The instant Adrian pulled Elara into the corridor, the underground clinic shuddered again dust raining from the ceiling in fine gray sheets. The tremor rolled like thunder, deep and unnatural, vibrating through the metal bones of the bunker.
Kade slammed the emergency lock behind them.
"Don't stop," he barked. "They're using seismic scanners. They know exactly where we are."
Elara's breath came fast, sharp. "How many"
"Enough," Adrian said. "Move."
His voice had changed lower, metallic at the edges. Not panic. Not fear.
Instinct.
The side of him that rarely surfaced; the part of him shaped by a past he never spoke of.
Red lights swept across the hallway as emergency shutters began to seal. Adrian grabbed Elara's hand and sprinted, pulling her through before the steel slab crashed down behind them.
Kade kept pace, panting.
"That implant broadcast a full ID signature. They didn't just detect location they identified her."
Adrian cursed. "They know her name."
Elara stumbled. "But why? Why me?"
"Not now," Adrian said sharply. "Run."
But even as he spoke, Elara felt it:
A low hum in her spine.
A prickling behind her eyes.
A phantom whisper at the back of her skull familiar, wrong, intimate.
Come home.
She flinched, breath hitching.
Adrian noticed. "Elara?"
"Something's" She pressed a hand to her temple. "Something's calling me."
Kade swore under his breath. "That's residual neural bleed. The implant was connected to your limbic system. Cutting it out doesn't sever everything."
"But it's gone," Elara whispered.
Kade shook his head grimly. "Gone… but the pathways remain."
Another explosion rocked the hall this one closer, sharper.
Emergency lights flickered.
Sparks rained.
"MOVE!" Adrian shouted.
They reached a vertical shaft. Kade hit the panel; a narrow lift descended with a screech.
Adrian shoved Elara in first.
Then the world above them went silent.
Too silent.
Adrian froze.
Kade's eyes widened. "No. No, no They're already inside."
A metallic groan echoed above the slow, unmistakable wrench of reinforced steel being torn apart.
Elara's skin crawled. "What is that?"
Adrian's voice dropped to a razor whisper.
"Helix sent a Reclaimer."
The word meant nothing to Elara, but her body responded before her mind could her pulse spiking, panic burning through her lungs.
Kade stepped closer. "Adrian, if it's a Reclaimer, we can't outrun it."
"We don't have to outrun it," Adrian muttered. "We just have to get her out."
The ceiling exploded.
Concrete dust rained down like ash.
A jagged tear opened in the metal plating, sparking violently.
And then.
A figure dropped through the breach.
Tall.
Silver-armored.
Helm smooth and black, no eyes, no mouth a face erased.
Its feet hit the ground without a sound.
Elara's breath vanished.
The Reclaimer turned its blank mask toward them.
Adrian shoved her behind him instantly.
"Kade DOWN."
The Reclaimer moved.
Not running.
Not walking.
Gliding.
Like gravity didn't apply.
It closed half the distance in a heartbeat.
Adrian lunged forward, drawing a short tactical blade from his belt.
The weapon ignited with a crack.
But the Reclaimer caught the blade mid-swing barehanded and twisted.
Metal shrieked.
Adrian flew backward, crashing into a wall, air exploding from his lungs.
"ADRIAN!" Elara screamed.
Before she could reach him, Kade grabbed her arm.
"Don't! That thing is programmed to take you alive. It won't hesitate with him."
The Reclaimer turned its eyeless face toward Elara.
A faint, mechanical chirr echoed as if it recognized her.
And then it spoke.
Not with a voice.
But with a synthetic whisper transmitted directly into her mind.
Subject verified. Extraction initiated. Do not resist.
Elara's knees buckled. "Get out of my head!"
Adrian staggered to his feet, fury blazing across his face. "Don't you touch her!"
He grabbed a broken pipe off the ground and swung with everything in him.
The Reclaimer dodged effortlessly then slammed a palm into Adrian's chest.
A sickening crack.
Adrian hit the floor again, struggling to breathe.
Something inside Elara snapped.
"STOP!" she screamed, voice cracking.
The Reclaimer paused.
It didn't step back.
It didn't retreat.
It simply… halted.
As if responding to a command she didn't know she could give.
Kade froze, speech faltering. "Elara… what did you just do?"
"I I don't know," she whispered.
The Reclaimer tilted its head almost curious.
Adrian, on the ground, forced himself up despite the pain. "Elara. Listen to me. Don't panic. Whatever it's responding to don't let it take control of you."
"I'm not I'm not controlling anything!" she cried.
But the Reclaimer took a single step closer.
Adrian saw it.
Kade saw it.
And Elara felt it:
That hum in her spine.
That whisper coiling through her mind like smoke.
Come home, Elara Hale.
She gripped her head, nails digging into her scalp. "Get out get out get OUT!"
The lights exploded.
Every bulb in the corridor burst simultaneously.
Sparks rained from the ceiling.
The power grid short-circuited with a deafening scream.
The Reclaimer convulsed its armor flickering, systems glitching.
Adrian stared, stunned.
"Elara… you disrupted it."
Kade whispered, horror blending with awe:
"She shut down its neural sync."
Elara collapsed to her knees, trembling violently. "I didn't do anything I just wanted it to stop"
Adrian was beside her in an instant, pulling her into his chest. "You did good. You're okay. I've got you."
But the Reclaimer wasn't down.
It steadied.
Stood.
Regained composure with terrifying precision.
It wasn't beaten.
Just delayed.
Kade paled. "We have seconds. Adrian"
Adrian scooped Elara into his arms, ignoring the pain ripping through his ribs.
"Kade get us to the surface."
Kade sprinted toward the emergency lift controls. "Hold on!"
The Reclaimer lunged.
Adrian spun, shielding Elara with both arms as metal claws slashed across his shoulder. Blood sprayed hot and sharp.
"Elara— don't look," he hissed, staggering.
"I can't I can't let it take you!" she cried.
"You won't," he growled. "You won't lose me."
Kade slammed his palm on the override panel.
The lift doors snapped open.
"GET IN!"
Adrian pushed Elara inside first then turned to face the Reclaimer one last time.
The machine advanced, glitch sparks still flickering across its armor.
Adrian's voice dropped to a lethal whisper:
"Come and take her, you soulless piece of"
The Reclaimer lunged.
Kade hit the emergency seal.
The doors slammed shut, cutting off the impact.
A metallic fist punched the steel, denting it inward like tinfoil but the lock held.
The lift shot upward.
Adrian collapsed against the wall, panting, blood dripping down his arm.
Elara crawled to him, grabbing his face with both hands.
"Adrian you're hurt".
He laughed breathless, pained, but alive.
"I've been worse."
Kade wiped sweat from his forehead. "That thing won't stay down long. When we reach the surface run."
Elara trembled. "Where will we go?"
Adrian touched her cheek, thumb trembling.
"As far as it takes," he whispered.
"As far as it takes to keep you alive."
The lift climbed into darkness.
Above them, somewhere in the shadows of the bunker, the Reclaimer's voice echoed mechanical, cold, unfeeling:
Initiating pursuit.
Subject Elara Hale will be retrieved.
And the hunt began.