Breaking InThe wind howled through the desolate corridor as we approached the Deep Vault’s outer perimeter. Shadows stretched long and distorted beneath the flickering overhead lights. Every step we took was a calculated risk, every breath measured against the weight of what we were about to do.I tightened my grip on the pulse rifle strapped to my back, feeling the sweat forming on my palms despite the cold. The walls around us hummed with unseen energy, a quiet warning that we were stepping into something far bigger than ourselves.Kane moved ahead, her gaze sharp, scanning for entry points. “The main security grid is live,” she whispered. “We’ll need to override it, but this place has its own intelligence. If we trip the wrong wire, it won’t just alert the Overseers—it’ll trap us inside.”“Sounds fun,” I muttered, pressing my fingers against the cold steel of the access panel. A green pulse flickered across its surface, reading my presence. “We go in quiet, fast. No mistakes.”Fro

Cracking the CoreThe sound of our footsteps echoed through the desolate corridors as we sprinted toward the heart of the facility. My lungs burned, my muscles screamed, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Not when we were this close.Kane ran beside me, keeping pace despite the slight limp she had tried to hide. Blood trickled down her arm from a graze she’d picked up during the fight with the constructs, but she hadn’t said a word about it. That was Kane—always pushing through the pain, never giving in.We reached the central data hub, an enormous chamber lined with towering servers pulsing with a soft blue light. In the center stood a single, reinforced terminal—the core of the entire system.Kane sucked in a breath. “This is it.”I scanned the room, my heartbeat still erratic from the fight. “No guards. No automated defenses.” I didn’t trust it. “This feels too easy.”She shot me a look. “After what we just went through? Call it a damn miracle and move.”I stepped forward, but the m

The Reality DivergenceThe room was filled with the low hum of ancient servers, their rusted casings blinking with failing light. Kane sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes locked on the decrypted data flashing across the portable terminal. The glow reflected in her sharp features, her lips pressed into a thin line.I stood near the doorway, gun in hand, my mind still trying to process what we’d just uncovered. The words on the screen refused to fade from my thoughts. "Subject 0915-T. Temporal anomaly. Failed identity realignment. Recommended termination."I wasn’t supposed to be here. Not just in this facility. Not just in this moment.I wasn’t supposed to exist at all.Kane exhaled sharply. "Tony."I turned to her. She hesitated, tapping a few more keys before looking up. "This isn’t just some anomaly. This is…" She trailed off, searching for the right words, but I could see it in her eyes—something close to fear.I swallowed hard. "Say it."She rubbed a hand over her face before lock

HuntedWe ran until our lungs burned.The Overseers didn’t stop hunting, and we didn’t stop moving. Every alley, every tunnel, every shadow felt like a trap waiting to spring. Their searchlights carved through the city ruins, sweeping past broken buildings and forgotten streets. They weren’t searching for someone. They were hunting for me.Kane pulled me into a side passage, pressing a hand to my chest to keep me still. I barely breathed. Footsteps echoed in the distance—sharp, methodical. They weren’t in a hurry. They didn’t have to be.The Overseers knew they’d catch us eventually.Kane’s eyes flicked to mine. Her breath was steady, but I saw it—the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers clenched the grip of her knife.She was calculating. Always calculating.A single nod, barely visible. Move.We slipped deeper into the ruins, the once-great city now nothing but crumbling towers and shattered glass. A forgotten sector abandoned even before the war. It was a graveyard of conc

The Overseers' True PurposeThe screen flickered again, the corrupted data struggling to hold itself together. Kane sat beside me, hunched over the console, her fingers flying across the keyboard in a desperate attempt to force the system to give up its secrets. The glow of the interface casts harsh shadows on her face, highlighting the tension in her jaw and the set of her shoulders.I tried to ignore the tight knot in my stomach, but it was impossible. The files we had decrypted so far had already turned my world inside out.I wasn’t supposed to exist.The Overseers had tried to erase me—tried and failed.But why?Kane’s sharp intake of breath snapped me out of my thoughts."I think I’ve got something," she muttered. The words scrolled across the screen, fragmented but still readable. Her eyes flicked over them, her expression shifting from concentration to something colder.Dread.I leaned closer. "What does it say?"She didn’t answer right away.Instead, she reached for a nearby h