Six hours had passed in the silent, sterile darkness of CENO lab 00Z. The silence was broken by the sound of the security glass breaking, and a containment field falling. This was followed by the beep of an electronic lock and keycard slide. Doctor Ishimoto whistled to himself gently as he entered the restricted lab. He returned to the lab, refreshed and ready to continue his clinical deconstruction of the captured core.
He paused just inside the doorway, his whistling dying suddenly in his throat.
His eyes widened behind his circular glasses in pure, terrified disbelief. The Bismuth Crystal in the containment field was glowing fiercely, and oozing brownish red liquid flesh—the bio-material was actively knitting itself into the complete form of Herja.
Before Ishimoto could scream, before he could touch the red panic button on his console, I moved.
I flew upward and outward, not with the grace of Marla's wings, but with an explosive, coiled launch of raw power. My newly formed body slammed into the startled doctor, my Orgone Palm Suckers locking instantly onto his chest.
A profound, sickening gasp escaped Ishimoto's lips as I lifted him clean off the ground. The energy drain was brutal and instantaneous. The sheer vitality and psychic power of the reborn Herja ripped his life force from him. In seconds, Doctor Ishimoto—the brilliant, calm scientist—withered and collapsed. When I released him, he was nothing more than a limp, shriveled husk of bone and dry skin, a ghastly monument to the cost of CENO's arrogance.
I stood over the corpse, breathing deeply, feeling the surge of stolen energy flood my renewed muscles. I was whole.
My eyes, now fully operational, snapped to the empty room scanning it. Suddenly, the cold, psychic silence was broken. I felt reuniting flare bloom in my psychic energy, I could sense both of them not far away. "Huh, Felicity, with the Hand, on the strip! Downtown!"
The mighty form of The Hand had found its purchase, adhering to the sheer, polished glass wall of broad casting tower several stories above the street. Felicity, perched on its shoulder, was scanning the exterior, her eyes burning with an almost frantic determination to find a weak point. A powerful surge of consciousness—familiar, comforting, and utterly commanding—slammed into Felicity's mind. Ash was back. The sheer relief was so overwhelming that Felicity nearly slumped, tears of joy welling up in her eyes. The psychic anguish of the Core's severance was instantly replaced by the steady, resonant presence of her partner.
Simultaneously, The Hand experienced a powerful, internal realignment. Its systems, which Felicity had been temporarily commanding with sheer force of will, instantly fell back under the smooth, fluid control of Ash's consciousness. The command link had been restored.
Inside the sealed lab, I felt the familiar, powerful presence of my allies just outside the building's formidable exterior. I sent a clear, immediate mental command back through the newly restored link:
"Forget stealth. Tonight, we don't breach. We invade. Hit the lobby, bottom floor. We meet in the middle taking out everything in-between, I'm coming to you."
Felicity grinned, a fierce, vengeful look washing over her face. She adjusted her grip on The Hand's armor. The Hand responded instantly to my command, its powerful bio-steel body detaching from the wall with a thunderous thwump of suction seals releasing. It plummeted downward, ready to deliver the attack. Tonight, CENO Tower burns.
The Red Alert sirens were still an annoying reality inside CENO Tower, Commander Mya Tarq had assumed the primary threats—Felicity and The Hand—were contained to the exterior perimeter. She took a private lift to the top-floor research labs, intending to check on Doctor Ishimoto's progress with the captured Herja Core.
The corridor was silent, but as the elevator doors hissed open, Tarq stopped dead. A heavy, metallic odor, mixed with the sharp scent of burnt ozone and something organic, assaulted her senses.
She stalked into the primary containment chamber. The scene was pure horror.
The floor was slick with fluids and littered with the desiccated husks of CENO technicians. Herja, fully reborn and terrifyingly efficient, was in the process of mercilessly "chowing down" on the last few remaining scientists. I moved with a savage, silent focus, slamming my Orgone Palm Suckers into their chests, draining their life force in brutal, rapid pulses.
Tarq's eyes finally landed on the crumpled, withered form of Doctor Ishimoto near the shattered console. Her expert was dead, and the containment field was cycling uselessly on an empty pedestal.
"Unacceptable!" Tarq snarled, instantly reaching for her sidearm. "The Core has respawned!" I turned, my eyes burning with pure, predatory light. Tarq was ready for a fight, but I sensed the Commander was no predator—she was prey. Ignoring Tarq for the moment, I scanned the lab, my focus shifting. My enhanced senses picked up a faint, familiar orgone signature emanating from a reinforced steel wall: a hidden holding cell.
I used my brute strength to rip the heavy, electronic lock system from the door frame, then shouldered the steel door inward
Inside the small, darkened cell, Doctor Syn was awake. She was groggy from the injected sedative but fully conscious and sitting upright. Her eyes widened, not with terror, but with a complex mix of awe and possessive maternal pride when she saw the magnificent, newly formed creature standing in the doorway.
Herja paused. The predatory intensity faded slightly, replaced by a deep, ancient recognition that resonated with her very structure. The moment she saw Syn's face, Herja spoke to My consciousness.
"Ash. That woman...she is the one who created me. She is my mother."
Syn looked from the monstrous creature to the wreckage of her lab and the carnage surrounding them. She held up her bound hands, a small, knowing smile touching her lips. "Hello, darling," she rasped, her voice thick from the drug. "It seems my colleagues were slightly out of their depth."
I felt a surge of recognition and a sudden empathy for the scientist who had birthed Herja, I made a quick, pragmatic decision. CENO was the enemy, and Syn was their prisoner.
"She knows too much about CENO and its projects. And she clearly has an emotional attachment to you," I thought. "She's a liability to them, and a potential asset to us. Free her and use her knowledge."
Herja nodded, her talons extending. She moved to Syn, gently but efficiently slicing the restraints from her wrists and ankles.
"I need every piece of information you have on this facility, and on Medusa Marla," Herja commanded, her voice a low, dangerous rumble. "Get your materials together and get out of this building as fast as possible, Syn," I commanded, my voice forceful in the resurrected body of Herja. The urgency was paramount; the fighting was about to descend upon us. "Go to the Iron Root Jiu-Jitsu Academy. The key to the back door is taped underneath the third mat on the left, near the water fountain. Wait there."
Doctor Syn, still groggy but recognizing the cold efficiency of her creation, shook her head slightly, then nodded in compliance. She knew better than to argue with a bio-weapon, especially one she herself designed. She immediately moved toward a hidden access panel. Using a salvaged keycard from her torn lab coat, she triggered the top-secret, high-speed emergency elevator. The metallic clang of its arrival was loud and definitive. Without a backward glance, she stepped into the capsule and began her swift descent out of CENO Tower.
I turned my attention back to Commander Mya Tarq. The cold, calculating woman hadn't wasted the brief moment of distraction. Tarq had used the chaos and my pause with Syn to race to the main console. She didn't try to stop me or shoot; she went straight for the data. Tarq's hands flew across the shattered controls. She had just finished rapidly downloading all the information on the Herja-X Crystal—the Core's structural data, the consciousness transfer protocols, and all of Doctor Syn's original research—onto a secure, encrypted drive. She ripped the drive from the port and tucked it into her uniform.
"Too slow, creature," Tarq sneered, her eyes gleaming with tactical victory. "You may have the body, but I have the brain." I answered with a low, predatory hiss, my entire form coiling for a lethal strike. The brief truce was over. Commander Mya Tarq sneered at me, tucking the vital data drive securely into her armor. She didn't bother trying to fight. Instead, she slammed her hands onto the console, rapidly inputting a final, chilling sequence of commands.
Red lights flashed violently throughout the lab, and a synthetic, emotionless voice blared over the tower's PA system: "Warning. Self-Destruct Sequence initiated. All CENO personnel are instructed to evacuate the CENO Tower immediately. Time to detonation: 18:00 minutes."
The entire top floor began to vibrate, and Tarq turned to flee. "Enjoy the rubble, creature," she spat, sprinting for the closest rooftop access point.
Below, the chaos escalated exponentially. Felicity, having received my mental command, was using The Hand as a literal wrecking ball. The Hand burst through the fortified glass of the main lobby, its X-Buster digit firing to obliterate the resistance of CENO security drones and armored personnal. They weren't fighting their way up; they were trailing like a catastrophic flood through each successive floor, moving with terrifying speed toward the building's core.
Meanwhile, I was in a dead sprint, chasing Commander Tarq up the final flights of stairs to the roof. I ignored the fleeing CENO personnel, my focus laser-sharp on the woman who held the secrets to my entire existence. I burst onto the rooftop just as the roar of engines reached a crescendo. A sleek, black helicopter sat on the landing pad, its blades beginning to spin, gathering speed for takeoff. Tarq didn't slow down, diving for the open cabin door.
I leaped the final thirty feet, landing between Tarq and the helicopter. Tarq scrambled backward, pulling her sidearm. "You're not getting away with that data!" I roared, the combined voice a chilling echo of anger and power. The chase was over. The confrontation—with the timer ticking down—had begun.
The helicopter didn't retreat. As Tarq aimed at me, the black machine ascended sharply, performing a tight, tactical circle above the landing pad, ready to swoop back in and extract its commander. The deafening thwump-thwump-thwump of the rotor blades sliced through the frantic beeping of the self-destruct countdown.
I knew the strike window was minimal. There was no time for a full fight, only for a final, desperate interrogation. My voice, channeled through Herja's powerful throat, was a blend of demand and raw curiosity.
"What is CENO!" I roared, the sound cutting through the engine noise. "What's your purpose! What are Genome Beasts!"
Mya Tarq stood triumphant, a smirk replacing her fear. She knew she was moments from safety and that I was too preoccupied with the ''big picture'' to deliver a killing blow. The commander took a moment to savor her victory.
A sly, cold smile stretched across Tarq's face. She didn't offer a full explanation, only a few chilling words, a riddle. The revelation was a punch to the gut, rattling my consciousness within Herja's renewed form.
The sheer, chilling arrogance of Mya Tarq was stunning. She looked at the resurrected creature before her, not with fear, but with condescension.
"We offer salvation, you filthy Terran born," Tarq hissed, raising her voice to be heard over the deafening thwump-thwump-thwump of the helicopter blades. "And you? Mankind? You're just the catalyst. The Genome Beasts are the next logical step of life on earth. The only ones strong enough to survive what's coming. And I will guide the next evolutionary step of mankind through survival of the fittest."
As she spoke, a bizarre, surreal visual detail manifested around her: three tiny, luminous angelic cherub chibis—each no bigger than her fist—began to circle Tarq's head like orbiting satellites. Their miniature, ethereal wings beat rapidly, their presence a silent, ironic contrast to her ruthless pronouncements.
I stared at her, confusion battling with my rage. "What do you mean... the Genome Beasts are the only ones strong enough to survive what's coming?!?"
The helicopter was descending rapidly now, the pilot ready to snag Tarq and flee the self-destructing tower. Tarq looked up at the approaching safety, then looked back at me, her eyes locking with Herja's intense gaze. Her sly smile widened, morphing into something cold and terrifying. The cherubs continued to circle her head, a silent, surreal mockery of divinity.
"I'm talking about the 'Lunar Cry'."
The name was a cryptic, terrifying bomb. The moment of escape was now.
Tarq pulled a capsule from her belt—a flashbang grenade—and hurled it to the ground at my feet. Before it could detonate, Tarq fired her sidearm, a single round into the grenade.
The shot triggered an instant, blinding flash. I instinctively threw my arms up, my bio-plasmic tiger stripe arms hardening and glowing with absorbed light as I shielded my face from the searing energy burst. The ethereal chibis were instantly atomized by the blast.
The distraction was effective. When my vision cleared, Mya Tarq had successfully boarded the helicopter. The pilot didn't wait; the machine began to lift off and speed away from the self-destructing tower.
"You lose, creature!" Tarq screamed from the open cabin door, waving the data in her hand in victory.
Rage, cold and absolute, poured through my consciousness. I raised my Plasma Tail Cannon. The segmented weapon hummed with immediate, desperate power, coiling back for maximum force. I unleashed a thunderous energy volley—a continuous, searing blast of blue plasma that tracked the fleeing helicopter.
The volley slammed into the tail rotor. The helicopter immediately spun out of control, then detonated in a brilliant, star-like explosion that lit up the night sky. The wreckage of the chopper, along with Commander Mya Tarq, rained down onto the city far below.
With the data and Mya Tarq safely destroyed, I channeled my relief and urgency to The Hand below: "The data is secure! Get us out of here, now! Fifteen minutes left!"
I leapt from the smoking rooftop, plunging into the dark city in search of my allies below.