The hum of electricity buzzed through the sterile halls of The Mind Maze, an eerie pulse that seemed to get louder with every step Starr took. The air felt heavier now, thicker with tension as they pushed deeper into the labyrinth of Arasaka's hidden facility. Even with the towering chrome machine lying in pieces behind them, Starr couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into something far more dangerous than any of them had anticipated.
Ahead, the corridor split into several paths, each lined with cold, metallic walls that stretched on into infinity, the dim blue lights pulsing along the floors offering little guidance. This place was a maze in more than just name—it was designed to confuse, to trap intruders who dared to breach its sterile, impenetrable shell.
Zeke was limping but still determined, his massive frame tense as he moved with them. Reaver stayed close, his hand resting on the hilt of his mono-blade, always ready. Byte's voice crackled softly in Starr's ear, still monitoring from outside.
"Which way, Byte?" Starr asked, her eyes scanning the endless stretch of halls before her.
Byte's voice crackled through the comms, faint but focused. "Left corridor. That'll take you straight to the main labs. Whatever Arasaka's hiding, it's in there."
Starr nodded, motioning for Zeke and Reaver to follow. They moved silently, their footsteps muffled against the slick floors. The deeper they went, the more unsettling the facility became. There were no guards, no alarms—just the faint, ever-present hum of the machines that powered the place. It was almost as if Arasaka had left it abandoned, but Starr knew better.
She could feel the weight of unseen eyes on her, the sensation of being watched, hunted, even as the corridors stretched empty before them. The stillness only made her more alert. Something about this place wasn't right.
Her mind kept drifting back to the towering machine they had encountered earlier. It wasn't like anything she had seen before—Arasaka was known for their cutting-edge tech, but that thing felt like it belonged to a different world. A different time. She shook the thought from her mind, focusing on the task ahead. She didn't have the luxury of distractions.
They reached a wide door at the end of the corridor, its surface gleaming under the faint lights. A keypad next to it blinked, a red light indicating the area was sealed.
"Byte," Starr whispered into the comms, "get this door open."
"I'm on it," Byte replied, her fingers flying across her interface back at the safehouse. "Give me a sec."
As they waited, Starr glanced over at Reaver. He was standing just a few feet away, his eyes scanning the hallway behind them. The tension between them had only grown stronger since the mission started. Every look, every unspoken word between them was charged with the weight of their past, with the choices they had both made—and the ones they hadn't.
She hated the way her chest tightened every time she looked at him, the way old memories clawed at the back of her mind. This wasn't the time for distractions, and Reaver was nothing but one big, walking distraction. But still, she couldn't ignore the way her pulse quickened whenever he was near, the way she remembered the nights they had shared after the chaos of the city died down.
"Door's open," Byte's voice snapped her back to reality as the light on the keypad flickered green.
The heavy door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing the central lab beyond. Starr's breath caught in her throat as she stepped inside.
The room was vast, larger than she had expected, with walls made of thick glass that allowed them to see into several smaller chambers beyond. Inside those chambers were people—or what remained of them. Bodies suspended in fluid-filled tanks, hooked up to an intricate network of wires and tubes. Their eyes were closed, their skin pale and translucent under the harsh lights. Some of them had limbs replaced with sleek cybernetic augmentations, others had neural jacks embedded deep into their skulls.
Zeke cursed softly under his breath as he took in the sight. Even Reaver's usual calm demeanor faltered, his expression darkening as he moved toward the nearest chamber, studying the bodies within.
"What the hell is this place?" Zeke muttered, his voice filled with disgust.
Starr's stomach twisted. This wasn't just a lab—it was a slaughterhouse. A place where Arasaka had taken people, twisted their minds and bodies, and turned them into something unrecognizable. These weren't test subjects. They were prisoners.
Byte's voice came through the comms, her tone uneasy. "Starr… you're seeing this, right?"
"Yeah," Starr replied, her voice tight. "I'm seeing it."
"These people…" Byte hesitated. "They're not alive. Not really. Whatever Arasaka did to them, it's… it's like they wiped their minds. They're just empty shells, kept alive by the machines."
Starr clenched her fists, her anger building. She had heard rumors of Arasaka's experiments—stories of people being taken off the streets, of lives being erased in the name of progress. But seeing it up close was different. It made her blood boil.
She moved toward the center of the room, her eyes scanning the large console that controlled the facility's systems. This was what they were here for—the neural tech Chimera wanted. The key to controlling minds, to turning people into puppets for whoever held the reins. The thought of it made her sick.
"Byte," Starr said, her voice steady despite the rage simmering beneath the surface. "I need you to pull everything from this system. Every file, every log. I want to know exactly what they were doing here."
"I'm on it," Byte replied, her fingers tapping away at the keys. "It'll take a minute."
As Starr waited, she glanced over at Reaver again. He was standing near one of the glass chambers, staring at the figure floating inside. There was a sadness in his eyes, something Starr hadn't seen in a long time. For a moment, she wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was—about the people they had lost. About the lives they could never get back.
"Reaver," she called out, her voice softer than before.
He turned toward her, his expression unreadable. "Yeah?"
"You good?"
For a second, Reaver didn't answer. Then he nodded. "Yeah. Just… thinking."
Starr's eyes lingered on him for a moment longer before she turned back to the console. She couldn't afford to get lost in the past. Not now.
"Alright," Byte's voice crackled through the comms. "I've got the data. But there's something else…"
"What?" Starr asked, her brow furrowing.
"The system's… not right. I mean, the files are there, but it's like they're alive. I can't explain it, but there's something embedded deep in the neural tech, something… sentient. I think—"
Before Byte could finish, the lights in the lab flickered, and the hum of the machinery grew louder. Starr's HUD flared to life, warning her of an incoming energy surge. Her heart raced as she looked around the room, her hand instinctively reaching for her weapon.
"Byte?" Starr's voice was urgent. "What the hell is happening?"
The machines in the lab began to whir and click, their movements growing more frantic. The bodies in the tanks twitched, their limbs jerking violently as if they were waking up. The air grew heavy, the tension thickening as the entire room seemed to come alive with a sinister energy.
"It's the tech," Byte's voice was frantic now. "It's reacting to you. Get out of there, now!"
The glass of the tanks shattered with a deafening crash, and the bodies inside spilled out onto the floor, their movements jerky and unnatural. Their eyes snapped open, glowing a dull, lifeless red as they rose to their feet, their once-human bodies now controlled by the very neural tech Starr had come to steal.
"Shit!" Zeke shouted, raising his weapon as one of the bodies lunged at him. He fired off a burst of rounds, but the creature barely flinched, its body absorbing the bullets like they were nothing.
"Move!" Starr yelled, pulling her gun and firing at the nearest body. The creature staggered back but kept coming, its movements slow but relentless.
Reaver was already moving, his mono-blade flashing as he sliced through the arm of one of the creatures. Sparks flew as the limb hit the ground, but the creature didn't stop. It swung its other arm at Reaver, knocking him back into one of the consoles with a sickening thud.
"Reaver!" Starr called out, her voice filled with panic. She fired off another shot, hitting the creature in the head and dropping it to the floor. But more were coming, rising from the shattered tanks like something out of a nightmare.
"We need to get the hell out of here!" Zeke shouted, his back pressed against the wall as he fired at the advancing creatures.
"Byte," Starr barked into the comms, her heart racing. "Find us a way out!"
"I'm trying!" Byte's voice was frantic, the sound of her fingers tapping furiously at the keys filling Starr's ears. "The whole system's gone haywire. I'll—wait. There's a secondary exit on the other side of the lab. You've gotta move, now!"