Location: Mirage Facility – Corridor Delta-7
Time: 3:19 AM
Alarms wailed.
Red lights bathed the corridors like blood vessels. Automated turrets dropped from the ceiling, scanning for heat and motion.
"INTRUDER ALERT. CELL BLOCK BREACH."
Vashti ducked as a tranquilizer dart whizzed past her ear.
Shabd flung a flash grenade down the hall.
It exploded—smoke and blinding white.
"Go left!" he yelled, pulling Arya along.
But Arya—
She stumbled.
Fell.
Then… stood.
Eyes wide. Glassy no more.
Her gaze sharpened, locked on a wall panel—a hidden switch.
She darted past them and punched the panel open with her bare hand, revealing an emergency shutdown cord.
> "We've got ten seconds before the gas deploys," she said, voice hoarse but lucid. "Unless I kill it."
Vashti blinked.
"Arya?"
Arya turned, face scratched, blood on her lip—but grinning like a demon reborn.
"I'm back."
---
Ten Seconds Left
Arya's fingers danced over the wires like she was playing piano under fire.
A countdown echoed through the walls:
> "5… 4… 3…"
Click.
"Override accepted."
Turrets shut down. Lights flickered.
A hum fell over the hall—like Mirage itself exhaled in defeat.
---
But it wasn't over.
The ground shook.
From the end of the hallway, a massive figure emerged—black armor, six feet of fury, wielding an electro-pulse staff.
"Alpha Unit," Arya breathed. "They built him from spinal cores of failed prototypes."
Shabd stepped forward, blade ready.
Vashti held Arya back.
"You're not fighting. You just came back from the dead."
Arya pushed her away.
"I died for this. Let me kill something for it."
---
The Fight
Shabd slashed first—sparks flew.
Vashti used her height to duck, kicked the enemy's leg, then uppercut his chin.
Arya slid under the monster's legs, yanked a wire from his exosuit, and stabbed it into a nearby fusebox.
Short circuit. Electricity exploded.
The Alpha Unit screamed—mechanically, horrifically—and fell to its knees.
Vashti didn't hesitate.
She grabbed the electro-staff, swung—
CRACK.
The helmet shattered.
Arya threw a smoke bomb.
They vanished.
---
Outside – Raining Dawn
They stumbled out of the Mirage perimeter just as the sun rose behind them, bloodied, bruised—but free.
Arya collapsed onto the ground, arms spread.
"God, I missed oxygen."
Vashti dropped beside her. "You're insane."
Arya grinned. "So are you. That's why we work."
Shabd stood over both of them, quietly watching.
Then, softly:
"They'll come after us now. Harder."
Vashti wiped blood off her cheek.
"Then let them come."
---