The blackout didn't end with silence. It ended with screaming.
Flashes of red strobed through the halls as the emergency lights kicked in, casting jagged shadows against the mist. Sirens blared overhead, their shrill wail so loud it rattled the reinforced glass.
Seris staggered back from Theron, blinking against the sudden glare. He was still on his knees, breathing hard, but the shadow behind him was gone. The mist hadn't vanished—it slithered along the floor in every direction, moving like a living thing.
"Status!" Hale barked into his comm, his voice sharp enough to cut through the alarms. Static answered.
"No connection," Seris said quickly, scanning the flickering runes on the walls. "Communications are down."
Theron's head snapped toward her voice, his eyes glowing faintly. "He's… still here." His voice was hoarse, raw. "He's not letting go."
Seris crouched, gripping his shoulders. "You're stable enough to move. We have to get out of this sector."
Hale scanned the corridor ahead. "The mist is spreading past containment. If Nine's overriding security, this entire floor is compromised."
A metallic groan echoed above them. One of the reinforced ceiling panels cracked, mist leaking through like smoke from a fire.
Then a voice—not Nine's, but mechanical and cold—spoke through the facility speakers:
[ALERT: CONTAINMENT BREACH IN SECTORS 03 THROUGH 09.]
[PRIORITY ONE: TERMINATE SUBJECT NINE.]
Seris froze. "They're going to kill him."
"They'll try," Hale muttered. His jaw tightened. "Move. Now."
Theron staggered to his feet, clutching his head. His breath came in ragged gasps, and for a moment his voice overlapped with Nine's:
"They're not ready for me."
The floor trembled. A distant explosion shook the hall, and screams echoed from somewhere above.
Seris grabbed Theron's arm. "Stay with me. Don't let him—"
The hallway lights flickered again, plunging them into darkness for half a heartbeat. When they came back on, a body lay sprawled at the far end of the hall—a hunter, eyes wide, chest caved in as if crushed from the inside.
The mist coiled around the corpse like a pet before sliding back into the shadows.
"Go," Hale ordered, his voice low but urgent. "If Nine fully awakens, this place becomes a graveyard."
They sprinted through the corridor, the sound of gunfire and panicked shouts growing closer. Hunters in grey armor pushed past them, some dragging injured comrades, others shouting orders that dissolved into static as the speakers cut out.
Theron stumbled, one hand braced against the wall as a flood of System text burned across his vision:
[NOTICE: LINK STABILITY—37%.]
[WARNING: CONSCIOUSNESS MERGE… INCOMPLETE.]
[███ OBSERVING.]
"Theron!" Seris's voice snapped him back. She was already at the next junction, her gun raised. "Move!"
He pushed off the wall and ran, the whisper of Nine's laughter curling through his head like smoke.
"They built me to fight monsters. They didn't realize I'd become one."
They rounded a corner and nearly collided with a squad of hunters. Hale raised his badge, barking, "Stand down, Division command!"
One of the hunters hesitated, then glanced past Hale to Theron. His eyes widened. "That's him! That's—"
The mist surged before he could finish. A tendril lashed out, knocking him into the wall with a sickening crack.
Seris fired into the mist, but the bullets didn't land—they hung midair, suspended in shimmering static, before clattering to the floor.
Nine's voice echoed through the hall, layered and distorted:
"Run if you want. There's nowhere safe left in this cage."
The squad scattered, and Hale didn't wait. "To Sector Zero. Move!"
Seris yanked Theron forward, her grip iron-tight. "Stay with me, damn it."
Theron stumbled, his vision flickering between reality and static-laced corridors that didn't match the facility. He saw flashes of a lab soaked in blood, a scientist screaming, a shadow that wasn't human tearing itself free of chains.
"You see it now," Nine whispered. "You're remembering what they buried."
He clutched his head, teeth gritted. "Get out of my head!"
Nine chuckled softly. "But I am your head."
The hallway ahead split open as the reinforced doors slammed down. Hale cursed under his breath and pulled a card from his coat, slamming it against the lock.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
"Override's fried," Hale muttered. "We'll have to—"
A tendril of mist slithered past his arm and into the lock. The screen flickered, symbols replacing standard code, and the door slid open on its own.
Seris and Hale exchanged a look. Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew who had opened the way.
Nine was helping them escape.
Or herding them somewhere else.