The Rustbelt was in a slow-motion blackout when Kane slipped back into the Iron Wards. The sky dripped with flickers of static, a weak Data Storm, more glitch than weather. Blue pixels drifted down like broken snowflakes and hissed when they touched metal.
Perfect cover.
Kane kept his hood low, sticking to alleys where the storm made cameras stutter. Every few steps, loose sparks of code fluttered across his vision, never fully settling. His body still felt wrong, too light in some places, too heavy in others.
Most of the Wards were quiet. Doors shut. Shutters down. People whispering indoors instead of scavenging the alleys. Word had spread. The crater massacre had become a rumor-fueled disaster zone overnight.
Kane moved fast, heading toward the workshop he'd used for years. The sign was half-rotted, the lock rusted, but nobody had touched it. He nudged the door open and slipped inside.
The place smelled like dust and burnt wiring. Familiar enough to steady him.
He didn't waste time. He opened cabinets, ripped open drawers, shoved gear into a torn backpack:
a pair of shock pistols
his magnetic toolkit
three usable data cells
and a hardcase containing the prototype signal scrambler, the one he'd built for Lira before… everything
Kane's breath hitched when he touched the case. He pushed the reaction down and kept packing.
A soft pulse flickered in his vision.
[Vitals Stabilized]
[Integration 1.3% → 1.4%]
[Energy Reserves: Low]
[Recommendation: Consume low-tier fragments]
Kane clenched his teeth. "Shut up."
The voice didn't respond, but the System lingered.
He swung the pack over his shoulder and stepped back into the hall, keeping close to the wall as the Data Storm intensified outside. His hands were steady, but his pulse wasn't.
He had what he came for.
Kane kept to the narrow alleys, moving under dangling cables and rusted scaffold beams.
He stayed hidden, but the voices carried.
Two scavengers leaned near a broken vending unit, speaking in low, urgent tones.
"Swear on my ration card, I heard it myself," one said. "Null ripped a man apart in the crater. No weapon. Just—" He made a clawing motion. "Code."
The other scoffed. "Bullshit."
"I'm telling you, they said the body turned to static. The Council's alerting the Ascendants."
The second scavenger went quiet. "If it's a Devourer… they'll burn the whole block. They always do."
Kane's stomach tightened.
Devourer.
They were talking about him.
He kept moving, trying to stay invisible. But every corner he turned, more whispers drifted from dark doorways.
"Whole squad gone. Just dust left."
"Heard the Null had silver in his eyes…"
"Ascendants'll purge the Wards. Better pack up."
Kane's breathing picked up. He pulled his hood lower.
A faint System shimmer appeared in the corner of his vision:
[Keyword Detected: "Devourer"]
[Advisory: Avoid Detection by Ascendant Units]
[Threat Level Escalation: Caution Tier → Hazard Tier]
Hazard Tier. Great.
Kane muttered under his breath, "I'm not a Devourer. I didn't choose any of this."
The System didn't answer, but he felt it there, listening.
He adjusted the strap of his pack and kept going.
Kane reached the corridor leading toward the Wards' outer catwalks. Narrow, rust-lined, dim, exactly the kind of place you didn't walk into blindly.
Which was why his HUD suddenly flickering saved his life.
[Detection: Structural Mapping (F) — Active]
Thin outlines formed across the walls, faint silhouettes behind the metal panels.
Four figures. Spread out. Waiting.
Kane froze.
"Of course," he whispered. "Of course they'd try this."
A shadow shifted behind the wall to his left — the one with the crooked leg brace. He recognized that limp. One of the scavengers who shot him from the crater.
So the whole crew was here.
"Alright, boys," a voice whispered ahead. "He should be coming through any second. If he's alive, we drag him in. Alive pays more."
Another hissed, "Alive? Did you see what he did to Joren?."
"Yeah, well, Council wants proof. Ascendants too. So shut up and get ready."
Kane clenched his jaw.
They weren't just scared, they wanted to trade him in like scrap metal.
He stepped forward anyway, pretending he hadn't seen them.
The second he crossed the midpoint of the corridor—
Click.
A safety came off.
Kane threw himself sideways. Gunfire erupted, tearing through the metal walls where his head had been. Sparks spat across the corridor.
Enhanced Reflexes kicked in hard.
[Adrenal Spike Detected — Reflex Boosting Active]
Kane rolled behind a support beam, heart hammering.
"Spread out!" someone shouted. "Don't let him bolt!"
Another voice, Kane recognized the rough vocal. "Aim for the legs! He's a Null, not a tank!"
Kane fired a quick shot with his shock pistol. The beam ricocheted off a metal girder, and struck one scavenger behind cover. The man shrieked and collapsed.
"Dammit! He's using the walls, he's reading the damn structure!"
They fired again. A bullet skimmed Kane's arm. Pain flashed, and suddenly a burst of memory hit him:
Lira's voice, sharp and familiar: "Move, Kane! Don't just stand there!"
For half a second, he froze, staring at the echo of her face.
Then another round slammed into the beam beside him, snapping him back.
Kane dove low, sliding across the floor. He touched the metal grate for stability, and his System pulsed.
Lines rippled through the structure.
Vibrations. Weight shifts. Footsteps.
He saw exactly where the nearest scavenger was stepping before the man moved.
Kane lifted his pistol, aimed at the patch of floor the System highlighted in dull red, and fired.
The shock round hit the ground precisely as the scavenger's boot landed. The explosion threw the man backward. He slammed into the wall.
"Shit, shit, he's one of them! A Devourer!"
The last scavenger panicked. Kane saw him through the wall, the silhouette breaking away, stumbling as he sprinted down the corridor.
Kane didn't chase him.
He suddenly felt too tired. Too hollow.
He leaned against a beam, breathing hard, the corridor silent except for the distant hum of machinery.
And the retreating screams of the survivor echoing:
"He's a Devourer! He's a Devourer!"
Kane closed his eyes.
He knew the rumor would spread like fire.
The corridor finally went quiet. No more footsteps. No more shouts. Just the sound of broken lights flickering overhead.
Kane slid down the wall until he hit the floor. His hands wouldn't stop trembling.
He lifted one and stared at it, the faint silver glow beneath his skin pulsing.
A soft ping blinked across his vision:
[Integration: 1.7%]
[Corruption Load: 3.8%]
[New Subfunction Unlocked — Signal Scrambling (Prototype)]
Kane wiped sweat from his forehead. "Great. New tricks I never asked for."
Another notification materialized, this one glowing a soft blue:
[Source Identified: External Tech — Scrambler Core]
Kane blinked.
Scrambler Core.
He reached into his pack and pulled out the hardcase he'd grabbed from his workshop, the half-built signal scrambler he'd made for Lira.
The casing was cracked open. The core inside was dim, half-melted… and humming in sync with his pulse.
"Don't tell me…" he muttered.
One more System line appeared:
[External Device → Internal Subfunction Integration Complete]
[Stealth Capacity: Partial]
He stared at the core, then at his hand.
"Of course. You ate it," he said in a low, humorless breath. "You're just… absorbing anything you want, aren't you?"
Silence.
The Predator didn't answer, but Kane felt it, that quiet, pulsing awareness at the back of his skull.
He closed the hardcase and stood up, wincing as the adrenaline faded.
Outside, distant sirens started rising, echoing through the Iron Wards like a warning.
Kane turned toward the exit, and a faint tremor shook the air.
Lights flickered. Metal rattled.
Then he heard it, the distinct thrumming of heavy engines cutting through smog.
The Ascendants had arrived.
Kane stepped out into the open edge of the Iron Wards just as the sky lit up in a cold, white-gold glare.
Drones descended through the smog in tight formation, smooth metal shells, halo-like scanners rotating around their cores. Their beams swept the ground in clean geometric grids, cutting through the Data Storm like it wasn't even there.
Every surface they touched sparked faintly.
Every shadow tightened.
Kane ducked behind a rusted support column. His HUD buzzed:
[Incoming Transmission: Ascendant Purge Command]
[Sweeping for System Anomalies]
[Estimated Time to Contact: 08:32 minutes]
[Directive: Evade or Assimilate]
He muttered, "Assimilate? Yeah, that's not happening."
Another drone drifted lower, scanning the rooftops. A pair of Ascendant enforcers rode down on lift platforms behind it, armored, rigid, rifles braced. Their armor glowed with silver-blue System lines, nothing like the patched plates scavengers wore.
They were here for him.
Kane reached into his pack and grabbed the cracked scrambler core, slipping it into his inner pocket.
He checked both shock pistols. One low, one half-full.
The drones spread out. The beams narrowed.
He looked toward the entrance of the old metro tunnels, a jagged dark slit under the Wards.
Eight minutes. Nowhere else to run.