The metal claws tore into Kemi’s chest, and a bright red light flooded my eyes.I fought the guards with everything I had, but a heavy boot slammed into my skull, pinning my face against the floor. Blood filled my mouth. Through the red blur, I watched the glass tube fill with crimson lightning. The extraction machine beeped like crazy, pulling a glowing, round stone straight out of my little sister’s chest. The Calamity Core."Incredible," Chairman Femi said. He stood up from his leather chair, his gold-plated armor shining under the laboratory lamps. "An ancient energy source, hidden inside a starving Mainland rat. It will power the Island for ten years.""Stop it! Take me instead!" I choked out, but the guard on my back pressed harder, cracking my ribs.I looked at Ifunanya. She stood right behind Femi, her face completely blank. She looked at me like I was a broken piece of plastic. Six months of dating, six months of sharing my few tokens, all a lie."Why?" I managed to say. "I l

A loud, electronic click came from the dark water, and the silver pistol in my hand felt suddenly very light."Step away from the girl and put your hands on your head," a voice said from the metal boat. The man speaking wore a thick helmet with a glowing red visor. The letters VP were painted in white on his chest armor. Vanguard Premier security. "You are valuable property of Chairman Femi. Try to run, and we will take you back in pieces."My fingers tightened around the handle of my gun. My heart thumped hard against my ribs, not from fear, but from the sudden rush of pure fury. They had already killed Kemi once. They had stolen her core, thrown her into a trash bag, and now they were calling us property."Zane, do not shoot from the front," Kemi said. She did not even look at the red laser dots dancing across her white shirt. She stayed sitting against the wooden crate, her fingers tapping a strange rhythm on the small, glowing red drive in her hand. "The boat has an energy shield

The glowing white blade in Ifunanya’s hand pointed straight at my chest.She looked immaculate, her high-grade hunter armor completely spotless compared to the dirty rags I wore. There was no pity in her eyes, only the cold calculation of an Island elite looking down at an ant."I knew you would crawl into a hole down here, Zane," Ifunanya said, her voice smooth and entirely detached. "You always were predictable. Hand over the girl and the drive, and I might ask the Chairman to let you live as a mining slave."My hands shook, but not because I was afraid. The memory of her smiling at me, pretending to care while helping Femi tear the core out of my sister, burned inside my throat. I raised the silver pistol, aiming it directly at her forehead."You will have to kill me first," I said."That can be arranged," she replied.With a quick flick of her wrist, the three large silver spider-drones leaped forward. Their metal legs clattered against the stone floor, their red scanning eyes loc

The silver drone spun its blades up high, lifting Kemi further into the dark shaft.Ding.Warning: High-density mana bomb detonation in 28 seconds.Escape the blast zone immediately."Zane, don't worry about the countdown!" Kemi called down. She was hanging completely upside down, her hair falling over her face, but her eyes were still burning with that red light. She did not sound scared at all. "The drone's wireless receiver is open on the bottom plate. The local network connection is weak down here in the tunnels. Break the antenna!"Chairman Femi’s voice came through the speaker again, low and smooth. "You are out of time, little rat. The bomb will wipe out the entire market sector above you. You cannot save her.""Watch me," I thought, my mind locking onto my remaining three shadow soldiers. "Jump! Tear that machine to pieces!"The three black figures made of thick smoke launched themselves upward from the stone ground. They climbed the concrete walls of the shaft like spiders, t

The heavy barrel of the plasma rifle came down within two inches of my nose."Step into the testing lane, Director Julius," the lead guard said, his voice flat through his helmet speaker. He waved a silver device shaped like a fat needle toward a small metal chair. "The chairman's orders are absolute. Nobody boards the Sovereign's Pride without matching their genetic code against the central registry. If your blood does not match your VIP pass, you go into the holding cells.""The system is down for maintenance," Kemi said immediately. She stepped right between me and the guard, her small hand tapping the guard's stolen wrist pad against her thigh to hide the screen. "We just left the harbor office. Vice-Chairman Kola gave us these physical passes specifically because the central database is updating its firewalls for the next twenty minutes. If you try to run a full genetic scan right now, you will crash the primary sector grid."The guard paused, his gloved thumb hovering over the a