The voice echoes. Jax. Not through comms, but from the crumbling alley itself. A gurgling, wet sound, stretched and twisted. It pulls at Vael, sharp and cold. His neural crown thrums, a low, constant pressure behind his eyes. The suit registers the impossible bio-signature. It pulses. Vael's vision sharpens, the world snaps into a brutal clarity. The abandoned sector stretches out, a maze of collapsed structures and skeletal rebar.
"Gravemind. Report," the squad leader's voice cuts through the comms. Clean. Impersonal.
"Contact. Confirmed bio-signature. Location forty-seven meters east. Structure Beta-9." Vael's voice is flat, filtered through the suit's vox. He moves. His foot connects with concrete. The old alliance is gone. This is a hunt.
Zara Kim, Culex pilot, shifts beside him. Her suit, sleek and dark, tenses. She has her blades out. The twin thrusters on her back hum, ready. "Jax?" she asks, voice tight. Disbelief. Not hope.
"Affirmative," Vael replies.
"Command, we have positive ID on Pilot Jax's bio-signature. Transformed. Nestwretch variant." The squad leader's comms are open. A harsh breath follows. "Pursuit protocol initiated. Containment priority. Do not engage unless necessary. Gravemind, lead the track. Culex, support."
Vael takes point. His Gravind suit feels like an extension, seamless. He moves through the rubble, each step measured. The pressure in his skull intensifies. It's like something is pushing against the inside of his helmet. A faint, glowing obsidian ridge extends from the top of his helm, a new line carved into the suit's shell. He barely notices it. The world dims to focus. A cold, predatory focus settles over him.
The transformed Jax gorebreed is intelligent. It knows their standard operating procedures. The trail isn't obvious. It uses the ruins. It uses the silence. Vael's suit systems feed him data. Thermal signatures. Residual bio-matter traces. It's a phantom limb severed from the squad. Now it fights back.
Zara follows, a dark blur. Her Culex suit is built for speed, for air. But the tight, debris-choked spaces make her hesitate. Her wing-damage trauma flares, a subtle flinch when navigating a sudden drop, a momentary waver when rappelling down a shattered building face. She recovers fast. But Vael sees the micro-hesitations. Asset and liability. A simple calculation.
"It's using the old comms channels, Gravemind. Static on seven and eight," Zara says, her voice strained. Her suit picks up echoes. Human voices. Distorted. A cry for help. A child's whimper. It slices through the air.
"Psychological warfare. Standard for Howlhost gorebreed. Unexpected for Nestwretch variant." Vael's voice is devoid of inflection. He pushes a tactical override. "Ignore extraneous audio. Focus on bio-signatures. My suit will filter comms for you."
A flicker of anger from the squad leader. "Gravemind, maintain standard protocols. Do not modify comms without authorization."
Vael ignores the order. His suit's new squad sync abilities activate. He perceives his squadmates' positions, their suit readings, their heart rates. He pushes minor data streams into Zara's helmet, a subtle override. Her field of view shifts, highlighting hidden structural weaknesses. Optimal movement paths illuminate on her HUD. She's faster now. More fluid. She moves like he is guiding her hand. Her surprise bleeds into the comms. "Acknowledged. Tracking enhanced."
The former pilot Jax gorebreed is taunting them. The twisted mimicry of voices. Not just random screams. This is targeted. It's using their own memories.
"Vael… you left me." The voice, Jax's voice, echoes from behind a pile of shattered concrete. It's a trick. Vael's suit scans. No bio-signature. Just residual sound waves. He pushes forward.
A memory flickers. Not his own. A jolt. The piercelock. The needle sinking into his spine. The searing pain. The voices of the other trainees, their screams as the suits rejected them. Eight pilots, dead. Disposable. He shoves the flicker down. Focus. The suit shifts, a cold weight in his skull. The past is fuel.
They move through what was once a market. Stalls overturned, produce rotting. A grotesque smell hangs in the air. Rotting flesh. Wet metal. Jax is here. Vael picks up a faint shimmer, heat haze against a wall. The Nestwretch variant's skin. It's fast. Faster than expected. It slips through shadows.
"It's circling," Zara says. Her Culex blades hum. "It's setting us up."
"Acknowledged. Anticipating ambush points." Vael's neural crown throbs, mapping the environment, predicting movement. His command field expands, a cold grid overlaying the chaos. He can see the potential trajectories, the hidden paths the creature might use. He can see them almost before they exist.
The squad leader's comms crackle again. "Gravemind, direct engagement authorized if necessary. Zara, stay close. Do not let it escape into the residential zones." The squad leader still doesn't trust Vael to give the kill order. Or perhaps it's the lack of sentiment. A dry thought pushes through. They want the monster. Not the man who made it.
Vael sees a movement ahead, a flash of something dark, organic, behind a crumbling wall. He raises his arm. "Ambush. Right flank. Now."
He fires. A focused burst from his forearm cannons. The wall explodes inward, showering them with dust and debris. The transformed Jax gorebreed bursts through, a horrifying mass of contorted limbs and writhing flesh. It's larger than Vael remembered. Its skin, once human, is stretched taut, riddled with bulbous growths, and pulsing with an internal, sickening light. It moves with a dislocated, unnatural grace.
It screams. Not a howl. A familiar, agonized cry. "Help me!"
Zara flinches. Her thrusters flare. She moves to intercept. Her wing-damage trauma makes her overcompensate, a quick, jerky movement. She nearly trips over a piece of rebar. Vael's suit flares. He sends a surge of data, a jolt of his enhanced tactical awareness straight into her neural interface. Her balance corrects. She spins, blades out, engaging the creature.
The former pilot Jax gorebreed is agile. It uses its knowledge of their suit's blind spots, its former training, to weave between their attacks. It lunges for Zara, trying to get behind her. "Culex, watch your six. It's feinting," Vael barks, his voice low, steady. He moves to flank, a heavy, deliberate stride.
The leader cuts in. "Gravemind, fall back! Zara, disengage! I said contain, not kill!"
Vael doesn't break stride. "Negative. Threat assessment: high mobility, adaptive intelligence. Containment unlikely in current terrain. Termination optimal." His voice is colder now. The decision is made. The suit agrees. Its internal thrumming resonates with his resolve. The ridge on his helm feels like it's pressing on his brain. A new, sharper thought forms. This is what you are now. A weapon.
He fires again, a precise shot at the creature's jointed leg. The Gorebreed snarls, a sound that is both animalistic and horribly human. Its leg buckles. It falls back, spitting a viscous fluid.
"You son of a bitch, Gravemind! That's a direct order!" the squad leader shouts. Frustration. Fear. Vael's suit registers the subtle shift in the leader's tone. A trust breakdown. It means nothing. Survival is absolute.
The transformed Jax gorebreed scrambles. It darts into a narrow gap between two collapsed buildings, a space too small for the Gravind unit. But not for the Culex.
"Zara. Pursue. I'll clear the path." Vael's voice is firm. He influences Zara's suit sensors again, pushing her. He sees the path. He sees the kill.
She hesitates for only a fraction of a second, glancing back at him, then at the squad leader's indicator on her HUD. She makes her choice. Her thrusters ignite. She rockets forward, a dark arrow, disappearing into the narrow gap after the transformed Jax gorebreed.
Vael follows, smashing through the side of the building. Rebar screams. Concrete dust chokes the air. The other squadmates are behind him, struggling to keep up. He hears their distant shouts, fragmented and muffled.
The passage opens into a cavernous, dark chamber. It was once a subterranean parking garage. Now it's a labyrinth of shattered pillars and twisted metal. The air is thick, stale. A low, guttural growl echoes.
The transformed Jax gorebreed is waiting. It's perched on a high, unstable support beam, its grotesque body rippling. It has a tactical advantage. This is a trap. Vael's suit systems register the structural instability. The deep rumbling beneath his feet. Too late.
"Gravemind. Back out. Now!" The squad leader's voice screams through the comms.
The transformed Jax gorebreed lunges. Not at Vael. Not at Zara. At the structure itself. It tears at a load-bearing pillar with its mutated claws. Dust rains down. The ceiling groans.
"Zara! Get out!" Vael shouts, his own comms crackling.
She's too deep. Too close. Her thrusters flare, trying to gain altitude, but the collapsing debris is too fast. A massive concrete slab shears off above her.
"Zara!"
The rumbling intensifies. The very ground splits. Vael feels the shockwave. The world tears itself apart. He sees Zara's Culex suit, caught in the shower of falling rock, tumbling. He feels the snap. Not his suit. Her wing-blade… it crumples. And then, darkness. Concrete. Dust. The comms go dead.
A chilling voice, clear this time, closer than anything. Not on the comms. Inside his head. "Zara. Your brother always told me you cried when you saw spiders."
The voice is Jax. It's laughing. He is alone. The suit throbs. Something has broken. Something permanent.