We slipped in like ghosts.
The steel walls swallowed us, the air thick with the hum of alarms. Emergency lights flickered red, casting long shadows down the corridors. The enforcers were scrambling, their voices crackling over intercoms—shouting orders, calling for backup, trying to figure out where we were.
They didn't know we were already inside.
I moved with Delta Team, every step measured, every breath controlled. My ultra vision cut through the darkness, sensing the bodies behind walls, the nervous shifts of weight, the quiet clicks of safeties being disengaged.
They were splitting up.
Good.
A pair of enforcers came into view, rifles raised, sweeping the hall. Their eyes darted too fast, fear bleeding through their movements. Nova saw them before they saw us.
She melted into the shadows.
The guards didn't even have time to react. One second, she was part of the darkness—the next, she was behind them, her obsidian blade whispering through the air. A single clean slice. The first man crumpled, throat slit.
The second guard turned, eyes wide. Nova was already moving.
A quick twist of her wrist. A gurgle.
Two bodies hit the floor.
No sound. No struggle. Just silence swallowing them whole.
The deeper we pushed, the more frantic the intercoms became. Footsteps pounded from every direction. The enforcers were moving, searching. They still didn't know where we were.
Then the first gunfire rang out.
Alpha Team had made contact.
And that's when the real chaos began.
I pressed against the wall, my vision flaring as another group of enforcers rounded the far end of the hall. Five of them, fully armed, moving in a tight formation.
Vanish materialized right in their path.
The first enforcer flinched back, finger squeezing the trigger, but Vanish was already gone—glitching like a corrupted hologram, reappearing behind him. A blade drove deep into the man's back before he could even scream.
The rest of them panicked.
Gunfire erupted, muzzle flashes lighting up the hall.
Vanish flickered between them, slipping in and out of sight. Their bullets hit nothing but air. Then he was behind them again. Another strike. Another body fell.
The last two turned, eyes wild—
Then the ground rumbled.
A deep crack split the air. The stench of ozone burned my nose.
Shockwave stepped forward, a wild grin cutting across his face. Electricity danced along his knuckles, bright arcs snapping between his fingers.
"Too slow," he muttered.
Then he hit them with a blast.
The air boomed. A shockwave tore through the corridor, sending the last two enforcers flying, their bodies slamming against the walls before dropping limp.
The facility was unraveling.
Screams and gunfire ricocheted through the steel corridors, alarms blaring like a dying heartbeat. The enforcers were still scrambling, still trying to piece together what was happening. But they were already dead. They just didn't know it yet.
Eliana moved like a storm through the chaos.
She was ahead of me, her boots barely making a sound against the cold floor. The dim emergency lights reflected off her skin, her eyes burning with that eerie violet glow. She raised her hand, and the world warped.
The enforcer in front of her barely had time to react.
His body twisted—jerking unnaturally as if an invisible force had gripped him by the bones. His rifle clattered to the ground. His breath hitched. Then his arms snapped backward, bending the wrong way with a sickening pop.
He didn't even have time to scream.
I swallowed hard. Eliana wasn't holding back.
Two more enforcers turned the corner. They saw what happened and froze for a split second—just long enough.
Eliana lifted her hand again.
The air rippled.
Both men were suddenly airborne, their bodies yanked off their feet like ragdolls. Their backs slammed into the ceiling with a crunch, blood spraying from their mouths. Then she dropped them. Hard. Their bodies hit the floor with a dull, wet thud.
I exhaled sharply.
We kept moving.
Somewhere deeper inside, an explosion rocked the facility. Not from us. This was internal. Something was going very wrong.
I pressed a hand to my comm. "Malik, status?"
His voice crackled back, strained. "We hit the control room, but they've got countermeasures. This place is rigged. We don't have much time before—"
A scream cut him off.
Not from the comms. From ahead.
I snapped my head up just in time to see one of Malik's men get yanked into the shadows. One second he was there, the next—gone. The others stumbled back, weapons raised, searching the darkness.
A guttural snarl came from deep within the corridor.
Then the lights flickered.
For the first time since we entered, a cold shiver ran down my spine.
Eliana tensed beside me. "Something's here."
No shit.
Then we saw it.
A figure stepped out of the shadows—if you could even call it a figure. It was wrong. Twisted. Taller than any man should be, its body shifting like liquid darkness.
A modified.
One of theirs.
It grinned, showing too many teeth. "You shouldn't have come here."
Then it lunged.
The mutant lunged, but it wasn't alone.
More of them peeled from the shadows—half-human, half-nightmare. Their bodies twitched with unnatural movements, limbs elongated, eyes glowing like embers in the dark. These weren't just enforcers. These were experiments.
And they weren't on our side.
Eliana reacted first.
She threw out her hand, and the air between us rippled. A crushing force exploded outward, sending the first creature hurtling into the metal wall. Its body bent on impact, bones snapping like dry twigs.
But the others kept coming.
Jax was already moving.
The moment one of the mutants leaped at him, his entire body hardened. His skin darkened, turning metallic, gleaming like polished iron. The creature clawed at him, shrieking as its nails scraped uselessly against his armor-like flesh.
Jax didn't hesitate.
He swung, a brutal, earth-shattering punch that connected with the mutant's head. The force sent it flying, its skull caving in before it even hit the ground.
Another one came from the side—faster than the first. But before it could land a hit, a blur of motion flashed through the fight.
Vanish.
He flickered in and out of sight, teleporting mid-air. One second he was behind the mutant, the next—snap—he had a blade plunged deep into its spine. He twisted, reappearing ten feet away as the mutant dropped lifelessly to the floor.
A deep hum filled the air, followed by a high-pitched whine.
Shockwave.
He stood at the center of the chaos, electricity crackling between his fingers. His eyes gleamed with wild excitement as he stretched his arms wide. "You freaks wanna play?" he sneered. "Let's play."
He slammed both hands together.
A pulse of energy detonated from his body, a sonic wave rippling through the corridor. The mutants closest to him seized mid-attack, their bodies convulsing violently before collapsing like puppets with cut strings.
The floor beneath us groaned.
I barely had time to register what was happening before the walls rattled—panels shifting, hidden doors sliding open.
More of them.
Dozens.
Malik's voice barked over the comms. "It's a goddamn nest in here! We need to move before we're overrun!"
No shit.
A modified soldier lunged at me, claws extended—fast, too fast. But I was faster.
My body moved on instinct.
Everything slowed. My vision sharpened, details snapping into hyper-focus. The air vibrated differently, like I could hear the shift in movement before it happened.
I ducked. Twisted. Countered.
My fist drove into its ribs, and the moment I made contact, something inside me unleashed.
The mutant howled—not from pain, but from something deeper. Disruption. Its body spasmed wildly before its form glitched, like reality itself had rejected it. It flickered—phasing in and out of existence before vanishing in a violent burst of energy.
I stared at my hands.
What the hell was that?
No time to figure it out.
Malik's shout cut through the chaos. "Fall back to the main chamber! We need to regroup before—"
Another explosion rocked the facility, followed by the shuddering screech of metal giving way.
The mutants weren't the only ones responding.
The enforcers were closing in.
And they weren't coming to take prisoners.
The ground lurched beneath us as another explosion rocked the facility. Overhead lights flickered violently, casting everything in erratic flashes of red and white. Somewhere deep within the compound, a siren wailed—a shrill, panicked sound that signaled exactly what we already knew.
The enforcers were coming.
"Move!" Malik bellowed, pushing forward as another security door slammed shut behind us, sealing off the corridor we'd just cleared. "We need to reach the main chamber before we're boxed in!"
Easier said than done.
Another wave of mutants surged from the side hallways, drawn by the commotion. These ones were different—bigger, bulkier, and covered in thick, plated armor that gleamed under the emergency lighting.
They didn't just look dangerous. They felt it.
"Reinforced," Jax muttered, rolling his shoulders. His metallic skin shimmered as he took a stance. "Gonna take more than a punch to drop these bastards."
Shockwave grinned. "Good. I was getting bored."
He raised his hands, and the air itself vibrated. A pulse of energy built up around him, crackling and surging like a brewing storm. But before he could unleash it, a sharp whistle sliced through the air.
Eliana.
She strode forward, her eyes glowing.
The mutants paused.
For just a second, their heads snapped toward her in perfect unison, like puppets waiting for a command.
Then—they turned on each other.
Limbs twisted. Bodies convulsed. One mutant grabbed the one beside it and snapped its neck with a brutal twist. Another let out a strangled howl before tearing into its own flesh, ripping at its plated armor like it was suffocating inside its own skin.
More chills crept down my spine.
Eliana's power wasn't just raw force. It was influence.
And right now, she was rewriting their instincts in real-time.
"Damn," Jax muttered. "Remind me to never piss her off."
She staggered slightly, one hand gripping the wall for support—then blood gushed violently from her lips.
My eyes widened in horror as I rushed to catch her. The toll of her abilities was written all over her face—sweat beading on her forehead, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts.
She couldn't keep this up forever.
"Go," she rasped, shaking off my attempt to steady her. "I've got them. Just go!"
I hesitated for half a second—half a second too long.
A bullet whizzed past my ear, slamming into the wall behind me.
The enforcers had arrived.
They came in tight formations, moving with military precision. No wasted movement, no hesitation. They were armed to the teeth, their rifles already lighting up the corridor with bursts of controlled gunfire.
These weren't just foot soldiers.
These were the elite.
"Fall back!" Malik roared. "Regroup at the chamber!"
The firefight erupted all around us.
Vanish flickered in and out of sight, teleporting between enemies, taking them down before they could react. Jax charged forward like a battering ram, bullets ricocheting harmlessly off his ironclad skin as he plowed through their ranks.
Shockwave finally let loose, slamming his palms into the ground. A seismic shockwave rippled outward, sending enforcers flying like rag dolls.
I moved instinctively, my body responding before my mind could catch up.
A soldier took aim at Malik—
I closed the distance in a blink, moving faster than I ever had before. My fist connected with his chest, and that strange, glitching energy pulsed through me again. The moment I touched him, his body shuddered—like he was phasing in and out of existence—before he collapsed, unmoving.
I didn't have time to process it.
Because more were coming.
And if we didn't reach the main chamber now, we wouldn't be leaving this place at all.