Kayden's arms shook in the restraints.
His breath came in quick, shallow bursts.
The probe digging into his neural signal finally powered down, leaving behind a ringing in his skull that made the room tilt slightly to the left.
His heartbeat was still stuttering.
APEX was still silent.
The woman behind the one-way glass didn't give him a second to recover.
She signaled to the med-techs.
"Phase Two.Initiate micro-anomaly testing."
Kayden's blood went cold.
"N-no…"His voice cracked."Don't— please— not without APEX— I can't—"
No one acknowledged him.
A heavy metal panel slid open in the wall beside him.
Behind it—
A containment cube.
Inside the cube, a faint shimmer twisted the air.
Not a creature.Not a ghost.Not alive…
But wrong.
A dimensional glitch, like a piece of reality bent inward and flickering.
Kayden felt the hair on his arms rise.
The temperature dropped instantly.
His chest tightened.
"…oh god… that's an anomaly echo—"
One med-tech spoke softly through her mask:
"Level 0.4 echo. Harmless to the environment.Potentially unstable for high-resonance subjects."
High-resonance subject.
Not boy.Not Kayden.
Subject.
Kayden's voice shook.
"Turn it off… TURN IT OFF—"
The woman in command didn't blink.
"Begin exposure."
The cube slid closer.
Kayden's pulse spiked painfully.
He felt his vision distort — like the walls were breathing lightly, the air pressing in waves.
Alex's voice in his memory whispered:
"Kayden… hey… breathe… I'm here…"
But Alex wasn't here.
Kayden's breathing hitched.
The anomaly pulsed.
The restraints vibrated slightly.
His heart felt like it was skipping every third beat.
He gasped,"STOP— PLEASE— I can't— APEX isn't—"
A technician noted:
"Subject showing rapid destabilization.Recording stress response…"
Kayden twisted in the chair, chest collapsing inward.
Everything in the room sharpened — painfully sharp.The lights too bright.The hum too loud.The air too thick.
Another pulse hit him.
WHUM—
His vision shattered into six layers of color.
He choked.
Screamed.
Sweat dripped down his face, shaking uncontrollably.
"STOP IT— PLEASE— JUST STOP—!!"
The anomaly flickered— then expanded slightly, reacting to his panic like a flame responding to oxygen.
Glass in the chamber rattled.
Med-techs stepped backward in fear.
One panicked:
"Ma'am— at this resonance level, the echo could destabilize the chamber—!"
The woman didn't react.
"Proceed."
Kayden's breath broke.
His body felt like it was splitting between two frequencies —his physical selfand something deeperripping aparttrying to reach something that wasn't there—
APEX.
He needed APEX.
He hung onto the word like a lifeline.
"APEX— please… p-please— I can't— I can't—"
A faint flicker replied.
Just a flicker.
A static whisper.
APEX's voice barely there:
"…Com…man—er…"
Kayden's heart clenched.
"APEX?! I'm here— I'm here— PLEASE— help me—!"
The anomaly pulse hit again.
Harder.
His back arched.His teeth clenched until his jaw screamed.His fingers spasmed.His vision went white around the edges.
APEX whispered again—
"…sys…tem…damaged… please… hold…"
Then silence.
Kayden's head dropped forward.
Tears slipped down his cheeks.
He whispered to himself:
"I'm so scared…"
The anomaly's light twisted violently.
A med-tech stumbled back, yelling:
"Subject resonance is SPIKING— the anomaly is RESPONDING to him—!"
Phineas's voice echoed in Kayden's memory—
"Your resonance interacts with anomalies.You are part of the pattern."
Kayden felt the anomaly pulling at him.Like a magnet scraping at bone.Like pressure in his chest demanding space.
He tried to shut his eyes—
But the anomaly forced them open.
He gasped in horror.His body jolted.The restraints cut into his wrists.
The command officer's tone sharpened:
"Record everything.This is the most reactive signature we've seen since '72."
Kayden's mind flickered.
'72.The year Hale mentioned.The missing operator.
A flash of a battlefield.A kneeling soldier.White fire.
Kayden screamed.
"GET IT AWAY FROM ME—!!"
One med-tech panicked and reached for the console.
"Ma'am, his neural rhythm is collapsing! We need to cut exposure—!"
The woman spoke coldly:
"Increase the echo intensity."
The tech froze.
"…ma'am…?"
"You heard me."
"But— his body— his system— his resonance—"
"Do it."
The tech hesitated.
"DO IT."
The cube's lights brightened—
and the anomaly surged.
Kayden's head whipped back, eyes flying wide, pupils dilating.
The chamber trembled.
His heart slammed violently, dangerously out of rhythm.
THUMP— … THUMP— … THUMP—…THUMP— THUMP— THUMP—
His breathing fractured.
His legs kicked weakly against the restraints.
The anomaly stretched toward him like a tendril of warped light.
Kayden sobbed:
"Please— STOP— please— I can't— I can't— please—!"
And then—
Everything exploded.
Not literally.
Inside him.
A burst of resonance tore outward from his chest — raw, uncontrolled, instinctual.
The anomaly recoiled instantly, screeching in distortion.
Lights shattered.Screens went black.Every sensor spiked violently.
Alarms blared.
"WHAT WAS THAT—?!""RESIDUAL WAVEFORM DETECTED—!""CONTAIN HIM—!""THE ANOMALY IS COLLAPSING— GET IT OUT—!!"
The cube slammed shut, retracting into the wall.
Kayden collapsed forward, gasping, chest heaving violently, face soaked in sweat and tears.
His pulse pounded in his ears.
His head spun.
He felt seconds from passing out.
The command officer watched through the glass, expression unchanged.
"Interesting.Begin preparations for Phase Three."
Kayden froze.
Phase Three.
He whispered through trembling lips:
"…I can't do this…"
A faint, broken whisper flickered in his skull:
"…Com…man…der…hold… on…"
APEX was alive.
Barely.
But Phase Three was coming.
And SRD wasn't done breaking him.