Gravity was a harsh mistress in the Lower Ring, but for once, Kai welcomed her embrace.
He fell past the blurred neon of Level 10, the residential blocks blurring into streaks of dirty light. The wind roared in his ears, tearing at his coat.
< IMPACT IN 4 SECONDS. > Cipher's voice was calm, a stark contrast to the vertiginous drop. < TARGETING LANDING ZONE. CALCULATING TRAJECTORY. >
Kai didn't scream. He focused. His eyes, burning with the cold fire of the Entropy Sutra, scanned the abyss below.
The Boiler Room was an open-air industrial plaza at the base of the Stack, dominated by massive heat-exchange pipes that vented the excess thermal energy from the factories below. It was a red-lit hellscape of steam and rust, the heart of the Iron Vipers' territory.
[ OBJECT: STEAM VENT (Sector 4) ][ PRESSURE: 800 PSI ][ STATUS: VENTING CYCLE ACTIVE ]
"There," Kai thought.
He twisted in mid-air, aiming his body not at the metal grating of the floor, but at a thick, insulated pipe running horizontally across the shaft.
< BRACE. >
Kai hit the pipe. He didn't try to stop; he converted the vertical momentum into a roll. His boots slammed against the insulation, sliding, screeching. He wrapped his left arm around a support strut, wrenching his shoulder socket with a sickening pop, but swinging himself around to kill his velocity.
He dropped the final three meters to the floor.
THUD.
He landed in a crouch, surrounded by swirling white steam. The heat was oppressive, a physical weight that pressed against his skin. It smelled of burning oil and old sweat.
He stood up. His shoulder clicked—his enhanced healing factor already knitting the micro-tears in the ligament.
He was in the perimeter. Ahead, through the fog, he could see the silhouette of the Vipers' fortress—a retrofitted pressure control station surrounded by makeshift barricades.
Two guards stood at the perimeter fence. They were wearing heavy rubber aprons and rebreathers, holding kinetic shotguns.
[ TARGETS DETECTED: 2 ][ THREAT: MODERATE ][ EQUIPMENT: ANTI-RIOT GEAR (TIER 1) ]
They hadn't seen him yet. The steam was too thick.
Kai drew the Plasma-Arc Rod. He didn't ignite the blade yet. The hum would give him away.
He moved.
He didn't run; he flowed. The Entropy Sutra mapped the floor for him, highlighting loose grates and puddles of oil that would make noise. He stepped where the silence was.
He reached the first guard. The man was bored, tapping on a datapad.
[ WEAK POINT: OXYGEN TUBE ][ HIT PROBABILITY: 99% ]
Kai struck.
He swung the rod like a hammer. The weighted tip smashed into the plastic connector of the guard's rebreather.
CRACK-HISS.
The tube snapped. Pressurized air vented loudly. The guard panicked, clawing at his mask, dropping his shotgun.
The second guard spun around, raising his weapon. "Contact! Sector—"
Kai thumbed the ignition switch.
SNAP-HISS.
The blue plasma blade ignited with a sound like tearing canvas. Kai lunged, thrusting the tip forward.
He didn't aim for the guard. He aimed for the shotgun.
The plasma arc sliced through the barrel of the kinetic weapon, fusing the metal instantly. The heat transfer caused the ammo cartridge inside to cook off.
BOOM.
The shotgun exploded in the guard's hands. He screamed, thrown backward by the concussive force, clutching his shredded gloves.
[ COMBAT LOG: 2 TARGETS NEUTRALIZED ][ ALERT LEVEL: CRITICAL ][ STEALTH: FAILED ]
"I didn't want stealth," Kai whispered.
He stepped over the groaning guards and kicked the gate open.
The inner courtyard of the Boiler Room was a chaotic maze of pipes and valves. Dozens of gang members were lounging on crates, playing cards or polishing weapons. Kray sat on a throne made of welded exhaust manifolds in the center, his damaged arm currently being worked on by a nervous-looking tech-doc.
When the gate crashed open, forty heads turned.
Silence stretched for a heartbeat, heavy and dangerous.
Then Kray stood up. He pushed the tech-doc away. His eyes narrowed as he peered through the steam.
"The Null?" Kray's voice was incredulous. Then, a savage grin split his scarred face. "You came back? And you brought a glow-stick?"
The gang erupted in laughter. It was a harsh, jagged sound.
"Where is she?" Kai asked. His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the laughter.
"The girl?" Kray gestured with his good arm toward a heavy blast door behind the throne. "She's collateral, kid. Just interest on the debt. We're parting her out. That neural interface is worth a few credits. The rest... well, the organ banks are always buying."
Kai felt the cold rage settle in his chest. It wasn't the hot, blinding anger of before. It was the icy calculation of a machine deciding to purge a virus.
[ TARGET: IRON VIPERS (38 UNITS) ][ AGGREGATE THREAT: EXTREME ][ ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: HIGH PRESSURE STEAM / VOLATILE FUEL DRUMS ]
< THEY HAVE THE NUMBERS. > Cipher noted, sounding bored. < BUT THEY ARE RUNNING ON LEGACY HARDWARE. THEIR FORMATION IS INEFFICIENT. USE THE ENVIRONMENT. CAUSE A CASCADE FAILURE. >
"Kill him," Kray ordered, waving a hand dismissively. "And bring me that stick. It looks expensive."
Five thugs charged. They wielded machetes and chains, screaming war cries.
Kai didn't move until they were three meters away.
Then, his eyes flashed. The red text overlay painted the world.
[ TARGET LOCK: VALVE 7-A ][ PRESSURE: 1200 PSI ][ STRUCTURAL WEAKNESS: RUSTED FLANGE ]
Kai side-stepped a swinging chain. He spun, bringing the Plasma-Arc Rod down not on an enemy, but on a large, red valve wheel protruding from the floor to his left.
The plasma cut through the rust. The wheel spun free.
WHOOSH!
A jet of superheated steam erupted from the floor at Mach speeds. It caught the lead attacker full in the chest. He didn't even have time to scream; the force knocked him backward into his comrades, boiling them instantly in a cloud of white agony.
The formation broke. The thugs scrambled back, howling.
Kai advanced through the steam. To him, the vapor wasn't blinding. The Entropy Sutra outlined the heat signatures of his enemies in crisp orange.
He was a ghost in the fog.
A machete swung out of the mist. Kai ducked.
[ TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS: OVER-EXTENDED ]
He drove the rod into the attacker's exposed ribcage. The shock-baton function discharged. The man convulsed and dropped.
Two more rushed him from the right. Kai leaped, pushing off a pipe, flipping over their heads. He landed behind them.
Slash.
The plasma tip severed the hydraulic line on one thug's exoskeleton legs. The man collapsed, his legs locking up.
The second thug turned, firing a pistol blindly.
Kai saw the bullet vector before the trigger was pulled. He shifted his weight, leaning left. The bullet sparked against the pipe behind him.
He closed the distance. A palm strike to the chest, reinforced with a burst of Qi.
CRACK.
The thug's sternum gave way. He flew back, crashing into a stack of fuel drums.
[ QI RESERVES: 85% ][ HEART RATE: 140 BPM ][ SYSTEM STATUS: OPTIMAL ]
Kai stood amidst the moaning bodies. The steam cleared slightly.
The laughter was gone.
Kray wasn't smiling anymore. He stared at Kai, at the glowing blue blade, at the red lines faintly tracing themselves across Kai's skin under the coat.
"What are you?" Kray whispered. "You're a Null. You have no port. You have no chrome."
"I'm an update," Kai said.
He started walking toward the throne.
"Shoot him!" Kray screamed, backing away. "Shoot him, you idiots!"
The remaining thirty gang members raised their guns. Kinetic rifles, laser pistols, makeshift slug-throwers.
[ THREAT WARNING: PROJECTILE SATURATION IMMINENT ][ EVASION IMPOSSIBLE ]
< SHIELDS? > Cipher asked. < OH, RIGHT. WE HAVEN'T INSTALLED THOSE YET. BIT OF AN OVERSIGHT. >
Kai looked at the massive pressure tank looming over the courtyard. It was the central hub for the sector's heating.
[ OBJECT: CENTRAL BOILER ][ CAPACITY: 98% ][ EMERGENCY VENTING PROTOCOL: MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED ]
"Cipher," Kai thought. "Can you hack the pressure regulator remotely?"
< I CAN'T CONNECT TO AIR-GAPPED ANALOG TECH. YOU NEED TO TOUCH IT. >
"Cover me," Kai said.
He sprinted. Not toward Kray, but toward the massive tank.
The guns opened fire. The air filled with the deafening roar of ballistics and the sizzle of energy beams.
Bullets sparked off the metal floor around his feet. A laser singed the sleeve of his coat.
Kai moved in a zigzag pattern, guided by the predictive algorithms of the Sutra. He was fast—faster than a human should be—but he wasn't bulletproof.
A slug grazed his thigh. A line of fire erupted on his leg.
[ DAMAGE DETECTED: LEFT QUADRICEPS ][ INTEGRITY: 88% ][ PAIN RECEPTORS: DAMPENED ]
He ignored it. He reached the base of the tank. He slammed his hand against the control panel.
It was an old, rusty terminal with physical buttons.
< INTERFACE ESTABLISHED. UPLOADING PAYLOAD... >
Kai felt a drain on his Qi reserves as Cipher forced a connection through his bio-electricity.
< ERROR: SECURITY PROTOCOL. I NEED 5 SECONDS. >
"I don't have five seconds!"
Bullets were pinging off the tank hull inches from his head.
Kai turned, his back to the tank. He spun the Plasma-Arc Rod, creating a dazzling blue wheel of light that deflected a few stray shots, but it wasn't enough. They were closing in.
He saw Kray aiming a heavy rivet gun.
"Die, glitch!"
Kai focused. He dug deep into the vortex in his Dantian. He didn't pull energy in this time. He pushed it out.
He channeled his Qi into the air in front of him, visualizing resistance. He imagined the air becoming thick, like syrup.
[ SKILL UNLOCKED: STATIC FIELD (MINOR) ]
The air in front of Kai shimmered.
Kray fired. A heavy steel rivet, capable of punching through a hull plate, flew toward Kai's chest.
It hit the shimmering air.
It didn't stop, but it slowed. It deviated.
Ping.
The rivet struck the tank wall a foot to Kai's left.
< ACCESS GRANTED. >
< EXECUTING: VENT_ALL.EXE >
A siren wailed, a mournful, mechanical scream that drowned out the gunfire.
The emergency vents on the massive tank—vents that faced outward, toward the courtyard—slammed open.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
It wasn't just steam. It was a shockwave of superheated air.
The blast hit the Vipers like the fist of a god. Men were lifted off their feet and thrown like ragdolls. Weapons clattered away. The makeshift barricades disintegrated.
Kai, shielded by the curve of the tank behind him, watched the devastation.
The steam cloud filled the entire plaza, thick and impenetrable. The heat was intense, blistering paint off the walls.
But Kai felt cold. The Entropy Sutra absorbed the excess heat, feeding his reserves.
[ ENERGY RECOVERED: +15% ]
Silence fell over the Boiler Room, broken only by the groans of the wounded and the hiss of the vents.
Kai stepped away from the tank. He walked through the white fog.
He found Kray near the gate. The gang leader had been thrown against a pillar. His hydraulic arm was twisted wreckage. His face was burned red. He was trying to crawl away, coughing up blood.
Kai stopped in front of him. He deactivated the plasma blade, leaving only the heavy tungsten rod.
Kray looked up, his eyes filled with absolute terror. "What... are... you?"
"I'm the interest," Kai said.
He swung the rod.
CRACK.
Kray collapsed, unconscious.
[ TARGET NEUTRALIZED ][ LOOT: KEYCARD (LEVEL 14) ]
Kai bent down and fished a magnetic keycard from Kray's pocket. He didn't kill him. Dead men couldn't pay debts, and Kai wanted the Vipers to remember this fear.
He walked to the heavy blast door behind the throne. He swiped the card.
The light turned green. The heavy mechanism groaned and unlocked.
Kai pulled the door open.
Inside, it was cool and quiet. It looked like a storage locker converted into a medical bay.
Rin was strapped to a surgical table. A diagnostic machine was humming next to her, connected to her prosthetic port.
She was awake, her eyes wide and unseeing, staring at the ceiling. She was shaking.
"Rin?" Kai dropped the rod. He rushed to the table and began undoing the straps.
"Kai?" Her voice was a thread. "Is that you? The noise... it stopped."
"I'm here," Kai said, his hands trembling slightly as he freed her arms. "I'm here. We're leaving."
He helped her sit up. She clung to him, burying her face in his coat. She smelled the ozone and the blood on him.
"Did you... did you pay them?" she asked.
Kai looked back through the open door at the devastation of the Boiler Room. At the steam, the broken bodies, the shattered throne.
"Yeah," Kai said, lifting her off the table. She was light, too light. "I paid them in full."
< WARNING. > Cipher's tone shifted, losing its mockery. < MULTIPLE SIGNALS INCOMING. FIREWALL DRONES. AND SOMETHING ELSE. A HIGH-LEVEL CULTIVATOR SIGNATURE. APPROACHING FAST. >
Kai stiffened. "Where?"
< FROM THE UPPER RING. SECT ENFORCERS. YOU MADE TOO MUCH NOISE, KID. >
Kai adjusted his grip on Rin, supporting her weight. He picked up his rod.
"Can we make it to the vents?"
< IF YOU RUN. NOW. >
Kai looked at the exit. The steam was starting to clear.
"Hold on tight, Rin," Kai whispered.
He activated the Entropy Sutra again, pushing the fatigue from his muscles.
He began to run.
Not up, back to the container. That life was over.
He ran down. Into the depths of the Sump. Into the darkness where the System couldn't see.
And as he ran, the red text in his vision pulsed with a new, ominous update.
[ ALERT: WANTED STATUS ASSIGNED ][ BOUNTY: 10,000 KARMA ][ HUNTER DISPATCHED: PRINCE AETHELGARD ]
Kai didn't look back. He just ran.