Iron Revenant: Blood Of The Marked

No Way Out

Jace Caldwell knelt in the Chinatown alley, rain washing Ethan’s black ash into the gutters. His brother’s face lingered in his mind—first in the Obsidian Heart, then in that video, alive in a NexTech lab, saying, You are the key.

 The words burned worse than the jagged scar on his chest, pulsing like a second heart. Lena Voss tugged at his arm, her shoulder wound bleeding through her jacket, her green eyes darting to the shadows where boots echoed—dozens, maybe more.

 NexTech was coming, and the drones’ red eyes lit the sky like vultures circling a corpse.“Jace, move!” Lena hissed, clutching the Heart’s case, its sickly glow seeping through the cracks. “They’ll kill us both.”

Jace’s Glock felt heavy, his hands trembling with rage and grief. Ethan, alive? Or was it another of The Shroud’s tricks, that shadowy bastard whispering in his skull? 

Run, Iron, it urged, its red eyes flashing behind his own. Or lose everything. 

His scar burned, and his senses sharpened—too sharp, catching the metallic tang of blood, the hum of drones, the heartbeats of the approaching assassins.He grabbed Lena, hauling her into a sprint down the alley.

 The pavement shook as an explosion tore through the street behind them, NexTech’s drones unloading hell. Jace’s scar flared, and his body moved on instinct, dodging debris with inhuman precision.

 He shoved Lena into a side street, narrow and choked with trash, as a drone’s laser scorched the wall where they’d stood. His wound from the subway fight was gone, healed in minutes, but the scar’s heat was spreading, a fire he couldn’t douse.

“Where’s the safehouse?” Jace growled, his voice rough with betrayal. Lena had known Ethan, loved him, and never said a word. Now she was all he had, and he didn’t trust her an inch.“Two blocks,” she panted, wincing as she clutched her shoulder. 

“Old warehouse, unmarked. My contact’s there.”“Contact?” Jace’s eyes narrowed, shoving her against a brick wall, his Glock at her chin. “No more secrets, Voss. Who’s waiting? NexTech?”

Her gaze didn’t flinch. “Marcus was the traitor, not me. My contact’s a defector—ex-NexTech, like me. He can hide us.”Jace’s scar pulsed, and The Shroud’s voice hissed: She lies. 

He wanted to believe her, but Ethan’s warning—She’s one of them—gnawed at him. He lowered the gun but kept her pinned. 

“You loved him. Why didn’t you tell me?”Tears mixed with rain on her face. “I thought it’d break you. Ethan died to keep the Heart from them. I’m finishing his fight.”Before Jace could press her, the alley lit up—drones, three of them, cannons glowing. 

He dove, pulling Lena behind a dumpster as blasts shredded the pavement. His scar burned, and his vision flickered—half alley, half void. The Shroud loomed, its shadowy form wrapping the Heart. You can’t run forever, it said. Embrace me, or they take her.Jace’s senses snapped back, sharper than ever. He saw the drones’ weak points—cooling vents, glowing faintly.

 He fired, two shots, two drones down in sparks. The third lunged, a dart grazing his arm. Pain seared, but his scar swallowed it, healing the wound in seconds. Lena fired her own gun, clipping the drone’s rotor. It crashed, but boots were closer now, exosuits clanking.They ran, weaving through Chinatown’s maze, neon signs blurring—dragons, lotuses, promises of cheap mods. 

Jace’s scar guided him, a radar he didn’t understand, leading them to a rusted warehouse door. Lena kicked it open, and they stumbled inside, the air thick with dust and oil. A figure waited in the shadows—tall, lean, with augmented lenses for eyes. 

“You’re late,” he said, voice clipped. “Name’s Silas. Get in.”Jace kept his Glock raised. “You NexTech?”“Was,” Silas said, tossing a medkit to Lena. “Now I’m their problem. Patch her up, Caldwell. We’ve got minutes.”

Lena collapsed against a crate, her face pale as she bandaged her shoulder. Silas activated a holo-screen, showing drone feeds—NexTech’s assassins swarming the block. “The Heart’s a beacon,” he said, nodding to the case. “They’re tracking it. And you.”

Jace’s scar burned hotter, and Ethan’s video replayed in his mind: You are the key. “Me?” he growled. “Why?”Silas’s lenses flickered. “The mark. It’s not just a scar—it’s a conduit. NexTech used Ethan to test the Heart’s power. You’re the next phase.”

Jace’s fist clenched, grief choking him. Ethan, a lab rat? His brother, who’d built model rockets in their Brooklyn backyard, reduced to this? “And you knew him,” Jace said, turning to Lena. “What else are you hiding?”She met his gaze, blood staining her hands. 

“Ethan found out NexTech was waking something—something ancient. The Shroud. He tried to stop it, but the Heart… it changed him.”The warehouse shook, a blast tearing through the door. NexTech assassins stormed in, exosuits gleaming, rifles blazing.

 Jace’s scar screamed, and The Shroud’s voice roared: Fight. He moved—faster than human, dodging bullets, his Glock finding visor cracks. Blood sprayed as one assassin fell, but another grabbed Lena, a blade to her throat.

 Silas fired a pulse rifle, frying the suit’s circuits, but more poured in.Jace’s vision split again—The Shroud’s void, Ethan’s face in the Heart, screaming, Save her, Jace. He snapped back, tackling the assassin holding Lena. The Heart’s case skidded across the floor, its glow pulsing wildly. 

A low growl filled the air, and black tendrils erupted from the shadows, like the subway creature, lashing at the assassins. One screamed as tendrils pierced his suit, dragging him into the dark.

“Destroy it!” Lena shouted, scrambling for the Heart. Jace grabbed her, pulling her back as the tendrils turned on them.

 His scar burned, and his body moved on its own, dodging with impossible speed. He snatched the Heart, its heat searing his palm. Images flooded his mind—Ethan in a lab, the Heart in his chest, his voice: I’m sorry, Jace.

The warehouse doors blew open, and a new figure stepped through—Victor Kane, NexTech’s CEO, in a sleek exosuit, his silver hair glinting. “Caldwell,” he said, voice smooth as ice. “You’re wasting potential. 

The Heart’s mine.”Jace’s scar flared, and The Shroud’s voice drowned out everything: Kill him. But Kane raised a device, and the Heart’s glow dimmed, the tendrils retreating. “You’re the vessel,” Kane said, smiling. 

“But Ethan was the blueprint.”Jace’s heart stopped. “Blueprint?”Kane’s eyes gleamed. “Your brother didn’t die. He ascended. And you will too.”

 He pressed the device, and Jace’s scar exploded with pain, dropping him to his knees. Lena screamed, lunging at Kane, but an assassin knocked her out cold. Silas fired, but Kane’s suit deflected the blast.

Jace’s vision blackened, The Shroud’s void swallowing him. Ethan stood there, red eyes glowing, his body half-shadow. “I tried to warn you,” he said, voice breaking.

 “The Heart’s not just power—it’s a prison.” His form flickered, and Jace saw it—a lab, Ethan’s body wired to machines, the Heart pulsing in his chest, his screams eternal.Jace clawed back to reality, gasping, Kane looming over him.

 “Join us, Caldwell,” Kane said, holding the Heart. “Or end like your brother.”But the real blow came from Silas, who stepped forward, lenses dark. “He’s right, Jace,” he said, raising his rifle—not at Kane, but at Jace.

 “You’re too dangerous to live.”The Heart pulsed, and Ethan’s voice whispered one last time: Run.

 Then the warehouse lit up, a new explosion tearing through the ceiling, and a figure dropped from above—Ethan, flesh and blood, red eyes blazing, holding a second Obsidian Heart.