Just as Unit Zero struck, the shield of blue holographic plates flared to life.
Sparks fanned out, and the air cracked with electric backlash as her blade struck the barrier. The impact caused the station walls to tremble, and dust began to fall from the ceiling.
Iris covered her face.
Rei felt pressure slam into him and clenched his teeth.
It was more than just energy that stood in the way.
Every crack, every charge flow, every strain was palpable to him.
As if the shield were an extension of his own pulse.
Barrier Weave Architect ProtocolIntegrity: 63%… 54%… 41%
Rei gasped. "It's… breaking!"
Unit Zero's voice echoed coldly through the station:
"I know your patterns, Aeron Vale.Your defences degrade the longer you hesitate."
"I'm not Aeron!" Rei shouted back.
Unit Zero paused—only for a heartbeat.
"Denial detected. Psychological drift at 12%.Recovery required."
Her blade lifted again.
Rei's stomach dropped. "She's not listening…"
Iris grabbed his arm. "We need to MOVE!"
RUNNING ON INSTINCT
The second strike crashed through the barrier, shattering it like brittle glass. Blue shards scattered and dissolved into light.
Rei didn't think—he just moved.
His hand swept through the air, tracing a glowing pattern he didn't consciously understand. A neon sigil erupted beneath his feet.
Architect Protocol: Kinetic Jump
A burst of repulsion launched Rei and Iris upward just as Unit Zero's blade cleaved the ground where they stood.
The shockwave blew chunks of concrete across the station.
Rei and Iris soared onto a maintenance catwalk overhead, landing in a rolling skid.
Iris wheezed. "Rei—your body shouldn't be able to pull that off!"
"Tell my body that," he shot back, wiping blood from his nose.
Down below, Unit Zero scanned the darkness, her visor pulsing.
"Run if you want.You always run, Aeron."
Rei froze.
Something twisted inside his chest—sharp, painful.
"I'm not him," Rei whispered again, but softer.
Iris placed a hand on his back. "Rei… who was Aeron?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. But she does."
THE STATION TREMORS
Metallic thuds echoed through the station as Unit Zero began climbing the wall like an insect, magnetic talons digging into steel.
"Okay, that's—no, nope, absolutely not," Iris muttered, backing away.
Rei scanned the catwalk. Old conduits. Power lines. Access hatches.
His mind flashed with an overlay he'd never seen before—a holographic schematic mapping the entire station's infrastructure.
Not just seeing it.Understanding it.Intuitively.
He spotted a conduit feeding into a pressure valve above Unit Zero.
A voice—his but not his—whispered:
"Collapse the conduit.Stagger her.Do not aim to kill."
Rei clenched his teeth.He hated that the voice made sense.
He grabbed a steel bar leaning against the wall and slammed it into the conduit junction.
Sparks erupted.
A burst of steam exploded downward, hammering Unit Zero directly. She lost her grip and crashed to the ground in a shower of metal fragments.
Iris blinked. "Rei… You're like… a walking cheat code."
Rei felt a wave of nausea. "I don't want to be."
THE STRANGER IN THE DARK
Before Unit Zero could rise again, a sharp whine pierced the air.
A cloaked figure dropped from the ceiling, landing between Rei and the fallen mech. Their outfit was woven with stealth fabric, shimmering like broken pixels.
A mask concealed their face, but a single neon stripe pulsed across it.
They pointed a device at Unit Zero.
"Sleep."
The device emitted a low harmonic tremor.
Unit Zero jerked violently—then froze mid-motion. Her systems powered down, eyes fading from red to black.
Rei stared.Iris stared harder.
The masked figure turned toward them.
"You two made a mess," they said, voice filtered and calm. "Come with me if you want to survive the next three minutes."
Iris stepped in front of Rei. "Who are you?"
The figure tilted their head. "A friend. Or at least, someone who doesn't want you hauled off to Aetherion labs."
Rei's heart raced. "How did you disable her?"
"She wasn't my target." The masked stranger pointed at Rei. "You were."
Iris tensed. "Not helping!"
The stranger raised both hands as if to calm them. "Relax. I'm not here to kill him."
Rei frowned. "Then what do you want?"
The stranger's mask bristled with shifting light.
"To stop you before you fully wake up."
Rei felt ice shoot down his spine.Iris grabbed his hand protectively.
"What does that mean?" Rei whispered.
The stranger took a slow step closer.
"It means," they said softly,"that the Architect inside you is beginning to overwrite your current self."
Rei's breath caught.
"My… what?"
The stranger scanned the room as the station began shaking—alerts blaring, drones converging again.
"No time. Follow me, and I'll explain everything."
Rei hesitated.
Iris squeezed his hand. "Rei… whatever this is… I'm with you."
He nodded.
And the three of them vanished into the maintenance tunnels just as Unit Zero's systems flickered back online.
Her visor glowed anew—brighter, angrier.
"Aeron Vale…You cannot run forever."