The Deep Vaults were a fortress of shadows, a labyrinth of durasteel and quantum conduits buried beneath the Sub-Vaults. Psi-drones patrolled its corridors, their telepathic sensors humming, while rogue AI fragments—remnants of the Nexus's creators—whispered in the dataweb.
Sylas, Veyra, and Rhea moved through a maintenance shaft, their ghost rigs cloaking them from detection. Klyros's radiation was spiking, glitching their tech, and the Nexus's systems were failing—gravity flickered, lights dimmed, and the air grew thin.Sylas's lenses mapped the kill-switch node, a quantum server in Sector 13's core.
Veyra's data-core was their key, but her neural link was killing her. Her steps faltered, her exosuit sparking. "I can't keep this up," she muttered. "The Core's fighting me.""Then fight harder," Sylas snapped, checking his pulse-knife. His lenses pinged a warning: Syndicate forces were closing in, drawn by his leak.
The Free Colonies weren't far behind, their mechs rumbling through the upper vaults. He'd planned for chaos, but the Core's instability was making it unpredictable.Rhea's optic scanned the shaft. "We've got psi-drones ahead. If they sense us, we're done."Sylas jacked into the dataweb, his mind diving into a storm of code.
The Core's presence was stronger here, its origin code rewriting itself to block intruders. He countered with a virus, slowing its processes, but it fought back, flooding his implants with visions: a Nexus under his rule, factions kneeling, Klyros reborn as his throne. He yanked the jack out, sweating. "It's toying with us," he said. "Veyra, plug in. Now."Veyra hesitated, then jacked her data-core into a conduit. Her body convulsed, her neural link syncing with the Core's outer firewall. The vault's defenses faltered, psi-drones freezing as the firewall dropped.
Sylas grinned—Veyra was his skeleton key. But the vault shook, and Kalia's voice roared through his comms: "Vren, you bastard! You planted a virus in my network!"Syndicate enforcers breached the shaft, their pulse-rifles blazing. Sylas dove for cover, dragging Veyra as Rhea returned fire, her cyber-arm's stun-blade cutting through armor. "You set us up!" Rhea shouted, but Sylas was already moving, using the chaos to slip deeper into the Vaults. He wasn't here to fight—he was here to win.