"Grab the other handle, Mika! Lift it! Now!" Bastian roared, his voice nearly drowned out by the deafening screech of fracturing glass above."I’ve got it! Just run!" Mika yelled back, her fingers clawing at the heavy plastic grip of the crop container. "Don't look back, Bastian! Move!""Wait! My seedlings! Don't let them tip!" Lina screamed, her hands clutching her tablet to her chest as she sprinted right behind them. "If they tilt past forty-five degrees, the nutrient gel will spill!""They aren't going to tip!" Bastian shouted, his upgraded muscles burning as he pivoted, carrying his side of the massive case down the steps. "Mika, watch the step! Jump!"Crash!A massive sheet of laminated glass slammed into the concrete right where they had been standing a second ago, exploding into thousands of sharp, crystalline shards. The impact sent a wave of dust and cold air biting at their heels."We're out! We're out!" Mika panted, her boots slamming onto the cracked asphalt of the highwa

The red eye flickered, the hum of the mech’s internal turbine rising to a shriek that rattled the very teeth in Bastian’s skull. The mechanical arm, a jagged limb of rusted steel and hydraulic pistons, whipped through the air where Bastian had been a second before, pulverizing a concrete pillar into a shower of gravel and dust."Bastian! Get out of there!" Ariana’s voice was a frantic, staticky wail through his earpiece."I can’t!" Bastian shouted back, skidding across the slick floor. "It’s locked onto the tunnel entrance! If I move, it’ll blast the exit shut!""If you stay, you’re scrap metal!" she screamed, her voice bordering on hysteria. "I’m at the breaker! I’m going to pull it now!""No! Wait!" Bastian scrambled over a stack of debris, his lungs burning. "If you pull it while I’m in range of the primary capacitor, you’ll fry me along with it! Give me ten seconds to get to the flank!""I don't have ten seconds!" Ariana retorted. "It’s charging its main cannon again!"Bastian loo

The cold, damp air of the drainage basin clung to Bastian’s skin, but the burning fire of the antidote in his veins was far more distracting. He leaned against the rusted wall of the maintenance shaft, his lungs finally pulling in air that didn't taste of sulfur or rot."You’re doing just fine, big guy," Sera said, her voice dropping into a playful, teasing lilt. She leaned in close, her eyes searching his. "The tremors in your hands are stopping. That’s a good sign. It means your internal systems are finally playing nice with the nanites."Bastian exhaled, his heart rate finally dipping below a frantic gallop. "I’ve had worse mornings. Usually, they involve falling off buildings, though."Sera laughed, a light, musical sound that seemed utterly out of place in the dark, debris-filled tunnel. "Falling off buildings? Is that your hobby? Because I have a list of much more exciting activities I could teach you, provided we survive the next twenty-four hours."Mika stepped into the space