Kellan drove the specialized, armored utility vehicle Lyra provided at impossible speed toward the Old Town R&D Lab—a massive, brutalist building acquired from the Council of Elders. The Apex Core's warning was a constant, sharp alarm: the Class 3 Predator was capable of rapid structural breakdown, meaning the lab's irreplaceable data and equipment were already at risk.
He slammed on the brakes as he reached the facility. The air was thick with a metallic ozone smell, and a high-pitched, abrasive whine emanated from inside. The main entrance—a reinforced steel door—was already bowed inward, sliced by something impossibly sharp.
[Optimal Insight (Level 3) Activated! Target: R&D Lab Structure and Threat.]
[Sub-Optimal Point (Lab): Redundant ventilation shaft runs directly to the main server floor. Threat is utilizing it for entry.]
[Optimal Action: Immediate counter-synthesis. Deploy Apex Shard Dust into the ventilation system to create a localized, temporary structural stabilizer around the main server racks, buying time.]
Kellan grabbed the drone dispenser loaded with the Apex Shard Dust. He didn't waste time going through the main entrance. He dashed to the massive industrial HVAC intake on the side of the building, his Enhanced Agility allowing him to scale the ladder with unnatural speed.
Inside the building, the air was cold. The whining sound grew louder, punctuated by the gruesome ripping of metal.
He reached the main ventilation hub. The Apex's calculations were precise: he had 120 seconds before the creature breached the server floor and corrupted the entire R&D data archive.
Kellan deployed the drone. The tiny device zipped into the shaft, guided by his focused will. He watched the holographic feed on his toolkit: the drone reached the server room ceiling just as the Class 3 Predator—a creature resembling a massive, four-legged biological drill—tore through the floor beneath it.
The Predator was faster, larger, and its movements were less chaotic than the previous one; it was specifically designed for destruction.
"Here we go," Kellan muttered, his heart hammering. He manually triggered the drone.
The Apex Shard Dust was expelled. It wasn't visible, but the microscopic, dimensionally stable particles immediately reacted to the server room's electromagnetic field. They didn't stop the creature, but they covered the vital server racks and data nodes in a shimmering, temporary film.
The creature lunged at the server racks. Instead of slicing through the metal, the blades struck the Dust, which converted the impact force into a localized, high-frequency kinetic field. The creature shrieked, recoiling instantly from the unfamiliar feedback.
[Counter-Synthesis Status: 75% Stabilization. Server integrity holding, but the structural stabilizer is decaying rapidly under force. Remaining Time: 60 seconds.]
Kellan heard the roar of Lyra's armored vehicle outside, a sound that was both a relief and a warning. Lyra was here, but the creature was about to break through his defense.
"You're sub-optimally designed for pure destruction," Kellan whispered into his comms, speaking directly to the creature, knowing the Apex's frequency might irritate it. "Destruction has no long-term value."
The creature lunged again, determined to breach the flickering field. Kellan knew his Synthesis could only hold for a few more seconds.
Just as the structural stabilizer was about to fail, a silent, powerful golden pulse erupted from the main ventilation hub.
Lyra had arrived. She used her Absolute Energy Control to channel the A.D.B.G.'s energy directly through the building's internal wiring, bypassing the need for physical entry. She was remotely attacking the creature's energy source.
The Class 3 Predator shuddered violently, its internal mechanisms seizing up as its power source was hijacked and optimized by Lyra's will. It collapsed, its massive body hitting the floor with a final, heavy thud.
Lyra's voice came through his comms, calm and deadly. "The threat is neutralized, Kellan. But that was too close. We need our recruits operational, or you won't be able to protect anything we acquire."
Kellan climbed down, looking at the two neutralized entities in two encounters. One dealt with by strategic calculation (EMP), the other by optimized material (Dust).
"You're right," Kellan conceded. "It's time to build the Apex Organization. Our next move is to convert the Watchmen."