The Black Circuit had awoken.
They came not as armies, but as whispers in the dark — corrupted enforcers, sleeper agents, warbots repurposed from forgotten conflicts. In every zone from the Outer Rings to the syndicate-run cores, chaos bloomed like wildfire.
And all of it was hunting one name: Zayne Voss.
Sector 19, Two Hours After the Broadcast
The city was no longer silent. Sirens howled. Sky-rails screeched with halted transit. And every holo-screen played the same message:
"Zayne Voss is a rogue bio-weapon. Capture is mandatory. Resistance equals termination."
Above a crumbling skyline, a shadow broke the clouds — a new model drone carrier, cold black and branded with a symbol: the burning X.
On the rooftop of a rebel safehouse, Zayne stood with Sierra and a newly-awake Milo. His brother's eyes were bloodshot but lucid.
"I saw what I did," Milo whispered, his voice shaking. "I tried to kill you."
Zayne didn't flinch. "You were a puppet. Riven was the hand."
"But I still danced," Milo said, staring at his own trembling hands.
Sierra interrupted, handing Zayne a small data shard. "Encrypted from the Ilyra chamber. Pre-Protocol logs. You were right — she wasn't human by the end. She was… rewritten."
Zayne took it, sliding the shard into his gauntlet.
Images flashed.
A woman screaming in a war-torn lab.
A machine that devoured minds.
The words:
"NEMESIS ENGINE ACTIVE — SUBJECT: V-0-X."
Zayne stepped back.
"She wasn't the first Jericho subject. She was the first weaponized conscience."
And they were building another.
Meanwhile: Dr. Kael Riven's Lab
Deep beneath the Crimson Spire, Riven stood before a stasis tank pulsing with red light. Inside floated a half-formed creature — sinew, steel, and memory fragments stitched into one being.
Nyrix stood at his side, arms crossed. "You're really going to do this? Unleash the Engine?"
Riven smiled. "It's not about war anymore. It's about purity. The Vendetta Circuit was only step one. This… is ascension."
He placed his hand on the glass.
[STATUS: SUBJECT "V0X" — NEMESIS ENGINE STABLE][NEURAL MAPPING: 99.9% COMPLETE][PRIMARY TARGET: ZAYNE VOSS]
Riven whispered to the machine, "Let's see how far evolution can burn."
The Ambush
Later that night, Zayne and Milo infiltrated an abandoned syndicate data-core beneath District 14. Sierra patched into their comms from a cloaked skimmer above.
"This was one of Riven's old labs. If the Nemesis Engine came from here, there'll be backups."
Zayne nodded, scanning the hall with his cracked HUD. "Any sign of movement?"
"Nothing on my end."
Which meant everything was wrong.
They stepped inside.
And the lights died.
Milo spun. "EMP?"
Zayne's HUD blinked.
[SYSTEM OVERRIDE][PROTOCOL: NEMESIS SHADOW]
A roar filled the corridor — not mechanical, not human. A fusion of the two.
Out of the shadows came a figure — tall, plated in obsidian armor, helmet like a skull fused with a circuit board.
The Nemesis Engine had arrived.
Zayne shouted, "Move!"
But Milo stood frozen. His mind… was being pulled again.
The Nemesis Engine raised its hand. A pulse shot out — disrupting Milo's implants. He screamed and dropped to the floor.
Zayne charged, Inferno Protocol flaring in his fist.
They collided.
A punch like thunder echoed down the tunnel. Sparks flew. Zayne ducked, dodged, landed a burning uppercut to the machine's chest. It staggered… then grabbed him by the throat.
Zayne felt the pressure. His protocols screamed.
The Engine leaned in, voice glitching:
"YOU… ARE… ME."
Zayne's eyes widened. He kicked free, launching a flame burst from his palm. The corridor lit up, but the Engine vanished into the smoke.
Sierra's voice cracked over comms. "Zayne! The lab's going dark. It's triggering self-destruct!"
Zayne grabbed Milo and sprinted.
Behind them, fire chased their heels.
The Aftermath
The safehouse was quiet again.
Milo rested under sedation. Sierra patched wounds. Zayne stared out at the sky, still seeing the eyes of that machine.
"Nemesis Engine… said I was it," he whispered.
Sierra looked at him, concern deepening. "Zayne… what if Riven didn't build it to destroy you…"
Zayne turned. "What if he built it from me?"
They didn't speak after that.
But they both knew what was coming next.
Not survival. Not escape.
Revolution.
END OF CHAPTER 16
Next:Chapter 17 – "Brother, Burn"