Silence.
The kind that followed devastation, where even the wind hesitated to move.
Blade awoke to the sound of dripping water and the faint hum of failing machinery. His body ached with every breath. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in what used to be an underground corridor now half-collapsed, walls split open, the floor uneven and soaked with condensation.
He pushed himself up slowly, dust falling from his armor. The HUD inside his visor flickered with fractured data streams:
Neural sync: 62%
Core stability: Unknown
Energy output: Fluctuating
He blinked hard, clearing the haze from his vision. The silver patterns under his skin were still glowing faintly, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
He didn't remember losing consciousness. The last thing he recalled was Subject 09 disintegrating into light, the explosion swallowing the chamber, and then nothing.
"Crow," he rasped, tapping his comms. Static answered him.
He tried again. "This is Blade. Respond."
Nothing.
He exhaled, checking the emergency nav beacons embedded in his gauntlet. No signal. That meant he was far outside the main network possibly kilometers away from the original facility.
The ground above him trembled faintly. He could hear muffled booms not explosions this time, but something heavier, rhythmic. Helicopters.
He needed to move.
Blade staggered toward the collapsed exit, pushing aside bent steel panels. The air outside hit him like a shock cold, sharp, and wet. Dawn had long passed. The horizon burned with the orange glow of early morning filtered through smoke and ash.
The landscape before him was unrecognizable. The mountain that once housed the facility was gone replaced by a crater stretching for miles. Steam rose from fissures in the ground, painting the world in shades of gray.
He took a step forward, feeling the crunch of ash beneath his boots. Then he noticed something.
Footprints.
Not his.
Several sets, human and heavy, leading away from the crater into the forest beyond.
That meant survivors.
He tightened his gloves, instincts sharpening. "If anyone made it out… they'll lead me to answers."
As he followed the trail, the forest began to close around him tall, skeletal trees bending slightly from the heat of the blast. Birds were absent. The only sound was the rustle of leaves and the faint mechanical whine from his damaged armor.
Minutes turned into an hour. The prints grew fresher. Then he saw it a faint glint of metal through the trees.
A downed aircraft.
He crouched low, moving silently through the brush. The wreckage belonged to the same military division that had operated the facility insignias half-burnt but still recognizable. Bodies were scattered nearby, most torn apart by shrapnel.
He checked one soldier's ID plate. Unit 47-Delta. The same division assigned to security detail at the lab.
But someone had finished them off clean shots to the head. No wild fire. Professional.
Blade's eyes narrowed.
He circled the site, scanning for movement. That's when he heard the low static click — the unmistakable sound of a rifle safety being disengaged.
He turned sharply, just as a voice shouted, "Freeze!"
A squad of four soldiers emerged from cover, their weapons trained on him. Their armor was different sleeker, dark blue with the insignia of a different branch. Division Nine.
"Hands where I can see them!" barked the squad leader. "Identify yourself!"
Blade raised his hands slowly. His armor still bore the markings of the destroyed facility not the best look.
"I'm a survivor," he said evenly. "From Site Theta."
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. One muttered, "Impossible. Theta was wiped off the grid. There were no survivors."
The leader kept his aim steady. "Remove your helmet."
Blade hesitated, then complied. As the visor hissed open, the morning light caught the silver glow faintly running along his temples.
The soldiers stiffened immediately. One cursed under his breath. "He's one of them."
Before they could react further, the ground shuddered.
A deep, guttural roar echoed through the forest, scattering birds from unseen treetops. The soldiers swung their weapons toward the sound, eyes wide.
From the shadows beyond the wreckage, something massive moved fast.
Trees snapped like matchsticks.
Then it emerged a creature born of the same nightmare technology that had birthed the abominations below ground. Only this one was… complete. Its body was armored, the plates smooth and integrated, its eyes burning with molten orange light.
The soldiers opened fire immediately, bullets ricocheting uselessly off its hide.
"Fall back!" the commander shouted.
But the creature was faster. It leapt forward, crushing one soldier instantly beneath its claws. The others scattered, firing desperately.
Blade didn't move at first. He just watched calculating the creature's movements, its balance, the rhythm of its attacks.
Then he moved.
One moment he was standing still, the next he was gone his motion blurring into a streak as he appeared beside the beast. His palm struck upward beneath its chin, sending a shockwave that cracked the air. The monster reeled back, stumbling, its roar muffled.
The soldiers froze, stunned.
Blade's voice was calm. "Get clear."
They hesitated, then obeyed, dragging their wounded back as he advanced alone.
The creature charged again. This time Blade met it head-on, sliding low beneath its swing and driving both fists into its midsection. Metal buckled. Sparks flew. The beast retaliated with a tail strike, sending him crashing into a tree hard enough to splinter it.
Pain flared through his ribs. He coughed, tasted blood, and stood again.
He could feel the Catalyst pulsing inside him energy coiling tighter and tighter, begging to be unleashed.
He let it.
Silver light burst from his veins, spreading through his armor like wildfire. The HUD overloaded for a split second, displaying lines of code he didn't recognize.
When the creature attacked again, Blade didn't dodge. He caught its claws mid-strike. The ground cracked beneath their feet as he forced its arm downward then snapped it clean at the joint.
The roar that followed shook the forest.
Blade's expression didn't change. He drove his knee into the creature's chest, then finished with a crushing blow that shattered its skull like glass.
Silence followed once more.
The soldiers stood frozen, staring at the impossible sight. Blade's body was still glowing faintly, steam rising from his shoulders.
He turned to them. "Now," he said, voice low, "someone tell me what Division Nine is doing here."
The commander hesitated, then lowered his weapon slowly. "We were sent to contain what was left of Theta. But it looks like containment failed."
Blade looked toward the distant crater smoke still rising like a wound in the earth.
"No," he said quietly. "It's just beginning."
The transport rattled through the ruined forest, its armored wheels grinding against debris and fallen branches. Inside, the air smelled of oil, gunpowder, and antiseptic.
Blade sat against the wall, wrists bound in magnetic restraints glowing faintly blue. Across from him, two Division Nine soldiers kept their rifles trained on him, their expressions caught between fear and disbelief.
The hum of the vehicle's engine blended with the low thump of his heartbeat. His mind was quiet unnervingly so. After the fight with the creature, the energy inside him had stabilized, but the aftershock lingered in every nerve. He could still feel the faint rhythm of the Catalyst pulsing beneath his skin, whispering, More.
He didn't know what "more" meant yet.
The commander the same woman who had ordered him to surrender earlier sat near the front, her helmet now removed. She looked maybe in her early thirties, short black hair tied neatly, eyes sharp as tempered glass. Her nameplate read: Lt. Sera Vaughn.
"Are those restraints really necessary?" Blade finally said, breaking the silence.
Sera didn't look back. "You tore apart a fully armed hybrid unit with your bare hands. So yes, they're necessary."
"I saved your squad."
"After terrifying them." She glanced over her shoulder then, studying him for a moment longer. "You're lucky I didn't order them to shoot you on sight."
He smirked faintly. "You tried."
That earned a flicker of amusement from one of the soldiers quickly silenced by Sera's glare.
The transport jolted as it passed over uneven terrain. Outside, the faint orange glow of sunset began to bleed through the cracks in the armored panels.
"Where are we going?" Blade asked.
Sera answered flatly. "Camp Argus. Division Nine's forward operating base. You'll be held for debrief and examination."
"Examination," he repeated quietly. "Sounds familiar."
Sera noticed the bitterness in his tone. "You've been through that before?"
He looked away, eyes fixed on the faint reflection of his face in the metal wall the faint silver veins under his skin still shimmering softly. "You could say that."
The conversation died there.
When the transport finally came to a stop, the rear hatch hissed open. Floodlights blinded him for a moment as soldiers in black tactical suits surrounded the vehicle. The smell of ozone and rain filled the air.
Sera stepped out first, barking orders. "Keep weapons ready. He's not a normal detainee."
Blade followed, the restraints humming faintly with every step.
Camp Argus was a fortress built in haste a perimeter of steel, barbed wire, and concrete nestled in the valley below the crater. Dozens of drones hovered overhead, scanning for movement.
As he was escorted through the main gate, soldiers stopped what they were doing to stare. Whispers followed him Is that one of the Theta experiments? I heard they were all dead. He doesn't even look human.
He ignored them. He'd heard worse before.
They brought him into a containment chamber clean, sterile, and far too familiar. The white light above buzzed faintly, casting harsh shadows across the walls.
Sera remained outside, speaking with a man in a white coat. Not military scientist. Blade could tell immediately by the posture.
When the man entered, he smiled too easily. "Mr. Blade, is it? I'm Doctor Raynor, Division Nine's biomedical head."
Blade didn't respond.
Raynor continued, undeterred. "You caused quite an incident today. Command wants answers. You're an anomaly a survivor from a facility that, by all reports, was completely erased."
"An anomaly," Blade echoed. "That's what they called us too."
Raynor's smile faltered for a second, then returned. "You're not under threat, at least for now. We're interested in how you survived exposure to the Catalyst compound. Your vitals, regeneration rate, and neural patterns they're extraordinary."
He stepped closer, studying the faint glow in Blade's veins. "Whatever experiment Theta was conducting… you might be the only working subject."
"Subject," Blade said quietly. "Another familiar word."
The scientist hesitated, perhaps realizing his choice of vocabulary. "You misunderstand. Division Nine isn't your enemy."
Blade met his eyes. "That depends on who you're serving."
Before Raynor could reply, Sera entered. "Command wants him interrogated immediately. They think he might still be under external control."
Blade almost laughed. If only they knew how wrong that was.
Minutes later, he was transferred to a smaller room metal table, two chairs, a single overhead light. Classic interrogation setup.
Sera sat across from him, a datapad in her hand. She leaned forward. "Tell me about Site Theta. What were they doing there?"
Blade's expression didn't change. "You already know the answer to that."
"I want to hear it from you."
He looked at her for a long moment, then said, "They were playing god. And losing."
She frowned. "The Catalyst. What is it exactly?"
He hesitated. Images flickered behind his eyes the experiments, the screams, the endless white rooms.
"It's… not a drug," he said slowly. "It's alive. Whatever they used to make it, it wasn't meant for humans."
Sera's eyes widened slightly. "Alive?"
"Think of it like a parasite. It adapts, learns, integrates with its host. The more it bonds, the more control it gains. Until there's nothing left to control."
The room went silent.
Raynor, observing from the glass behind them, whispered into his comm, "Fascinating…"
Sera leaned back, processing what she'd heard. "Then how are you still… you?"
He looked down at his hands. The silver glow dimmed slightly. "Maybe I'm not."
Before she could respond, the alarms blared.
Red lights flooded the corridor outside. The speaker crackled Unauthorized movement near perimeter gate. Unknown entity inbound.
Sera shot to her feet. "What now?"
Raynor's voice came through her earpiece. "Thermal readings off the charts. It's heading straight for the command tower."
Blade tilted his head slightly, a small, knowing smile touching his lips. "Guess your containment didn't last long."
Sera glared at him. "Stay here."
But when she turned, the restraints around his wrists deactivated with a faint click.
She froze. "How"
He stood, flexing his fingers. "You should strengthen your security protocols."
"Don't do anything stupid, Blade."
He looked toward the door, eyes already glowing faintly silver again. "I'm not. I'm just tired of cages."
Then he was gone moving faster than the eye could follow, vanishing into the chaos of the base as the first explosion tore through the night.
The base was chaos.
Sirens screamed through the compound, painting the steel corridors in pulses of red light. Soldiers scrambled for weapons and cover while drones zipped overhead, scanning for intruders. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air, mixed with something else ozone and ash.
Blade moved like a shadow among them, slipping between corners and blind spots with fluid precision. His senses were sharper now, the Catalyst humming inside him like a second heartbeat. Every vibration, every movement, every whisper he felt them before he heard them.
He wasn't running to escape. He was following the source of the explosion.
The deeper he went, the more the air changed heavy, electric, charged with static energy. The lights flickered, then went dark entirely.
A faint voice crackled through the emergency speakers.
"All personnel, this is Lt. Vaughn. Intruder identified near Sector Seven. Engage on sight. Maintain perimeter lockdown."
Blade kept moving, silent and steady. Sector Seven. That was where the command tower stood the heart of the base. Whatever hit the facility wasn't a random attack. It was coordinated.
He rounded a corner and froze.
A soldier hung suspended midair, body limp, eyes wide open in silent terror. The air around him shimmered like heat haze. Then the body disintegrated not burned, not cut just… erased, reduced to dust that floated for a heartbeat before vanishing completely.
A voice came from the shadows ahead. Smooth. Confident.
"Beautiful, isn't it? The precision of power when properly refined."
Blade stepped forward, eyes narrowing. From the darkness, a tall figure emerged clad in matte-black combat gear with no insignia, his face hidden behind a sleek mask with a crimson visor.
The emblem on his shoulder was unmistakable: a coiling serpent biting its own tail the mark of the organization.
Blade's tone was ice. "You're one of them."
The figure tilted his head slightly. "The fact that you're still alive means Dr. Crow failed to contain you. How disappointing."
"Who are you?"
The stranger's mask flickered faintly, revealing a glint of silver beneath. "Designation: Shade. Shadow Operative, Tier One. I'm here to erase what remains of Theta."
Blade's jaw tightened. "You're late."
Shade chuckled softly, stepping forward. "And yet here you are the runaway experiment. I must say, the doctor's handiwork is impressive. You survived the blast, didn't you?"
"I did more than survive."
Shade stopped two meters away, his stance casual, confident. "Let's test that theory."
The air shifted.
Blade barely saw the movement one blink, and Shade was already in front of him, palm raised. The space around them twisted, and a wave of invisible force slammed into Blade, launching him across the corridor. He crashed through a wall, concrete and steel raining down around him.
Pain exploded through his body, but he rolled to his feet instantly.
Shade stepped through the dust, his movements calm and surgical. "Telekinetic compression. You can't block what you can't see."
Blade's eyes glowed faintly. "We'll see about that."
He dashed forward, the world slowing to a crawl his Time Dilation kicking in instinctively. Sparks froze midair, debris hung motionless, and Shade's head tilted ever so slightly as Blade appeared beside him, driving a punch toward his ribs.
But the hit never landed.
Shade twisted impossibly fast, catching Blade's wrist mid-strike. "Ah. So you've unlocked Chrono Distortion. Crow did mention his prototype could manipulate localized time."
Even within slowed perception, Shade was moving unaffected.
Blade's eyes widened. "You can move inside the field?"
Shade's grin was audible. "Adaptation. You think we'd deploy without countermeasures?"
He slammed his knee into Blade's gut, breaking the time-lock effect entirely. The world snapped back into motion with a thunderous shockwave that shattered nearby glass.
Blade staggered, coughing blood. Shade advanced, his voice low. "The Catalyst inside you is unstable. Crow's formula was incomplete. I'm here to correct his mistake."
"By killing me?"
"By dissecting you."
Shade lunged again, his hand wreathed in crimson energy. Blade blocked, but the sheer impact sent sparks through his armor. They traded blows in a blur of motion metal cracking, concrete exploding around them.
Each strike from Shade carried a crushing weight, a precision that came from experience. Blade fought back with raw ferocity, his enhanced reflexes keeping him alive by seconds.
Shade's power wasn't brute force. It was control. Every movement, every flick of his wrist redirected kinetic energy perfectly.
But Blade had something Shade didn't chaos.
He feigned a stumble, baiting the Shadow closer, then unleashed his second ability. His vision fractured a dozen afterimages of possible futures flashing before his eyes.
He saw Shade's next strike, his step, the angle of his wrist.
When the blow came, Blade moved first.
He ducked under the telekinetic slash, driving his elbow into Shade's chest and following with an uppercut that cracked the visor.
Shade staggered back, surprised. "Predictive vision. Impressive. But imperfect."
He raised both hands. The air shimmered violently, pressure building until the walls groaned.
Blade braced, eyes glowing silver. The world slowed again slower this time. He could see the bullets of dust moving in the air, the tension vibrating in every molecule.
He surged forward, dodging between collapsing beams, closing the distance before Shade could release the full blast. His fist connected with the operative's chest, sending a shockwave down the hall.
Shade hit the wall hard enough to leave a crater, his mask splitting open. Beneath it, faint metallic veins pulsed across his skin.
Not human. Not entirely.
Shade wiped the blood from his mouth, grinning. "You're stronger than the others. I see why Crow was so obsessed."
Blade didn't respond. His breathing was ragged, his knuckles bleeding.
Shade straightened slowly. "But strength without purpose is wasted. Tell me, Blade do you even know why you were created?"
Blade's voice dropped to a whisper. "To survive."
He moved again faster than before, the silver light surging around him like lightning. Shade met him head-on, their clash tearing the corridor apart.
Explosions rippled through the compound. Sera Vaughn watched from the command tower's security feed, eyes wide.
"Who the hell is he fighting?"
Dr. Raynor's face had gone pale. "A Shadow Operative. The organization's enforcers. If he's here, then this base won't stand for long."
On-screen, the two figures collided again, the feed flickering from the shockwaves.
Then static.
When the image cleared, only one figure stood amidst the smoke.
Blade.
His armor was shattered, his body bleeding, but he was still standing. Shade lay crumpled on the floor, his body dissolving into a metallic mist.
Blade looked down at the remains, chest heaving.
From the mist, a faint digital voice echoed Shade's last transmission.
"Interesting... You're evolving... faster... than predicted…"
The voice faded.
Blade looked up at the burning skyline beyond the broken walls. The facility was in ruins again, soldiers scattering to contain the damage.
He knew one thing for certain now this wasn't an isolated incident. The organization hadn't forgotten him. They were hunting their own.
And somewhere, far beyond the smoke and chaos, Dr. Crow was watching.
A faint smirk touched the doctor's lips as he monitored the feed from a hidden terminal miles away. "Good," he whispered. "Let the experiment continue."