The stairwell spiraled downward—a long metal throat echoing with alarms and bootsteps far above.
Alex half-carried, half-dragged Kayden.Phineas sprinted ahead, scanning the dim emergency lights.
APEX pulsed warnings inside Kayden's skull:
"Operator.Heart rate unstable.Cognitive drift increasing—"
Kayden grit his teeth.
"Not yet…we're almost there."
Alex tightened his grip.
"You're doing great," he whispered, breathless.
Phineas skidded to a stop at the next landing.
"THIS WAY!" he shouted."Sub-floor access! It's open—someone tampered with it!"
Alex frowned.
"Someone? Or something?"
Phineas didn't answer.He didn't need to.
Because the heavy maintenance door, marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY,hung crooked on one hinge—pulled outwardby a force strong enough to bend steel.
Kayden's pulse stuttered.
"APEX…?"
APEX's hum dropped,turning sharp and analytic.
"Unknown breach signature.Not SRD.Not Agent.Unclassified."
Phineas turned pale.
"…cool cool cool. So it's a third terrifying mystery. Love that for us."
Alex swallowed.
"We don't have a choice. Omega's right behind us."
Kayden nodded, weak but resolute.
"Go."
They pushed through the damaged door.
The service sub-floor wasn't like the sleek, sterile orientation wing.It was a forgotten part of the facility—low ceilings, exposed pipes,old machinery humming with inconsistent power.
Emergency lights barely flickered.Shadows moved like water.
Alex whispered:
"This place feels… wrong."
Phineas shuddered.
"Like someone buried a haunted basement under a government torture complex."
Kayden managed a faint laugh.
"Not helping…"
Then—
A sound.
Soft.Metallic.
A scraping.
Like claws dragging across a vent.
Alex swung his head around.
"What was that?"
APEX reacted first.
"Operator—brace."
Kayden tensed.
Phineas raised the stun baton.
"Don't say brace! Never say brace!"
The scraping came again—closer.Above them.Along the pipes.
Alex shifted Kayden behind him.
"Whatever that is, it's not SRD."
Kayden whispered:
"Then what is it…?"
APEX answered with a tone Kayden had never heard before.
Not analytical.
Not directive.
Cautious.
"A remnant."
Kayden's throat tightened.
"A remnant of what?"
APEX didn't get to answer.
Because the thing moved.
SCREECH—
A burst of metal shredded from the ventilation duct overhead.A shape dropped through—fast, spider-like,mechanical limbs glinting with fractured plating.
Phineas screamed.
"WHY DOES IT HAVE LEGS—WHY DOES IT HAVE THAT MANY LEGS—WHO MADE THOSE CHOICES—?!"
Alex shoved Kayden behind a support column.
"Stay down!"
The creature skittered across the floor.Eight limbs.Twisted, asymmetrical.Eyes glowing a faint, pulsating red.
Kayden felt the resonance inside him spike.
"I've seen that before—Kayden's breath hitched—"In APEX's visions—in the future war—that's a—"
APEX finished for him:
"Recon-class Hunter Unit.Model: Arclight Prototype.Decommissioned.Destroyed in future-cycle seven."
Alex stammered.
"Destroyed?! Then why is it HERE?!"
The Hunter Unit flicked its head toward the three of them.
Its eyes dilated—scanning.Locking.
APEX hummed sharply:
"It survived.Temporal dissociation event.This is an anomaly displaced from the war-front."
Phineas dropped his baton.
"No.No no no—time travel robots—absolutely not—unsubscribed—"
Kayden grabbed Alex's arm.
"Alex…it's hunting resonance."
Alex froze.
"So it's hunting you."
The Hunter Unit screeched.
The sound vibrated Kayden's bones.
APEX reacted instantly:
"Operator—LASH PROTOCOL EMERGENCY READY."
Kayden panicked.
"No—no—if I use the Lash again—I'll hurt you—"
Alex grabbed his face.
"Kayden. Listen to me."
His voice was steady.Solid.Human in a way nothing else in the room was.
"You are not going to hurt me."
The machine screeched again.It lunged.
Phineas dove behind a rusted generator.
"OH MY GOD IT'S MOVING—ALEX DO SOMETHING—"
Alex stepped in front of Kayden.
Kayden felt the resonance tremble beneath his skin, desperate, terrified, ready to explode.
He whispered:
"I can't hold it—Alex—I'm scared—"
Alex pulled him close, forehead against his.
"I'm not."
And that one sentence—that one anchor—snapped something into place inside Kayden.
His fear didn't vanish.
But it aligned.
APEX sensed it immediately.
"Operator stabilization: recovered.Lash available."
Kayden inhaled—a sharp, trembling breath.
Then he faced the Hunter.
The machine lunged.
Kayden lifted a hand—not entirely his hand,not entirely APEX's—something between them.
A wave of resonance erupted.
Not uncontrolled.Not explosive.
Directed.
A column of blue-white energy slammed into the Hunter Unit mid-air,sending it crashing back into the wall in a shower of sparks.
Phineas froze.
"Holy—Holy—KAYDEN JUST FORCE-PUSHED A TERMINATOR—"
Alex stared at Kayden in stunned awe.
"You controlled it."
Kayden collapsed into Alex's arms, exhausted.
"I… did."
APEX hummed approval:
"Operator growth trajectory: improving."
The Hunter Unit writhed, damaged but not destroyed.
It scanned Kayden again.
Its eyes glowed brighter.
APEX reacted with alarm.
"Warning.Unit is transmitting."
Kayden stiffened.
"Transmitting—what?"
Alex whispered:
"Who is it calling…?"
APEX's voice dropped like a stone:
"The Agent."
Kayden's blood ran cold.
Alex pulled him tighter.
Phineas screamed:
"OH COME ON—NOT HER AGAIN—"
The Hunter Unit let out one final screech—
And the air around it bent.
A slit of white light began to open.
The same slit the Agent stepped through.
Kayden whispered, shaking:
"She's coming back."
Alex whispered back:
"Then we run."