The Revenant's laughter echoed through the ruined streets of L.A., sharp and mocking. Jack Mercer slumped against the scorched wall of the power hub, his ears ringing. Vega cradled her charred arm, the skin crackling with faint static.
"It's not healing," she muttered, flexing her blackened fingers. "But it does not hurt either. Feels… cold."
Finch crouched beside her and squinted at her injury. "Maybe the EMPs gave you some resistance. Or you're turning into it."
"Cheery thought," Jax snapped, reloading her EMP-launcher. "We need to move. That thing's still out there."
Jack grabbed the cracked Obsidian Frequency crystal. " We still need this. Let's find the survivors."
The Survivor's Camp
The survivors huddled in a looted jewellery store, the boarded windows trembling as shadows slithered outside. A teenage girl with a makeshift spear eyed Jack's crystal with great interest. "You are the ones who blew the grid. Made it worse."
"We're fixing it," Jack said.
"By dying?" she shot back.
A man in a tattered lab coat stepped ahead. "The Revenant is rooted in the old subway tunnels. There's… a core. Like a hive."
Finch perked up. "A physical anchor? We blow that, maybe it unravels."
Vega tested her damaged arm, punching a hole clean through a steel cash register. "Lead the way."
The Descent
The subway entrance yawned like a grave. The survivors refused to follow, so Jack's team descended alone. The air thickened with the reek of burning plastic. Graffiti warnings glowed under Finch's UV light: THEY DIG, and IT'S UNDER YOU.
Jax kicked the rat skeleton. "Cozy."
The tunnel shuddered. The walls ooze black sludge, forming humanoid shapes with glowing eyes.
"Shadows!" Vega slammed her fist into the nearest figure. It burst into static, but three more took its place.
Jack raised the crystal. "Jax, light it up!"
She fired an EMP. The blast fused with the crystal, unleashing a pulse that vaporized the shadows surrounding the ship.
The walls screamed.
"Run!" Jack yelled.
The Hive
The tunnel opened into a cave. The floor was a writhing mass of static veins, pulsing toward a central orb—a grotesque fusion of flesh and machinery. The Revenant's voice booms:
…you shouldn't have come…
Vega charged. "Eat this, parasite!"
Her static fist struck the orb. It rippled and absorbed the blow.
…thank you…
Tendrils lashed out and bound her. Static surged through her body, and her eyes flashed green.
"Vega!" Jack lunged, but the floor buckled.
The orb split open, revealing a skeletal figure —Dr. Lin, her corpse fused with wires.
…she's ours now…
Jack froze. "No…"
The Truth
Finch hacked a terminal at the edge of the cavern. "The core is connected to the original lab! This is where Subject Zero was born!"
Jax fired EMPs at the tendrils. "How do we kill it?!"
"The crystal!" Finch yelled. "It is a fail-safe—part of the Obsidian Frequency project. Ram it into the core!"
Jack stared at Lin's hollow face. "But she's—"
"Gone," Finch said, and the "Do it!"
The Revenant laughed through Vega's stolen voice. …too late…
Jack plunged the crystal into the core.
The Collapse
Light erupted. The cavern imploded, with static shrieking. Jack grabbed Vega, dragging her free as the orb crumbled.
Dr. Lin's corpse was dissolved into ash.
The Revenant's wail faded. …this… isn't… over…
The team staggered in the daylight. The survivors cheered, but Jack felt no sense of victory.
The crystal was dust in his hands.
Vega's arm still crackled.
And somewhere, there was static whispering.