The laboratory smelled of scorched metal long after the flames died.
Containment alarms still echoed in slow, tired intervals as emergency systems struggled to stabilize what remained of the research wing. The left quadrant was gone—reduced to twisted beams and cracked alloy plates. Smoke drifted through fractured ventilation shafts.
Helios stood unmoving near the destroyed core.
Where his left arm had once been, only a sealed cauterized surface remained. Medical drones hovered around him, projecting diagnostics he ignored.
Maria Voss stared at the central console, replaying system logs again and again.
Every result was identical.
PRIMARY INITIATION SOURCE: MARIA VOSS.
Her jaw tightened.
Someone had written the truth into a lie.
Across the room, Erickson was still inside the partial deployment of Tricrypt. Metallic fibers clung to his torso and spine like a living exoskeleton, faint energy currents flowing beneath the surface.
The suit was no longer fully dormant.
It was listening.
Julia sat nearby on a medical bench, pale but stable. The strange blue-red flicker that had briefly appeared beneath her skin had vanished.
For now.
Erickson's attention drifted toward the shattered containment cradle.
Ericsson's words echoed in his mind.
Phase two has begun.
Before he could think further, the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire laboratory lost power.
Emergency strips cast dim red shadows across the wreckage.
Maria turned immediately.
"That's not from the explosion."
Helios' eyes narrowed.
Something had entered the building.
The first attacker moved faster than normal human perception.
Erickson felt the air shift before he saw him.
A blur crossed the room and struck the floor beside the destroyed core with impossible precision. A tall figure stood there—dark tactical armor, reflective visor, posture completely relaxed.
Not a soldier.
Something else.
Behind him, three more figures appeared.
None used the door.
They simply stepped through fractured space, as if reality had opened briefly to allow them passage.
Maria backed away slowly.
Helios did not move.
"State your purpose," Helios said calmly.
The first figure tilted his head slightly, studying Erickson.
"We're not here for you," he replied.
His voice was distorted through the visor.
"We're here for him."
Every gaze shifted to Erickson.
Tricrypt reacted instantly.
Thin armor plates unfolded across Erickson's shoulders and arms, energy channels igniting along the suit's surface.
"Bad time," Erickson said quietly.
The armored figure chuckled.
"You won't remember this part very clearly."
Before anyone could react, the second intruder lifted his hand.
The air rippled.
Gravity inverted for a fraction of a second.
Erickson's feet left the floor as the room twisted sideways.
Helios lunged forward.
The third intruder moved faster.
A compact device struck the ground between them and detonated silently. Not an explosion—something worse.
A null field.
Tricrypt's energy systems stuttered.
Helios stopped mid-motion.
Even he felt the distortion.
The first figure stepped toward Erickson calmly.
"You've attracted a lot of attention," he said.
Erickson swung.
The punch never landed.
The fourth intruder appeared behind him and pressed something cold against the back of his neck.
Darkness swallowed the world.
When Erickson opened his eyes again, the sky above him was unfamiliar.
It wasn't night.
But it wasn't day either.
A pale violet atmosphere stretched overhead, illuminated by three distant moons hanging unnaturally close together.
He lay on smooth black stone.
Not pavement.
Something older.
Something engineered.
Erickson pushed himself upright slowly.
Tricrypt flickered weakly across his arms, attempting to reboot.
The place around him was enormous.
A city—but not one built for ordinary people.
Structures rose hundreds of meters high, their surfaces flowing like liquid architecture rather than rigid construction. Bridges of translucent material stretched between towers suspended in midair.
And everywhere he looked—
People.
But not normal people.
One man walked past trailing arcs of electricity across his fingers.
A woman floated several meters above the ground, speaking casually with someone standing below her.
Another individual crossed the plaza with metallic wings folded along his back.
No one looked surprised to see Erickson.
They simply observed him with quiet curiosity.
A voice echoed behind him.
"Welcome."
Erickson turned.
The armored figure from the laboratory stood several meters away, visor now retracted.
His eyes were bright silver.
"This place," the man said calmly, spreading his arms toward the impossible city, "is what happens when evolution refuses to hide."
Erickson scanned the skyline again.
"How many of you are there?"
The man smiled slightly.
"Enough that the world above would panic if it knew."
He began walking.
Erickson noticed something unsettling.
Every person in the plaza was watching them now.
Not hostile.
Just attentive.
"As of today," the man continued, "you're no longer just a participant in Ericsson's experiments."
They reached the edge of a massive circular platform overlooking the city.
Far below, countless structures extended into the horizon.
"This," the man said, "is the Assembly."
Erickson crossed his arms slowly.
"And what exactly does the Assembly want with me?"
The man turned toward him.
"For now?"
A faint grin appeared.
"To decide whether you're a threat."
He paused.
"Or our greatest asset."