General Vega wiped her sweating forehead. She walked over to Oliver."You did it," Vega breathed. "You actually did it. The river route is completely clear.""Operational efficiency," Oliver said cleanly. He did not smile. He did not celebrate. He looked at his wrist computer. "The mission is complete. My end of the bargain is fulfilled. I expect immediate payment.""You will get your payment, Commander," Vega nodded. "Two armored boats are yours. We will bring them to your crashed ship.""And the coordinates to the Rift access point," Oliver reminded her coldly.Vega reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. She handed it to Oliver."This is the map to the portal," Vega said. Her voice grew very serious. "But I have to warn you, Commander. The portal is not a safe place. We do not use it because it is located in the center of the Old City. The Overlord’s magic is very strange there.""Strange is a variable I can calculate," Oliver said. He took the paper

"Leave the roof open?!" Billy panicked. "Boss, you just said they drop from the ceiling!""They will drop from the ceiling," Oliver agreed. "And when they drop, we will kill them before they hit the deck. I am building a funnel. I am making them attack from the top because it is the only path I am leaving open for them. I am controlling their choices."Lira the ghost floated next to Oliver’s ear. "You are turning the boats into a trap. You are inviting the monsters inside.""Yes," Oliver whispered in his mind. "If you control the door, you control the guest.""Start the engines," Oliver commanded aloud. "Speed: Four miles per hour. Do not deviate."The heavy boat engines hummed to life. Rrrrrrm.The two armored boats slowly moved forward. They left the dim gray light of the ruined city behind. They entered the pitch-black subway tunnel.It was incredibly dark. The air inside the tunnel was thick and smelled of rotting iron and old magic. The hot water splashed gently against the metal

The severed head of Captain Iris bobbed slowly in the dark, hot water. Her beautiful face was pale. Her blue eyes were empty and dead.Commander Oliver stood at the front of the rusted metal boat. He stared down at her face in the water. For one single second, the entire universe stopped moving.Behind Oliver, the human rebels and the terrified miners screamed. Billy the hacker fell to his knees on the wet deck of the boat. He covered his face with his hands and sobbed loudly. "Iris! No! Not Iris!"On the high stone balcony, Prime Councilor Vane laughed. The ancient, evil voice of the Overlord boomed out of the old man’s mouth."You see, Commander?" the Overlord mocked. "You cannot save everyone. You cannot calculate a way out of grief. Your human heart is breaking."Oliver did not scream. He did not cry. He slowly lifted his eyes from the dark water. He looked up at the balcony. His left eye was human, cold and gray. His right eye was Wraithborn, burning with a bright red fire. His r

"We did not win," Oliver whispered coldly."What do you mean?" Vega asked, stepping forward. "There are thirty dead monsters on the floor. We wiped them out.""You are looking at the bodies. You are not looking at the data," Oliver explained.He raised his black metal hand and pointed at the ash."I have fought the Wraithborn for years," Oliver said smoothly. "I know their formation behavior. Elite Phantoms rely on stealth. If they see two heavy turrets blocking a hallway, their primary protocol is to retreat and find a flanking route.""But they didn't retreat," Rax grunted. "They charged us.""Exactly," Oliver said. His voice grew very dark and heavy. "They charged us. They threw themselves directly into the line of fire. They wanted to die."The cheering soldiers slowly stopped celebrating. The tunnel grew very quiet."Why would they want to die?" Billy asked, shivering in the cold air."Because they were not an attack force," Oliver calculated. The horrible truth locked into place

"What?" Foreman Cole panicked. He held his young son tightly. "You are leaving us behind?! In the dark?!""I am securing your survival," Oliver said cleanly. "If we move the entire group through the hidden passage, we risk overextension. We will create too much noise. The Overlord will find the passage and collapse the ceiling on all of us."Oliver pointed to a small, defensible corner of the current tunnel."We will create a partial occupation," Oliver explained. "Sergeant Miller. You, Private Davis, Smith, Jones, Cole, and Vance will stay here. You will guard the civilians. You will guard the unconscious bodies of Captain Iris and Captain Jax. You will set up the heavy plasma machine gun behind those large rocks. You will maintain absolute silence.""We will hold the line, Commander," Miller said firmly. He did not question the math. If Oliver said it was the safest way, it was the safest way.Oliver turned to General Vega, Billy the hacker, and Rax the giant mutant."You three are