The speedometer on the armored transport hit 120 MPH.
"Kain!" Elena screamed over the comms. "The gate is reinforced titanium! You're going to pancake us!"
Behind the wheel, Kain—a lithe man with neon-green hair and eyes that twitched from caffeine overdose—grinned maniacally. He shifted gears, the engine screaming like a dying banshee.
"Titanium melts at 1,600 degrees, Queen!" Kain laughed. "Tank! Heat it up!"
In the back, the roof hatch flew open. Tank rose up, the wind whipping his scarred face. He mounted the heavy rail-gun turret bolted to the chassis.
"Say hello to Bessie," Tank grunted.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
Blue streaks of superheated plasma tore through the snowy night. They slammed into the massive steel gates of the Geothermal Plant. The metal didn't just bend; it glowed white-hot and liquefied.
"Brace!" Kain yelled.
He didn't brake. He accelerated.
The transport smashed through the molten slag of the gate, debris raining down like fireworks.
They were inside.
[COURTYARD - SECTOR 1]
The facility was swarming. The Shogun's mercenaries—"Red Ronin"—were everywhere. They wore crimson tactical armor and carried energy pikes.
"Contact front!" Tank roared, swinging the turret.
The rail-gun spun up. BRRRRRRT. A wall of noise erased the front line of mercenaries, turning them into mist.
But there were too many. Rocket-propelled grenades trailed smoke from the guard towers.
"Lucas, you're up!" Kain shouted, drifting the van sideways to dodge a missile.
The side door kicked open.
Lucas didn't step out. He launched himself.
[SUIT DIAGNOSTICS: COMBAT MODE ENGAGED.]
[LIMITERS: OFF.]
He hit the frozen pavement rolling, momentum carrying him forward. Three Ronin mercenaries rushed him, pikes glowing with electrical charge.
Lucas didn't draw his pistol. He needed to clear a path.
[ABILITY ACTIVATE: SEISMIC WAVE (Tier 1)]
Lucas slammed his crystal fist into the asphalt.
He didn't hit a man; he hit the world.
BOOM.
The ground rippled. A shockwave of pure kinetic energy exploded outward from his fist, tearing up the concrete in a jagged circle.
The three mercenaries didn't stand a chance. The shockwave shattered their legs, throwing them twenty feet into the air. They hit the ground broken and unconscious.
[ENERGY COST: 15%. VIRAL STABILITY: 82%.]
Lucas stood up, steam rising from his arm. The cooling sleeve on his suit hissed, venting nitrogen to keep the crystal from overheating.
"Clear," Lucas said.
"Moving!" Tank yelled. He jumped from the van, carrying a massive rotary cannon ripped from a helicopter.
They moved in a phalanx. Tank suppressed the towers with a wall of lead. Kain moved with dual sub-machine guns, a blur of motion, picking off flankers with surgical headshots. Lucas took the center, a walking battering ram.
A heavy blast door blocked the facility entrance.
"Tank," Lucas said.
"On it, Boss." Tank revved the rotary cannon. "Knock knock."
He unloaded two thousand rounds into the hinges in six seconds. The door groaned and fell inward with a deafening crash.
[THE FACTORY FLOOR]
The noise of battle died instantly as they stepped inside.
It was humid here. The air smelled of chemicals and ozone. The hum of machinery was deafeningly loud, a rhythmic throbbing that vibrated in Lucas's teeth.
And then they saw them.
The tanks stretched up into the darkness, three stories high. Hundreds of them. The blue light from the fluid cast long, eerie shadows across the metal walkways.
Inside each one, a clone of Lucas floated in suspended animation.
"My god," Kain whispered, his manic energy vanishing. "It's a xerox machine for monsters."
"Eyes up," Lucas ordered. His HUD was tracking a signal. "Center platform."
They ran along the catwalks. The facility seemed deserted now. Too quiet.
They reached the central control platform. It was a wide metal circle suspended over a deep pit of glowing geothermal magma.
And there she was.
Martha hung suspended by a chain over the magma pit. Her nurse's uniform was torn, her face bruised. She was unconscious.
Standing next to the winch controls was a figure. Not the Shogun.
It was a man in a pristine white lab coat. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face. The Alchemist (Apostle #8).
"You're late," The Alchemist said, his voice sounding synthesized. "The Shogun got bored. He left me to clean up the trash."
"Let her go," Lucas said, raising his Shatter Pistol.
"Of course," The Alchemist said pleasantly. "I have no use for her. She was just... bait."
He pressed a button.
The chain clicked. Martha dropped three feet, swinging wildly over the molten rock.
"Lucas!" she woke up screaming.
Lucas took a step forward, but his HUD flashed red.
[WARNING: PROXIMITY ALERT. MASSIVE ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED.]
"Look behind you, Subject Zero," The Alchemist chuckled.
Lucas turned.
From the shadows of the machinery, something stepped out. It was huge—at least seven feet tall. It wore heavy containment armor, but the helmet was glass.
Inside the helmet, there was no face. Just a solid mass of blue crystal.
It wasn't a clone. It was a failure. A human completely consumed by the virus, turned into a mindless golem.
[TARGET ANALYSIS: SUBJECT 099. "THE BERZERKER."]
[VIRAL DENSITY: 100%. HUMANITY: 0%.]
"Meet your big brother," The Alchemist said. "He doesn't have your restraint. Or your expiration date."
Subject 099 roared—a sound like grinding glass—and charged.
"Tank, suppress it!" Lucas yelled.
Tank opened fire. The rotary cannon unleashed a stream of depleted uranium rounds.
PING-PING-PING.
The bullets didn't penetrate. They sparked off the Berzerker's crystal armor and flattened. The monster didn't even slow down. It lowered a shoulder and rammed Tank.
CRUNCH.
Tank—all 300 pounds of him—was launched backward. He hit a support pillar with enough force to dent the steel. He slumped to the ground, wheezing.
"Tank!" Kain screamed, opening fire with his SMGs.
The Berzerker ignored the bullets. It grabbed a steel pipe torn from the wall and swung it at Lucas.
Lucas ducked, the pipe whistling over his head.
[COMBAT PROTOCOL: ENGAGE.]
Lucas drove a crystal-enhanced punch into the Berzerker's ribs.
CLANG.
It felt like punching a mountain. Lucas's arm vibrated with the impact, pain shooting up his neck. The Berzerker didn't move. It looked down at Lucas through its glass helmet.
And then it backhanded him.
Lucas flew across the platform, skidding to the edge of the magma pit. His HUD flickered with static.
[ARMOR INTEGRITY: 60%. DETECTED FRACTURE IN RIB 4.]
Lucas gasped for air, tasting copper. He looked up.
The Berzerker was walking toward him, raising the steel pipe for a killing blow.
"You can't hurt it, Lucas!" Elena's voice cried in his ear. "It's fully calcified! Physical attacks won't work! It's harder than diamond!"
"Great," Lucas gritted out, wiping blood from his lip. "How do I kill a diamond?"
The Alchemist leaned over the railing, watching with scientific interest. "You don't, Ghost. You just break."
The Berzerker swung the pipe down.
Lucas rolled. The pipe smashed the grate where his head had been a second ago.
Lucas scrambled to his feet. He couldn't overpower it. He couldn't shoot it.
[IDEA: RESONANCE.]
[THEORY: Diamond is hard, but brittle. Matching the resonant frequency causes structural failure.]
"Elena," Lucas shouted, dodging another swing. "Analyze its frequency! Give me the tone!"
"Calculating!" Elena typed furiously. "Lucas, if you miss the frequency, the feedback will shatter your own arm!"
"Just give it to me!"
The Berzerker lunged, grabbing Lucas by the throat. It lifted him off the ground, squeezing. Lucas's suit alarm blared.
[AIRWAY OBSTRUCTED. OXYGEN LEVELS DROPPING.]
"Frequency found!" Elena yelled. "440 Hertz! It's a high G!"
Lucas's vision was blurring. He stared into the faceless crystal helmet of the monster.
He placed his crystal palm against the Berzerker's chest.
[ABILITY ACTIVATE: SHATTER POINT.]
[OUTPUT: MAX.]
Lucas focused. He didn't punch. He vibrated. He channeled every ounce of the virus's power into a single, high-pitched frequency.
HUMMMMMMM.
The sound was excruciating. The glass of the Berzerker's helmet cracked.
The monster paused. It dropped Lucas. It clutched its chest, shaking violently.
"NOW!" Lucas roared.
He drew his Shatter Pistol, pressed the barrel against the crack in the monster's chest, and pulled the trigger.
THUMP.
The sonic spike hit the vibrating crystal.
It was too much.
With a sound like a chandelier dropping from the ceiling, the Berzerker exploded.
Shards of blue diamond rained down on the platform. The monster was gone. Just a pile of dust and gems.
Lucas fell to his knees, panting.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Viral Load Critical. Crystallization advancing to 15%.]
"Subject neutralized," Lucas wheezed.
He looked up at the Alchemist.
The scientist wasn't smiling anymore. He looked terrified. He backed away from the railing.
"Impossible," The Alchemist muttered. "That was... perfection."
"No," Lucas stood up, aiming his pistol at the scientist. "That was glass."
He stepped toward the winch controls to lower Martha.
"Don't move!" The Alchemist shrieked. He pulled a remote detonator from his pocket. "Take another step, and I blow the supports! She falls into the magma!"
Lucas froze.
The Alchemist's hand was shaking. His thumb hovered over the red button.
"You won today, Ghost," The Alchemist spat. "But the Shogun has backups. And next time..."
CLICK.
The sound of a gun cocking echoed behind Lucas.
Lucas spun around.
Martha was awake. But she wasn't looking at Lucas with relief.
She was looking at him with cold, dead eyes.
And she was holding a pistol—one she had pulled from her torn dress—pointed directly at Lucas's heart.
"Martha?" Lucas whispered, confused.
"I'm sorry, little one," Martha said. Her voice was wrong. It wasn't the warm voice of his childhood nurse. It was hollow. Robotic.
[TARGET SCAN: MARTHA.]
[ANOMALY DETECTED: Neural Implant. Signal Match: THE SYNDICATE.]
"She's not Martha anymore, Lucas!" Elena screamed. "She's a sleeper agent! She's been programmed!"
"Drop the gun, Lucas," Martha said, her finger tightening on the trigger. "Or I kill us both."