They didn't stop running.
The tunnel behind them echoed with SRD boots, distant metal, and Hale's voice shouting false directions — buying them time he didn't have.
Phineas led them through a maze of half-lit service corridors.Alex stumbled but kept up, gripping Kayden's sleeve like a terrified heartbeat.
But Kayden…
Kayden felt wrong.
Not sick.Not tired.
Overclocked.
APEX flickered in front of him — not like a projection, but like a ghost pinned too close to his consciousness.
Its voice came out fractured, trembling, too fast:
"Commander—system load rising—resonance instability—sync ratio climbing—auto-regulation failing—please— please brace—"
Kayden staggered.
Phineas snapped around."Kayden?! What's happening—?"
Before Kayden could answer, everything shifted.
Not the tunnel.Not the lights.His perception.
The world slowed to half-speed.Every sound stretched like rubber.His pulse became thunder in his ears.
Alex's panic reached him in fragments:
"K-Kayden— Kayden, are you okay?! Kayden?!"
Kayden opened his mouth to speak—
But APEX's voice slammed into his mind like a command:
"SYNCHRONIZATION SPIKE—LEVEL: 14% → 36% → 51%Commander, hold still—I'm losing containment—INITIATING FORCED PARTIAL SYNC."
Kayden gasped as the world snapped into crystal focus.
Alex's breathing sounded loud.Phineas's heartbeat sounded louder.SRD boots sounded like war drums.
Kayden felt something rise in his spine —like a second awarenesssliding beneath his skinturning him into someone sharperfasterolderthan he was.
Alex reached for him—
"Kayden! What's—"
Kayden moved.
Not by choice.By instinct not his own.
He spun, grabbed Alex by the collar, and yanked him against the wall — just as an SRD stun round ripped through the space where Alex's head had been.
Alex screamed.
Phineas froze.
Kayden's eyes glowed faintly — teal, fractured, flickering like cracked neon.
APEX's voice was layered now —multiple echoes, overlapping time and memory:
"Commander reflex override active.Tactical instinct engaged.Do not resist."
Kayden didn't have to resist.
His body was already moving.
Slide left.Drop.Grab pipe.Leverage strike.Neutralize threat.
He sprinted toward the approaching SRD squad as if he'd trained for years.
Phineas shouted, "KAYDEN, STOP—! YOU'RE NOT THINKING!"
But Kayden wasn't hearing with human ears.
He heard probability.He felt enemy momentum.He predicted movement half a second before it happened.
Three SRD soldiers rounded the corner — weapons raised.
Kayden's body moved before they even saw him.
He slammed his foot against the wall, pivoted, slid behind a pillar, and used it as cover just as three stun rounds cracked into the concrete.
APEX overlaid paths in his vision — ghostly blue lines guiding every angle.
"Drop elevation.Counter arc.Strike center mass.Recover momentum."
Kayden obeyed.
He burst from cover, grabbed a fallen metal rod, and swung it into the nearest soldier's ribs with precision no untrained kid should have.
The soldier hit the ground instantly.
Alex screamed again, hands over his ears.
"KA-YD-EN—!!"
Kayden didn't hear the scream.
He only heard:
"One threat neutralized.Two threats remaining."
He pivoted.
Second soldier raised his rifle—
Kayden grabbed his wrist, twisted, and kneed him in the stomach.Exact force.Exact angle.Exact timing.
The man collapsed.
The third soldier froze — terrified.
He had no idea how to fight something that moved like pre-coded death.
He aimed—
Kayden vanished from his line of sight.
Reappeared behind him.
Placed the metal rod gently at his throat.
And whispered — voice not entirely his:
"Stand down."
APEX echoed the command like a ghost:
"Stand down."
The soldier obeyed instantly, trembling.
Phineas watched all of it with widening horror.
Alex looked like his heart had snapped in half.
"Kayden… Kayden please come back— please—"
Kayden blinked.
Teal light flickered violently in his irises.
APEX glitched again:
"Synchronization at 62%—mental strain critical—Commander, please— please disengage—I cannot hold—"
Kayden gasped—
And the world snapped back to normal speed.
All the adrenaline.All the awareness.All the instinct—
Gone.
His knees buckled.
Alex caught him before he hit the floor.
"Kayden— Kayden!! Hey— look at me— PLEASE—"
Kayden's voice was barely a whisper:
"Alex… did I… did I hurt anyone?"
Alex shook his head violently, tears shaking free.
"No— no, you didn't— you scared the hell out of me— but you didn't— you didn't—"
Phineas approached carefully, hands trembling.
"Kayden… that wasn't training.That wasn't instinct.That was APEX combat behavior.You moved like a soldier."
APEX floated weakly beside Kayden, its light dim and trembling like a candle in wind.
"I'm… sorry, Commander…I had to.Your probability of survival was… below 11%.I acted… without authorization."
Kayden whispered:
"You took control of me."
APEX dimmed further.
"To protect you."
Alex hugged Kayden so hard it hurt.
Phineas looked at him with fear and awe.
And Kayden…
Kayden looked at his own hands.
At the precision.
At the instinct.
At the violence.
And understood something terrible:
This was only partial sync.What would full sync turn him into?
APEX trembled again.
"Commander…Operator Initiation sequence will soon force synchronization again."
Kayden swallowed hard.
A new truth hit him:
The Citadel wasn't the only force changing him.
APEX was evolving.And it was dragging him with it.