The pain in Do's shoulder was a fire bite, sharpening through the adrenaline. The capsule behind which they had taken refuge was shaking under the impacts of the energy rays. The amber fluid flowed in viscous streams on the ground, mixed with the shards of glass and the sparks of the severed cables. The pungent smell of ozone and a sweet chemical filled the air.
In his hand, the storage module was heavy and warm. Yoona's copy. Life reduced to data in a metal cylinder.
We can't stand here, thought Kai, his mental presence tending to break. They're going to surround us and vaporize us.
Joon, his face dripping with sweat and condensation, fired two costs with his paralyzing gun. The projectiles crashed into the metal torso of the nearest Hunter with no apparent effect.
"Slight weapons do nothing!" he shouted.
Do looked around desperately. The circular room offered little coverage. The capsules, once broken, were no more than inefficient glass coffins. The central terminal, riddled with fire, was out of service. The only exit was blocked by the two Hunters who were advancing methodically, their metallic steps resonating on the flooded ground.
Suddenly, Lyra's voice sizzled in their earpiece, cut off by interference. "they overloaded the...your position..."
Then, clearer, that of Kang Seong, vibrating with a cold emergency. "The preservation fluid in the capsules. It's a hyper-efficient organic conductor. If you can create a short circuit between the capsule network and the main ground supply duct..."
He didn't need to finish. Do understood. A huge risk. The fluid that preserved consciousness could also become a weapon.
The main conduit is under the central plate, near the terminal, Kai said, instantly visualizing the plans. You have to go there.
"Joon! Cover me!" cried Do.
Without waiting for an answer, he threw himself out of his shelter, plunging into the puddle of fluid that was spreading out. A beam of energy whistled above his head, bursting another capsule behind him. The hot, sticky liquid rose to his knees.
Joon began firing a burst, aiming not at the Hunters, but at the ceiling ducts, the control panels on the walls, creating a screen of smoke and sparks.
Do crawled, his heart beating, heading for the half-destroyed central podium. The pain in his shoulder threw at him with every movement. He reached the metal plate on the ground next to the terminal. With trembling fingers, he looked for a grip, a trap door. Nothing.
Use the crowbar! ordered Kai.
Do grabbed the tool that Joon had dropped and pushed it into the joint between the plate and the floor. He weighed his full weight. The metal squeaked, then gave way with a dry crack. Underneath, a nest of thick cables, pulsating with intense blue light, swarmed like living bowels. The main supply duct.
At that moment, one of the Hunters, tired of the Joon Dam, adjusted his shot. A beam hit Joon in the leg. The man screamed and collapsed into the fluid, his gun slipping away.
"Joon!"
The Hunter turned his gun towards Do, trapped, kneeling near the conduit.
There was no more time. Do plunged the crowbar, still a conductor of electricity, into the nest of cables. Then, with the other hand, he launched the storage module - the cylinder containing Yoona - into the large puddle of conductive fluid that connected the broken capsules to the conduit.
"NO!" shouted Kang Seong's voice in the earpiece, a cry of sheer terror.
A spark. Then a dull detonation, followed by a cracking of blue lightning that burst out of the duct, swept through the fluid like lightning through a pond, and hit the module. The raw energy of the Redundancy Core met the organic fluid and the improvised circuit.
The resulting explosion was not of fire, but of light and sheer force. A silent shock wave pushed everything away, lifting Do and projecting him against an intact capsule. The two Hunters were overthrown, their systems twinkling with overload.
For a moment, a deafening silence reigned, broken only by the crackling of the dissipated energy. Then the lights in the room flickered and went out, plunging everything into total darkness, pierced only by the faint blue glow of the damaged cables on the ground and the dying sparks.
The Theta Module was cut off.
Do rose, dizzy, his ears buzzing. His shoulder made him suffer horribly, but he was alive. By the light of the sparks, he saw Joon dragging himself, clutching his wounded leg. The two Hunters lay motionless, their internal lights turned off.
And in the center of the room, where the module had fallen, there was nothing but a molten, blackened metal spot amalgamated on the ground. The cylinder, and the copy of Yoona it contained, had been vaporized by the overload.
An absolute groan of pain - not physical, but mental - resounded in Do's earpiece, and then the line with the outside cut, dead.
Kang Seong had heard everything, seen everything. And he had just lost his sister a second time.
"Do!" called Joon faintly. "The emergency power supply will go off. We have to go. Now."
Do nodded, his mind numb with shock and guilt. He had saved their lives, but at the cost of destroying what they had come for. He dragged himself towards Joon, helping him to get up. The door, now powerless, was simply a heavy metal plate. With their last strength, they managed to slide it a few inches, enough to sneak into the now dark service corridor.
Silent alarms were supposed to sound throughout the complex, but without the main power supply, security doors would be blocked, elevators out of service. Their only hope was to climb up through the maintenance well.
The return was a slow, nightmarish climb. Do supported Joon, who was limping heavily. Each bar on the ladder was a test. The rumble of the quantum heart had been silenced, replaced by a disturbing silence, disturbed only by the distant activation of backup generators and the sound of muffled sirens beginning to sound deep.
They finally emerged into the well room, where their fake robot was still parked, inert. The exit of the Cygnus complex was a mixture of luck and chaos caused by the general breakdown. The human guards, confused, were trying to figure out what was going on. Do and Joon, dirty, wounded, melted into confusion and were able to escape from the building, finding the van at the intended location.
The return journey to the Convent was made in a dead silence. Joon's physical pain was palpable, but the psychological shock that weighed on Do was even heavier.
When they walked through the door of the lair, the reception was frosty. Lyra, Cassiopeia, Orion, all were there, their faces grave. And in the center, sitting on a crate, staring at the floor, stood Kang Seong. He looked like a man emptied of all substance, of all hope.
He looked up when Do entered. His eyes, behind his glasses, no longer expressed anger, no more determination. Only an abyss of loss.
"You killed her," he said, in a voice so flat that it was more terrifying than a scream.
"I... we were going to die," Do stammered, feeling guilty suffocating him. "The module... it was the only driving thing within reach. It was that or we were all part of the collection."
"You killed her!" This time, it was a roar, wild, heartbreaking. Kang Seong jumped up, overturning the box. "You had his conscience in your hands! The last proof that it existed! And you used it as... like a fuse!"
Orion stood between them, his imposing mass forming a barrier. "Calm down, Kang. He saved Joon's life and his own. It was a fighting choice."
"A choice?" sneered Kang Seong, a horrible sound. "What choice did she have?" None! And you're coming to talk to me about choices?"
He turned to Lyra, her gaze suddenly became lucid and dangerous. "You used me. For your plans, for your rebellion. You promised to bring her back. And all you brought back was digital ash."
Lyra held her gaze, impassive. "The mission failed on the secondary objective. But it succeeded on the main objective: we penetrated the Redundancy Core. We caused a major breakdown. We have proof that the system is not invulnerable."
"I don't care about your system!" yelled Kang Seong. "I don't care about your rebellion! She's gone! Really gone this time!"
He tore off his earpiece and threw it to the ground, where it broke. Then he walked to the exit. No one tried to hold him back. His stiff back said it all: he was now alone, and more dangerous than ever, because he had nothing left to lose.
When he left, a heavy silence fell. Joon was taken away for treatment. Do remained standing in the middle of the Convent, covered with soot and dried fluid, his shoulder on fire, his soul in tatters.
Lyra finally approached. "You survived. That's the main thing."
"The essentials?" repeated Do, his voice trembling. "I destroyed the only thing that connected him to us. He will betray us. Or worse, he's going to do something stupid and make everything fail."
"It's a risk," Lyra admitted. "But we now have an opportunity we didn't have before. The failure you caused... it will force the system to reconfigure its defenses, to unveil backup protocols. During this period of transition, he will be vulnerable. More vulnerable than ever."
She put a hand on his valid shoulder, a strangely human gesture on his part. Treat yourself. The real battle, the final battle, has just begun. And we'll need you. From both of you."
Do looked at her, then looked down. In his mind, Kai was silent, but his presence was there, solid, relentless. They had failed today. They had lost an ally, perhaps created an enemy. But they also dealt a blow. A blow that could change everything.
The price had been atrocious. But the war was far from over.