The teleportation room hummed with residual energy, the air still crackling from the massive power draw. 328 stood at her console, her white mask hiding the turmoil beneath, when the platform flared to life once more.
Prime 10 materialized from the light.
She was carrying someone.
Lily hung limp in her arms, unconscious, her platinum hair falling across her face, her breathing slow and even. Whatever Prime 10 had done to take her—it hadn't been violent. There were no wounds, no blood, no signs of struggle. Just... absence.
328's heart stopped
"Mam," she managed, her voice steady despite the chaos inside her. "You succeeded."
Prime 10 set Lily gently on a medical gurney that had materialized from the wall—the room was prepared for this, always prepared. She touched the small device at her temple, deactivating it, and turned to face 328.
"The coordinates were acceptable. The margin of error was seventeen meters. Acceptable."
Seventeen meters. Seventeen meters from where Lily had been sleeping, from the cave, from the family that would already be realizing she was gone.
328 forced herself to move, to act, to be the obedient Architect she was supposed to be. She approached the gurney, her eyes fixed on Lily's peaceful face
"What are your orders, mam?"
Prime 10 pulled another device from her belt—identical to the one on her temple, small and unassuming. She placed it on Lily's wrist. It pulsed once, twice, then settled into a steady blue glow.
"Facility X," Prime 10 said. "Have her transported immediately."
328 nodded, turning to the lower-ranking Architects who had appeared at the door. "You heard her. Prepare the secondary teleportation array. Destination: Facility X. Priority: maximum."
The white masks scrambled to obey, lifting the gurney and moving with practiced efficiency toward the secondary chamber. Within minutes, Lily was gone—swallowed by light and distance, transported to a place 328 had only seen in schematics.
The room fell silent.
Prime 10 stood motionless for a long moment, her dark grey mask fixed on the empty space where the gurney had been. Then, without a word, she turned and walked out.
328 was alone.
Her hand drifted to her pocket, where the communication device lay hidden. She could feel it there, cold and waiting, a lifeline to people who didn't know yet that their world had just been shattered.
Not yet. Not now. But soon.
---
The Cave
The tension was suffocating.
Wolfen sat apart from the others, his golden eyes closed, his breathing slow and deliberate. For the first time since anyone could remember, he was healing—not the instant regeneration of battle, but the slow, deliberate process of someone who had pushed too far and needed to come back.
The others watched him in silence. Derek, still recovering from his twenty minutes of godhood. Leo, his biopolymer filaments finally dark. Jordan, his katana across his knees, his eyes never stopping their calculations. Eva, her face pale, her hands clenched at her sides. Maya, leaning against the cave wall, the Omega whispering things she couldn't quite hear.
"Are you okay?" Maya asked finally.
Wolfen didn't answer. Didn't open his eyes. Just kept breathing, kept healing, kept being the infuriating, unreadable presence they'd come to depend on.
Maya's jaw tightened, but she didn't push. Some things couldn't be rushed.
Derek shifted, his body still thrumming with residual power. "Wolfen. About my technique—"
Wolfen's eyes opened. Just a slit, just enough to show the gold within.
"How did you make it?"
Derek blinked. "I used my blood. Transported Pulse through my whole system at once, mixed it with my hardening ability." He shrugged, the motion awkward. "It's hard to explain. It just... happened."
Wolfen's eyes closed again. But behind his lids, calculations were running. Possibilities. Techniques. Ways to take what Derek had discovered and make it his own.
The silence returned, heavier than before.
--
Superior-1's Quarters
The door slid shut behind 328, sealing her in the presence of the most dangerous man in the facility.
Superior-1 sat behind his desk, his grey mask giving nothing away. He didn't look up as she entered, didn't acknowledge her presence at all. His attention was fixed on the hologram floating before him—a massive structure, sprawling and complex, rendered in ghostly blue light.
Facility X.
328 stood at attention, her posture perfect, her voice flat. "Sir. Prime 10 has returned. The target has been transported to Facility X as ordered."
Superior-1 waved his hand absently. The hologram rotated, zooming in on different sections—a power core here, a containment wing there, a series of laboratories that seemed to go on forever.
"Key locations," he murmured, almost to himself. "Important places. The central hub, obviously. The research wing. The..." He paused, zooming in further. "The observation deck. That's where they'd put her. High visibility. Maximum security."
328's hand drifted toward her pocket. A casual movement, barely noticeable. Her fingers found the communication device, pressed the activation sequence.
At the cave, Wolfen's eyes snapped open.
"—could be anywhere, but the observation deck makes the most sense. It's designed for long-term containment with minimal degradation. They'll want her intact."
Superior-1's voice filled the cave, tinny through the device but unmistakable. Everyone froze.
"If Eva wants to get to Facility X, she has three options. The first is a teleportation device—rare, heavily guarded, but possible. The second is to destroy a facility and use its emergency teleportation array before it self-destructs." He chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "Difficult. Messy. Very Eva."
He paused, zooming out to show the facility's location relative to everything else.
"The third option is simpler. More direct. She could..." He trailed off, frowning at something on the display.
328's heart pounded. Keep talking. Keep giving them information.
Superior-1 straightened, turning slightly. "Sir, why are you saying this?" 328 asked, her voice carefully confused.
He looked at her—through her, past her—and for a moment, something flickered behind his mask. A smile, maybe. Or something else.
"Huh." He waved a hand, dismissing the hologram. "I was talking to myself again. You may leave."
328 nodded, turning toward the door. Her hand left her pocket, the device still active, still broadcasting.
Behind her, Superior-1's voice followed her out:
"Or maybe I'm not."
The door slid shut. 328 didn't turn. Didn't react. Just kept walking, her heart pounding, her mind racing.
At the cave, the transmission cut out.
Silence.
Then Wolfen's voice, quiet and dangerous:
"He knows."
Eva's face was pale, but her eyes burned. "He gave us the information anyway.
"Which means it's either a trap," Jordan said slowly, "or he's playing a game we don't understand."
"Or both." Wolfen stood, finally healed, finally ready. "Doesn't matter. We're going to Facility X. We're getting Lily back. And if Superior-1 wants to play games..." His smile was sharp, hungry. "I love games."
The cave erupted into motion. Plans were made. Strategies formed
And somewhere in the depths of Facility X, Lily slept on, unaware that an army was coming for her.