LOGINDesperation began to curdle the air in the control room. The dead man's lock was a perfect trap, an elegant, checkmate move from an enemy they had yet to even meet. Elara worked furiously, running simulations, searching for a loophole, a digital ghost in the machine, but found nothing. The system was flawless, a self-contained monolith of security.
"We're out of options," Marcus said, his jaw tight. He began issuing quiet orders to his men, preparing them for his last-ditch plan. "We'll use shaped charges. Try to sever the power conduit leading from the main core to the incubation chamber. The odds of a catastrophic overload are… high. But it's better than letting those things wake up."
It was a suicide mission, and everyone knew it. A plan born of having no other plan.
"No," Jack said. The word was quiet, yet it cut through the tense preparations like a razor. Every eye turned to him. He was standing perfectly still, his gaze fixed not on the terminal, but on t
The Richat Structure was huge. From space, it looked like a blue eye. From the ground, it was a labyrinth of concentric rock rings, canyons, and salt flats.Neferet's camp was set up in the center ring. It looked less like a camp and more like a futuristic gladiator arena. Hover-drones buzzed in the sky, projecting massive holographic screens for the "audience"—the Council elites watching from their bunkers around the world."Welcome, contestants!" Neferet's voice boomed from the sky, amplified by the drones. "To the Trial of the Wolf King!"Jack parked the Land Rover at the designated starting line. Around them, fifty other vehicles revved their engines. Mad Max rejects, high-tech tanks, and even a guy riding a genetically modified camel."The rules are simple," Neferet announced. "There are three rings. The Outer Ring is the Maze of Mirages. The Middle Ring is the Hunter's Den. The Center is the Throne.""First team to the Throne gets the K
The inside of the tank smelled like diesel, unwashed socks, and pickled cabbage. It was the most beautiful smell Jack had ever encountered."Name is Boris," the tank driver shouted over the roar of the engine. He passed the vodka bottle back to them. "Welcome to 'Uber: War Zone Edition'. Five stars, please!""Five stars if you have a heater," Ben shivered, huddled next to the engine block."Heater is broken," Boris laughed. "Drink vodka. Internal heater!"They rode for hours, crossing the desolate Ukrainian steppe until they reached a hidden airfield near the Moldovan border. The Leviathanwas waiting offshore, its stealth tenders ready to extract them.Back on the sub, the mood was somber but relieved.Jack sat in the med bay, watching Dr. Aris work on Catherine. The Titan Heart sat on a pedestal nearby, glowing softly."It's remarkable," Aris muttered, scanning Catherine's vitals. "The Heart... it didn't just boost her
The Pink Valkyrieflew through the radioactive clouds like a flamboyant middle finger to the apocalypse. Inside the cargo bay, the air smelled of ozone, burnt flesh, and Ben’s fear sweat.Jack lay on a stretcher, his body a map of destruction. The Curse had retreated, leaving his right arm looking like charcoal, black flakes peeling off to reveal raw, pulsing muscle underneath.Catherine knelt beside him. She wasn't the Ice Queen right now. She was just a woman trying to keep the man she loved from falling apart. Her hands glowed with a soft, blue light, drawing the excess heat from his core."You're an idiot," she whispered, her voice trembling. "A brave, stupid, reckless idiot.""Comes with the territory," Jack rasped, his eyes fluttering open. They were still silver, but dim, like dying stars. "Did we get it?""We got it," Catherine said, nodding towards the containment box where the Titan Heart pulsed quietly."Good,"
The eye of the Atomic Tyrant wasn't biological. It was elemental. It stared at Jack with the weight of a thousand dying suns."It's waking up!" Finch screamed over the comms, his voice distorted by panic. "Valerius jump-started the fission process! The core is going critical! You have maybe three minutes before this entire chamber becomes a miniature sun!""Three minutes?" Jack spat, wiping black blood from his lip. "Plenty of time."Valerius laughed, a jagged sound. He pulled his sword from the creature's mass. The blade was now glowing white-hot."The Tyrant doesn't bargain, Jack! It consumes! And you are the main course!"Valerius charged.He was fast. Faster than before. His mechanical augmentations whirred, pushing his body beyond human limits. The sword swung in a deadly arc.Jack sidestepped, but not fast enough. The heat of the blade singed his tactical vest."Catherine! Ice!" Jack yelled.Catherine, standing on
The darkness of the corridor wasn't empty. It had a texture. A heaviness that pressed against the chest, tasting of rust and old, dead air.Jack moved first, his Predator vision useless in the radioactive soup. He relied on the faint, pulsating blue light coming from further down the hall. It was rhythmic. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.Like a giant heart buried under tons of concrete."The Elephant's Foot," Finch's voice crackled, barely audible through the interference. "The most dangerous object on Earth. A mass of corium—melted nuclear fuel, concrete, and sand. It's supposed to be dormant.""Dormant my ass," Ben whispered, clutching his EMP button like a security blanket. "That thing sounds like it's running a marathon."They reached the end of the corridor. It opened up into a vast, cavernous chamber.It was breathtaking. And terrifying.The chamber was a converted turbine hall, but everything was upside down. Gravity her
The approach to Reactor 4 was a walk through hell’s own backyard. The vegetation here wasn't green or red; it was black. Black grass, black moss, black vines strangling the concrete barriers. The Geiger counters were screaming a steady, high-pitched tone that threatened to induce a migraine."Radiation levels critical," Finch's voice crackled over the comms. "We are entering the lethal zone. If your suit breaches, you have about twelve seconds before your DNA unzips like a cheap zipper.""Thanks for the pep talk, Four-Eyes," Ben grumbled.They reached the perimeter fence. It was torn open, the metal twisted outward as if something massive had burst outof the containment zone, not in."Look at this," Jack said, examining the bent steel. "Claw marks. Big ones.""Mutant?" Marcus asked."Bigger," Jack said. "Something that eats mutants for breakfast."They moved through the gap. The Sarcophagus—the massive steel







