The air buzzed with silence.
Lengaza knelt beside Revenant's fading traces—shards of light dissolving into the cold mountain wind. His breath was shallow, his rage a storm barely caged.
The Collector stepped back, eyes wide.
"He was never supposed to break protocol…"
Lengaza rose.
No words.
Just fire.
He blurred forward—grabbing the electromagnetic lance from the Collector's grip and snapping it in half with a single pulse of energy. Sparks rained like dying stars.
"You built us to be weapons," Lengaza said, voice low. "But even weapons find purpose."
"You don't understand," the Collector stammered. "You're not real. You're constructs! I made you—"
Lengaza's eyes flared.
"You made a mistake."
He drove his palm into the chamber wall—shattering the core interface.
Alarms blared.
Self-destruct engaged.
"Raya," he called.
She appeared behind the collapsing console, hair wild, eyes set.
"Got the coordinates to the surface elevator. But we've got maybe five minutes before this place turns into a sun."
Lengaza turned to the Collector.
"Come with us," he said.
The Collector stared in disbelief.
"Why?"
"Because I'm not like you."
Escape Sequence: 4 Minutes Left
Corridors collapsed behind them as they ran. Flames burst through vents. Robotic guards malfunctioned and fell twitching to the floor.
Lengaza held up chunks of ceiling as Raya slid beneath. She pulled him forward at the next turn.
"You okay?"
"Let's just say I'm… healing."
The elevator loomed—a narrow shaft with flickering lights.
"After you," he said.
She smiled, blood on her cheek.
"Don't be a hero."
They jumped in.
2 minutes left.
As the elevator began its crawl upward, Lengaza looked at her.
"He remembered the stars, Raya. He dreamed too."
She touched his arm.
"Then he was real."
Outside – Mount Salvador's Summit
The earth shook.
Birds scattered. Trees bent.
Then—
A massive eruption of light.
The mountain cracked in two.
Raya and Lengaza stood far on the hillside, watching the end of a world that never should've existed.
"What now?" she asked.
He stared at the sky, voice a whisper.
"We find the others."
"There are more?"
He nodded.
"Revenant wasn't the only one they buried."
Final Scene: Somewhere Else.
A dark lab. A deep chamber.
A monitor flickered.
One word appeared.
REBOOTING…
And below it—
Subject 06: Aether.