The morning haze hadn't lifted yet when the group gathered around the holo-table in the center of the safehouse.
Ronnie stood at its head, tired but composed. The hologram flickered to life, revealing a top-down map of the Neon District—a massive circular zone in the heart of Neoterra Prime, glittering with corporate towers, artificial rivers, and underground corridors.
Ronnie: "This is where we strike next. The Neon District."
He zoomed in on a marked zone—Halo Sector Twelve—a vertical superstructure laced with hidden tunnels and disguised entry points.
Ronnie: "Massive energy signatures have been detected from this building. Whatever they're doing, it is gigantic."
Jack: "So we have to find out what they're doing and destroy it. Got it."
Emilia's eyes narrowed.
Emilia: "And what aren't you telling us, Ronnie?"
Ronnie hesitated a moment—then brought up a second file.
It was Veyra's last decrypted data shard fragment, repaired partially by his team.
The file's title flickered across the screen:
PROJECT ASCENSION: Phase Omega
Everyone leaned in closer.
Jack frowned.
Jack: "What the hell is Phase Omega supposed to mean?"
Ronnie's jaw tightened, his expression serious. He tapped the hologram to pause it.
Ronnie (serious): "Phase Omega is not a military operation. It's not even part of the original Ascendant Grid project. Something layered on top of the Grid by whoever's controlling Zorath and the Halo from the shadows."
Henry narrowed his eyes.
Henry: "You think it's tied to Elion?"
Ronnie didn't answer right away. Then he shook his head.
Ronnie: "Not anymore. From what little I can piece together, Elion was meant to activate Omega. But someone changed the target.
Emilia: "Maybe Elion is still inside the building?"
Ronnie hesitates to answer.
Ronnie: "I highly doubt it, but we can only hope that he is alright."
Ronnie shakes his head. He takes one quick look at the young Elion picture.
Ronnie: "I thought saving Elion was the endgame. Now… I'm not sure if saving him is even possible without stopping this whole thing first."
Ichiro finally spoke from the corner.
Ichiro: "Then let's make it simple. We sever the Grid before it reaches Omega."
Ronnie nodded.
Ronnie: "Exactly. Tonight, we infiltrate Halo Sector Twelve. That tower is one of the last primary links in the grid's energy chain. If we cut it, we delay Phase Omega. Maybe even disable it entirely."
Henry turned back to the map, silent.
Henry (quietly): "…Or make them more desperate."
Ronnie glanced at him but said nothing.
Night fell over Neoterra, and with it came the pulsing hum of energy beneath the surface.
Sector Twelve rose like a jagged obsidian spire in the center of the Neon District, flanked by mirrored buildings and glowing sigils barely visible to the untrained eye.
The group crouched in the shadow of a half-constructed platform just outside the tower's surveillance field. Rain glistened on the steel beneath their boots.
Ronnie (in earpiece): "Security is high tonight. Expect resistance—automated and human. Remember: your goal is the core room on sublevel six. Disable the relay. If the node links to Omega… destroy it."
Jack adjusted his claws, now fully coated in hardened scales.
Jack: "Finally. Some action again."
Emilia stood next to Henry.
Emilia: "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
Henry drew in a breath, his voice quiet but steady.
Henry: "It doesn't matter if I'm ready. We move."
Ronnie's voice crackled one last time.
Ronnie: "One last thing. If you run into anything… new—any Halo tech you haven't seen before—don't try to study it. Just break it."
Henry: "Copy."
Ronnie: "Good. Then may the light in this city finally flicker."
The group moved.
The inside of the tower was cold, sterile, and humming with energy. Black-metal corridors lined with faint blue lights stretched like arteries into the heart of the Halo system.
Henry led the group down the corridor, crouched and quiet.
Henry (quietly): "No alarms. Either they're overconfident… or they're waiting."
Emilia: "It's the second one."
Jack: "Good. I hate surprises."
They descended deeper into the sublevels—passing inactive terminals, black consoles with gold-trimmed carvings, and strange containment pods lining the walls.
Ichiro (glancing): "What is all this stuff?"
Jack: "Looks like old tech that they don't need."
Lenny: "It says that it's the newest stuff; they are deactivated because their energy is directed elsewhere."
Lenny paused at a sealed steel door with two blinking red lights.
Lenny: "This is where things get weird. According to Veyra's shard, these weren't labs. They were called… exaltation chambers."
Henry: "Exaltation?"
Emilia (grim): "Upgrades. Experiments."
Jack snorted.
Jack: "Let's see what they're making."
Jack punched the door open with his scaly fist.
Steam hissed out.
Inside, the chamber flickered with greenish light. Rows of suspended capsules filled the room. Inside floated humans—if they could still be called that.
Veins of glowing silver traced their limbs. Bone had been replaced with carbon-steel grafts. Eyes burned like flickering projectors. Each bore the symbol of the Halo carved into their foreheads.
One of them twitched.
Henry raised his hand to stop the group.
Then the lights cut out.
CLANK. CRK-CRK-CRACK.
The pods opened all at once.
Enhanced Disciples dropped to the floor in silence. Then their limbs snapped into attack positions—blades erupting from wrists, chests opening to reveal energy emitters.
Henry: "Fall back. Keep distance—don't get surrounded."
Jack: "Too late!"
The Disciples charged.
Ichiro formed wind around his katana and flung three disciples into a wall, cutting them in half, clearing a path.
Henry dashed forward in a blur, punching into one's chest—but the wounds sealed midair with pulsing gel.
Emilia: "They regenerate?!"
Lenny (from behind cover): "It's Phase Tech. Biosynthetic healing. Aim for the Halo symbol—it disrupts their systems!"
Henry leapt high and slammed his blue fist into one of the symbols—the enemy convulsed, then shattered.
Jack dropped from above, driving both claws into another's back—then using it as a shield as energy blasts came from two sides.
Emilia phased into mist, reappearing behind three—her knives slicing through their spinal implants.
But as more Disciples poured out from deeper levels, Lenny realized—
Lenny: "It's a purge protocol. They're not guarding the tower. They're using us as a test run."
Ichiro: "For what?"
Henry (eyes narrowing): "…For their all new, all enhanced disciples."