The cannon fired with a sound that didn't belong underground.
It wasn't just loud — it was violent.
Like the air itself had been ripped apart.
A sphere of blue energy tore out of the mech's arm and shot toward Alex, humming with enough power to melt steel. The tunnel lit up brighter than daylight for a split second.
"RUN!" Alex shouted.
Mira didn't argue.
She sprinted toward the tracks.
Alex didn't move.
Not yet.
He waited.
Timing.
Distance.
Angle.
At the last possible instant, he dove sideways.
The blast missed him by inches and slammed into the wall behind.
For a heartbeat, everything went white.
Then—
BOOM.
The explosion swallowed half the platform. Concrete vaporized. Metal twisted like paper. The shockwave hurled Alex across the tunnel.
His body smashed through a support pillar.
Bones shattered.
His vision flickered black.
For most people, that hit would've meant death.
For Alex—
Pain.
Just pain.
His lungs refused to breathe. His ribs were powder. Something sharp had punched through his back.
He lay buried under rubble, unable to move.
The mech's footsteps echoed closer.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
"Target damaged," the machine announced. "Vital signs abnormal. Regeneration detected."
Yeah, no kidding, Alex thought bitterly.
His body began repairing itself.
Bone stitching.
Skin sealing.
Organs reshaping.
It always felt wrong — like insects crawling inside him — but he forced himself to stay conscious.
If he blacked out, Mira was dead.
And he was done losing people.
Not again.
Never again.
The rubble shifted as his strength returned. He pushed upward, stones sliding off his chest.
By the time the mech reached him, he was already standing.
The machine paused.
Analyzing.
"Conclusion," it said coldly. "Standard munitions ineffective. Switching to disintegration protocol."
Panels opened across its armor. More weapons unfolded.
Alex spat blood onto the ground.
"Wow," he muttered, "you guys really overprepared for me."
The mech fired a volley of micro-missiles.
Alex ran straight at it.
Explosions chased his heels. Fire licked his coat. Shrapnel ripped through his legs. He kept moving.
Pain didn't matter.
Speed did.
He leaped onto a fallen pillar, then launched himself upward, grabbing onto the mech's shoulder plating.
The machine reacted instantly, slamming itself backward into a wall.
CRASH.
Alex was crushed between steel and concrete.
Spine snapped.
Darkness flickered.
Then—
Heal.
He roared and punched into the mech's neck joint.
Metal dented but didn't break.
"Tough bastard," he growled.
An electric surge burst from the armor, throwing him off. He rolled across the ground as the mech's cannon began charging again.
Too slow.
If that shot landed clean, even he might take longer to recover.
And longer meant Mira alone.
He scanned the tunnel fast.
Think.
Think.
Then he saw it.
The old railway tracks.
Rusty.
Metal.
Conductive.
An idea sparked.
Stupid.
Dangerous.
Perfect.
He grabbed a loose cable hanging from the ceiling — thick industrial wiring — and ripped it free. Sparks danced.
The mech fired again.
Alex slid under the blast, heat scorching his back, and slammed the cable into the tracks.
Electric current surged wildly.
Then he jumped onto the mech and wrapped the other end around its leg.
The machine tried to shake him off.
Too late.
The exposed wiring connected.
For one second, nothing happened.
Then—
The entire underground grid exploded with light.
Power screamed through the tracks and into the mech.
Its body jerked violently.
Systems overloaded.
Sparks burst from every joint.
"ERROR— ERROR— CORE INSTABILITY—"
Alex held on, teeth clenched as electricity tore through him too. His muscles seized. Skin burned. The smell of charred fabric filled the air.
But pain was an old friend.
He could outlast pain.
The mech couldn't.
With a final deafening crack, the machine collapsed, smoke pouring from its armor. Lights flickered, then died.
Silence returned.
Alex fell to his knees, breathing hard.
Burns covered half his body.
They faded slowly.
Heal.
Always heal.
Footsteps rushed toward him.
"Alex!" Mira skidded to a stop beside him. "You're insane! You could've died!"
He gave her a tired smile. "Tried that before. Didn't stick."
She let out a shaky laugh — half relief, half disbelief.
Then her device beeped.
Her face went pale.
"That wasn't the worst part," she said quietly.
"What now?"
"They weren't just hunting you tonight." She turned the screen toward him.
Satellite maps. Multiple red dots.
Facilities.
Labs.
Transport routes.
"All over the country," she whispered. "Vanguard teams are raiding locations simultaneously."
Alex frowned. "For what?"
She opened another file.
A classified document she'd just decrypted.
PROJECT VANGUARD: PHASE TWO.
Below it:
"Immortal subjects required for activation."
He felt a chill.
"Activation of what?" he asked.
Mira swallowed.
"They're not studying immortals anymore, Alex."
She zoomed into a blueprint.
Something massive.
Circular.
Like a giant ring structure buried underground.
Energy cores. Cryo chambers. Neural interfaces.
It didn't look medical.
It looked like a weapon.
"They're building something called the 'Aeternum Gate,'" she said. "According to this… your biology isn't just rare."
Her voice trembled.
"It's the power source."
Alex stared at the screen.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning they don't want to kill you," she said softly.
"They want to use you."
A slow, heavy realization settled in his chest.
All those years.
All those captures.
The experiments.
Not to understand him.
To replicate him.
To chain immortality.
Weaponize it.
Maybe even control life and death itself.
"They're trying to play God," he muttered.
Mira nodded.
"And you're the last key they need."
Silence filled the ruined tunnel.
Smoke drifting.
Metal cooling.
For seventy years, Alex had run.
Survived.
Hidden.
But now—
If Vanguard completed that project…
They wouldn't just hunt him.
They'd control humanity.
Immortal soldiers.
Endless war.
No consequences.
The world would never recover.
For the first time in decades, this wasn't just about him.
It was bigger.
Much bigger.
"So," Mira asked quietly, "what do we do now?"
Alex looked down at his healing hands.
At the veins glowing faint blue beneath his skin.
A curse.
Or maybe—
A weapon.
He met her eyes.
"We stop them," he said simply.
She blinked. "Just like that?"
He stood, rolling his shoulders as the last burn faded.
"No more running," he said. "No more hiding. If they want the last immortal…"
His eyes hardened.
"…they're going to have to survive me first."
Somewhere far away, Vanguard command lit up with alerts.
Unit Zero destroyed.
Prototype down.
Subject A-01 still alive.
Again.
And for the first time in their history—
The immortal wasn't escaping.
He was coming for them.