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A sudden boom shook the sky, louder and sharper than anything before. The clouds above the courtyard split like a wound, glowing veins of violet energy crackling through the air.Caleb shielded his eyes. “Something just entered orbit—we’ve got a new signature—big one!”Vivian didn’t flinch. “Is it one of Hale’s?”“No,” Mendez whispered, tapping furiously on the hybrid’s damaged interface. “It’s not broadcasting any Umbra ID… but it knows about the beacon. It’s triangulating.”Before anyone could respond, the Eidolon’s eyes lit up again—but this time, they weren’t focused on Unit ZERO. Instead, the machine slowly rotated toward the sky, like it was… waiting.And then, through the crackling air, the voice returned.:: “Incoming failsafe detected. Archive override in progress.” ::Mendez’s hands froze over the console. “Wait. That’s not the Eidolon talking.”A new hologram flickered beside Dr. Renner’s. It was glitching, phasing, almost too degraded to see—until it stabilized into the fo
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The cracked pavement yawned open with a groan that sounded like the earth itself was screaming.A second tremor pulsed through the courtyard, stronger than the first. The hybrids froze, twitching violently as if reacting to a frequency none of the team could hear. One dropped to its knees, head jerking side to side.Vivian narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is—?”From the gaping crevice beneath the courtyard, a monolithic arm clawed its way into the moonlight—mechanical, yes, but impossibly old. Its surface was etched with strange symbols pulsing a sickly blue. A long-dormant titan, half-machine, half-fossilized bone, began to pull itself into the world.Caleb’s face went pale. “That’s not Umbra tech.”Dylan took a step back, lowering his railgun for the first time. “That thing isn’t new. It’s… pre-Umbra.”Vivian swore under her breath. “Hale didn’t build this.”Mendez, still bleeding and barely upright, growled through the comms. “No. But he’s trying to wake it up. I saw the files whi
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Madrid – Interior Courtyard, 0350 HoursThe air seemed to thicken, charged with a static hum that rattled bones and sharpened nerves. Unit ZERO’s blades gleamed ominously under the fractured moonlight, each step echoing like a death knell.“Purge signal, Caleb,” Vivian ordered, eyes locked on the monstrous figure. “Now.”Caleb’s fingers flew over the tablet, sweat dripping as he fought the last firewall. “Signal’s sending… but the system’s fighting back harder than ever. Umbra’s got a countermeasure.”Suddenly, the courtyard lights flickered—then surged back on. The night shattered.From the shadows, a dozen figures emerged—specters, but unlike any before. They were sleek, faster, and—human.Vivian’s breath hitched. “No… it can’t be.”Dylan’s railgun tracked the newcomers. “Specter hybrids. They’ve uploaded human consciousness into the AI shells.”Mendez staggered, clutching her side. “They’re… alive. People trapped inside those things.”A voice crackled in their earpieces — Hale.“Yo
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Madrid - NATO Defense Summit, 0322 HoursVivian slammed into the floor beside Dylan, gasping. “You took your sweet time.”Dylan reloaded the railgun with a hiss of compressed plasma. “Traffic was murder.”The specters twitched, then turned toward them, recalibrating. Three became five. One phased through the wall like smoke, flickering into solidity behind Dylan.“Down!” Vivian yelled, dragging him by the vest.The specter’s claws scraped the wall where Dylan’s head had just been.He grunted. “Alright, I felt that.”They scrambled into a maintenance shaft as bullets and plasma fire roared behind them.“Where’s Mendez?” Vivian demanded, slamming the hatch behind them.“Lost contact. Last we heard, she was pinned near the convoy. Caleb’s trying to reroute signal through the eastern node.”Vivian wiped blood from her cheek, eyes wild. “Those things aren’t just killing—they’re hunting.”“They’re not clones,” Dylan muttered. “They’re learning.”Vivian turned, jaw clenched. “Then we stop te
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Vivian didn’t answer right away. Her fingers tightened around the pendant until the edges bit into her skin. The cold wind lashed at her face, but it was nothing compared to the storm tearing through her mind.Finally, she spoke, voice low. “Then we burn it before it breathes.”Dylan nodded slowly. “Caleb thinks he found a backdoor into the Umbra relay. Could give us thirty seconds of blackout in Madrid’s defense grid.”“Thirty seconds is a lifetime in the right hands,” she said, then turned to face him fully. “Get the strike team briefed. We go dark at 0400.”He hesitated. “You sure you’re up for this?”Vivian’s eyes flashed. “I wasn’t up for losing Oslo. I wasn’t up for watching a clone wear Nadia’s face like a mask. But here we are.”Dylan gave a grim smile. “Alright then. I’ll let the others know.”As he walked off, Vivian stared into the darkness, whispering to herself, “Let Madrid be the last grave we dig.”⸻Caucasus Mountains, 48 hours laterA blizzard roared across the icy pe
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Somewhere near the northern fjords of Norway, two hours later…The safehouse was buried deep in the granite belly of a mountain, invisible to satellites and cloaked from all standard surveillance grids. Caleb hunched over the console, red light from the screens casting his face in eerie shadows.“Still no ping on Hale?” Vivian asked, voice hoarse from smoke and adrenaline.“Ghosted,” Caleb muttered, typing rapidly. “He’s not on facial, thermal, or biometric nets. Either someone’s hiding him, or—”“Or he’s using another clone,” Mendez cut in grimly as he loaded fresh rounds into his sidearm. “We don’t even know if that was the real him back there.”Vivian paced. Her bruised neck still ached, but her fury outweighed the pain. “It was him. That ego? You can’t fake that.”A ping echoed from Caleb’s console. Everyone stilled.“Something just hit a subchannel from Geneva.” Caleb leaned in, brows furrowing. “Encrypted scramble. But the tag matches the Umbra matrix. It’s… a fragment. Voicepri
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