The monster didn't just move; it launched itself like a missile.
I threw myself to the right, sliding across the polished concrete floor. The creature's fist slammed into the crate I had been hiding behind a second ago.
CRUNCH.
Metal buckled and plastic shattered. The crate didn't just break; it looked like it had been hit by a wrecking ball.
I scrambled to my feet, my boots slipping on the debris.
"VEX!" I screamed into the comms. "IT'S HEAVY! I CAN'T FIGHT THIS THING!"
"We're breached!" Vex yelled back, the sound of gunfire erupting in the background. "Jax is cutting through the loading door, but it's reinforced! Buy us thirty seconds!"
Thirty seconds? Against this thing, I didn't have thirty milliseconds.
The creature—the Experiment—turned its head. The metal visor bolted to its skull gleamed under the emergency lights. It hissed, a sound of wet gears grinding together.
It lunged again.
I ducked under a heavy shelving unit. The creature's arm swept through the steel uprights like they were made of paper. The entire shelf collapsed, raining heavy black boxes down on top of me.
I covered my head, curling into a ball as crates slammed into the floor around me. Dust choked the air.
I was trapped. Pinned between a collapsed shelf and a concrete wall.
The Experiment stalked toward me, kicking debris aside. It knew I was there. It reached down, its massive hand grabbing the steel beam blocking its path and bending it out of the way with a groan of tortured metal.
It looked at me.
Close up, it was worse. The skin around the visor was necrotic, rotting away where the metal met the flesh. The glowing green tubes in its neck pulsed rhythmically. Thump-hiss. Thump-hiss.
It raised a fist to crush me.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. But in my mind, the other heartbeat—the cold, dark rhythm of the Echo—slowed down.
"HUNGER," the voice whispered. It wasn't a suggestion anymore. It was a demand.
I looked at the creature's fist descending toward my face. I didn't have a weapon. I didn't have an exit. I only had the darkness.
Fine, I thought desperately. Take it.
I stopped fighting the cold sensation in my chest. I let it loose.
The air around me screamed. It sounded like a high-pitched audio feedback loop. The temperature in the room dropped to freezing instantly.
My shadow—my Black Echo—didn't rise behind me this time. It coated my right arm.
Black smoke wrapped around my skin, solidifying into a jagged, vibrating gauntlet of pure void. It felt heavy and numb, like my arm had fallen asleep, but it pulsed with a terrible need.
I thrust my hand up. Not to block the punch. But to catch it.
The Experiment's massive fist slammed into my open palm.
BOOM.
The impact should have shattered every bone in my arm. It should have turned me into paste. But I didn't feel the impact. I felt... the connection.
The creature froze. Its fist was stuck to my hand.
The Black Echo flared. The void-gauntlet around my arm expanded, tendrils of black static shooting up the creature's wrist like veins of ink.
"CONSUME."
I squeezed my hand.
The Experiment shrieked. It wasn't a roar of anger; it was a scream of absolute terror.
The glowing green tubes in its arm burst. But the fluid didn't spill onto the floor. The fluid—the energy—flowed into me.
I watched in horror as the green light was sucked out of the monster's veins, pulled through the black static, and absorbed into my own skin.
It felt like drinking lightning. It felt like fire and ice flooding my system.
The creature tried to pull away, thrashing wildly. It swung its other fist, but it was getting weaker. Its skin turned grey, then ashy white. The metal implants sparked and died.
"Stop!" I yelled, trying to let go. "Stop it!"
But I couldn't let go. The Echo was in control. It was starving.
The black tendrils raced up the monster's neck, reaching the visor. The red light in the creature's eye flickered—and then was sucked out.
CRACK.
The creature's arm crumbled. Literally crumbled. The flesh turned to dust, the bone turned to ash.
The Experiment collapsed, dissolving into a pile of grey powder and rusted metal parts.
I stood there, gasping for air, my hand still held out, gripping nothing but dust.
The black smoke around my arm swirled one last time, burped a puff of static, and vanished back into my skin.
Silence returned to the room.
But I wasn't the same. The pain in my shoulder? Gone. The exhaustion from the climb? Gone. I felt energized. Overcharged. My veins felt like they were humming with stolen electricity.
CLANG.
The loading bay doors finally flew open.
"Kairo!" Lyra shouted, sprinting into the room with her knife drawn. Jax followed, the rotary cannon spun up and ready to fire. Vex brought up the rear with a shotgun.
"Where is it?" Vex yelled, scanning the room. "Where's the Hostile?"
Lyra skidded to a halt in front of me. She looked at the destroyed shelves. She looked at the pile of grey ash and loose metal parts at my feet.
Then she looked at me. Her eyes went wide. Her Echo—usually so calm—flickered nervously around her.
"Kairo," she whispered, looking at my right arm. "Your veins..."
I looked down. Under the skin of my forearm, faint black lines were pulsing, fading slowly like a dying bruise.
"I..." My voice sounded distorted, deeper than usual. I coughed, clearing my throat. "I took care of it."
Vex walked over to the pile of ash. He kicked the empty metal visor with his boot. He looked at the ash, then at me. The mechanical shutter of his eye clicked rapidly, zooming in on my face.
"You took care of a Class-4 Bio-Weapon," Vex said slowly. "With your bare hands?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I said, stepping over the ash. I felt sick. Powerful, but sick. "Get the generator. Let's get out of here."
Vex watched me walk away. He didn't make a joke. He didn't smile. He looked at Jax. And for the first time, the leader of the Rusty Spire looked afraid.