CHAPTER 52: THE DOCTOR’S GAMBIT

The fire extinguisher wasn’t a weapon.

It was a statement.

And that statement, screamed in a high-pitched hiss of pressurized foam, was: "I am very, very tired of you cybernetic ghost-dogs in my workplace."

HSSSSSSSSSS!

Dr. Aris Thorne, a man who looked like he’d lose a debate with a nervous intern, stood in the doorway, blasting the lunging Phase Hound with a torrent of freezing, white foam.

The hound let out a screech that was half-shriek, half-static, as the intense cold hit its exposed cybernetics.

Its phasing ability, which relied on a delicate energy balance, went completely haywire.

It flickered, stuttered, and for a glorious, solid three seconds, it became fully corporeal, its form locked in place as its internal systems tried to reboot.

It was the only opening they were going to get.

"Well, I’ll be," Jax breathed from the floor, a look of pure, unadulterated awe on his face. "The nerd has a plan."

Jinx didn’t waste the opportunity.

The crack of her rifle was deafening in the narrow corridor.

BANG!

The high-caliber round, no longer a useless ghost bullet, slammed into the hound’s now-solid spine, shattering its power core in a shower of blue sparks and twisted metal.

The hound collapsed, a dead, twitching heap.

Dr. Thorne dropped the now-empty fire extinguisher, his arms trembling, his face the color of old milk.

"That," he said, his voice a high-pitched, terrified squeak, "was significantly more stressful than my initial projections indicated."

Okay, I officially love this guy, Michael’s inner monologue declared. New favorite NPC.

"Thorne!" he yelled, sprinting towards them. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Gideon was moving me," Thorne explained, his words tumbling out in a rush of panicked energy. "He was going to ’decommission’ me. That’s his word for ’shove you in a blender and wipe the hard drives’."

"I knew something was wrong. I tripped a silent alarm in my cell, hoping to draw attention. I was hoping for a security team. A fire drill."

He gestured vaguely at the carnage around them.

"I was not, in fact, hoping for a full-scale black-ops incursion led by a small group of heavily armed, emotionally unstable twenty-somethings."

He gave a weak, terrified shrug.

"But you work with what you have."

"He knows a way to the mainframe," Michael said, the pieces clicking into place. "A secure route."

"Of course I do," Thorne sniffed, a flicker of professional pride cutting through his terror. "I designed half the security protocols in this labyrinth. Follow me. And try not to shoot me."

The mission had officially shifted.

It was now an escort quest.

And the escort is a VIP who’s about to have a panic attack, Michael thought. Fantastic.

"Move!" Jinx barked, already pulling Jax to his feet.

They ran, a chaotic, four-person whirlwind of desperation and terrible ideas.

Thorne led them through a series of pristine, white service corridors that weren’t on Chloe’s schematics, his keycard opening doors that should have been sealed.

Jax, hobbling on his bad leg, provided what he cheerfully called "aggressive negotiations," rolling a small, custom-made flashbang grenade down a side corridor to disorient an approaching DGC patrol.

Jinx was a ghost, her silenced pistol taking out security cameras with a series of soft, precise phuts.

They were a team.

A messy, dysfunctional, probably-going-to-get-them-all-killed team.

But a team nonetheless.

They finally burst through a final set of double doors and into the mainframe control room.

It was a vast, circular chamber, cold and silent. A single, monolithic server spire stood in the center, its surface pulsing with a soft, blue light.

And leaning against it, as if he had been waiting for them all along, was Commander Kael.

He wasn’t even out of breath.

His custom, graphite-gray armor was immaculate. His handsome face was a mask of smug, condescending amusement.

He applauded slowly, the sound of his armored gloves clapping together a mocking, metallic echo in the silence.

"Bravo," he purred, his voice smooth as polished steel. "A truly inspired performance. The rogue scientist, the broken toys, and the flawed prototype, all working together."

He pushed himself off the console, his movements fluid, effortless.

"Look at you, little ghost," Kael sneered, his eyes, which glowed with a faint, controlled energy, fixing on Michael. "Playing with powers you can’t possibly comprehend."

"A broken echo of a bygone era."

Michael felt a surge of cold, sharp anger. This was the voice of the system he was fighting. Smug. Arrogant. Utterly convinced of its own superiority.

"Better a broken echo," Michael shot back, his own voice steady, "than a willing puppet."

Kael’s smile tightened. A direct hit.

"Such fire," he chuckled, a low, dangerous sound. "Such misplaced conviction."

He held out a hand, and a blade of pure, solidified energy, humming with a terrifying power, extended from his wrist.

"I am the future, anomaly. An upgrade. Power, perfected and controlled. You are a relic. A bug in the system."

He took a step forward.

"And it is time for a system purge."

Chloe’s voice was a sharp, cold command in Michael’s ear.

"The mission is the priority, Michael! The drive! Forget him!"

Kael was faster. Stronger. He was a perfected Chimera. A true boss fight.

And Michael knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the bone, that it was a fight he couldn’t win.

Not yet.

But he didn’t have to win.

He just had to create an opening.

"Jax!" Michael yelled. "Light him up!"

"Jinx! Cover me!"

He sprinted forward, not at Kael, but to the left, drawing his attention.

Jax, with a manic grin, tossed his last Glitch Grenade. It detonated at Kael’s feet, not with a bang, but with a high-pitched electronic screech.

Kael’s armor sparked, the energy blade on his wrist flickering for a split second. A minor inconvenience, but it was enough.

Jinx opened fire, her pistol spitting a relentless stream of bullets that forced Kael to raise a defensive arm.

And in that moment of chaos, Michael saw his shot.

[VOID TETHER!]

A whip of pure, black energy shot from his hand, not at Kael, but at the heavy server console to his right.

He yanked.

The massive piece of machinery, weighing half a ton, slid across the floor with a deafening screech, slamming into Kael’s side and pinning him against the central spire.

It wouldn’t hold him for long.

But it didn’t have to.

Michael was already sprinting towards the main console, the Legacy Drive in his hand.

He vaulted over a railing, his feet landing hard on the platform.

He saw the primary data port, its connection light glowing a soft, inviting blue.

He didn’t hesitate.

He slammed the Legacy Drive home.

[MAIN QUEST OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: INSERT THE LEGACY DRIVE.]

For a single, silent heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then, the drive began to glow.

A blinding, furious, purple light erupted from it, a silent scream of pure, vengeful data.

A system-wide alert flashed on every screen in the room, its text a stark, beautiful crimson.

[ARCANA VIRUS DETECTED. SYSTEM COMPROMISED.]

[INITIATING DATA PURGE AND BROADCAST PROTOCOL...]

Kael let out a roar of pure, unadulterated rage, effortlessly shoving the server console off of him.

"LOCK THEM IN!" he screamed, his voice no longer smooth and condescending, but a raw, ragged sound of pure fury. "FULL FACILITY CONTAINMENT! NO ONE GETS OUT!"

With a sound like the world ending, massive titanium shutters slammed down over the doorways, the windows, the very air vents.

KRRRRR-CHUNK!

The room was sealed.

And they were trapped inside.

With their most dangerous enemy.