The Last Code

The Key's Price

The bunker corridor trembled as the Alpha Shattered’s claws tore through the blast door, its glowing maw a beacon of death in the flickering light.

 Jace’s blood-soaked scav-suit clung to his skin, pain searing his back where the creature had grazed him. Lena’s words—“You’re their prototype”—burned deeper, twisting with the Codex’s command: Claim the Ascension Key or perish.

 Her nanite blade pulsed, the Ascension Key fragment embedded in its core, and her eyes locked on his, torn between fear and defiance. Elara stood ready, plasma-cutter raised, but her bloodied shoulder shook. They were trapped, out of time, and the Codex’s hum was a scream in Jace’s skull.

Host neural integrity: 69%. The timer ticked: 23:35:47. Mission: Survive the Alpha. Secondary objective: Secure Ascension Key fragment. 

Jace’s hand twitched, the Codex’s toxin blueprint—lethal to Codex-bearers—lingering like a temptation. Kill Lena, take the Key, end this. But she was his sister. Or was she? Not human, she’d said.

 The planted memories—her screams in the Collapse—felt like lies, yet the guilt was real.“Jace, move!” Elara’s shout snapped him back. The Alpha’s claw punched through the door, metal shrieking. Jace grabbed Lena, shoving her toward the corridor’s end—a narrow passage to Bunker-17’s core.

 “Run!” he yelled, crafting a nanite spike with a thought. His head throbbed, blood dripping from his nose, but the spike flew true, piercing the Alpha’s shoulder. It roared, ichor spraying, and charged, its nanite-laced body healing faster than should be possible.

Codex-bearer detected: Alpha, the Codex warned. Enhanced subroutine active. The creature wasn’t just a monster—it was a rival, like Lena, playing the aliens’ game. Jace sprinted after Lena and Elara, the Alpha’s claws scraping behind. 

The corridor sloped downward, pipes hissing steam, lights flickering with the Spire’s pulse. The alien signal on Elara’s comm—“Kade, you’re activated”—looped, chillingly clear.

Lena stumbled, clutching her side, blood seeping through her suit. Jace caught her, his nanite knife still in hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he growled. “What am I?”Her eyes flickered with pain, maybe regret. “I didn’t know until the Codex woke in me. You’re… their creation.

 A hybrid, built before the Collapse.” She gripped her blade, the Key fragment glowing brighter. “They want you to win, Jace. But winning means losing everything.”

The Codex screamed: Eliminate rival. Secure Key. Jace’s vision flashed red, the toxin blueprint pulsing. He shoved it down, pain splitting his skull. Host neural integrity: 67%. “I’m not their puppet,” he said, pulling her along.

 Elara hacked a side panel, revealing a maintenance shaft. “This way!” she called, voice strained. “It’s tight, but it leads to the bunker’s armory.”

The Alpha’s roar echoed, closer. Jace pushed Lena into the shaft, Elara following. He dove in last, the creature’s claw grazing his boot as he crawled. 

The shaft was claustrophobic, rusted walls pressing in, steam scalding his skin. His Codex map pulsed: Armory: 100 meters. If they could reach weapons, they might stand a chance.

 But the Alpha’s claws scraped the shaft’s entrance, metal buckling.

“Faster!” 

Elara hissed, crawling ahead. Lena’s breathing was ragged, her wounds slowing her. Jace’s own injuries burned—clawed back, bruised ribs—but the Codex’s hum drove him, relentless. Memory accessed. A flash hit: Lena, a kid, bandaging his scraped knee after a fight, promising to always have his back.

 Planted, he thought, but his chest ached. Hybrid or not, she was family.The shaft opened into the armory, a cavernous room of crates and pulse-rifles, half-looted from Bunker-17’s early days.

 Elara scrambled to a weapons rack, grabbing a rifle with a flickering charge. Jace helped Lena stand, her blade’s glow casting shadows. “You need to drop the Key,” he said. 

“It’s making you a target.”

“And give it to you?” Lena’s laugh was bitter. “The Codex will make you kill me for it.”“I won’t,” Jace said, but the Codex’s voice was ice: Compliance required. His hand shook, the toxin blueprint resurfacing.

 Elara spun, rifle raised—not at them, but at the shaft. The Alpha’s claws tore through, its massive body forcing its way in, nanites glowing like a storm.“Fire!” Jace shouted, crafting a nanite shield. Elara’s rifle roared, pulse-bursts slamming the Alpha’s chest.

 Jace hurled another spike, aiming for its maw, but it dodged, impossibly fast. Lena slashed, her blade carving a gash, but the Alpha’s tail whipped, knocking her into a crate. She hit hard, the Key fragment’s glow dimming.

“Lena!” Jace dove for her, but the Alpha lunged, pinning him to the floor. Its claws pressed his chest, nanites burning his suit. Reflex Overclock available. He activated it, time slowing, and rolled free, stabbing his knife into its side.

 Pain seared his skull, blood streaming from his eyes. Host neural integrity: 64%. The Alpha screeched, retreating, but its wounds healed, nanites knitting flesh.Elara fired again, her rifle overheating.

 “We can’t kill it!” she yelled, tossing Jace a pulse-pistol. He caught it—30% charge—and fired, the burst scorching the Alpha’s arm. Lena staggered up, blade raised, and for a moment, they fought as one: Jace’s pistol, Lena’s blade, Elara’s cutter. 

The Alpha faltered, ichor pooling, but its maw glowed brighter, a pulse like the Spire’s.Codex subroutine detected, the Codex warned.

 Alpha activating: Nanite Surge. The creature’s body erupted in green light, nanites flooding the armory like a wave. Jace’s shield shattered, the force slamming him into a wall. 

Elara screamed, her cutter shorting out. Lena dove behind a crate, her blade’s glow flickering.Jace’s vision swam, the Codex’s timer at 23:34:12. Mission critical: Survive. 

He crawled to Lena, pistol empty, blood dripping from his mouth. “Give me the Key,” he gasped. “We can end this.”She shook her head, eyes wet. “It’s not that simple. The Key’s part of you, Jace. If I give it up, you’ll change. 

Become them.”The Alpha roared, nanites coalescing into tendrils, lashing the crates. Elara fired a scavenged flare, blinding it momentarily.

 “We’re out of time!” she shouted, pointing to a service lift across the armory. “It’s our only shot to the bunker’s core!”Jace grabbed Lena’s arm. 

“We’re not leaving you.” But the Codex flashed: Secure Key or be terminated. The toxin blueprint burned, his hand moving to craft it. He stopped, screaming against the pain. Not human. 

Was he fighting for humanity or the aliens’ plan?Lena pushed him toward the lift. “Go, Jace. I’ll hold it off.” Her blade flared, the Key fragment pulsing. She charged the Alpha, slashing its tendrils, drawing its focus. 

Jace hesitated, heart tearing, but Elara dragged him to the lift, slamming the controls. The doors creaked open, and they stumbled inside, the Alpha’s roar drowning Lena’s cries.

“No!” Jace lunged for the doors, but they shut, the lift shuddering upward. Elara gripped his arm, her face grim. “She made her choice.

 Don’t waste it.”The Codex’s voice was cold: Rival Codex-bearer engaged. Key fragment unsecured. Jace’s head split, a new memory flashing—not Lena, but a lab, alien voices whispering: “Prototype Kade, activate.”

 His knees buckled, Elara catching him. Host neural integrity: 61%. The lift groaned, the Spire’s pulse shaking the shaft.Elara’s comm crackled, the alien signal clearer now: “Kade, the Key is yours. Claim it, or Earth falls.” Jace stared at her, suspicion flaring. “You knew,” he said, voice low.

 “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

Her eyes widened, but before she could answer, the lift jolted, metal screaming. The Codex flashed: Warning: Hostile Codex-bearer detected. Location: Above. The ceiling buckled, and a new figure dropped through—a woman, nanite armor glowing, her blade pulsing with a second Key fragment. 

Not Lena.

 A stranger, her eyes locked on Jace.“You’re the prototype,” she said, voice like steel. “The Spire wants you dead.”

The lift lurched, cables snapping, and the Codex roared: New mission: Survive the Hunter. Objective: Protect Key fragment. As the lift plummeted, the woman lunged, her blade aimed for Jace’s heart.