The world had narrowed down to the sound of rushing water and the rhythm of breathing.
Seven Scrap-Arks floated down the subterranean river, bobbing like corks in the pitch-black current. The water here was deep, cold, and ancient, flowing through tunnels that had never seen the light of the sun—or the smog of the city.
On the roof of Ark One, Varian sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. He wasn't meditating. He was listening to the reports coming in over the hard-wired comms system Iron-Jaw had hastily rigged between the boats.
"Ark Three, reporting," Gorgon's voice rumbled, steady as a rock. "Hull integrity holding. The heavy machinery shifted, but we strapped it down. My boys are calm."
"Ark Five," Lady Venom's voice hissed. "Oxygen scrubbers are at 90%. But the refugees are panicking in the dark. I had to... sedate a few."
"Keep them calm, Venom. Not unconscious," Varian ordered. "We need them walking when we land."
He opened his eyes.
At the bow of the Ark, crouching on a gargoyle-like piece of scrap metal, was Rix.
The Rat-Boy wasn't cowering anymore. He was standing tall (for him), his nose twitching furiously as he sampled the humid air. Behind him, a dozen other rodent-mutants from the Vermin-Swarm watched him expectantly.
Rix turned to them, clicking in their secret language. The other rats nodded and scampered to different corners of the roof, acting as lookouts.
Varian smiled faintly. He's not just a scout anymore. He's a commander.
Varian walked over to Rix. "What do you smell, Spymaster?"
Rix puffed out his chest at the title. "Smell is... sweet. Like electric sugar. And... sticky."
"Sticky?"
"Yes. Air is thick. Something hangs."
Varian looked up. The ceiling of the cavern was rising, opening up into a massive grotto. And then, he saw it.
[Environmental Scan: Bioluminescence Detected.]
The darkness vanished. The cavern was illuminated by thousands of soft, pulsing blue lights.
They weren't stars. They were Net-Jellies.
Massive, translucent jellyfish the size of hot-air balloons floated in the air currents above the water, tethered to the ceiling by thin mucus strands. Their tentacles, kilometers long and glowing with neon-blue venom, dangled down into the river like a shimmering curtain.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. And lethal.
"Don't touch the lights!" Varian screamed into the comms. "All Arks! Center channel! Avoid the tentacles!"
The Snare
The fleet steered hard to the center. The pilots—Scrap-Jack's engineers—cranked the manual propellers frantically.
Ark One slipped through a gap in the glowing curtain.
But Ark Two—Iron-Jaw's heavy command boat—drifted wide.
"We're caught in the current!" Iron-Jaw shouted. "Rudder is unresponsive!"
Ark Two drifted sideways. Above it, a massive Net-Jelly pulsed. Its tentacles, thick as cables, brushed against the side of the container.
FZZZ-ZAP.
The contact wasn't just physical; it was electrical. The tentacles latched onto the metal hull. The Jelly contracted, pulling the massive metal boat out of the water.
"We're being lifted!" Iron-Jaw yelled. "We're going up!"
The refugees inside Ark Two screamed as the boat tilted 45 degrees, dangling five meters above the rushing river.
"Gorgon! Grapples!" Varian ordered.
"I can't reach them!" Gorgon yelled from Ark Three. "They're too high!"
Varian looked at the distance. Ten meters between Ark One and the dangling Ark Two. Too far to jump.
He looked at Rix.
"Rix," Varian said. "Can you climb that?"
He pointed to the glowing, venomous tentacles holding the boat.
Rix looked at the blue death. He looked at Varian. Then he looked at his "squad" of rat-boys watching him.
"I am Rix," he said, baring his needle teeth. "I climb anything."
"Take your squad. Cut the lines. But don't touch the skin—use your claws."
Rix chittered a command. "Squad! Move!"
Varian grabbed Rix and threw him.
Rix sailed through the air, landing on the hull of the suspended Ark Two. His claws sparked against the metal as he found purchase.
"Go! Go!" Rix screeched.
Three other rat-mutants jumped after him, landing with thuds.
They scrambled up the vertical hull toward the tentacles.
Inside Ark Two, Iron-Jaw was firing his rivet gun at the tentacles through a porthole, but the jelly just absorbed the metal. "It's rubbery! Rivets bounce off!"
Rix reached the connection point. The tentacle was pulsing with electricity.
"Cut!" Rix ordered.
He drew his glass knife. The other rats drew sharpened scrap metal shivs.
They hacked at the glowing limb.
SPLAT. HISS.
Blue slime sprayed out. It landed on one of the younger rat-mutants. He screamed as the toxin burned his fur, paralyzed his arm, and sent him tumbling off the boat into the dark water below.
"Squeak!" Rix yelled, watching his comrade fall.
Rage filled the Rat-Boy's black eyes. He didn't retreat. He bit down on the tentacle.
His teeth, sharpened by gnawing on copper pipes in the sewers, shore through the tough outer skin.
SNAP.
The first cable broke. The Ark dropped two meters.
"Two more!" Varian shouted, watching from below. "Gorgon! Catch them when they fall!"
Rix was covered in blue slime now. His movements were getting jerky. The neurotoxin was setting in. But his mutation—the resilience of the cockroach and the rat—was fighting it.
He slashed the second line. SNAP.
He scrambled to the last one. His vision was blurring. He looked down at Varian.
Warm nest, Rix thought. Boss promised warm nest.
With a final, guttural shriek, Rix drove his knife and his claws into the main artery of the tentacle.
SNAP.
Ark Two fell.
SPLASH.
It hit the water with a massive geyser of foam, rocking violently but staying afloat.
Rix lost his grip. He fell from the severed tentacle, limp.
"Gotcha!"
Gorgon, standing on the edge of Ark Three, extended his massive stone hand. He caught the tiny Rat-Boy mid-air like a baseball.
"Medical!" Varian shouted. "Get him to Venom! Now!"
The Evolution of the Scout
The fleet drifted out of the Bioluminescent Caverns and into a calm, subterranean lake. The water here was still as glass, reflecting the moss-lights of the boats.
Varian jumped from Ark One to Ark Three. He ran to the deck where Rix lay.
Lady Venom was already there. She was forcing a black, foul-smelling liquid down Rix's throat.
"He's convulsing," Venom said calmly. "The neurotoxin is potent. It targets the nervous system."
"Will he die?" Varian asked, kneeling.
"Normal rats? Yes. But Rix..." Venom trailed off. She pointed to Rix's chest.
The blue slime from the jellyfish wasn't killing the tissue. It was... absorbing into it.
Rix's gray fur was falling out in patches. Underneath, his skin was turning a translucent, pale blue.
[Genetic Archivist Scan.][Subject: Rix (Mutant).][Status: Forced Mutation in progress.][Catalyst: High-Grade Bio-Electric Toxin.][Result: Adaptation.]
Rix's eyes snapped open. They weren't black anymore. They had a faint, bioluminescent ring around the pupil.
He sat up, coughing up black bile.
"Rix... alive?" he clicked. He looked at his hands. They were trembling, but not from fear. Static electricity arced between his claws.
"You ate the poison," Varian realized. "And your body decided to keep it."
Rix rubbed his chest. "Tingles. Like licking a battery."
He looked at Varian. "Did I do good, Boss?"
Varian put a hand on the mutant's shoulder. "You did good, Rix. You saved the Command Ship."
Varian stood up and looked at the other rat-mutants gathered around. They were looking at Rix differently now. Not just as a pack leader, but as an Alpha.
"From now on," Varian announced, his voice carrying over the water. "Rix is no longer just a scout. He is Captain of the Shadow-Walkers."
The rats chittered in approval, thumping their tails on the deck.
Station Zero: The Landing
An hour later, the lake narrowed into a stone quay.
"Lights up!" Gorgon shouted.
The refugees crowded the decks. Flares were lit.
And then, they saw it.
Station Zero.
The massive underground metro complex rose from the darkness. The ancient tiled platforms, the sleeping trains, the grand archways. But now, it was alive.
The Fungal Gardens the children had planted were glowing soft green. The Water Filtration System Elian and Echo had repaired was humming. The scent of roasting meat wafted from the fires.
It wasn't a hole in the ground. It was a city.
The Arks docked with a series of thuds.
"Disembark!" Iron-Jaw ordered. "Orderly fashion! Welcome to the new world!"
The Dregs stepped off the boats. Some fell to their knees and kissed the tiled floor. Others stared up at the high ceiling, weeping. They had expected a cave. They found a sanctuary.
Varian stood on the prow of Ark One. He waited until everyone was off. Then he called his officers.
The Council of Iron
They gathered in the Station Master's Office, a glass-walled room overlooking the platform.
Varian sat at the old metal desk. Around him stood the architects of his new Legion.
Gorgon (The Shield): His stone armor chipped but holding.
Iron-Jaw (The Hammer): His mechanical eye whirring as he analyzed the station's grid.
Lady Venom (The Vial): Her serpent tail coiled, looking elegant even in the grime.
Rix (The Eye): His new blue-ringed eyes glowing in the dark.
Scrap-Jack (The Forge): Still nursing his ego, but impressed by the tech around him.
"We survived the Purge," Varian started. "But survival isn't enough. We have 3,000 mouths to feed. We have hybrids who need medicine. And above us, the Church thinks we're dead."
He placed a map on the table. It was a blueprint of the Station.
"We are reorganizing. No more gangs. No more 'Venom-Kin' or 'Scrap-Jacks'. We are the Iron Legion."
He pointed to Gorgon. "Gorgon, you are High Commander of the Vanguard. Take the strongest fighters. Train them. I don't want thugs; I want a phalanx. You defend the gates."
Gorgon slammed his fist on his chest. "Done."
He pointed to Scrap-Jack and Iron-Jaw. "Iron-Jaw, you are Head of Logistics & Intelligence. You run the comms, the inventory, and the grid. Scrap-Jack, you are Master of the Forge. You take the Arks apart. Build weapons. Build walls. Repair the trains."
Scrap-Jack grunted. "Trains? You want to get them running?"
"Eventually. Yes."
He pointed to Lady Venom. "Venom, you are Matriarch of Alchemy. The Gardens are yours. The Medicine is yours. And..." Varian paused. "The interrogation of prisoners is yours."
Venom smiled, a cold, sharp expression. "I shall make them sing."
Finally, he looked at Rix. "Rix, you are Captain of the Shadow-Walkers. Your squad owns the dark. The vents, the tunnels, the crawlspaces. No one enters or leaves this Station without you knowing."
Rix saluted—a clumsy imitation of a human salute. "Eyes everywhere, Boss."
Varian stood up.
"And Elian and Echo?" Gorgon asked. "The kids?"
"They are the Heart," Varian said. "They are the reason we build this walls. Keep them safe."
He walked to the window, looking down at his growing empire.
"Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we start drilling into the walls. The Solar Sovereign's Vault is still locked. And I intend to open it."