Darkness. The roar of wind tearing at stolen armor. The stench of ozone and molten metal rising from below. Lin Wei fell down Pangu Tower's central maintenance shaft, Yin Mei's scream lost in the howling vortex.
>> SYSTEM ALERT <<
[FREE FALL DETECTED - TERMINAL VELOCITY]
[QI RESERVES: 0.0/10.0 UNITS]
[CORE TEMPERATURE: 105°C - SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT]
His right arm was dead weight – the plasma claws extinguished, the flesh beneath blistered and black. Only pain remained, a white-hot brand searing bone.
Rot in the dark, Ryke said.
Burn well.
NO.
Lin twisted mid-air. Below, the shaft glowed an infernal orange – the tower's molten power core. Above, Ryke's silhouette dwindled against the vanishing square of the Observatory Deck. Yin Mei tumbled beside him, cradling her shattered wrist, violet optics wide with shock.
Connect. His father's ghost-voice hissed. Like meridians.
The city's grid thrummed through the shaft walls. Resonant. Hungry. His dying Lazarus Protocol core flickered – a guttering candle sensing a forest fire.
Desperate Gambit:
Lin slammed his bare, unburnt left hand against the passing alloy wall.
Not Absorption. Conduction.
He didn't pull the grid's power in. He became a living fuse. Channeling the chaotic energy bleeding from the damaged core up through his body and out into the conductive shaft walls.
KA-ZZAAAT!
Blue-white lightning erupted from Lin. Not controlled Qi, but raw, unfiltered current ripped from the melting conduits below. It arced across the shaft, earthing violently into the structure. The entire tower groaned. Emergency lights along the shaft flared blindingly bright, then exploded in showers of sparks.
>> SYSTEM ALERT <<
[EXTERNAL ENERGY DETECTED - CRITICAL OVERLOAD]
[LAZARUS PROTOCOL: FORCED REINITIATION]
[WARNING: BIO-INTEGRITY COLLAPSE]
Agony beyond voltage. His cells screamed. Vision dissolved into fractal static. But the fall slowed. Not stopped – resisted. Like plunging through molten glass.
Yin Mei crashed into him. Her good hand clawed at his armor. "Lin! Stop! You're tearing apart!" Her violet optics reflected his horrifying transformation – veins glowing like overheated wires beneath cracking skin.
He couldn't speak. Only channel the dying grid's fury. Slow the fall. Buy seconds.
IMPACT.
Not molten death. A grated service platform, fifty meters above the core's seething surface. Lin hit first, absorbing the force. Bones cracked. Yin Mei slammed down beside him. The platform shuddered under the blow, rusted bolts screaming.
>> SYSTEM ALERT <<
[MULTIPLE FRACTURES DETECTED]
[QI RESERVES: 0.3/10.0 (UNSTABLE)]
[CORE TEMPERATURE: 110°C - CATASTROPHIC]
Smoke curled from Lin's charred left hand now fused to the grating. The stench of burnt flesh was thick. Yin Mei dragged herself upright, face ashen. "You idiot. You channeled raw core bleed."
"Worked… didn't it?" Lin choked, tasting blood.
A heavy THUD vibrated through the platform. Then another. Massive, deliberate footsteps emerging from swirling heat-haze near the core's edge. Two hulking figures resolved – not drones. Men. Encased in scarred, industrial exo-suits trailing hydraulic lines. Their helmets were featureless black domes. Heavy plasma cutters hummed in their gauntleted fists.
"Scavengers," Yin Mei hissed, pushing Lin behind her despite her broken wrist. "Core Rats. They strip meltdowns."
The lead Scavenger leveled his cutter. A distorted voice crackled from a grille: "New meat. Fresh parts." The weapon's emitter glowed cherry red.
Lin tried to rise. His legs wouldn't obey. 0.3 Qi units. Enough for a spark.
The Scavenger advanced. Yin Mei braced, useless arm held tight. "Ghost Sect!" she shouted, voice raw. "Stand down under Red Circuit authority!"
The Scavenger paused. A grating laugh echoed. "Ghosts die here too."
>> SYSTEM ALERT <<
[PROXIMITY ALERT: HIGH-YIELD PLASMA WEAPON]
[PROPOSAL: FINAL QI DISCHARGE - NEURAL SHUTDOWN LIKELY]
Lin gathered the unstable flicker in his core. He'd blow the Scavenger's cutter in its housing. Take them both with him. Buy Yin Mei seconds—
A high-pitched SCREECH ripped through the cavernous space. Not mechanical. Primal. Avian.
Something massive and dark dropped from the smog-choked heights above. It struck the lead Scavenger like a ferro-concrete avalanche. The exo-suit crumpled. The plasma cutter discharged harmlessly into the abyss. The creature reared up – eight feet tall, a nightmarish fusion of vulture and industrial wreckage. Razor-sharp rebar talons. Jet turbine wings. Its head was the gutted cockpit of a Pangu patrol drone, one cracked optic glowing hellish red.
"Razorwing!" Yin Mei gasped, a flicker of hope in her voice. "Ghost Fleet's here!"
The second Scavenger opened fire. Plasma bolts seared the air. The Razorwing shrieked, dodging with terrifying agility, turbine wings blasting scorching exhaust. It lunged, talons ripping through the exo-suit's shoulder joint. Hydraulic fluid sprayed like blood.
A spotlight speared down from above, pinning the struggling Scavenger. A voice, amplified and laced with static, boomed: "Stand down, scrap-licker! This salvage is claimed by the Iron Phoenix!"
A blocky, heavily modified cargo skiff descended through the haze. Its hull was patchwork armor plating welded over Pangu logos. Mounted guns tracked the remaining Scavenger. Hatches hissed open on its belly. Figures rappelled down on humming grav-lines – clad in mismatched armor, faces hidden behind welded masks and scavenged optics. Ghost Fleet marines.
The Scavenger hesitated, looked at his crippled partner, then raised his hands. "Take the meat! Just let us strip the cooling pumps!"
A Ghost marine landed lightly beside Yin Mei. His mask was the front plate of a Pangu enforcer drone, painted blood-red. "Foxgirl. Heard Ryke finally flushed you out." His voice was young, sharp. He glanced at Lin. "This the battery? Looks half-cooked."
"Jolt," Yin Mei rasped. "And he needs the Codex now, Kael."
Kael crouched, a handheld scanner buzzing over Lin's smoldering form. "Core temp's critical. Lazarus Protocol's eating him alive." He gestured sharply. Two marines moved to lift Lin. "Iron Phoenix has a bio-fab. Old Pangu med-bay we ripped outta a decommissioned frigate. Might buy him hours."
Lin tried to protest. Darkness gnawed at the edges of his vision. "Ryke… Kraken…"
"Kraken's dust, Jolt," Kael said, a grim satisfaction in his tone. "Sensors lit up when you blew that EMP through the tower. Half the city's backup systems kicked on. Ryke's digital god? You fragged it into a million pieces. Now shut up before you melt."
As the marines hauled Lin towards the skiff, Yin Mei gripped Kael's arm. "The Codex?"
Kael's masked face tilted towards the tower's upper levels, still wreathed in smoke from Lin's discharge. "Buried deeper than ever. Ryke'll lock it down tighter than a fusion seal." He tapped his temple. "Got a ping, though. Before comms went dark. Deep Ice storage facility. Sector 9 slums. Old Lazarus Project code… active."
Yin Mei's violet optics flared. "A backup?"
"Or a trap," Kael shrugged. "Either way, it's his only lifeline." He nodded at Lin being loaded onto the skiff. "You coming, Foxgirl? Or you got a dinner date to finish?"
Yin Mei looked up the shaft towards Ryke's distant domain. Rage warred with pain. "We get him stable. Then we dig."
High above, Magnus Ryke watched the Iron Phoenix skim away through the smog, carrying his failed weapon and traitorous daughter. His grey eyes were glacial. On his desk, a hologram displayed Sector 9 – specifically, the crumbling ruin labeled "Deep Ice Storage Facility."
He touched a comm bead. "Activate Containment Protocol Zeta. Authorize… live specimens." He paused, a predator's smile touching his lips. "And prepare the Lazarus Vault. Our guest needs a proper welcome."