The adrenaline of the battle had faded, leaving Alex feeling like a hollowed-out husk.
Epsilon Point, the Crows' current sanctuary, was a warren of reinforced tunnels and repurposed storage bays deep beneath Rusthaven's main levels.
It hummed with a tense, focused energy as Crows tended to their wounded, repaired gear, and fortified their new perimeter.
The UGF assault had been brutal, a clear message that their previous kid-glove tactics were over.
Alex sat hunched on a discarded ration crate, his right arm, which had unleashed the plasma-strength punch, aching with a deep, cellular throb.
It wasn't broken, Voss had determined after a worried examination, but severely strained. "You forced a premature synergy, Alex,"
she'd said, her voice a mixture of awe and concern. "Your body isn't conditioned for that kind of output yet.
The Absorber Gene gives you the blueprint, but you still need to build the engine."
His mind, however, was the greater casualty. The Echoes were a cacophony.
The Enforcer's grim duty, the Lieutenant's arrogant tactical sense, Kai's wary stealth, even faint, aggressive tremors from Scarface, the thug from the market.
They swirled, making it hard to distinguish his own thoughts from the psychic residue of others.
And then there was the Vision.
Twin purple suns. Crystalline spires piercing an alien sky.
A sense of immense, ancient power, and a profound, echoing loneliness. It had been a mere flash, but it had shaken him to his core. He hadn't mentioned it to Voss or Kai yet.
How could he explain something so utterly bizarre?
Voss approached, her expression serious. She'd cleaned up, the grime of battle replaced by a grim determination.
"Commander Zane won't let this go," she stated, her voice low. "What you did back there… that kind of raw, uncontrolled power? It's exactly what the UGF hierarchy fears most from an Absorber.
They won't just send patrols now, Alex. They'll send specialists. Hunters."
Kai joined them, his movements still fluid despite the fatigue etching lines around his eyes.
He nodded in agreement. "The UGF has dedicated units for 'Anomalous Asset Retrieval.' Read: capture or kill anyone with abilities they can't neatly categorize and control." His gaze on Alex was appraising. "That stunt with the wall bought us time, but it also lit a beacon. They know you're not just some Core-wielding grunt. You're something…else."
Alex met their gazes, the weight of their words pressing down. "So what do we do? Run? Hide deeper?" Rusthaven was vast, but it wasn't infinite.
"Running only delays the inevitable," Voss said. "And hiding won't work when they start shaking down the whole cylinder.
No, Alex. You need to learn control. Fast. Not just to fight, but to manage the Echoes, to understand what you're becoming."
Kai leaned against a nearby bulkhead, arms crossed. "She's right. Raw power is a weapon that can cut both ways. You need discipline. Precision."
He pushed off the wall. "The Crows… we're not equipped to train a walking Gene Core cocktail like you.
But we know how to fight smart. How to move unseen. How to survive when the odds are stacked against you. I can teach you some of that. Lena, too."
Lena, who had been monitoring comms frequencies from a makeshift console, looked up. Her Mind Core pulsed faintly.
"The Echoes," she said, her eyes locking on Alex.
"They're loud. Like too many voices shouting at once. I might be able to help you filter them. Teach you to build… mental shields. It's something Mind Core users practice, but for you, it'll be more complex."
A lifeline. Or several. Alex felt a flicker of something that might have been hope. "I'm willing to try anything."
"Good," Kai said. "Because your training starts now. First lesson: minimizing your energy signature. That plasma fist of yours probably registered on every UGF sensor in this sector."
Suddenly, Lena gasped, her hand flying to her temple, her face paling.
"Void take it! UGF long-range comms intercept… Priority Alpha dispatch from Sector Command. Commander Zane is personally overseeing the operation now. He's authorized… 'Variable Ordinance Packages'."
Voss swore under her breath. "That means heavy hitters. Experimental tech. Things they don't want on official records."
"And," Lena continued, her voice strained, "they've triangulated a cluster of anomalous energy readings. From our last firefight. They're narrowing down Epsilon Point's general quadrant."
Kai was already moving, his voice sharp with command. "All Crows, lockdown protocols! Active sensor jamming! Prepare for immediate evac if compromised!"
But before he could issue further orders, Alex flinched, a sharp pain stabbing through his skull, independent of his arm. The Vision again, stronger this time, more insistent.
Crystalline structures fracturing… a pulse of golden light… a warning… a single, alien glyph burning itself into his mind's eye…
He cried out, clutching his head. Voss was instantly at his side. "Alex? What is it? Another Echo?"
"No…" he gasped, the image of the glyph searing his memory. "It's… something else. A… a symbol. I think it's a warning."
Voss's eyes widened. "A symbol from the vision?"
He nodded, sweat beading on his forehead. The glyph felt incredibly important, ancient.
As the pain subsided, replaced by a chilling premonition, he looked at Voss.
"This Absorber Gene… you said it was alien. The UGF suppressed your research on it. What exactly did you find, Mara?"
Voss hesitated, a flicker of old fear, or perhaps guilt, in her eyes.
"It wasn't just about absorbing Gene Cores, Alex. The original theory… the one that got my entire division shut down… was that the gene wasn't just designed to mimic existing tech."
Her voice dropped, heavy with implication. "It was designed to interface with something far older. Something non-human. The UGF found… traces. Artifacts. They labeled it xeno-contamination."
Before Alex could press further, one of Kai's scouts burst into the command area, face grim.
"Boss! We've got UGF drones. Small, stealthy bastards. Painting targets with laser designators on the upper access corridors. They're not just looking anymore. They're preparing for a surgical strike."
Kai glanced at Alex, then at Voss. The unspoken question hung heavy: Was this because of Alex's outburst, or something Voss knew about these 'artifacts'?
The ground beneath their feet gave a sudden, violent shudder. Distant, heavy thumps followed – the unmistakable sound of bunker-buster munitions.
Zane wasn't waiting. He was bringing the fist of the UGF down hard.