The first shockwave of the Ichor Storm rippled through the outskirts of Denver, a low, subsonic groan that rolled across the fractured city like the breath of something ancient and hungry.
The sky trembled. Buildings quivered. The air itself felt wrong.
Karl stood at the edge of the runway, visor glowing faintly through the creeping red-black haze, Agnes' voice humming inside his helmet like a pulse.
Then—
The second shockwave hit.
A violent gust tore across the cracked tarmac, ripping chunks of asphalt into the air like paper scraps. The contamination membrane around Karl shimmered under the strain, distortion waves bending the light.
Karl planted his feet and gritted his teeth.
"Agnes… this is stronger than Pittsburgh."
Her response came tight, clipped, undeniably afraid.
"Correct. And accelerating. Atmospheric compression is producing rotational patterns far beyond projected safe thresholds. We cannot stay here."
Karl flexed his fingers. "Then we move."
"No."
Agnes' voice sharpened.
"Gearstorm Nova. Now."
Karl stiffened.
"Agnes…" he muttered. "Is it really that bad?"
Her hologram flickered to life in front of him — projected from the suit's visor emitter — even as the storm chewed at her image.
She looked genuinely frightened.
"Karl. Please. You won't outrun this in your base frame. Gearstorm Nova is the minimum requirement."
The wind screamed. A swirl of black dust spiraled toward them like a living claw.
Karl didn't argue further.
He grabbed the Drive Regulator.
"Alright. Gearstorm Nova — ENGAGE!"
GEARSHIFT INITIATED
NOVA DRIVE — CHARGING
Nanites erupted again, but this time they cracked with aegean-hot arcs of energy. Karl's plating split apart, reconfiguring. Thicker armor folded from the inside out. Gear-shaped turbines rotated along his ribs and spine, aligning with a metallic groan.
His visor dimmed, then flared bright silver.
A deep mechanical hum rolled through the runway.
GEARSTORM NOVA — COMPLETE
Karl flexed his upgraded limbs.
The suit felt heavier… denser… buzzing with raw turbine power.
Agnes' voice shifted—
Less warm, more tactical.
This was her command-center mode.
"Nova systems stabilized. Beginning anti-Ichor pressure cycle. Karl—switch stance."
He braced.
Wind slammed into him again — harder than before — but Nova's reinforced stabilizers dug into the asphalt with talon-like grips.
Agnes continued:
"We need to leave Denver immediately. My scanners show microfractures in the storm wall. If we time it, we can push through a weak point."
Karl nodded.
"Just say where."
Agnes lit a map in his visor — all red, except for a tiny blinking gap.
"West. Seventy kilometers. That's the thinnest section."
Karl stared.
"Agnes… seventy kilometers through THIS?"
"You asked me to guide you," she said quietly.
"And I am."
Lightning-like arcs of Ichor energy cracked overhead, sizzling through the air.
"Alright," Karl muttered.
"Let's run."
He crouched—
Turbines roared—
WHOOOM
Karl shot forward like a launched warhead.
The runway blurred into streaks of gray and dead grass. Agnes adjusted the turbine output every half-second, keeping speed constant while maintaining a stable purification field.
"Karl, keep left! A pressure wave is forming!"
He veered left.
A column of wind exploded where he had been a moment ago, ripping a truck into the air and sending it tumbling across the runway like a toy.
Karl swore.
"That would've killed me."
"Correct," Agnes said. "Please continue following instructions."
Another gust hit — even stronger.
Nova's turbines shrieked.
"Karl—jump!"
He leapt.
A twisting cyclone tore under him, shredding asphalt and whipping it into the storm sky. Karl landed hard, but the Nova dampeners absorbed the shock.
Agnes fed him real-time wind vectors, pressure spikes, and purification data. She was processing millions of variables per second — and somehow still monitoring his vital signs.
A third cyclone formed ahead.
Agnes didn't flinch.
"Punch through it."
Karl blinked.
"Punch what—?!"
"Do it!"
He raised his armored fist and slammed into the forming vortex.
The purifier blade flared, releasing a burst of clean-air pressure.
The cyclone ruptured like a bubble.
Karl coughed from the strain inside the suit.
"Agnes… warning!"
"You told me to warn you. Not babysit you."
Karl almost smiled despite the chaos.
They ran.
Denver shrank behind them, swallowed by the roiling storm wall.
The sky flickered with deathly red lightning.
Dust clouds turned into spiraling tendrils that lashed at the ground.
Karl's turbines screamed; Nova mode was maxed.
"Agnes—how far to the weak point?"
"Fifty-one kilometers. But…"
Her voice faltered for the first time since they started running.
"The storm wall is shifting."
Karl skidded to a halt.
The wind nearly knocked him over.
"What do you mean shifting?!"
Agnes' hologram flashed next to him, her expression tight.
"It's collapsing inward. Faster than expected."
He stared at her.
"How fast?"
Agnes swallowed — a purely human gesture she had never stopped using.
"Karl… if we stay here another eight minutes, we die."
Karl's heart hammered.
"Then we don't stay."
He crouched low.
"Agnes, full turbine output!"
Her eyes widened.
"Karl, that could overload the regulator—"
"We don't have time!"
Another cyclone screamed across the field, ripping an entire row of abandoned cars into the sky.
Agnes finally nodded.
"Alright.
Executing full-output sequence.
Brace yourself."
She didn't count down.
The turbines detonated with white-blue energy.
Karl felt like he'd been hit with a freight train—while also becoming the freight train.
He blasted forward.
The sound barrier buckled.
"Karl—KEEP YOUR FOOTING—if you trip we're dead—!"
"I'M TRYING!"
The wind punched at him from every angle.
The membrane of clean air flickered violently.
"Agnes—membrane integrity?!"
"Sixty percent and falling! Karl, tilt forward—angle thirteen degrees!"
He did.
The wind pressure stabilized for a moment.
Just enough.
They carved through the outskirts of the storm — the world around them nothing but violent red-black fog and ripping dust cyclones that screamed like banshees.
Karl panted inside the suit.
"How… how much farther?"
Agnes' voice came tight.
Her hologram flickered next to him even inside the suit.
"Twenty kilometers. You can do this. Just hold steady."
Lightning struck a shattered skyscraper on their right. The entire top half sheared off and collapsed into the street, sending a shockwave through the ruined blocks.
Agnes' voice cracked slightly.
"Karl, I need you to jump—NOW!"
He did.
A tidal wave of debris blasted under him as the skyscraper hit the ground.
Karl landed badly—sliding, tumbling, tearing up pavement—
Agnes cried out:
"Karl! Turbines stabilizing—give me control—"
He let her.
The turbines roared independently, realigning his momentum.
Karl regained his footing and sprinted again.
"Agnes… thank you."
"Focus!" she snapped, but her voice trembled.
Lightning flashed again—
This time, closer.
Agnes gasped.
"Karl—storm core forming ahead!"
He saw it.
A roiling, spiraling pillar of pure black-red energy, ripping up cars, dust, entire pieces of highway.
Karl gritted his teeth.
"And the weak point?"
Agnes highlighted a swirling section just left of the core.
Very small.
Very unstable.
"That's it," she whispered. "That's our only chance."
Karl inhaled sharply inside the suit.
"Agnes… guide me."
She steadied.
"I'm with you. Every step.
Now RUN."
Karl sprinted.
Every turbine screamed.
Every panel on the Nova frame vibrated.
The air membrane shrieked under the pressure.
Thirty meters—
Twenty—
Ten—
"KARL—NOW! BREAK THROUGH—!!"
Karl lowered his shoulder, angled the purifier blade, and slammed into the weak point of the storm.
A deafening CRACK ripped through the air—
The membrane exploded outward—
Pure clean air tore a path—
And Karl burst through the storm wall—
—into sunlight.
He stumbled, skidding across dirt and shattered concrete until finally collapsing onto solid ground, turbines smoking.
Agnes reappeared as a flicker beside him, panting even though she didn't need to breathe.
"Karl… you… you actually… did it."
Karl groaned.
"Next time… let's not drink in Denver."
Agnes laughed weakly.
"Yes. Agreed."
The storm raged behind them.
But they lived.
And somewhere inside the Gearstorm Nova suit…something shivered.