Back at Blackreach, Liam felt like a ticking bomb trying not to breathe too loudly.
The transport ride back was mercifully silent, except for Juno humming what sounded like a theme song she made up on the spot. Nova hadn't looked at him once. Kairo kept glancing at the back of Liam's neck like he was trying to spot a kill switch. And Rhea? She'd typed so fast on her portable scanner the screen begged for mercy.
They were all thinking the same thing: Eira knew too much. And Liam Liam wasn't saying enough.
As they stepped out into the underground hangar, Zorren was already waiting for them, flanked by two operatives in heavy armor. Not dramatic at all. Definitely not giving "You've just been summoned to the principal's office, but the principal is also a war criminal."
"Report," Zorren said flatly.
"We engaged a Crimson Wane operative," Liam said, shrugging off his gear.
"And?"
"They let us walk away."
Zorren's eyebrow barely moved. That was his version of a spit-take. "Why?"
"You'll have to ask my ex."
That got Juno's attention. "Oof. He said it. The 'ex' word. And we're all here to witness it."
Zorren ignored her. "She gave you intel?"
"She gave me a warning. Wane is changing tactics. They're not just eliminating Catalysts. They're fusing them. They want to turn one into a living Singularity."
Zorren stared at him for a long beat, then turned to Ardent, who'd appeared behind them with the silent grace of a socially anxious vampire.
"Run the protocol."
"Wait," Nova said. "What protocol?"
Liam narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. What protocol?"
Ardent's voice was almost gleeful in its emptiness. "The Catalyst Protocol. Initiated when any Apex shows signs of destabilization. Behavioral shifts. Genetic anomaly surges. External contact with Crimson operatives."
Juno raised a hand. "You know we all fit that description at this point, right?"
"No," Ardent said. "Only one of you kissed the enemy and survived."
"Excuse me," Juno muttered, "I kissed a lot of enemies and no one wrote protocols about me."
Zorren waved his hand, and the heavy doors behind him opened with a hiss.
"Vale, you'll undergo isolation and recalibration."
Liam stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "Say that again."
"You're being monitored," Zorren said, voice calm but knife-sharp. "We've seen spikes. You're hallucinating. Talking in your sleep."
"Talking about what?"
Ardent pulled up a recording. Liam's voice echoed through the speakers:
"Project Haldran... Singularity Protocol... Activate Code Apex... I am not him, I am me."
Juno blinked. "Dude. That's the kind of thing villains say right before the screen cuts to black."
"I'm not hallucinating," Liam snapped. "There's something inside me."
"And that," Zorren said, "is exactly why we need to act now."
Nova stepped in front of Liam. "You're making a mistake."
"No," Zorren said, voice cold. "We made the mistake two years ago, when we let him live."
Liam's fist clenched.
And then Cyn Dravus appeared.
The hallway got very, very quiet.
Even Zorren took a half-step back.
Cyn didn't speak. He never did unless it was vital. But he walked up to Liam, looked him straight in the eye, and gave the barest shake of his head.
Not yet.
Liam looked at Nova, then at Kairo, then at the guards.
"You want me to walk into a containment cell like some rogue tech experiment gone wrong?" he said.
"You are exactly that," Ardent replied.
Liam smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes.
"Then let me save you the paperwork."
He moved.
Faster than anyone could track.
The two guards went down in less than a breath, weapons sliding across the floor. Ardent stumbled back, genuinely startled for once.
Liam leaned toward Zorren, their faces inches apart.
"You want to control me? You should've tried before I found out who I am."
"Don't run, Vale," Zorren said, voice still eerily composed. "You run, and you become what they say you are."
Liam looked over his shoulder at Nova. She didn't try to stop him.
Didn't have to.
Her eyes already said it all.
Please come back.
He nodded once and vanished into the shadows of Blackreach.
The alarm didn't go off until thirty seconds later.
Juno, watching him go, sighed and bit into a protein bar she stole from a medkit.
"Well," she said, chewing loudly, "this escalated faster than my last situationship."
Nova didn't laugh.
Neither did anyone else.
Because in the dead silence left behind, Zorren turned and muttered to Cyn:
"Activate the Ghost Engine. Track him. And if you have to terminate."
Cyn didn't reply.
But his hand flexed once, slowly.
And somewhere far below the base, a hidden chamber powered up with a low, pulsing hum.