The Last Code

Blood And Code

Jace’s heart pounded louder than the nanite storm raging above the subway station. Lena stood on the platform, her nanite blade glowing like a shard of the Signal Spire itself, her eyes cold as the ruins of New Chicago. 

“You shouldn’t have come, Jace,” she’d said, her voice cutting deeper than any Shattered claw.

 The Codex’s warning burned in his mind: Mission conflict: Only one Codex-bearer can claim the Ascension Key. Eliminate rival or be terminated. His sister—his sister—was the rival. And the timer ticked down: 23:40:17.

The station erupted into chaos. Shattered screeched, their eyeless maws tearing into the Purifiers, Lena’s so-called allies, who fired pulse-rifles in frantic bursts. Elara yanked Jace behind a rusted train car, her plasma-cutter still humming from their last fight. 

Blood seeped from her torn shoulder, but her eyes were sharp, scanning the carnage. “Your sister’s got a death wish,” she hissed. “And she’s dragging us down with her.”

Jace gripped his nanite-forged knife, its edge flickering with green light. The Codex’s shield had saved him from the Purifiers’ betrayal, but it was fading, and his head throbbed with neural strain. 

Host neural integrity: 83%. The hum from the Signal Spire pulsed in sync with his heartbeat, like the alien voice was rewriting him from the inside. “Lena!” he shouted, stepping out from cover. “We need to talk!”

Lena’s gaze snapped to him, her blade raised. “Talk?” She laughed, bitter and sharp. “You left me to die, Jace. Ten years, and now you want a chat?”

 A Shattered lunged at her, and she spun, slicing its head clean off with a single stroke. Her movements were too fast, too precise—Codex-enhanced, just like his.“I didn’t leave you!” Jace yelled, dodging a Purifier’s stray shot. The Codex flashed: Reflex Overclock available. Cost: Severe neural strain.

 He ignored it, his vision already swimming from the last use. “I looked for you, Lena! Every day!”

“Liar!”

 she snarled, vaulting over a corpse to close the distance. Her blade swung, and Jace parried with his knife, sparks flying as nanites clashed. The impact rattled his bones, but he held his ground, their faces inches apart. 

Her eyes, once warm, were hard, flecked with green nanite glow. “You ran. You always run.”The Codex whispered: Eliminate rival. Reward: Ascension Key access. Jace shoved it down, shoving Lena back instead. “I’m not fighting you!”

“Then you’re dead,” she said, raising her blade again.

 But a Shattered tackled her, its claws raking her side. Jace reacted without thinking, stabbing his knife into the creature’s back. Ichor sprayed, and Lena rolled free, staring at him, shocked.

 For a moment, their old bond flickered—then her face hardened, and she sprinted toward the extraction point.

“Jace, move!” Elara grabbed his arm, dragging him through the chaos. The Purifiers were down to one, screaming as Shattered tore him apart. 

The station’s floodlight flickered, casting jagged shadows, and the Codex’s map pulsed: Extraction point: 50 meters. Hostiles: 8. The timer read 23:39:02. They weren’t going to make it.

The tunnel ahead narrowed, a collapsed section forcing them to climb over debris. Elara’s plasma-cutter carved a path, but her movements were sluggish, blood dripping down her arm.

 “You’re hurt,” Jace said, steadying her.

“Save your pity,” she snapped, but her voice wavered. “Focus on not dying.”The Codex pinged: Mission update: Secure extraction point. Secondary objective: Retrieve Purifier data core.

 A new waypoint appeared, marking a fallen Purifier’s body 20 meters back. Jace cursed. “Now it wants me to play fetch?”

Elara glanced at him, eyes narrowing. “The Codex talks to you? What’s it saying?”

“Same as yours, I bet,” Jace lied, dodging a falling chunk of concrete. Elara hadn’t admitted to being a Codex-bearer, but her knowledge of it—and Lena—screamed secrets. 

The hum in his head spiked, and a memory flashed: Lena, 18, laughing as they stargazed, promising to face the world together. Planted, he realized, the Codex messing with his mind again. Host neural integrity: 81%.They reached the extraction point—a reinforced hatch in the tunnel wall, its bunker signal faint but steady. Elara knelt, hacking the lock with her wrist-comm.

 “Almost there,” she muttered, but the Shattered’s screeches echoed closer, and Jace’s Codex marked ten hostiles now. He turned, knife ready, and saw Lena sprinting toward them, a data core glowing in her hand. 

She’d gone back for it.“Lena, stop!” Jace shouted, but she didn’t slow, her nanite blade cutting through a Shattered like paper. The Codex screamed: Hostile Codex-bearer approaching. Eliminate or be terminated. 

Jace’s hand shook. He couldn’t kill her. Not Lena.Elara cursed as the hatch sparked, refusing to open. “This thing’s fried! We need that core to override it!” She pointed at Lena, who was now fighting two Shattered, her blade a blur.

 The storm’s green lightning leaked through the tunnel’s cracks, and the Spire’s hum grew deafening, shaking the walls.Jace made a split-second choice. He activated Reflex Overclock, the world slowing as his body surged.

 Pain lanced through his skull, blood dripping from his eyes, but he sprinted toward Lena, dodging a Shattered’s claws. “Give me the core!” he yelled, tackling a creature off her.

Lena spun, blade stopping an inch from his throat. “Why should I trust you?” she hissed, but her voice cracked, and her eyes flicked to the hatch. Another Shattered charged, and Jace shoved her aside, taking the hit. Claws raked his scav-suit, pain searing his side, but he stabbed back, his nanite knife sinking deep.

“Jace!” Lena’s shout was raw, almost like the sister he remembered. She tossed him the data core, a fist-sized orb pulsing with nanites, and slashed another Shattered. “Get it to Elara. Go!”

Jace stumbled, clutching the core. Host neural integrity: 78%. The Codex’s voice was colder now: Objective updated: Deliver core to extraction point. Reward: Nanite Forge Tier 2. 

He ran, blood soaking his suit, the Shattered closing in. Elara grabbed the core, slamming it into the hatch’s panel. The lock clicked, and the hatch groaned open, revealing a dark passage to Bunker-17.

“Inside!” Elara yelled, but Jace turned back. Lena was surrounded, three Shattered pinning her to the ground. Her blade flashed, but she was slowing, blood pooling beneath her.

“Lena!” Jace started toward her, but Elara grabbed his arm.“She’s gone, Kade! We can’t save her!”

The Codex flashed: Rival Codex-bearer compromised. Opportunity: Eliminate. Jace shook his head, vision blurring. “No,” he growled, pulling free. He activated Nanite Forge, crafting a crude spear in seconds, and charged. 

The spear pierced one Shattered, and he tackled another, giving Lena room to stand. She nodded, breathless, and they fought back-to-back, blades cutting through ichor and bone.

For a moment, it was like before—Jace and Lena, unstoppable. But the Codex’s timer hit 23:37:44, and the station shook, cracks splitting the ceiling. The Spire’s pulse flared, and a new Shattered emerged from the tunnel—bigger, its body pulsing with nanites, its maw glowing like the Spire itself.

 An Alpha.“Run!” Lena shoved Jace toward the hatch, where Elara waited, her plasma-cutter raised. The Alpha roared, its claws tearing through the platform, and the Codex screamed: Threat level: Critical. Host survival probability: 12%.Jace grabbed Lena’s arm, dragging her with him. 

“You’re not dying here!” They sprinted for the hatch, the Alpha’s claws missing by inches. Elara fired, her cutter’s beam grazing the creature, but it didn’t slow.

 The hatch was five meters away, the bunker’s safety so close, but the Alpha’s roar shook Jace’s bones, and the Codex’s hum became a command: Eliminate Alpha or be terminated.They dove through the hatch, Elara slamming it shut. The Alpha’s claws scraped the metal, denting it, but the lock held. 

Jace collapsed, gasping, blood dripping from his wounds. Lena leaned against the wall, clutching her side, her eyes avoiding his. The Codex’s timer stopped: 23:37:02. Objective complete: Extraction point secured. Reward: Nanite Forge Tier 2 unlocked.

Silence fell, broken only by their ragged breaths. Elara checked the hatch, her face grim. “That won’t hold forever. We need to move deeper.”Jace stared at Lena, his chest tight. “Why, Lena? Why are you with them?”She met his gaze, her expression unreadable. “You don’t get it, Jace. The bunkers are a lie. 

The Codex showed me the truth—Earth’s done. The Purifiers are building something better.”“By killing us?” he snapped, stepping closer. “You almost died out there!”

“And you almost got me killed ten years ago!” she shot back, her voice breaking. The Codex pinged: Memory accessed. Another flash—Lena’s hand slipping from his as flames consumed Chicago, her scream echoing. Planted, Jace thought, but the guilt felt real.

Elara cut in. “Save the family drama. The Codex isn’t your friend, Jace. Or yours, Lena.” She glared at them both, her hand tightening on her cutter. “It’s playing us. All of us.”

Before Jace could respond, the hatch buckled, the Alpha’s claws tearing through. The Codex’s voice was ice: New mission: Survive the Alpha. Secondary objective: Interrogate rival Codex-bearer.

 A blueprint flashed—a nanite grenade, powerful but unstable. Cost: Critical neural strain.Jace’s vision darkened, blood pooling in his mouth. Host neural integrity: 75%. Lena raised her blade, ready to fight, but her eyes flicked to him, conflicted.

 The Alpha roared, the hatch splintering, and Elara’s comm crackled with a new signal—not Bunker-17, but something alien, pulsing from the Spire.

“Jace,” Lena whispered, her voice barely audible. “The Codex lied to you. You’re not human.”

The words hit like a pulse-burst, and the Codex screamed: Warning: Rival Codex-bearer divulging classified data. Eliminate immediately. 

The Alpha broke through, its glowing maw filling the passage, and Jace’s world spun as the Spire’s hum became a single, chilling command: Choose your side.