THE LAST GUARDIAN OF GREYFENWOOD

Chapter 8: The First Encounter

The ceiling of the steel bunker curved inward, its scrap metal groaning under the pressure of thousands of tons from the diamond-coated drill bit spinning above it. The sound of grinding metal sounded like a woman's scream.

"Okay, new toy..." Finnian raised his left hand. The black Gauntlet left by his father hummed, its green fluid tubes glowing brightly, as if eager to taste danger. "Just don't explode and chop my hand off, okay?"

CLAAAANG!

The drill bit punched through the roof. Mud and iron debris sprayed inside.

Finnian didn't retreat. He jumped towards the spinning drill.

With a maniacal roar, Finnian punched the side of the giant drill bit with his left hand. As his fist made contact, the Gauntlet released a directed kinetic shockwave. Not a fire explosion, but a micro-gravity distortion.

BAAAM!

The solid steel drill bit didn't shatter, but it bent. Its rotational axis destroyed instantly. The drilling engine on the surface halted with the ear-splitting sound of snapping gears. For a moment, there was a vacuum of sound as Iron Fang's systems underwent an emergency shutdown.

Finnian seized that moment. He used his military boots to climb the tilted, smoking drill shaft, crawling up through the narrow mud tunnel toward the surface like an angry sewer rat.

One hundred meters. Fifty meters.

Fresh air—or at least air not smelling of 20 years of recycling—stung his nose.

Finnian poked his head out of the maintenance hatch gap at the base of the giant drill machine. He was right in the middle of the Iron Fang operational camp.

And the view was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.

The camp wasn't just tents. It was a portable city. Halogen light towers illuminated the night with blinding white light. Four-meter high defense walls were being erected instantly using 3D concrete printers. Surveillance drones buzzed like carrion flies overhead. Spider-Walker tanks patrolled with heavy steps.

This wasn't a military operation. This was an industrial occupation.

"Damn you, Thorne..." Finnian whispered, hiding behind a stack of fuel drums. "You really intend to move this entire forest into your pants pocket."

He moved in the shadows, the gauntlet on his left hand dimmed to stealth mode, leaving only a faint glow beneath his torn sleeve. He needed to find the command center. He needed to sever the communication network before fleeing further.

But his steps halted near the "Containment Sector".

A transparent quarantine tent stood amidst the mud. Inside, bright surgical lights revealed two silhouettes.

One was a silhouette he recognized: Viper. Thorne's trusted right-hand woman was holding a scalpel, twirling it with the grace of a psychopath.

And the second silhouette... a woman tied to an interrogation chair. She wore a white lab coat dirty with soil, glasses cracked in one lens, and long messy brown hair.

Dr. Elena Vance.

Finnian recognized that face from target data he had stolen back when he was still a hitman. The genius Neo-Botany scientist who went missing two years ago. Many thought she was dead. Turns out, she was here.

Finnian crawled closer, hiding behind a noisy diesel generator, listening.

"The formula, Elena," Viper's voice sounded soft, yet sharp, piercing through the plastic walls of the tent. "You encoded it in the Nightshade flower DNA sequence. Thorne is tired of waiting."

"Go... to hell," Elena replied, her voice hoarse from dehydration, but her chin lifted defiantly.

Viper chuckled. She stepped forward, the tip of her scalpel touching the top button of Elena's shirt. With a gentle flick, the button popped off. Then the second. Revealing neck skin and cleavage slick with cold sweat.

"Beautiful," Viper murmured, her leather-gloved finger tracing Elena's collarbone. "You know, the guards out there haven't touched a woman in six months. If I let them in here for ten minutes... I'm sure you'd remember the formula very quickly."

Elena's face paled, but she spat right in Viper's face. "You're just Thorne's lapdog."

Viper's face went flat. She wiped the spit slowly. "Pet dogs often eat impolite guests."

Viper raised her scalpel high, ready to plunge it into Elena's shoulder, not to kill, but to permanently damage the motor nerves of her arm.

Behind the generator, Finnian closed his eyes.

Don't get involved, Finn. Your mission is to escape. Saving her will only slow you down. She's a stranger.

But his left hand clenched into a fist. The Gauntlet vibrated, as if responding to his heartbeat refusing to stay silent in the face of such cruelty.

"Ah, screw it," Finnian cursed.

He stepped out of hiding. Not sneaking, but with wide, confident strides.

He raised his gauntlet toward the fuel tank next to the containment tent.

"Hey, Ladies! Sorry to crash the party!" Finnian shouted.

Viper turned in shock. "Who—"

Finnian pulled the trigger in his palm.

BOOM!

An energy bolt struck the fuel tank. A deafening orange explosion ripped through the night. The containment tent shook violently, its protective plastic melting instantly from the heat wave.

The guards around the tent were thrown back. Chaos erupted. Sirens wailed.

"Intruder! Sector B!"

Amidst the fire and smoke, Finnian stormed into the tent.

Viper, though surprised, possessed superhuman reflexes. She threw her scalpel at Finnian's face.

Finnian deflected the knife with the back of his iron hand—Cling!—and immediately delivered a front kick to Viper's stomach. The woman was shoved back, crashing into a table of medical equipment until it fell in a mess.

"Who are you?" hissed Viper, rising with combat knives in both hands.

" The gardener," Finnian replied flatly. He turned to Elena, slicing the ropes on her hands and feet with a looted knife. "Can you run, Doc?"

Elena stared at Finnian with wide eyes, looking at a dirty half-naked man with a glowing robotic hand. "Who...?"

"Questions later. Run now. Unless you want to be a toy for the soldiers outside."

Finnian grabbed Elena's arm roughly, dragging her out of the tent that was starting to collapse into the fire.

"Chase them! Don't let them enter the forest!" Viper's angry voice shouted behind them.

The sound of assault rifle fire filled the air. Rat-a-tat-tat!

Bullets whizzed around them. Finnian pushed Elena to take cover behind the carcass of a bulldozer. He returned fire with the pistol he stole from the previous corpse, shooting twice—two soldiers' heads exploded (precision headshots).

"This way! There's a gap in the perimeter fence!" Finnian pointed to a section of the fence crushed by a fallen tree.

They sprinted. Elena's breath heaved; she wasn't a soldier, but adrenaline kept her moving. The dark forest was in plain sight. Safety.

But Viper wasn't an amateur.

From a distance, atop a watchtower, Viper grabbed a long-range sniper rifle from the hands of a slow marksman. She aimed calmly. No emotion, just calculation.

Finnian felt the danger. He spun to shield Elena. "Get down!"

One second too late.

BLAM!

The sound of the *sniper* shot echoed.

Elena pitched forward. A stifled scream escaped her mouth. Her right shoulder exploded in a spray of red blood. The bullet pierced flesh, shattering the collarbone.

"Doc!" Finnian caught Elena's body before she kissed the dirt.

"It... hurts..." Elena moaned, her eyes starting to blur. Thankfully, the bullet went through. It didn't lodge inside.

Finnian looked toward the tower. He saw Viper lowering her rifle, smiling mockingly under the spotlight. The message was clear: I can kill you anytime, but I prefer watching you suffer with a burden.

Anger boiled in Finnian's gut. His green eyes shone wildly in the darkness. But he knew he couldn't win tonight.

With one motion, Finnian hoisted Elena's body onto his left shoulder (his strong mechanical shoulder), and ran plunging into the darkness of the dense forest.

Behind them, the Hellhounds began to be released again.

The night had just begun, and now Finnian had a bleeding 60-kilogram burden on his shoulder.

***