laugh wildly or be overwhelmed by excitement for the opportunity he had painstakingly worked toward.

But he didn't.

Instead, he smiled quietly.

His heart was as still as an ancient well, no ripples disturbing the calm surface.

After all the trials on Krypton, his crash landing on Earth, his year and three months of imprisonment, and his relentless planning to reach this moment, Bardi realized he had become eerily silent inside.

Perhaps this silence was a precursor to the explosion of energy that was about to erupt.

A storm always begins in quiet.

The elevator ascended slowly, its steel cables straining as they pulled the heavy machinery upward.

Inside, there were five occupants: Bardi, Jenny, and three soldiers. Two of the soldiers were tasked with monitoring Bardi, while the third—a flight operator—was responsible for operating the elevator and authenticating their access via palm scans.

A strange thought flitted through Bardi's mind. The flight operator isn't far from death.

The air inside the elevator was thick with tension, heavy and suffocating.

Jenny stood beside Bardi's wheelchair, her slender figure glowing with warmth and affection. She couldn't take her eyes off him, her love and admiration radiating in every glance.

Her emotions swirled between nervousness and joy. Her palms were slick with sweat, her heartbeat racing with anticipation as the elevator rose toward their destination.

But every time she looked at Bardi, her chaotic thoughts quieted.

Bardi sat in his wheelchair with the regal bearing of a monarch seated on a throne. His calm and steady presence fascinated her, grounding her in a way nothing else could.

The elevator finally came to a halt, and its doors slid open.

Jenny stepped forward, pushing Bardi's wheelchair through the corridors. Behind them, the two armed soldiers followed, their eyes sharp and alert.

After navigating a series of turns, they arrived at the warehouse-like space illuminated by sunlight streaming through composite glass.

The refracted morning sunlight pierced through the slightly gray surroundings, forming a focused beam of light. Dust particles floated lazily in the beam, dancing in the air.

The light was so bright and defined that anyone standing beneath it would feel as though they were ascending to divinity, like some depiction of Christ in a holy painting.

"It's here, Bardi," Jenny said softly, her voice filled with reverence. She knew how much this moment meant to him, it was a ceremony of faith, something sacred.

The two soldiers stood a short distance behind them, their rifles slung over their shoulders as they remained watchful.

Bardi responded with a quiet hum of acknowledgment, lifting his head to gaze at the sunlight refracted through the composite glass. He watched as the light illuminated the swirling dust in the air.

After so many hardships, this moment had finally arrived.

"Push me forward," he instructed, his voice steady and calm, without a hint of hesitation or excitement.

Jenny nodded and began to wheel him forward.

As the sunlight bathed his body, it began at his feet, creeping upward to his knees and thighs. With each push of the wheelchair, the golden light climbed higher until it enveloped his chest, face, and finally his entire body.

The sunlight poured over him, and Bardi tilted his head back, staring directly into the light.

In that instant, it felt as though the entire world had exploded.

The first thing he noticed was an intense, searing pain in his eyes. His pupils shrank into pinpoints, contracting and expanding rapidly as though they couldn't decide how to handle the overwhelming brightness.

It felt like needles piercing into his retinas, sharp and unrelenting. Tears streamed from his eyes as his body instinctively tried to protect itself.

But even through the pain, his vision began to shift.

The dust particles in the air seemed to grow larger and smaller in rapid succession, his focus flickering uncontrollably. Then, with startling clarity, his sight broke through the composite glass.

He could see the white clouds in the sky as though they were within arm's reach.

His hearing changed next.

A chaotic symphony of sounds flooded his mind.

He could hear the faint rustle of the soldiers' fingers as they gripped their rifles, the creak of their uniforms shifting with every small movement, the metallic clang of their gear.

Jenny's heartbeat thundered in his ears, fast and uneven, driven by her excitement and nervousness.

Beyond the walls of the base, the sounds of the surface world assaulted him.

The wind whispered through the air. Tank treads ground against the pavement. Heavy wheels scraped and dragged. Jeep engines roared in the distance.

Voices filled his mind, a cacophony of overlapping conversations from soldiers stationed on the ground.

"What did Colonel Slade say about this?"

"I don't know. Orders are orders."

"That girl from last night—what's her deal?"

"Damn, I need to hit the bathroom."

"I'm getting married next month... Taking a vacation tomorrow..."

The sheer volume of noise was overwhelming.

His sense of smell heightened, too, bombarding him with a flood of scents that seemed to invade his nostrils all at once. He gritted his teeth, trying to withstand the assault on his senses.

It was too much. His sight, hearing, and smell had become so sensitive that his brain couldn't keep up, leaving him feeling as though his head were about to split open.

"Damn it," Bardi muttered through clenched teeth.

The veins on his face bulged as the strain became visible, snaking up his neck and across his features in a terrifying display of raw tension.

Closing his eyes tightly, he forced himself to engage the Kryptonian meditation techniques he had learned, channeling his focus and calming the chaos within him.

Gradually, the storm of sensations began to subside.

Then, something even more profound began to happen.

The sunlight penetrated his clothing, seeping through the tiny fibers and reaching his skin.

At first, it felt like countless needles piercing into his pores, but that pain quickly gave way to warmth.

The sunlight coursed through his body like an electric current, flowing through his bloodstream. His heart thundered in his chest, a powerful drumbeat that reverberated throughout his being.

His body awakened.

His cells began to change at a fundamental level, absorbing the sunlight like a sponge and transforming with incredible speed.

Fat melted away, replaced by rippling muscle. His paralyzed limbs, once lifeless and weak, regained their strength.

Bardi was evolving.

Within seconds, every fiber of his being had changed, his Kryptonian genes igniting as the sunlight rewrote his biology.

His eyes snapped open, glowing with newfound power.

His senses, though still sharp, were now under his control, thanks to the meditation techniques that allowed him to filter and focus.

Bardi clenched his fists, feeling the surge of strength coursing through him. His muscles swelled with power, and his heart pumped like a roaring engine.

"Finally..." he whispered, his voice low and filled with raw emotion.

He gripped the wheelchair's stainless steel handle, his hands crushing the metal like it was paper. With a flick of his wrists, he snapped the steel restraints that had bound him for so long.

Then, slowly, he stood.

Bardi stretched his arms toward the sun, a wide grin spreading across his face as he basked in its glory.

Behind him, Jenny and the soldiers stared, their expressions frozen in shock.

Under the sunlight, Bardi looked like a god descended to Earth.

*****

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