Kyrgyzstan – Dominion Tunnel Network1058 Hours
The air tightened—thick, metallic, humming with an electrical charge that raised the tiny hairs on Ghost's neck. The flickering tunnel lights cast Rook in fractured shadows, carving his silhouette into something between a soldier and a nightmare.
The enhanced operatives behind him stood perfectly still, their stances identical, their posture unnervingly synchronized. Their armor was matte black, reinforced with exoskeletal braces that pulsed faint blue with every silent breath they drew.
Ghost didn't move.
Neither did Rook.
For a moment, the mountain tunnel felt too small for the two of them.
Rook's voice echoed off steel and stone.Calm.Controlled.Predictable only in its coldness.
"Simon… you've brought them far. But this is where their path ends—unless you finally accept what you are."
Mara's grip tightened on her knives.Kade's finger hovered over his trigger.Ghost raised a hand.
Stand down.
Mara froze mid-breath. Kade lowered one inch, nothing more.
Ghost took one step forward.Mask to mask.Death to death.
"You talk too much."
A faint chuckle rattled through Rook's helmet.
"And you still pretend this isn't personal."
Ghost tilted his head, the skull visor reflecting Rook's twisted reflection.
"This isn't about you."
"Liar."
Rook snapped his fingers.
The tunnel erupted.
THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT
Two enhanced operatives lunged—not ran, lunged, like bullets fired from the darkness. Ghost shoved Mara aside, blade lifting in a clean vertical arc.
Clang—Sparks burst as steel met reinforced cybernetic plating. The operative didn't react to pain. It didn't even flinch.
Kade brought his rifle up—
"Don't!" Ghost barked.
Too late.
Kade fired.
Three bullets.Perfect shots.Zero effect.
The rounds flattened against a kinetic dampening field that rippled across the operative's chest.
"Shit—"
The second operative slammed Kade against the wall. The impact shook dust from the ceiling. Kade wheezed but rolled under the next hit, firing again instinctively.
Still nothing.
Mara reappeared at Ghost's flank, slicing across hydraulic tubing along an operative's wrist. The limb twitched but recalibrated instantly.
"These things don't die," she hissed.
Ghost parried another strike, blade scraping sparks across armor plates. "Everything dies. You just haven't found the right angle."
Behind them, Rook watched—hands behind his back like a surgeon observing an experiment.
"Your form has improved," he said lightly. "But your squad… slows you."
Ghost's jaw clenched. "You leave them out of this."
Rook's tone sharpened."But they're already in it."
Another operative charged.
Ghost met it directly—stepping into the attack rather than away. His blade slid under its arm, hooking through the joint and severing a critical support piston.
The operative staggered—twitched—then rebooted with a violent jolt.
"Regen systems?" Luis's voice crackled through comms. "That's not standard military tech, Ghost!"
"No," Ghost growled, slamming an armored boot into the operative's chest and flipping back. "It's Rook's."
The walls vibrated as Hana's frantic voice pinged into the channel.
"Simon—listen! Rook rerouted the entire network. He's locking you inside the lower levels. He wants—"
The feed cut.Static bled through.
Ghost felt the shift in the environment—air pressure tightening, doors sealing, generators powering down.
Rook had sealed the exits.
They weren't just fighting in a tunnel.
They were fighting in Rook's cage.
THE SECOND WAVE
Rook's hand lifted.
"Again."
All six operatives moved in unison this time.
Ghost's HUD flickered with movement trajectories—six red blurs converging at once. Mara ducked, rolling under a downward strike. Kade emptied a full magazine, buying himself seconds as he retreated behind a pillar.
Luis's comm feed was breaking, distorted, panicked."Trying—trying to override—systems aren't responding—someone's counter-hacking me—"
Hana's tremble breathed through."Simon… he's inside the network. He's controlling everything."
Ghost gritted his teeth. "Stay safe. Stay back."
One operative broke formation and sprinted toward Mara, faster than any human run should be. Ghost moved to intercept—blade up—
Rook appeared at Ghost's side without a sound.
Like a shadow manifesting.
Ghost whipped around, slashing—Rook blocked with his forearm, metal screeching against metal.
"You're predictable," Rook murmured.
Ghost shoved forward. "You taught me half of what I know."
Rook leaned in."And I learned the other half from watching you fail."
Ghost's stomach tightened.
Rook thrust, faster—too fast. Ghost deflected but took a glancing hit to the shoulder that cracked an armor plate.
He staggered—only for one operative to seize the opening.
Mara screamed."Ghost!!"
The operative grabbed Ghost by the throat and slammed him into the wall. The metal behind him buckled.
Ghost gasped as fingers closed like a hydraulic vise.
Pressure rising—Vision stuttering—
Rook approached, steps measured and cruelly calm.
"This is what weakness looks like, Simon."
Ghost's right hand twitched—Found the hilt—Pulled.
He drove the blade upward into the operative's visor.
The armor resisted—then cracked—The blade pierced through cybernetic skull.
The operative convulsed violently—Then went limp.
Ghost hit the floor hard, ripping his blade free.
One down.
Five to go.
Rook's head tilted.
"Good," he said softly. "You're waking up."
Ghost staggered to his feet.Breathing ragged.Hands shaking.Eyes burning with something cold and sharp.
"You want me to break," Ghost rasped. "You want the old me."
Rook's visor glowed faint red.
"No, Simon… I want the true you."
THE TUNNEL SHIFTS
Suddenly the floor vibrated.
Lights shut off.The hum of machinery roared deeper below.
Hana's voice returned—a terrified whisper.
"Simon… the system you're heading toward—it's not a command node.It's a Genesis Core."
Mara froze.Kade swore.
Ghost's blood chilled.
A Genesis Core wasn't just a server cluster.
It was a prototype Dominion neuro-sync reactor.
A machine designed to merge command systems with human minds.
Ghost stared at Rook.
"You're linked to it."
Rook nodded.
"And soon… so will you."
The remaining operatives formed a circle around Ghost's team.
Rook raised a hand.
"Last chance, Simon. Walk willingly… or be dragged."
Ghost's mask dipped—low—dangerously calm.
"I'll walk."
Rook paused, surprised.
Ghost raised his blade.
"Over your corpse."
The operatives moved as one.
Rook vanished into the dark.
And the mountain tunnel became hell.