The desert sun beat down on the roof of the abandoned gas station where the team had taken shelter. Vega sat in the corner, her static-charged arm twitching like a dying insect. The blackened skin had spread to her shoulder, and her veins glowed faintly green. She stared at her reflection in the shattered mirror, her eyes rimmed with static. "It's getting worse," she muttered.
Jack Mercer tossed her a canteen. "Drink. We'll figure this out."
"We?" Vega smirked bitterly. "You mean you'll figure it out while I turn into a lightning rod for that thing?"
Finch hunched over Dr. Lin's salvaged laptop, squinting at the corrupted files. "Lin left a backup drive, he said. Maybe a cure's buried here."
Jax kicked the rusted oil drum. "Or another suicide plan."
Outside, the wind howled, carrying a distant hum of static.
The Nightmare
Jack dreamed of Millhaven.
He stood in the town hall, the Revenant looming over him, its antlers now made of spiraling in code.
…you can't save them,… it hissed, Sheriff Dalton's face melting into Emily's. …you can't even save yourself…
The floor cracked open and swallowed the hall. Jack fell into darkness, static clawing at his skin.
He woke drenched in sweat, Vega's static-charged hand gripping his shoulder tightly.
"Bad dream?" She asked, her voice layered with a faint electronic echo.
Jack jerked away. "Don't touch me."
Her eyes narrowed. "You think I'm infected?"
Before he could answer, Finch yelled, "Got it! Lin's files mention a place called Ironhaven—a bunker with an 'antidote' prototype. It's two hundred miles north."
Jax peered over his shoulders. "Or it's a trap."
"Everything's a trap," Vega said, flexing her fingers, which were crackling with energy. "Let's roll."
The Road to Ironhaven
The highway was a graveyard for dead cars. Finch drove, swerving around skeletal frames, while Jax scanned the horizon with binoculars. Vega sat in the truck bed, her arms glinting in the sunlight. Jack watched her through the rearview mirror.
"She's losing it," Jax whispered.
"We need her," said Jack.
"Do we?"
A scream pierced the air. Vega's.
Jack slammed the brakes. Vega thrashed in the truck bed, static arcing off her body as she did. "Get it out!" she roared. "Get it OUT!"
Finch grabbed the fire extinguisher. "Hold her down!"
Jack pinned her shoulders as Frost sprayed her arm. The static recoiled and hissed. Vega collapsed, panting.
"We're out of time," Finch said.
Ironhaven
The bunker was buried under a derelict farmhouse, and its steel door was sealed with a biometric lock. Finch wiped the dust off the scanner. "Lin's fingerprint. Hope she's still in the system."
The door creaked open, exhaling the stale air. The lab was pristine—a time capsule from the 1970s. Yellowed schematics papered the walls: OBSIDIAN FREQUENCY: PHASE 2.
Jax whistled. "Lin worked here?"
"Before she went rogue," Finch said, booting up a clunky computer.
Vega staggered to a glass cell in the corner. Inside, a skeleton in a lab coat clutches a journal.
Subject Zero's Last Words
"The Frequency is not a weapon. It's a bridge. They wanted to cross over. Don't let them."
Jack's blood ran cold. "Cross over from where?"
A monitor flickered. Dr. Lin's face appeared decades younger.
"If you're seeing this, the Revenant has evolved. The Obsidian Frequency was never meant to destroy it—only to contain it. The true source isbeneath us."*
The screen died.
The Pit
A hidden hatch led underground to the basement. The ladder descended into pitch blackness, and the air reeked of burnt ozone. At the bottom, a cavern stretched endlessly, its walls pulsating with static veins. At its center stood a massive obsidian monolith covered in jagged symbols.
"The real Frequency," Finch breathed.
Vega's arm flared. "It's calling to me."
…join us…
The Revenant's voice vibrated through the monolith.
…become… more…
Vega stepped toward it, entranced.
"Don't!" Jack grabbed her, but static threw him back.
Jax fired an EMP. The blast ricocheted off the monolith and struck Vega.
She screamed and collapsed as the static retreated.
The monolith cracked.
The Choice
Black ooze seeped from the fractures. Shapes emerged—humanoid but wrong. Too many limbs. Eyes like shattered screen.
"They're coming through!" Jax yelled.
Finch shoved a vial of glowing liquid into Jack's hands. "Lin's antidote! Inject Vega!"
"What about them?!" Jack nodded to the creatures.
"I'll hold them off!" Finch grabbed the flamethrower from the wall.
Jack jammed the needle into Vega's neck. She convulsed, and static and blood were mixed in her veins.
The monolith exploded.
The Aftermath
Jack woke in the farmhouse, Vega's head on his chest. Her arm was human again, the scars twisting like lightning.
Finch limped in hiswith, face smeared with soot. "Sealed the pit. For now."
Jax tossed Jack a cracked photo from the ruins—a group shot of Dr. Lin and the Ironhaven scientists. Subject Zero stood at the back, his eyes glowing.
"This isn't over," Jack said.
Outside, the wind carried a familiar whisper.
…see you soon…