The drones burst from the walls like hornets from a shaken hive. Sleek, black, and humming with red eyes, they locked onto Lucas before his mind could fully process Cipher's voice still echoing from the speakers. The room vibrated with a mechanical hum, growing louder as more machines powered up.
"Run!" Ava shouted, already pulling her pulse rifle off her back and blasting the nearest drone into scrap.
Kai launched forward, a shock baton in each hand, striking hard and fast. Sparks exploded around him as drones dropped one after the other—but for every one destroyed, two more replaced it.
Lucas stayed frozen for a half-second longer. His father's face—his own face in twenty years—still hovered in his head. Agent Zero had known. He had planned for this. Had somehow foreseen Cipher's trap, and planted a warning decades before.
But this wasn't the time to unravel it.
"Vent shaft—back wall!" Ava called out, ducking under a laser beam that scorched the ground where she'd stood.
Lucas sprinted to the panel and ripped it open. Cool, dusty air whooshed through the tunnel beyond. He turned back just as Kai caught a drone mid-air and smashed it into the ground.
"Go!" Kai yelled.
"I'm not leaving you!"
Kai flashed him a grin. "Who said anything about staying behind? Just move."
They crawled into the shaft as the room behind them exploded with chaos. Sparks rained from every wall. Alarms howled like dying wolves. Ava tossed a disruptor mine behind them and it detonated with a sonic thud, collapsing the entrance.
Darkness closed in.
They crawled for what felt like hours, twisting through metal guts and rusted vents until finally they emerged into a cracked storage hangar lined with old Cipher vehicles. Most were rusted over. One still blinked with power.
"Ava," Lucas breathed. "Tell me that thing still flies."
Ava already had the panel off and her hands deep in the wiring. "Give me three minutes and pray."
"I'll give you two."
Lucas and Kai held the line near the hangar doors, which were groaning now—bent under the pressure of Cipher's incoming soldiers. These weren't drones. These were enhanced foot soldiers. Silent. Fast. Human, but not human enough.
Lucas felt his breath catch in his throat. They wore black armor with mirrored visors, just like in the Zero tapes.
Cipher's elite.
The doors cracked open. One stepped through—tall, rigid, and carrying a pulse-blade that shimmered with deadly light. It raised its hand.
Then the lights went out.
Ava had rerouted the power.
The hangar plunged into total blackout. Lucas flipped on his visor and saw only outlines—Kai beside him, crouched like a panther, and the soldier, scanning for heat signatures.
Lucas struck first.
The pulse pistol cracked like thunder, lighting up the dark. The soldier staggered but didn't fall. It lunged. Lucas ducked, rolled, fired again—and this time hit the neck seam. Sparks burst from the armor and the soldier dropped, twitching.
More came through the doors.
Then, the roar of engines behind them.
Ava yelled, "It flies! Barely!"
They all ran.
Lucas helped Kai into the gunner seat while Ava yanked the ship off the ground, screaming up through the collapsing hangar ceiling. Debris rained around them. Below, Cipher's soldiers poured in like ants—but none fast enough to catch them now.
As they shot into the night sky, Lucas leaned back, heart racing.
"We made it," Kai muttered, bleeding slightly from a shoulder gash.
Ava shook her head, eyes on the radar. "Not yet."
From behind them, three black fighters launched into the sky—Cipher's hunters.
Lucas slid into the co-pilot seat. "Let's give them something to remember."
The dogfight lit up the clouds like fireworks. The sky became a blur of lasers, smoke trails, and impossible dives. Lucas guided Ava through every sharp roll while Kai took shots, disabling one of the fighters.
But the last two were gaining.
Lucas had one trick left.
"Take us into the storm clouds."
Ava looked at him. "You want to hide in an electric death trap?"
"No," Lucas said, locking eyes with her. "I want to short them out."
They dove into the clouds, lightning all around them. The fighters followed.
Lucas watched the sensors. Waited for the exact arc—
"Now!"
Ava released the ion flare Lucas had wired from two grenades and a loose capacitor. It shot up like a comet—and a bolt of lightning answered. The entire sky lit up in white. The two fighters shorted, sparked, then plummeted, vanishing into the clouds.
Silence.
They flew alone now, battered but breathing.
Lucas finally looked down at the fragment of Zero's map he'd taken from the Ashpoint base. It had shifted. A new dot now pulsed. The heart of Cipher's command.
He didn't know how long they had left. Cipher was angry now. Personal.
But Lucas was done running.
He had a father's legacy to finish.
And a war to win.