Iron Pulse

The hallway pulsed blood-red.

Steel walls vibrated beneath their boots. The air was sharp with static, thick enough to taste.

West stood with his back to the relay room door, pipe held low and steady.

Aria stood beside him, one hand raised, blue pulse light shimmering through her skin like liquid fire.

Behind them, Lem worked furiously over an old manual terminal, sweat dripping from his brow.

"This is it," Lem said through gritted teeth. "Ten more seconds. Maybe less."

West didn't look back. His focus was fixed on the shadows ahead.

Heavy footfalls echoed from the tunnel.

One step. Two. Then silence.

And then they saw them.

Three tall figures emerged from the dark. Not drones. Not hybrids.

Elite units.

Silver bodies plated in seamless liquid alloy, armor polished like mirrors. Blade-thin limbs. No faces—only a single horizontal slit of burning red light where human eyes would have been.

SILVER SPINE UNIT — RHYS ELITE CLASS

Lem's voice caught in his throat.

"They sent Silver Spines..."

"What does that mean?" West asked, pipe tightening in his grip.

Lem swallowed hard. "Designed for assassination. High-speed, high-intelligence, limited AI override."

West's jaw flexed.

Perfect.

The first Silver Spine moved.

No warning. No noise.

One moment, standing. The next, a blur of silver metal.

West swung instinctively. His pipe met the incoming blade mid-arc.

Sparks exploded. The impact jolted up West's arm, rattling his shoulder.

But he didn't step back.

The Silver Spine was fast—but so was he.

Aria moved beside him.

She didn't wait for orders.

Her palm flashed blue as she stepped into the second unit's path, hand cutting through the air like a blade.

PULSE REFLEX: ACTIVE.

Her strike landed square against its helmet—metal cracking beneath the force.

The unit staggered.

Aria's breathing stayed slow. Controlled.

"Two more," West growled.

The first Silver Spine lashed out again—low and fast.

West twisted, pipe spinning in his hands like a staff.

He swept its legs.

The machine buckled but didn't fall.

It pivoted unnaturally, spine bending 180 degrees, slashing backward.

Steel kissed flesh.

West grunted as the blade grazed his ribs—just shallow enough to bleed but not enough to drop him.

The scent of iron filled his nose.

Didn't matter.

He pushed forward.

Two strikes—one to the head, one to the chest.

The unit's armor cracked.

But it wasn't enough.

Aria was already handling the third.

It moved with needle-like precision, stabbing at her core.

She ducked low, sliding across the floor on one knee.

Her eyes flashed silver-blue.

And suddenly—

There were two of her.

One moving left. One moving right.

The Silver Spine hesitated.

Aria struck from behind.

Her palm slammed into its exposed core plate, driving it into the wall with bone-breaking force.

NEW ABILITY: PULSE MIRAGE UNLOCKED.

West finished his fight.

With a roar, he drove the pipe into the final unit's head.

Once.

Twice.

Metal split.

The Silver Spine collapsed in a heap of broken steel and sparking wires.

For a moment, the hallway was silent.

Only the hiss of West's breath. The faint crackle of fried circuitry.

Lem's voice broke the quiet.

"I have it."

He stood, holding up a flickering holopad.

"All systems linked. Local grid control is ours. Rhys can't shut us out from this sector."

West wiped a line of blood from his mouth.

Finally.

Aria stepped forward, standing beside him.

Her pulse light faded back to normal, though her eyes still glowed faintly.

She looked up at West.

"Is it over?" she asked quietly.

West didn't answer right away.

He stared down the tunnel—still burning red lights. Still static on the walls.

Then he shook his head once.

"No."

His voice was low. Calm.

"This is the middle."

Far above them, in a tower wrapped in black steel and mirrored glass, Rhys watched.

His hands rested behind his back.

His reflection shimmered in the curved surface before him.

And though no one could see it—

He was smiling.