Kael leaned against a fractured wall breathing hard with blood smeared across his gloves. He pulled the Pulsepack from his side rig, jammed the auto-injector into the artery beneath his collarbone.
Click. Hiss.
Warmth spread instantly from nano compounds racing though his system, stitching torn muscle, dulling pain signals, reoxygenating cells.
His HUD flickered to life.
[PULSE STABILIZED]
[CORE SYSTEMS RECALIBRATED]
ENEMY NEUTRALIZED: JACKAL BRUTE (LVL 5)
COMBAT EXPERIENCE GAINED: +5000
LEVEL UP
CURRENT LEVEL: 4
New Protocols Unlocked.
Tactical Awareness Tier I – Enabled.
Combat Reflex Buffer – Installing.
Lines of code shimmered briefly across his vision, then dissolved. Kael stood taller while his head cleared, already feeling sharper. The body on the ground looked less like a monster now and more like a warning.
He stepped over it, boots silent in the wreckage.
"Rika."
He moved quickly, tracking her heat signature down the north maintenance corridor where the emergency shaft exited into an abandoned tram platform. She was there with the girls behind her clinging to each other, blood on their sleeves and dust in their hair. Their eyes were wide and shaking.
When Rika saw him she didn't speak. She walked to him and stared up.
"You okay?" he asked, voice low.
She shook her head.
"Are you?"
He paused, then said:
"I am now."
Behind them, the city rumbled with distant sirens and the growl of approaching chaos.
Kael turned to lead them out. They made their way through the narrow back alleys of Sector 12, lit by pulsing graffiti and overhead wire fires. Kael led them through the noise and static, rerouting around active patrol zones. Rika kept the girls between them.
Ten minutes later, they reached Kael's car. He tapped his wrist and the car responded, unlocking with a whisper.
He opened the back door. "In."
The girls climbed in without a word. Rika followed. Kael scanned the rooftops before entering the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Rika asked.
Kael started the engine and answered without looking at her. "Sanctum."
She blinked. "They'll let us in?"
"We don't have another play," he said. "So we have to try."
Everyone knew about Sanctum. It was a medical zone underground with no affiliations. Even the gangs respected the facility for its ability to get their people back on the street for a fair price. So, they left it alone, but access wasn't guaranteed. You needed something valuable to exchange; mods, or new tech.
Rika turned toward the window, watching the blur of city lights stutter past.
"They don't let just anyone through the gate," she murmured.
"They'll let the girls in," Kael said. "That's what matters."
Rika sat quietly after that for a while, then spoke. "You're different."
She looked at him, analyzing his posture and his eyes. Even the way he breathed seemed more controlled; elevated in some way.
"More focused. Less… fractured." she continued.
Kael nodded. "It's cleaner now. All of the noise is gone. I see what has to be done for everyone in New Vire. For the world."
She rested her head against the cold window. "And you really think Sovereign is the one to do it?"
"No. I think I am. Us. The agents. Sovereign is just the tool. It's a very powerful tool, but it doesn't do the footwork. That's where agents like me come in. It expanded my mind, Rika. Just from putting on the headset. I see more of the picture than I ever did before. And I still care."
Rika was silent. Then, "You're glad I'm here."
Kael turned to her, his eyes softening and a grateful look forming on his face. "More than I can say. You're the only real part of my life I remember wanting."
She let the words hang there while she leaned on the window. There are some people in life who you get along with so well, you come to yourself years later and realize you've never had an argument with them. Not a single disagreement. Until today, that had been them. When you find a person like that, you don't let them go. They were meant to be a part of your life.
30 Minutes later:
Kael glanced back at the girls, all asleep now. Then forward again, speaking with his voice low.
"I need to tell you something."
Rika didn't answer, but she leaned closer, her body angled to him like it always had been—like gravity still worked between them.
"I saw one."
She blinked. "What?"
"A Sovereign agent. Not like me. He was older and much faster. More enhanced than anything I've ever seen. He walked through a criminal ambush like he'd already lived it."
Kael's voice didn't shake, but when he spoke about it there was a sense of awe.
"He killed them all like he was swatting a fly. Without emotion. It didn't even look like he put much effort into it. He knew I was there, but he just left. Like I didn't matter."
He turned to her fully now.
"I'm not the first, Rika."
"There's a hidden and active army. I don't know how many, but some of them… they're more machine than myth. I've seen the aftermath."
She swallowed hard, eyes narrowing.
"So… this isn't about fixing the world anymore. Is it?"
Kael looked away for just a second—then back.
"It still is. It's always been, but the method… it's war. And it's coming whether anyone's ready or not."
Rika exhaled, a short breath that sounded like she'd been holding it for days.
"So what now?"
He reached over and placed his hand on hers.
"I just want you safe. We fight together, or we run together. Whatever happens, I don't want to face what's coming without you."
Rika didn't answer. She didn't need to. She was still holding his hand.
They turned down a service road that cut behind a string of hollowed out warehouses and parked in a recessed lot off to the side of a concrete wall that had been tagged over by dozens of gangs. Next to that was an opening that led down in a spiraling staircase. On the wall next to the door was a luminescent symbol: a cross woven through a broken circle. Sanctum's mark.
"Stay close," Kael said.
They moved quickly down the staircase and entered what appeared to be an abandoned janitorial locker room. On the far side was a dark metal door that seemed out of place with the dilapidated surroundings. It was seamless except for a faint glow seeping out from the edges.
When they approached, a voice spoke through a speaker embedded in the wall.
"Kael Strade," came a man's voice without ceremony. "You've made a bit of noise."
Kael didn't flinch. "Had to."
A pause, then the voice returned, more curious than confrontational.
"Name's Vann. I keep Sanctum running. You've got five minutes of goodwill before I ask what you're dragging to my door."
"Not what," he said. "Who."
Another pause. Then the door slid open with a clean hiss. A tall man in a grey synth-weave jacket approached, his face lined but calm. One eye was natural. The other glowed a faint blue. He glanced at the girls. His expression didn't soften, but something in his posture shifted.
"You did a clean thing," he said. "That buys you more than five."
He turned without another word and started walking into the corridor.
"Come on. There's someone you need to meet."
The door opened up to reveal a glowing underground expanse, carved from forgotten subway infrastructure and retrofitted into a black-market fortress. Its obsidian black walls pulsed with quiet energy.
A large holographic sign floated above the main platform, projected in soft white light:
"SANCTUM: NO FLAGS. NO LIES. NO TRACKERS."
Rika stepped out slowly, eyes scanning the order of it all. There were people here moving with purpose. Med-techs in neutral garb walked alongside augmented patients. Drones drifted soundlessly overhead, scanning vitals and injecting meds. The main floor branched into multiple tunnels, each one lit faintly, reaching out like veins. The lifeline of the city.
Kael and Rika exchanged a glance, then followed.
Vann's voice echoed back over his shoulder as they descended into the corridors of Sanctum:
"There's someone you need to meet. She's ex-Sovereign. And she doesn't like to be found."