BLOOD OF BORNEO

CHAPTER 9: SHADOW GUERRILLA

The Black Forest slowly began to thin, replaced by a sharp scent of chemicals and ozone that stung the senses. Before him stood the Thorne Field Laboratory. It was a giant metal box with dark carbonate walls and sensor towers that rotated like giant eyes.

Damang crouched behind a silver fern. The tattoos on his body pulsed with a dim sapphire blue. Since the synchronization, he could sense the electronic frequencies of the laser fence ahead.

"Halimun," Damang whispered.

He remembered Indung Inan’s instruction that Halimun was not merely about hiding the body, but about borrowing 'nothingness' from nature. Now, that knowledge had merged with the neural circuits behind his tattoos.

The air around his body refracted, creating a mirage effect. However, the nerves at Damang’s temples twitched violently. Activating Halimun felt like thousands of ice needles being driven into his brain.

"Hold on, Damang. Don't let your heartbeat disrupt this light refraction," he muttered to himself, regulating his breathing rhythm. It was the absolute requirement for the technique to make his body as light as a cloud.

Damang moved quickly, passing the perimeter without triggering the sensors. He slipped inside through an east-side air vent. Inside, the atmosphere was a stark contrast. The floors were clean white ceramic, and the neon lights were blinding. Damang crawled along the ceiling, the tattoos on his hands gripping the iron pipes with magnetic force.

He descended into a dead-end hallway and deactivated Halimun. Cold sweat poured down his face.

"Who’s there?!" A trembling voice broke the silence.

Damang spun around quickly. A young researcher named Dr. Hanif stood frozen, holding a digital tablet with shaking hands. Before Hanif could scream, Damang had already covered his mouth and pressed him against the wall.

"One sound, and this will be your last day breathing," Damang hissed. His glowing silver eyes stared sharply through Hanif’s thick glasses.

Hanif nodded frantically. Damang loosened his grip slightly but kept pressing a nerve point on Hanif’s neck.

"Where are you keeping the Earth Heart data?" Damang asked in a low voice.

"I-I’m just a junior researcher... I don't know everything," Hanif stammered. "But... the data center is on basement level two. That’s where they process the specimens... the Commander specimen."

Damang’s heart felt like it had stopped. "Commander? Nyarung is still alive?"

Hanif swallowed hard, tears streaming down his face. "Elias Thorne... he didn't kill your father. He needs him. The Commander’s DNA is the purest biological key to unlock the underground seal. They are transforming him, sir! Please, don't kill me!"

Damang released his grip, then struck a pressure point behind Hanif’s ear. The researcher slumped. Damang dragged him into a storage closet and locked it.

"Thank you for the information, Doctor," Damang muttered.

Anger began to boil over. His father wasn't dead; he was being used as a lab rat. Damang ran toward the elevator. Two Paladins appeared from the opposite direction.

"Intruder! Stop!" one of the Paladins shouted, raising an energy rifle.

Damang didn't dodge. He lunged forward with the Tiger Silat technique, ducking low to avoid the first shot that scorched the wall. With a kick powered by his tattoos, he struck the first Paladin’s leg support.

CRACK!

The titanium armor dented, and the bone shattered. Damang rose and slammed his right elbow into the chin of the second Paladin’s helmet. The lethal CQC move lifted the guard off the floor before he fell unconscious.

Damang snatched an access card and jumped into the emergency stairs. Basement level two greeted him with a heavy atmosphere. The air was thick with mystical energy and the smell of chemicals. Large cables crawled across the floor like giant veins.

Damang reached the double steel doors. Without hesitation, he drew his Mandau from his back.

SHING!

The silver blade hummed. Damang swung it in a clean, vertical line.

SLASH!

The ten-centimeter-thick steel door split like butter. Damang kicked the remains aside and entered. The room was vast, filled with cylindrical tanks containing glowing green liquid. In the center stood a vertical operating table. Damang froze. His Mandau nearly slipped from his hand.

There, bound by thousands of fiber-optic cables piercing his skin, was Commander Nyarung. His father’s once-sturdy body was now filled with forcibly implanted mechanical devices. A large piece of metal was attached to his spine, pulsing red in rhythm with the Harvester machine.

"Father..." Damang’s voice cracked.

"Very impressive, Damang. My lab rat can breach level-five security in just fifteen minutes."

Elias Thorne stood on an observation balcony above, accompanied by Colonel Richter.

"Thorne! What have you done to him?!" Damang roared. His rage made the air in the room vibrate.

"I saved him," Elias answered casually. "Your father is an extraordinarily rare human. His body has 98% compatibility with the Earth Heart energy. He is no longer human. He is the biological key to downloading the power of this planet's core."

"He is not a key! He is my father!" Damang raised his Mandau, pointing it at Elias. "Release him, or I will bring this building down on your head!"

Elias laughed softly. "Those cables are connected directly to his central nervous system. If you cut them without the procedure, his heart will explode in milliseconds. He is now part of our system. If this laboratory dies, he dies too."

Damang trembled violently. Despair gnawed at him.

"Don't look at me like that," Elias continued. "Thanks to him, we can turn suffering into progress. Your father will be the foundation of a new civilization. And you... you are a bonus. Your tattoos are evolving faster than I predicted."

"I will kill you," Damang whispered, his voice carrying a chilling, mystical echo.

"Richter," Elias signaled. "Finish him. But don't damage his head. I want to dissect his brain."

Richter leaped from the balcony, landing with a heavy thud that cracked the concrete floor. "This time, I won't hold back, kid," the Cyborg growled.

Damang took a deep breath. He looked at his father, who was still unconscious. A new resolve appeared in his eyes.

"I’ll make sure you can’t use your mechanical hands again, Richter," Damang said calmly. The tattoos on his body erupted in blinding silver light.

Richter lunged with the jet thrusters on his back. His massive fist shot forward, but Damang had already shifted using Halimun. Damang’s Mandau slashed, leaving a trail of light that cut through Richter’s shoulder plating. Sparks and oil sprayed out.

BOOM!

The battle broke out, shaking the laboratory's foundation. But amidst the chaos, the monitor beside Commander Nyarung flickered red. His brainwave graph spiked sharply.

Commander Nyarung slowly opened his eyes. His eyes glowed with a terrifying, pure golden light. The light of the Earth Heart.

"Yes... yes! The synchronization has begun!" Elias Thorne screamed crazily from the balcony. "The Key has awakened!"

Damang, who was parrying Richter’s attack, turned his head. "Father?"

Suddenly, an explosion of pure energy from the operating table threw everyone against the walls. Golden light filled the room, piercing through the steel walls.

In the midst of that light, Damang heard the whispers of thousands of ancestors crying in pain through his ears.

"Run... Damang... destroy... the key..."

The laboratory shook violently. The destruction alarm wailed. Damang stood up with great difficulty, staring at his father, who was now transforming into something that was no longer human.

"Father... what have they done to you?" Damang whispered amidst the ruins.

A giant figure began to rise from the operating table. Something that would turn Damang from a hunter into the executioner of his own blood.

"Destroy him, Richter! Get the data!" Elias shouted from a distance.

"Fall back, Mr. Thorne!" Richter roared as he saw the golden energy beginning to destroy his own mechanical armor just with its radiation.

Damang gripped his Mandau tightly. "Forgive me, Father. If this is the way to free you, then I will do it."

He lunged forward, not toward Richter, but toward the heart of the machine binding his father. Golden and silver light collided, creating an energy storm that swallowed everything.