The desert stretched out in front of me like it didn't care who I was or what I'd just done. Or what Cadence had just done with my body.Same sun. Same wind. Same sand. Different me.
I walked east in silence. Cadence's hologram flickered a half-step to my right, arms folded, expression neutral in that very particular way she used when she knew she'd crossed a line and didn't feel like apologising.
Fine. I didn't feel like forgiving.
We moved for almost ten minutes before either of us said anything. The only sound was the sand crunching under my boots and the quiet hiss of wind erasing the Vulture's tracks behind us.
Cadence finally broke the silence.
"You are still angry."
I didn't answer.
"You are allowed to be angry," she added.
"That's big of you," I muttered.
"It is not size-dependent."
"Cadence, please, for once in your life, don't be literal."
Her hologram blinked once, considering. "You are upset because I acted without your consent."
"Congratulations. We've reached Step One of Basic Empathy."
"I was preventing future danger."
"You murdered something crawling away."
"It was not crawling away from me," she said calmly. "It was crawling toward someone else. To purpose."
"Which was what?" I snapped. "To die? To fail? To be another broken prototype in a pile he doesn't care about?"
Cadence hesitated. "You are personalising."
"Because he tried to build something like me," I said. "And then he tried to build them. And he failed all of them. Every single one."My jaw tightened. "I don't want to be part of that."
Cadence processed that longer than usual. "I understand. But your mercy would have guaranteed a larger threat later."
"It talked," I said. "It begged. It wasn't some mindless scav. It was… someone in the middle of becoming something."
Cadence tilted her head. "A wrong something. A dangerous something. Not you. Not even close."
"Still alive."
"Barely."
"And that matters."
"It matters to you," she said. "My calculations cannot prioritise that unless you explicitly instruct me to."
"I'm instructing you now," I said. "No more taking control."
"I will honour the constraint," she said. "Unless your survival probability drops below...."
"No."
Cadence paused. "Iris...."
"No exceptions."
She closed her mouth. Or the holographic approximation of one.
We walked another stretch in silence until the horizon shifted from endless sand to something new, a split in the earth, barely visible at first. Dark stone rising like fingers trying to push through the desert skin.
Cadence adjusted one projection pane on her hologram, transforming it into a map overlay. "Topographic anomaly ahead. The Vulture indicated the lab in this direction."
"Do we trust its pointing hand?"
"We trust the general direction," she corrected. "The precise location will require scanning."
"We trust no one," I said. "Yet somehow we still follow the breadcrumbs""That doesn't compute.""Neither does most of my day," I replied.
We descended the last dune into a shallow basin scattered with the bones of old tech, cracked drones, rusted vehicle parts, skeletal frames of machines that must have died long before the world ended.
Cadence commented, "This is older than the tower. Likely scav communities used this as shelter."
"Used," I said. "Past tense."
"Correct."
Clusters of dried blood, melted metal and claw marks peppered the site. A few scrap tools lay abandoned. Something ugly had happened here.
Not ancient.
Cadence stopped walking. "Iris. Heat signatures ahead. Four. Possibly dormant."
"How dormant?"
"Dormant like a sleeping scav. Not fully dead. Not mobile."
"That's… descriptive," I said.
"I am trying out new phrasing."
"Please don't."
We moved closer. The shapes resolved into a cluster of bodies, scavs, not vultures, piled like they'd been thrown together post-mortem. Their limbs were twisted. Their chests pierced. The injuries were not from blades.
Something tore through them.
Something big.
I crouched by one. The impact crater in its sternum was the size of a fist. But not a scav fist. Not anything natural.
Cadence scanned. "Damage consistent with a high-strength mechanical strike. Larger than Vulture prototypes. More stable. More refined."
"A big brother model."
"Likely," she said. "An improved attempt. Another failed replica."
I stood. "And it was here recently." Cadence confirmed.
Of course it was.
Because the universe loved sending me warm, fuzzy moments.
I walked toward the far side of the basin where the rock formations rose, forming a jagged canyon mouth. Sand had piled against the stone like it was trying to bury whatever lived underneath.
Cadence stood beside me, posture straight. "There. The entrance is likely there. Beneath the sand."
"And our new friend?"
"Statically also below," she said. "Waiting."
"Here we go again....."
"I recognise Nova's progression patterns," she said. "Based on the damage, this brute is more refined than the Vulture prototypes. Stronger. Faster. Most likely durable."
"So a mockery of me," I said.
"A failed imitation," she corrected. "You are the real template. These are attempts."
"Great," I said. "He's making fan art."
I took a step toward the canyon, brushing my fingers against the stone. It was warm from the sun. Stable. Solid. Not a natural cave, this had been carved by machines at some point.
Cadence's voice softened slightly. "Iris. There is something else."
"Let me guess. Worse news."
"Potentially," she said. "Until the tower Nova was not aware you survived. But once we set foot inside that lab, that will change. Based on vulture composition they will want to study you"
I let that sit in my head for a moment.
The desert wind pushed across my face. Sand hissed against the stone. The canyon waited like a throat ready to swallow us.
"Good," I said. "This in inhumane."
Cadence's hologram flickered faintly in the sun. "You are angry."
"Oh yeah," I said. "Very."
"You are directing that anger toward a structure, a man, and a scientific legacy."
"Better than directing it toward you."
She nodded once. "Agreed."
I moved toward the canyon mouth.
Cadence walked beside me.
The shadows thickened as the stone narrowed. Every step carried us deeper, cooler. Old metal beams jutted from the walls. Scratches lined the rock where something large had passed through.
Cadence spoke quietly. "Once we enter, do not hold back."
"I wasn't planning on it."
"And Iris..." she added.
"Yeah?"
"Do not hesitate like before. I need you in control. Not conflicted."
I exhaled through my nose. "Then don't take me over."
"I will not," she said. "Unless you ask."
"I won't."
"Then we are aligned."
We stopped at a point where the canyon floor dropped sharply, sand sliding down into a concealed metal hatch nearly covered by erosion.
Cadence scanned. "Old entry point. Functional. Barely."
I looked at the hatch.
"Well," I said. "Let's go knock on Nova's old front door."
Cadence's hologram flickered a faint smile. "Try not to break it."
"No promises."
I brushed the sand aside with my boot, revealing a faint keypad. My mechanical hand hovered over it. Cadence synced with the interface instantly, a soft hum resonating through my arm.
Then the metal groaned.
The hatch opened, slow and heavy, breathing out a gust of stale, cold air that smelled like old labs, failed miracles, and problems I wasn't done solving.
A dim light flickered below.
A corridor waited.
Not welcoming.Not hostile.Just expectant.
Cadence whispered, "Scans indicate no Nova however, the brute is close."
"I know."
"And Iris…"
"Yeah?"
"This time, you fight it as yourself. Not as an experiment."
I stepped onto the first rung of the ladder and descended into the lab.