The shaft spit Nero and Helia into a lower engineering passage so abruptly that both tumbled across the metal floor, sliding to a stop near a cluster of disconnected cables. A faint glow from emergency strips illuminated the walls in pale red pulses, barely offering enough light to see more than a few meters ahead.
Nero pushed himself up with trembling arms. His chest still heaved from the sprint, but the ache that weighed on him wasn't physical.
It was the recording.The child's voice.Prototype Eleven's terror.
It clung to him like a second skin.
Helia crawled to his side immediately. "Nero—look at me. Look at me."
He did.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, hands moving over his shoulders, checking for burns or broken ribs.
"No," he whispered. "Just—"
"Shaken?" she finished softly.
He nodded once.
She squeezed his arm. "You're allowed to be."
Nero clenched his jaw. "If I stop to feel everything, that Unit will catch us."
Helia hesitated, then slowly nodded. "You're right. But I'm not letting you carry that alone."
Before Nero could answer, a distant metallic roar reverberated through the ducts above, shaking loose dust from the ceiling.
Helia's head snapped upward. "It's tracking the residual energy from your core."
Nero swallowed. "What do we do?"
"We move," she said.Not with panic—but with resolve.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the narrow hall.
The engineering passage twisted through pipes and grated floors, dim emergency lights flickering with every tremor. Nero's boots echoed sharply.
As they rounded a corner, a soft mechanical beep pulsed from the ceiling.
Helia shoved Nero to the wall. "Don't move."
A tiny surveillance drone drifted past the hallway intersection, scanning with a blinking red light. Its low hum vibrated through Nero's skin.
Nero held still, breath frozen.
The drone paused—light cycling through detection modes.
A warning tone played.
Helia tightened her grip on Nero's arm.
The drone drifted away.
Nero exhaled shakily. "That thing almost found us."
Helia pulled him forward again. "They're tightening the net. The Reconstruction Unit will reach this level in under a minute. We need a way out."
"But this passage is dead-end mapped, this might be our game-over," Nero said.
Helia smirked slightly. "For most people."
She knelt beside a sealed hatch in the floor and began prying at its panel. Nero crouched beside her, glancing over his shoulder.
"Do you know where it leads?"
"No," Helia said. "Which makes it perfect."
Nero blinked. "That's— not comforting."
Helia cracked the hatch open. "You want comforting or survival?"
Nero sighed. "Survival… for now."
She pushed the hatch fully open.
A narrow shaft dropped into darkness.
Before Nero could speak, a deafening crash echoed from behind.The wall at the far end of the passage dented inward—metal warping as a massive claw punched through.
Nero's heart lurched.
Helia grabbed his shirt and shoved him toward the hatch."DOWN! NOW!"
Nero dropped, sliding into the shaft. Helia jumped after him, pulling the hatch shut as the Reconstruction Unit smashed through the corridor above.
They slid down a steep chute, sparks lighting the darkness as their boots scraped metal. Nero braced himself—
They crashed into a basin of soft, metallic dust.
Helia coughed, pushing herself upright. "What is this place?"
Nero wiped his face. "Feels like… filtration residue?"
The room was circular, with tall pipes running into the walls. A dim pulse of teal light glowed behind a nearby panel.
Helia froze. "Nero…"
He followed her gaze.
A figure flickered behind the panel—almost human-shaped.Watching.Still.
Nero's breath hitched. "Is that a—"
The panel flickered again.
The figure vanished.
Helia exhaled shakily. "A residual echo. Old data. Not a person."
Nero wasn't convinced.
Before he could inspect it further, a thunderous impact shook the shaft above them.
The Reconstruction Unit had followed.
Helia grabbed Nero's wrist. "MOVE!"
They ran across the filtration room, weaving between pipes as dust swirled around their feet. Nero's adrenaline pushed him forward.
A metal door appeared on the far side—half-rusted, half-broken.
Helia and Nero started kicking the door.They kicked it repeatedly until the hinges gave way.
"Inside!" she shouted.
They slipped through the door into a long chamber illuminated by flickering bright panels. Thick cables snaked across the floor like roots.
Nero's stomach dropped.
At the center of the room stood a large terminal—and connected to it was a cylindrical container, cracked open.
A stasis unit.
Another one.
Helia's eyes widened. "No…"
Nero stepped toward it.
The label was faded, but still legible:
PROTOTYPE 11 — REMNANT STORAGE
His heart twisted painfully."This is where they kept…" Nero whispered.
Helia moved beside him, voice trembling. "After the collapse… they didn't dispose of him. They stored what was left."
Nero swallowed, nausea rising. "Why?"
"To study the failure," Helia said. "To avoid repeating it."
Nero's hands curled into fists. "They used him."
Another impact shook the wall behind them—massive, closer.The R-unit started to catch up to them.
Helia spun around, panic flaring in her eyes. "Nero, we have to go—there's no time—"
But Nero didn't move.
A faint whisper echoed through the chamber.Soft.Broken.
"…don't… make me…"
Nero froze.
Helia's face paled. "That's—"
A remnant echo.A piece of Prototype 11 memories trapped in corrupted data.
The whisper repeated, more distorted this time:
"…I don't… want to disappear…"
Nero's chest tightened. Tears burned behind his eyes—hot, unwanted, furious tears.
"He was just a kid," Nero whispered. "Just like me."
Helia touched his arm gently. "Nero, please—"
Before she could finish, the entire wall behind them exploded inward, shards of metal launching across the chamber.
The R-Unit emerged through the smoke, towering, its optical sensor glowing with relentless blue light.
"PROTOTYPE 12.RETRIEVAL PRIORITY: CRITICAL."
Helia grabbed Nero's hand, pulling him away from the remnants of Prototype Eleven's pod.
"Nero—LISTEN TO ME."Her voice shook."You cannot let it take you. If they returns you to the Architect—there won't be second chance. Not your memories. Not your feelings. Not your will."
Nero met her eyes.
His fear was still there.His pain was still raw.
But underneath it—something had changed.
Something hard.Sharp.Burning.
A quiet fire.
"I'm not going back," Nero said.
The R-Unit lunged with brutal speed, metal limbs tearing through the floor.
Helia pushed Nero aside—the claw barely missing him.
She reached for her baton—
But Nero stepped forward.
Helia shouted, "NERO—DON'T—!"
He raised his hand and for the first time—
He didn't hesitate.
The Veyra inside him pulsed—not wild, not chaotic but focused into a single point.
A sphere of teal light erupted from Nero's chest—slamming into the Unit's armored core.
Metal screamed.Circuits burst in a shower of sparks.
The Unit staggered back—for the first time.
Nero's legs trembled, but he didn't fall.
Helia stared at him—stunned,amazed, breathless.
"You…" she whispered. "Nero… you did that."
The Unit stabilized, smoke rising from its cracked armor.
"RETRIEVAL: NOT OPTIONAL."
Nero grabbed Helia's hand.
"Let's finish what Prototype Eleven never got the chance to."
They ran.
And the Unit roared behind them.