The heart of the Nexus thrummed like a living beast, its core reactors glowing crimson as alarms blared throughout the facility. Sparks flew from malfunctioning circuits, and the ground shook violently beneath Aiden Kross and Elara Voss.
"Elara!" Aiden shouted over the din. "Status!"
She was racing through the inner corridors, fragments hovering before her, protected by a shimmering energy field. "The fragments are reacting to the instability! If I don't secure them in the core chamber now, the entire Nexus will implode!"
Aiden clenched his fists. "Then I'll hold them off. Just get to the core!"
Behind him, Rael and Vayne closed in. Energy weapons crackled and fired, lighting up the walls with lethal precision. Aiden ducked behind a console, firing in rapid bursts to keep them at bay.
"You're predictable, Kross," Rael sneered, sliding between fallen debris. "The Nexus will be your tomb."
Aiden gritted his teeth. "Not today."
He moved like a shadow, exploiting cover, drawing Rael into narrow passages where energy blasts could be redirected. Sparks and shrapnel flew as he turned the environment into a deadly trap for Helix's elite.
Meanwhile, Elara reached the core chamber. The fragments hovered over a massive console, streams of energy dancing between them. She connected her implant, channeling a stabilizing field that began locking the fragments in place.
"Almost… almost there…" she muttered, sweat streaming down her face.
The ground shook again. Massive energy arcs burst from the Nexus core, sending walls crumbling and forcing Helix operatives to retreat momentarily.
Aiden shouted, "Elara, now!"
She released a pulse of synchronized code into the fragments. They responded, glowing brighter, forming a protective bubble around her. The core stabilized — just barely — as the fragments accepted her control.
But Helix wasn't done. Vayne surged forward, attempting to override Elara's stabilization field. Sparks of digital and physical energy collided as the two clashed, the fragments reacting violently to every move.
"You cannot control them!" Vayne hissed.
Elara's eyes blazed. "Watch me."
With a final surge, she locked the fragments fully into a containment protocol, forcing Vayne back. The energy arcs stabilized, the core hummed with contained power, and the immediate threat of the Nexus collapse was averted.
Aiden slid into the chamber, breathing hard. "Nice work. That was too close."
Elara nodded, exhaustion clear on her face. "We secured the fragments… but Helix Dominion isn't finished. Rael, Vayne, Thorne… they'll regroup."
Aiden's eyes hardened. "Then we prepare for the next round. The Protocol's remnants are ours now — and we'll make sure no one ever wields them again."
The Nexus pulsed quietly, its dangerous energy now safely contained. For a moment, there was calm. But both knew the war was far from over.