The snowmobile's engine sputtered and died, leaving Jack Mercer and his team stranded at the edge of New Haven. The abandoned mining town loomed ahead, with its skeletal buildings buried under decades of ice. Above them, the Northern Lights shimmered in an unnatural green, flickering like a dying TV screen. Lena doubled over, static crackling from her nose.
"It's here… stronger…" she gasped, clutching her chest.
Vega grimaced, her scarred forearm pulsing blue beneath layers of thermal gear. "No shit. Feels like my bones are tuning to a radio."
Finch adjusted his frostbitten glasses and squinted at his GPS. "Tower's half a mile northeast. Let's hope the generators still—"
A howl cut him off—human, raw, and warped.
Jax loaded the EMP rifle. "Forged. And they've upgraded."
The Ghosts of New Haven
The town's main street was a graveyard of ice-encrusted trucks and frozen bodies. Eyes followed them from the shattered windows—not the dead, but shadows writhing behind the frosted glass. Static hissed from rusted speakers nailed to the telephone poles:
…welcome home, Jack…
Lena brushed her fingers against a driftwood sign: PROJECT STATIC SHIELD – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Her fingertips blackened instantly, and her veins crawled with static. "They tried to bury it. But it's awake."
Inside the town hall, they found the researchers' final note. Finch thaws a journal with his lighter, its pages brittle and singed.
"December 12, 1967,: Subject Zero breached the containment. He's not human. He's adoor."
A photo slipped free: a gaunt man strapped to a chair with wires feeding into his skull. Lena staggered. "That's… my grandfather."
Jack's throat tightened. "The Revenant started with your family?"
Before she could answer, the floor suddenly cracked.
The Forged Ascendant
They erupted from the ice— forged, clad in frozen armor, their eyes glowing like shattered screens. Jax fired her EMP, but the blast fizzled out in the cold.
"Fall back!" Jack yelled, dragging Lena toward the exit.
Vega ripped off her glove. Her scarred hand flared, melting the Forged's chest plate. "Eat static, popsicle!"
The creature screeched and collapsed into a black sludge. But more surged from the dark, their jagged limbs scraping against the ice.
Lena had gripped Jack's arm. "The tower! It's singing to me!"
They fled the blizzard, Forged clawing at their heels. The tower stood at the heart of the town —a jagged spike of obsidian fused with ice. Inside, frozen bodies hung on the walls like macabre art, their faces twisted in static-filled screams.
Eli stepped out of the shadows, his breath steaming. "Took you long enough."
Eli's Gambit
Jack aimed his shotgun. "You set us up."
Eli smirked. "You set yourself up. Lena's the key. Always was." He pressed a button on the control panel of the tower. The structure hummed, and the ice shivered off its walls.
Lena clutched her head. "Make it stop!"
"She's a Frequency conduit," Eli said, his voice clinical. "Burn her out, and the Revenant starves."
Vega tackled him and pinned his wiry frame to the floor. "You're crazier than I am!"
The tower's core ignited—a sphere of swirling, static frost. The Revenant's voice boomed:
…AT LAST…
Subject Zero emerged from the light, his body a patchwork of frostbite and wire.
…FATHER… Lena whispered as tears froze on her cheeks.
The Heart of the Storm
Subject Zero lunged, crackling static from his fingertips. Jack fired, but the shotgun shells disintegrated mid-air. Lena screamed as she absorbed the blast. Her veins lit up like live wires, and her eyes bled green.
"Lena, fight it!" Jack begged, grabbing her hand.
She floated upward as the tower's energy fused with her skin. "I can… control it…"
The Revenant laughed. …OR I CONTROL YOU…
Eli scrambled to the terminal, typing frantically. "Do it now! Kill her!"
Vega's scars erupted, chains of static pinning Eli to the wall. "Touch her, and I'll melt your face off."
Finch and Jax hacked the core's power grid, with sweat freezing on their brows. "Overload in three minutes!"
Jack clung to Lena's hand, her skin burning cold. "Come back to us!"
Her voice echoed distantly and fractured. "I see… the other side… it's hungry…"
The tower shook. Ice splintered.
Eli laughed as blood trickled from his nose. "Too late."
The steel doors were slammed shut, sealing them inside.
Cliffhanger: The Sealed Tomb
The Revenant's form swells, merging with the tower's core. Subject Zero's corpse dissolves into static, feeding the storm. Lena's body convulsed, her skin translucent as raw energy surged through her veins.
"Jack!" Finch yelled. "The overload's failing—it's using Lena as a battery!"
Vega's scars split open, static bleeding into the air. "I'll hold it off! Get her out!"
Jack lunged for Lena, but the Revenant's tendrils wrapped around her, dragging her toward the core.
…SHE'S MINE…
Eli grinned and pressed the final command into the terminal. "You're all just fuel now."
The tower's walls began to melt, and reality itself unraveled.