The lower levels reeked of ionised metal and burnt flesh as smoke clung like a shroud, stinging my eyes as my Nexus flared, its unstable energy searing through my veins like an unending fire. My body felt like a marionette being jerked around as I pushed myself harder. Bursts of speed that kept faltering as the pain in my shoulder broke my concentration.

  I stumbled over a corpse, its face frozen in a scream as I spun, barely managing to parry the next rebel’s blade before swinging my own through his throat. Blood sprayed hot across the dead rebel's visor. I know I was lagging again. Too slow. Always too damn slow.

  I looked around the new chamber we had entered as I heard fighting from nearby. Beta 1 blasted its way through a new group as I spotted Elara as she carved her path forward.

  Her combat suit was a canvas of scorch marks and tears, the fabric clinging to wounds that wept crimson. It seemed that she didn’t feel the pain—or if she did, she fed it to the fury burning in her eyes. A rebel lunged at her.

  She sidestepped, snapped his wrist, and drove her dagger up through his jaw. I could hear her voice as she fought. “Where is she? Where is SHE?” Like a mantra, sharpened by every glance around her, every flicker of movement in the haze.

  “Elara. Where’s Seraphina?” I called out, ducking under a laser shot. My Nexus was working hard to boost my speed faster than I could handle. I felt the fatigue catching up with me. I needed to train more. Needed to get my control of the Nexus to a level of usability.

  The throbbing pain screamed in my skull, a feral thing clawing at my restraint. I’d lost count of how many rebels I’d cut down. Ten? Twenty? Bodies blurred together, their faces erased by the static haze of overclocked nerves.

  A shot grazed my shoulder, and I spun, vibrosword humming as it cleaved through the shooter’s rifle and arm. The man crumpled, but I didn’t wait for the scream. Already moving, boots slipping slightly on blood-slick plating.

  I tried to focus. To breathe like I had been taught. To Control—

  My head snapped left as Elara sprinted ahead, her strikes wilder, hungrier. I had a feeling that she had always been lethal, but now? Now she fought like the devil was at her heels.

  It scared me.

  The elevator doors shuddered open thirty meters ahead. A flash of silver combat armour, brown hair—Seraphina—and then the doors snapped shut. I watched in horror as Elara froze nearby.

  I jumped at her scream, “No. No, no, NO—” as it tore through the room, raw and guttural, a sound that belonged to a wounded animal, not a soldier. She didn’t even realise she’d moved. Her fist smashed into a rebel’s throat, crushing cartilage with a wet snap.

  I moved. Trying to intercept her. But as fast as I was. She was still faster. I realised I had made a mistake as the man behind her moved. She didn’t register his blade finding flesh. All she saw was the elevator. So close. I could almost hear her thoughts. ‘She was RIGHT THERE—’

  I grabbed her arm as she lunged for the elevator. “Elara, stop! The hell’s wrong with you?!”

  She whirled. For a heartbeat, I saw it—the fracture in her armour, the desperation beneath the rage. Then her fist smashed into my chestplate, denting the alloy as she hurled me into a support beam holding the roof. My head cracked against metal, and the world was swimming.

  “Out of my WAY!” she snarled, looming over me, pistol pressed to my teeth. I could feel the metal grinding. See how her hand shook as the barrel pushed up against my lip.

  “Elara. Please don’t do it. Please.” I felt my fear settle in. I knew that like this, Elara wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

  I closed my eyes. Seconds ticked by, but the shot didn't come. Cracking an eye, I could see her finger hovering on the trigger. Her eyes were vacant, like she was reliving a memory.

  Elara flinched from whatever was in her mind as Beta-2 turned and ran at her.

  The cyborg’s arrival was a blur of polished black alloy and hydraulic snarls. Beta-2’s optics glowed crimson, its arm cannons whining as they locked onto Elara. “Threat to Command Prime. Eliminating.”

  My warning died in my throat as Elara spun, ducking the first plasma burst. The shot seared the wall where her head had been.

  “Stand down!” I roared as I finally found my voice again, but Beta-2’s systems didn’t listen. I couldn't stop it now if I tried.

  The cyborg was faster than anything I had ever seen, and I wasn't sure if Elara could survive. The cyborgs were more machine, precision layered over human brutality, the perfect soldier. But I didn't know what training Elara had. But it was far more lethal than any I had even known about.

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  The room shook as its fist cratered the floor where she’d stood half a second prior. She lunged, dagger screeching against its armoured torso, and barely dodged the retaliatory swipe that clipped her ribs. Pain blossomed, but she must have leaned into it, letting it sharpen her.

  “Beta 2, stand down now”, I tried again. But it was like I wasn't even there.

  I watched as Elara moved like a dancer. She was targeting weak points, testing the cyborg as she struck.

  She feinted left, baiting a punch, then slid beneath its guard. Her blade found the gap at its knee, twisting the blade through, severing hydraulics.

  Beta-2 staggered, and she lunged again, driving the dagger up through its throat port. Sparks erupted as the blade pierced wiring. The cyborg twitched, claws grasping at her arm, before collapsing in a lifeless heap.

  I stared in shock as Elara stood panting over the wreckage, blood dripping from her split lip. I swallowed as I watched her.

  “She’s alive,” Elara rasped, not looking at me. Her voice was stripped raw.

  I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion as I stared at the smeared trail of Elara’s blood that led from where she had come. Beta-2’s shattered optic stared at me, a cracked red lens. It was the only thing I could focus on.

  I turned back to Elara, but she was already gone, swallowed by the shadows.

  The silence after Elara had left was deafening. I knelt in the wreckage, as my breath came in short gasps, the Nexus’s unstable hum still vibrated in my bones like a dying engine. Blood dripped from a gash above my brow that I didn't remember, mingling with sweat as I stared at the cyborg’s body.

  My thoughts were all over the shop. Alive. She said she’s alive. But where—?

  I didn't even hear the boots behind him as I sat there.

  “Alex!”

  Jax’s voice cut through the haze as his group burst into the chamber. Zara with her plasma rifle raised, Lyra clutching a medkit, Mara and her squad fanning out with military precision. The two guards flanked Beta-1, its chassis streaked with scorch marks but still thrumming with cold efficiency.

  Zara skidded to a halt, taking in the carnage. “What in the seven planets happened? You redecorated the place without us?” Her smirk was sharp, but her eyes flicked to my trembling hands.

  Jax shook his head. He didn’t bother with jokes as he dropped to one knee beside me, gloved hands gripping my shoulders. “Talk to me. Are you hurt? Where’s Elara? Where’s Seraphina?”

  I opened my mouth, but the words stuck. My gaze drifted to the elevator doors, still smeared with a handprint of Elara’s blood. She’s alive. The words echoed, but the sound was hollow. It was all I had left to cling to.

  Lyra shouldered Jax aside, her medic’s instincts overriding protocol. Her scanner hissed as she ran it over his chestplate. “Nexus burnout, shallow shrapnel wounds, Laser burn to right shoulder, concussion risk—”

  “I’m fine,” I growled, swatting the device away. My voice cracked as I struggled to speak. “Elara’s gone after her. Seraphina was here. The elevator—”

  Mara barked orders to her squad, her rifle never lowering. “Secure the sector. Beta-1, sweep for hostiles.” The cyborg jerked into motion, its optics scanning the room with detached focus. One of the guards eyed it warily, fingers tightening on his pistol.

  Zara crouched beside Beta-2’s corpse, whistling low. “Who did this?

  “Elara.”I choked out.

  Zara blinked. “Elara did this? Alone?” She prodded the severed hydraulic line with the toe of her boot, like she didn’t quite believe it. “Damn. Girl’s got a flair for dramatic exits.”

  “Not a flair. Desperation.” My voice wavered. It sounded raw, felt even rawer as I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. Jax caught me, hauling me upright with a grunt.

  “Easy. You’re running on fumes,” Jax muttered, though his hands shook slightly. “You need to rest. Enough with the stupid actions and risks. Please.”

  I looked at Jax as Lyra jabbed a stim into my neck, ignoring my flinch at the sudden sting. “This’ll stabilise the Nexus feedback for an hour. Then you collapse. No arguments.”

  The room spun briefly before sharpening. I grunted as I shoved away from Jax, steadying myself against a shattered wall. Beta-1’s monotone voice cut through the tension. “Sector secure. No hostiles detected.”

  Mara finally lowered her rifle, her sharp eyes locking onto me. “We’re wasting time. If Valtor’s here, we need to move now. Your cyborg—”

  The guard nearest Beta-1 stiffened, his distrust palpable. “It’s a machine. Doesn’t care whose side it’s on.”

  Zara snorted. “Says the guy hiding behind it during the sweep.”

  “Enough.” Jax stepped between them, his tone hard. He turned to me, his gaze hard but tinged with something softer. “You saw Seraphina. Elara saw her too. That’s why she’s…” He trailed off, gesturing at the destruction.

  I could only nod, the stim’s clarity sharpening the memory—Elara’s scream, the pistol at my teeth, the fractured look in her eyes. She’s unravelling. And I couldn’t stop her.

  Mara shouldered her rifle. “Then we follow. Beta-1, take point. You—” She pointed at the guards. “Watch our backs. And don’t shoot the damn cyborg unless it glows red.”

  I watched as the group made arrangements to move out. I stopped, lingering, staring at the elevator. Lyra’s hand settled on my arm, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. “She’ll hate you for it, but you saved her life.”

  “Did I?” My laugh was hollow. “Or did I just give her another chance to die?”

  I watched as ahead, Beta-1 paused, its head tilting as if listening to a silent command before it marched forward, relentless.

  Zara fell into step beside me, her smirk gone. “Bet you ten credits she’s already found Seraphina.”

  I could tell she was trying to talk to me. To get me to relax. I didn’t answer. Seraphina’s brief image is burning in my brain now. I needed to get to her, to tell her. Elara said she was alive. And I had seen it with my own eyes.

  She was alive. But for how long?