The Valkyrie’s landing gear slammed onto the cracked pavement of the Oakhaven Exchange Plaza. The jet’s tactical clock displayed 08:22 AM in glowing red digits.​Silas walked down the lowering cargo ramp. Rex and Freya stepped out immediately behind him, their weapons already drawn.​"I issued a direct order for you to remain in Silver City," Silas said. He did not turn his head.​"We ignored it," Rex racked the bolt of his heavy plasma rifle, the mechanical hum of his bionic arm loud in the quiet morning air. "You can dock my pay."​Freya spun her twin silver daggers. "A physician requires nurses for a major operation."​Silas adjusted his dark silk tie. He looked at the massive structure dominating the center of the financial plaza.​The organic transmitter towered sixty stories high. It was a grotesque spire built from twisted steel girders, shattered concrete, and raw human blood. The infected citizens had literally welded the building together using their bare hands and the synth

Silas gripped the edge of the vibrating platform. The heavy metal structure groaned violently under his hands as the concrete foundation of the plaza continued to crumble away.​The massive, sixty-story tower of flesh swayed precariously. It did not fall sideways; the enormous weight began sinking straight down into the gaping chasm opening above the subway lines.​"The automated transmission is still broadcasting, Master," Isabella yelled over the deafening roar of collapsing stone.​Silas activated his Golden Eye. His irises shifted into a brilliant, piercing gold as he scanned the main communication terminal Sybil had just abandoned.​"She was merely a biological conduit," Silas observed the rapid data scrolling across the glass console. "The primary transmitter is locked into a hardwired failsafe. It is cycling the signal automatically."​He looked down at the millions of infected civilians clutching their heads in the crumbling plaza. Their eyes flickered erratically between thei

The red LED detonators blinked in a rapid, synchronized sequence across Arctus’s transparent chest plate. Silas kept his gaze locked on the mechanical pump regulating the cyborg’s artificial blood flow.​"Fifteen years of progress," Arctus tapped the reinforced glass covering his core. "When I sold your father's genetic data to the Consortium, I bought my own evolution."​"You merely traded your humanity for cheap spare parts," Silas noted. He slipped the silver needle back into his inner pocket.​"This chassis houses a micro-fusion reactor," Arctus sneered, raising his chrome-plated arm. "Your primitive acupuncture cannot pierce military-grade alloy."​The heavy blast doors at the rear of the bridge hissed open loudly. A dozen elite Archon-Guards poured into the room, their plasma casters aimed directly at Silas.​"Execute him," Arctus commanded. "Aim for the limbs. Do not trigger his dead-man switch if he has one."​Silas did not retreat. He stepped directly into the commander's per

Silas tightened his grip on the spiked tentacle. Vespera shrieked, a dual-layered mechanical sound, and lunged forward with her free hand.​She aimed a cluster of black barbs directly at his throat.​Silas simply shifted his weight. He released her tentacle, parried her incoming wrist, and drove his palm straight into her right shoulder joint. The surgical strike dislocated the bone instantly.​Vespera stumbled back. She tried to pivot and kick his knee.​Silas intercepted her shin with his leather boot. He snapped his heel forward, breaking her kneecap with a sharp, sickening crunch. Vespera collapsed onto the steps of the black ice throne.​"Your host body is failing," Silas stood over her.​Vespera dragged herself backward onto the dark frost. The black fibers in her throat writhed violently, trying to reattach the dislocated limbs.​"You cannot extract me," the parasite hissed through her unhinged jaw. "Removing my hooks will instantly sever her spinal cord."​"I will not pull you

Silas stepped out of the ruined elevator cage. The molten rock hissed violently as it splashed against his leather shoes. The intense heat instantly vaporized against the humming, protective barrier of his Golden Bio-Electricity.​He walked purposefully into the massive subterranean cavern.​Four figures wearing sleek, obsidian combat armor stood on a suspended titanium platform. They surrounded a towering, cylindrical machine driven straight into the glowing, unstable bedrock. Thick cables pumped raw magnetic energy into the engine core.​"You survived the descent," the First Archon turned around. His voice amplified harshly through his helmet's external speakers. "A remarkable physiological anomaly."​"The Zero-Day core is already aligned," the Second Archon raised a heavy, multi-barreled plasma lance. "You cannot reverse the polarity inversion now. The continental wipe initiates in three minutes."​Silas did not draw a weapon. He didn't even acknowledge the heavy artillery aimed di