The gunfire was deafening.
Syndicate enforcers moved with brutal efficiency, their exosuit-enhanced speed and precision making them a far cry from the grunts the team had fought before. They weren’t here to kill.
They were here to capture.
And their target was Arden.
Greg barely dodged a concussive blast, rolling behind a fallen console as debris rained down. “You know,” he grumbled, pressing a hand to his aching ribs, “I’d really love it if just once, we could leave a Syndicate base without an army chasing us.”
Tempo blurred across the battlefield, landing a well-placed strike to one enforcer’s leg before darting away again. “Pretty sure that stopped being an option after, like, Chapter Three.”
Cora stayed low behind cover, her drone flickering in and out of visibility as it fed her real-time combat data. “They’re not aiming for us,” she said, voice clipped. “They’re focused on Arden.”
Greg glanced toward the swordsman, who was already tearing through the enforcers with a brutal efficiency that was almost unsettling. His weapon shifted mid-combat—a spear became a dagger, then a broadsword, then a twin-bladed staff—all in the span of seconds.
Yet, despite his overwhelming skill, something was off.
His movements were too sharp. Too measured. Like he was holding something back.
Greg frowned. He’s not fighting to win. He’s fighting to escape.
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High above, inside the control room, Sylvia tilted her head, watching Arden’s every move through the surveillance feeds.
A subordinate hesitated at her side. “Commander, should we send in reinforcements?”
Sylvia didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she zoomed in on the battle, her gaze narrowing.
He’s skilled. More than skilled. But there’s a pattern.
She tapped a finger against her console, running the footage through her system at high speed.
There.
A slight hesitation between each weapon shift. A fraction of a second where his stance adjusted—not to strike, but to compensate.
Her smirk returned. He wasn’t perfect. He had limits.
And she was going to exploit them.
“Not yet,” she said, finally answering the subordinate. “I want to see how long he can keep up this pace.”
Her gaze flickered toward Greg, Tempo, and Cora.
“Besides… the longer this lasts, the more exhausted the others become.”
She leaned back in her chair. They wouldn’t be able to run forever.
And when they collapsed?
The Syndicate would be waiting.
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A pulse grenade detonated near Tempo, sending him spinning mid-air before he barely managed to stabilize himself.
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“Okay—ow!” he yelped, staggering back as an enforcer rushed toward him.
Greg intercepted the attacker, planting a foot into his chest and launching him into the wall.
“You good?” Greg asked.
Tempo coughed. “Nope! Not even close.”
Arden deflected another round of gunfire, his expression unreadable. “The longer we stay, the worse this gets,” he said bluntly. “They’re waiting for us to slow down.”
Greg wiped blood from his lip. “Great. So, what’s the plan, swordsman?”
Arden’s gaze flicked toward an unmarked corridor, partially hidden behind fallen debris. “There’s a secondary access tunnel beneath this level. It’s not on Syndicate schematics anymore.”
Cora immediately pulled up her data feed. “That’s impossible. The only existing tunnels—”
Arden cut her off. “Were erased from official records years ago.”
Greg gave him a long look. “You sure seem to know a lot about Syndicate facilities.”
Arden didn’t respond. Instead, he slammed his blade into the ground, causing a shockwave that cracked open the floor beneath them.
The resulting impact revealed a hidden passage—dark, narrow, and leading even deeper underground.
Tempo whistled. “Okay. That’s both really cool and incredibly ominous.”
Greg peered inside. “…You sure this isn’t just another death trap?”
Arden finally smirked. “If it is, then we’re dying together.”
Greg sighed. “Wonderful.”
With gunfire still roaring behind them, the team had no choice.
They jumped into the dark.
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The tunnel stretched on endlessly, its walls lined with old, corroded cables and abandoned tech. The air was thick with dust, and the only source of light came from the dim glow of Cora’s drone.
After several minutes of silence, Greg finally spoke. “Alright. You wanna explain what this place is?”
Arden walked ahead, his steps purposeful but distant, as if the memories tied to this place were buried deep.
“This used to be a Syndicate project,” he finally said. “A facility beneath a facility. An off-the-books research site.”
Cora frowned. “For what?”
Arden hesitated.
Then—
“People.”
The word hung in the air, suffocating.
Tempo stopped walking. “…Like, bad research?”
Arden didn’t answer, but his tightened grip on his sword was enough.
Greg exhaled. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
Cora’s drone scanned the walls, revealing faint markings—numbers. Identification tags.
She recognized the format immediately.
“…Test subjects.”
Arden’s voice was quiet. “The Syndicate doesn’t just experiment with weapons. They create them.”
Greg leaned against the tunnel wall, rubbing his temple. “Okay, well. That’s horrifying.”
Tempo crossed his arms. “So what happened to this place? Why shut it down?”
Arden’s expression darkened.
“They didn’t shut it down,” he said.
“They just… moved it.”
The team exchanged uneasy glances.
Greg sighed. “Right. So, on a scale of one to ‘we’re completely screwed,’ how bad is this?”
Arden didn’t look back.
“…You’ll find out soon enough.”
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Back in the control room, Sylvia watched as the retrieval teams lost track of their targets.
Her subordinates looked at her nervously.
“They’ve gone off-grid,” one of them reported. “We lost visual in an abandoned tunnel system.”
Sylvia’s fingers drummed against the console.
Then, she smiled.
“…Let them run,” she murmured.
“They’ll only find ghosts down there.”
Her gaze flickered toward a second monitor—one displaying Project Revenant’s activation sequence.
She tapped the screen, and somewhere deep in the Syndicate’s hidden labs, a new experiment awoke.
Eyes opening.
Systems initializing.
A low, inhuman breath filling the silence.
A voice—mechanical, distorted.
“Unit… ready.”
Sylvia exhaled.
And then, she whispered:
"Welcome back."
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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