Kael's blade met the Harbinger's in a scream of metal and light, the impact rattling his bones. The lab's sterile glow flickered as shard-energy crackled between them, glass panels shattering under the strain. The woman from the warehouse still alive, still smiling pressed her cybernetic arm against his guard, her violet eyes boring into his. Up close, she smelled like ozone and blood.
"You can't run from it, Varn," she hissed, her blade inching closer to his throat. "The shard's already in your veins."
"Lady, you talk too much," Kael grunted. His chest burned, the shard embedded there pulsing in time with the one Mira clutched across the room. He shoved back, kinetic energy surging through his arms, and sent her stumbling. Not far enough.
Mira was still at the console, her hands shaking as she scanned the stolen shard. "Kael, I need thirty seconds!" she shouted, voice fraying. "It's syncing with yours there's a signal!"
"Great. Tell it to wait," Kael snapped, dodging a blast from the Harbinger's cyber arm. The lab was a warzone now equipment sparking, containment units leaking Aether in wispy trails. He could hear Toren's fight downstairs, the old man's roars mixing with gunfire. No backup coming. Just him, a crazy scientist, and a shard that apparently had a mind of its own.
The Harbinger lunged again, faster than she should've been. Kael parried, but her blade grazed his ribs, hot pain blooming. He staggered, vision blurring. The shard's whispers hit hard *flames, a collapsing sky, that damn woman's voice: The cycle is you.* He shook it off, but not before the Harbinger's boot slammed into his chest, pinning him to the floor.
"Give it up," she said, leaning close. "Join us. The Protocol's lying to you."
Kael spat blood, grinning. "Yeah? You're not exactly Employee of the Month either."
Her eyes narrowed, but a screech from Rhea's comms cut through. "Kael, move your ass! I've got a drone inbound window, ten seconds!"
He didn't hesitate. With a grunt, he unleashed a kinetic burst, shoving the Harbinger back just enough to roll free. He scrambled to Mira, grabbing her arm. "Time's up, Doc. We're leaving."
"The shard" she started, clutching the case.
"Now!" Kael yanked her toward the lab's massive window, the city's neon sprawl glittering beyond. The Harbinger was already recovering, her cyber-arm glowing with a fresh charge. No clean exit, not today.
The window exploded inward as Rhea's drone crashed through, its frame battered but thrusters screaming. Kael shoved Mira onto the platform, diving after her as the Harbinger's energy blast scorched the air where he'd been. The drone lurched, tilting wildly as Rhea's voice blared: "Hold on, dumbasses!"
Neo-Shanra spun below, a dizzying maze of light and shadow. Kael clung to the drone's railing, the shard-case digging into his side. Mira was pale, muttering about "frequencies" and "god-memories." The shard in his chest hadn't stopped humming, and for a split second, he swore he saw it a flicker in his mind, a temple of bone and starlight.
"Toren's still down there," Kael said, voice tight.
Rhea's drone swerved, dodging a missile from the tower. "He's a big boy. Said to get the shard out. Trust him."
Kael's jaw clenched. Trust wasn't his strong suit, not with the Protocol, not with anyone. But Toren was family, or the closest he'd ever get. Leaving him stung worse than the cut on his ribs.
The drone banked hard, slipping into the Lower Wards' smog. The tower shrank behind them, its alarms fading. Mira clutched the shard-case like it was her lifeline, her eyes distant. "This changes everything," she whispered. "The Protocol… they can't know."
Kael stared at her, then at the case. The shard's glow was faint now, but it felt alive, watching him. "Yeah," he said, wiping blood from his lip. "And that's exactly why they'll kill us for it."