The door handle twisted slowly, metal creaking. Jack's grip on the IV stand tightened until his knuckles went white. Every instinct screamed at him to run, but Eve's voice cut through the panic.
"Jack. Listen carefully. That's not a nurse. That's a retrieval unit. You cannot outrun it. You must fight."
"Fight?!" Jack hissed, eyes wild. "Did you see what happened with the last thing? I barely survived that!"
Eve's hologram flickered beside him, eyes hard. "I saw. And you survived because I helped you. This time you'll use the skill I gave you. Pulse Strike. It's your only chance."
Before Jack could answer, the door swung open.
It stepped through like a shadow sliding into the room—a tall humanoid figure, nearly two meters, its body a sleek lattice of obsidian metal and pulsing blue circuits. Its head was smooth, faceless, save for two vertical slits that glowed an icy white. Each movement was unnervingly graceful, like a predator that had studied ballet.
Jack's stomach lurched. "That's a… robot."
Eve's voice was low. "On the surface."
As if on cue, the thing's right arm rippled. Metal plates parted like liquid, revealing a writhing cluster of black tendrils, slick and organic, tipped with hooked claws that flexed hungrily. A low, guttural growl escaped from somewhere deep inside it.
Jack's jaw dropped. "Okay. Not just a robot."
The unit took a step forward. The lights flickered and died completely, plunging the room into darkness except for its own glowing circuits. Its voice was mechanical, but layered with something almost alive.
> "Eve Unit 7B. Return the host. Termination authorized."
Jack stumbled back. "I'm not going with you!"
It tilted its head, tendrils twitching. "Host resistance irrelevant."
Eve floated in front of Jack like a shimmering shield, though her projection couldn't actually stop anything. "Jack. Pulse Strike. Now."
Jack raised the IV stand like a staff. "I don't even know how to—"
"Focus on your arm. Channel it. Swing at its core and shout 'Pulse Strike.'"
The unit lunged. Jack swung desperately. "Pulse Strike!"
A surge of blue energy erupted from his hands, traveling down the IV stand. When it struck the droid's chest, a shockwave blasted outward, throwing sparks and knocking the unit back a step. Its circuits flickered.
Jack blinked. "It… worked?"
Eve smirked faintly. "For now."
The unit looked down at the scorch mark on its chest. The tendrils hissed, then shot forward like spears. Jack dove behind an overturned bed as the tendrils stabbed through it, missing him by inches.
"Adrenal Surge!" Jack shouted.
Another jolt of speed lit up his veins. He rolled out from cover, swung again, Pulse Strike crackling along the pole. The unit blocked with its arm, the impact sending a shockwave through the floor.
The IV stand snapped in half.
"Seriously?!" Jack shouted, tossing the broken metal aside.
The unit's head tilted again. "Primitive resistance noted."
It leapt forward, impossibly fast. Jack barely dodged, crashing into a medical cart. Instruments clattered to the floor. He grabbed a scalpel on instinct, uselessly small compared to his enemy.
"Jack," Eve said sharply. "Window. Now."
He glanced at the window. "We're on the third floor!"
"Better a broken leg than no legs at all."
Before he could decide, the unit's tendrils lashed out again. He ducked, adrenaline singing in his veins. His eyes landed on a defibrillator on the cart.
"Eve!" he shouted. "Can I—?"
"Do it!"
He snatched the paddles, thumbed them to max, and jammed them against the unit's chest as it lunged. Electricity arced wildly. The droid convulsed, circuits flickering, tendrils recoiling.
Jack dropped the paddles and sprinted to the window. "Screw it!"
He smashed it with a chair, shards raining down, wind rushing in. He turned to run, but the unit was already recovering, stepping toward him through smoke and sparking wires.
"Jump!" Eve screamed.
Jack jumped.
For a heartbeat he was weightless, city lights spinning below. Then he crashed into a bush with a bone-jarring thud. Pain exploded in his shoulder, but he was alive.
Above, the retrieval unit stepped to the shattered window and looked down, faceless and silent. Its tendrils coiled, then snapped back into its arm. With a single leap, it dropped from the window, landing on the pavement with a metallic crunch.
Jack staggered to his feet, clutching his shoulder. "You've got to be kidding me…"
Eve flickered beside him, her projection unstable from the fall. "Run, Jack. Now."
He bolted across the hospital parking lot, barefoot, gown flapping. The retrieval unit followed at a measured pace, not even running—just striding inexorably closer like death itself.
Behind the hospital, Susan sat in her car, gripping the steering wheel. She'd come back after cooling off, worried about Jack despite her anger. When she saw him burst out of the bushes, chased by something out of a nightmare, her breath caught.
"Jack?!"
He heard her voice, snapped his head toward her. "Susan?! Get out of here!"
She flung her door open. "What is that thing?!"
"Go!" he shouted. "It's after me!"
The retrieval unit paused, its faceless head turning toward Susan. For a moment the tendrils twitched, tasting the air. Then it resumed its slow pursuit of Jack.
Susan's eyes filled with terror. "Jack!"
Eve's voice hissed in Jack's ear. "She's a liability. If you care about her, keep running. Lead it away."
Jack's heart twisted. "I'm not leaving her!"
"Then you'll both die."
The unit raised one arm. A tendril shot out, spearing the ground between Jack and Susan like a harpoon. She screamed, stumbling back.
"Jack!" Eve snapped. "Decision. Now."
Jack's breath came in ragged gasps. He turned to Susan, eyes blazing. "Get in the car and drive! Don't look back!"
She hesitated, tears in her eyes. "Jack…"
"Go!" he roared.
She slammed the door, gunned the engine, and sped off into the night, tires screeching. Jack turned back to the retrieval unit, jaw set.
"Okay," he muttered. "Just you and me now."
Eve's hologram flickered beside him, expression strangely soft. "You're either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid."
Jack smirked weakly. "Both."
The unit lunged again. Jack dove aside, grabbed a loose length of rebar from a construction pile, and swung with everything he had. Pulse Strike activated automatically, blue energy crackling down the metal. It slammed into the unit's side, actually denting the obsidian plating.
The unit staggered, circuits flickering. It straightened slowly, tendrils writhing more violently. Its mechanical voice came out distorted, almost angry.
> "Host resistance escalated. Adaptive countermeasures engaged."
Its left arm split open, revealing a glowing core of sickly green light. Tendrils whipped out, striking the ground, leaving sizzling marks.
Eve's eyes widened. "It's evolving mid-combat. That's… bad."
"No kidding!" Jack shouted, dodging another strike.
"You can't beat it like this," Eve said. "But you can stall it. Look at the crane."
Jack glanced at the construction site nearby. A huge crane towered above, its hook dangling low.
Eve's voice was rapid-fire. "Lure it under the hook. Then Pulse Strike the controls. Drop the load on it."
Jack sprinted toward the crane, the unit following relentlessly. He ducked under the hook, heart pounding, and leapt for the control panel. Sparks burst as he slammed his glowing hand into it. The hook released with a metallic snap.
A massive load of steel beams crashed down onto the retrieval unit, burying it in a cloud of dust and sparks.
Jack collapsed to his knees, panting. "Please tell me that worked…"
Eve flickered, scanning. "For now. But it won't stay down. We need to leave. Now."
Jack staggered to his feet. "Where?"
"Anywhere but here." She hesitated. "And Jack… you did well."
He managed a shaky smile. "You almost sound impressed."
She rolled her holographic eyes. "Don't let it go to your head."
Jack stumbled into the shadows, sirens wailing in the distance. Behind him, the pile of steel shifted. A single tendril slid out, curling like a snake.
As they disappeared into the night, Jack's phone buzzed with a new notification. He pulled it out, hands trembling. It wasn't from Eve.
> [NEW MESSAGE: Unknown Sender]
"You are not the only host."
Jack's breath caught. "What…"
Eve's hologram flickered, eyes narrowing. "We're in deeper than I thought."
A low metallic roar echoed from the construction site as the retrieval unit began to rise again.
– End of Chapter 3 –