The subway station was a graveyard of rust and silence. Ethan leaned against a shattered turnstile, twirling Jax’s phone in his fingers. His mark pulsed beneath his skin—not pain, not fear. Just power waiting to be used.

The screen flashed: "Tick-tock, sparky. U late or just ugly?"

He smirked. "Miss me already?"

Lila stepped out of the shadows, unimpressed. "He's never on time."

"Always am." Jax appeared like a ghost, his chrome goggles glinting. His mechanical spider scuttled across his shoulder, clicking softly. "You’re just predictable."

Ethan flexed his fingers, feeling the crackling energy under his skin. The black veins on his arm weren’t a curse. They were part of him now.

"The basement. Where?"

Jax nodded toward a collapsed tunnel. "Service tunnels. Watch your step—Jarek doesn’t clean up after his mistakes."

They moved through the debris, air thick with rust and rot. Jax’s spider sliced through the dark with a thin red beam, but Ethan barely needed it. The shadows felt familiar.

"Why’s Mara locked up?" Ethan asked casually.

Jax lit a cigarette with a flick of his fingers. "She asked too many questions. Jarek doesn’t like questions."

Lila stiffened. "Mara’s alive?"

"For now."

The tunnel spilled into a vast underground chamber. Steel vaults lined the walls, cells secured by reinforced bars. Machinery hummed like distant thunder.

Jax spread his arms. "Jarek’s little playground. Try not to touch anything cursed."

A vault door loomed ahead, secured by a retinal scanner and keypad. Jax’s spider leapt onto the panel, its wires digging in.

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Alarms screamed.

Turrets unfolded from the ceiling, barrels locking onto them.

"Down!" Lila shoved Ethan behind a crate as bullets tore through the air.

Jax hurled a Veil-tech grenade. The explosion wasn’t fire—it was silence. A pulse of energy froze the turrets mid-shot, their barrels still smoking.

"Neat trick," Lila muttered.

"Lifted it off a Hunter," Jax said. "Still twitching when I found it."

Ethan’s mark pulsed—something was wrong.

Lila’s voice wavered. "The cells… they’re empty."

Only Cell 9 remained locked. Inside, Mara sat at a desk, her wrists shackled. Blood stiffened the edges of her lab coat. The walls were covered in equations, looping over themselves in frantic repetition. One phrase stood out: **The Veil is alive. The Veil is hungry.**

She turned, eyes hollow. "Jax. You brought him here?"

Ethan met her gaze. "Looking for answers."

Mara rolled up her sleeve, revealing a mark like his, scarred and cracked. "It doesn’t just kill. It adapts. And now it’s in you."

A low hum vibrated through the room. The lights dimmed, replaced by a sickly violet glow seeping from the walls.

"It’s here," Mara whispered.

Shadeborn slipped from the ceiling, their featureless faces shifting. Behind them loomed a creature taller than the rest, its black armor jagged like broken glass. A crown of twisted metal sat atop its head.

"The Warden," Mara murmured. "Jarek’s enforcer."

The Warden raised a clawed hand. "The Veil claims its own."

Jax tossed Ethan a serrated blade humming with Veil-energy. "Heads up, sparky."

Ethan caught it, feeling the power thrum through the metal. His grin sharpened. **Finally.**

The Warden struck first. Ethan barely dodged, rolling to his feet as the concrete shattered where he had stood.

Lila fired a blast, scorching a hole in the Warden’s armor. It roared, turning toward her.

"Ethan, now!" Mara shouted.

He drove the blade into the Warden’s back. Blue fire erupted, consuming the creature. It shrieked, dissolving into ash—but the flames didn’t stop. They crawled up Ethan’s arm, licking hungrily at his skin.

"Stop!" Mara grabbed his wrist, her mark glowing. The fire dimmed. "The more you fight, the more it spreads. The Veil wants to consume you."

Jax hauled Mara up. "Time to go."

The Shadeborn surged forward. Ethan raised his blade, but the cold in his veins pulsed, snuffing the flames.

"Run!" Lila yanked him back as Jax threw another grenade.

The explosion collapsed the tunnel behind them.

Above ground, Mara gripped Ethan’s cracked arm. "You don’t have much time. The Veil’s in your bones now."

"So?" Ethan’s smirk didn’t waver. "That just means I have to win faster."

A Hunter’s screech echoed in the night.

Jax flicked his cigarette away. "Jarek knows."

Lila checked her device. "He’s coming."

"Let him come," Ethan said, eyes sharp as a blade. "It's me or him now."

Mara’s expression darkened. "You don’t understand. He doesn’t just kill people like you. He *uses* them."

Ethan met her gaze, unwavering. "Then let’s see what happens when he tries."

The night stretched before him, heavy with the promise of war.