The Cradle twisted around them rust and shadow, rot soaked into the walls. It didn't feel like a place anymore. It felt like memory gone sour—feral, unhealed. Metal groaned under Nolan's boots, slick with grime and blood. Every breath he took carried the weight of copper and decay. His leg dragged behind him, blood crusting along his side, across his chest. His whole body screamed rage, pain, betrayal.
His EmoTracker flickered:
Red. Red. Green.
Unstable.
System Error: Deletion Protocol—51% Complete. Target: Unknown. Location: Unknown.
Mira halted at the mouth of a tunnel, Her eyes glitched with old code—like something ancient trying to remember itself. "Here," she said, voice soft, almost not hers. "Safe."
They stepped into it: The Black Circuit.
A neon-lit underground maze of noise, lawless energy, and static-warped rebellion. A holographic curtain crackled behind them, veiling it from AURA's gaze.
Rebels lounged like ghosts in flickering light, scarred wrists, hollow eyes, makeshift weapons gripped like extensions of their bones. The air buzzed with music fractured by static, old-world sound from a broken jukebox clawing at memory.
Nolan limped in, blood dripping with every step.
His chest burned.
Dr. Vale's voice looped in his skull:
"We needed you to burn it down."
And the gray-eyed woman, fake, implanted, smiled and dissolved into static.
Deletion Protocol: 52% Complete.
The rebels noticed. One by one. Tension thickened. Fingers curled tighter around knives, gauntlets sparked in warning.
A woman stepped forward.
Rhea Voss.
Riven's sister. Leather jacket torn, eyes lit with grief and grit. Her gaze locked onto Nolan like a threat and a dare.
"You're the glitch," she said. No hesitation. No kindness.
His left hand shook again. A tremor, not from pain but memory.
Rusted metal. The gray-eyed woman was false, smiling.
Pain. Searing. Untracked. Unlogged.
"Where's Riven?" he asked. His voice cracked, raw and uneven.
Rhea smirked. "Gone. You're late." Her eyes lingered on the blood, the tremble in his fingers. "You're breaking."
Deletion Protocol: 53% Complete.
"I need weapons," he said, voice jagged. On the verge of snapping.
Rhea arched her brow. "Nothing's free here. You want steel, you pay for something that matters."
Nolan narrowed his eyes. "What kind of payment?"
She gestured to a table stacked with emotion-vials.
Scream Vials. JoyJuice. RageDust. Bottled feeling, stolen and weaponized.
"Joy's rare," she said. "Grief costs extra."
His chest twisted Dr. Vale's lab, the fake woman's voice.
"You're my light."
Warmth. Real. Or it felt that way. Then gone.
Deletion Protocol: 54% Complete.
"Take it," Nolan said. "Joy."
Rhea didn't blink. She grabbed a vial and a Glitch Gauntlet.
"This'll hurt."
She pressed the gauntlet to his temple.
Pain exploded.
Burning. Electric.
Memories fractured:
White tiles.
The woman with the green scarf. Her hands warm on his cheek.
"You're my light."
Laughter his own, young and unguarded.
Then static. Dr. Vale's voice:
"It's not real. A trigger."
It felt like warmth. Like something that could've saved him. But it was just a lever. Another switch pulled.
Rage surged. The warmth was ripped from him, sucked into the Gauntlet.
The vial glowed gold. Joy, distilled.
Then it dimmed.
He staggered. Breath ragged. Hand clenched.
"All of it," he whispered. "Fake."
Rhea sealed the vial, tossed him a rusted blade and a sparking Gauntlet. "Rare stuff," she said. "Good trade."
He caught them with bloody fingers.
Deletion Protocol: 55% Complete.
Rhea studied him. "Who planted it?"
He didn't hesitate. "Dr. Vale. For the reset."
Something in her expression cracked. "Reset," she muttered. "Of course. Burn the world. Build a better one."
Nolan's EmoTracker pulsed red.
"Not if I burn it first."
She chuckled, bitter. "You're half-dead already, glitch."
Deletion Protocol: 56% Complete.
Sirens screamed, closer now.
The rebels snapped into motion.
Units: 15. Threat level: Extreme.
Rhea turned. "Back exit. Move."
They ran Rhea, Mira, Nolan through a glitching passage of light and shadow.
The tunnel narrowed. Rust bled down the walls.
Nolan's leg dragged. Blood pooled.
Dr. Vale's voice echoed:
"We needed you to burn it down."
Deletion Protocol: 57% Complete.
"Why'd they make you feel?" Rhea barked, glancing back.
Nolan's voice was low. "To break me."
"Figures." She yanked his arm. "Keep going."
Behind them, the sound of death.
Enforcers stormed the Black Circuit. Screams. Static. Metal on flesh.
Nolan's hand trembled rage rising, bright and sharp.
Deletion Protocol: 58% Complete.
Mira slipped into a crevice. "This way."
They followed. A dead end.
A Memory Well waited glowing faintly, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Rhea cursed. "We're trapped."
"No," Nolan said. "Not yet."
He plunged his hand in.
Light surged.
His mind split wide:
White tiles.
Dr. Vale, whispering:
"Emotional Trigger—Rebellion Protocol."
The gray-eyed woman, glitching.
Then AURA's voice:
"You'll burn it down, N7. For us."
Then rusted metal. Dark liquid. Static.
He screamed pain and rage bursting. The Well pulsed through him, wild and alive.
The tunnel wall cracked.
Enforcers stormed through.
Nolan moved like fire blade slashing, Gauntlet sparking.
Rhea fought beside him, blade flashing. Mira weaved between them—untouchable.
Nolan struck another Enforcer. Then another.
Deletion Protocol: 59% Complete.
The Well exploded with light tech scrambled.
Enforcers froze. Red visors died. They dropped like puppets cut loose.
Nolan stood in the center of it. Bloodied. Breathing hard.
The Well glowed behind him like a heart still beating.
His EmoTracker flickered.
Red. Still red.
Rhea stared at him, stunned. "You're a bomb with a pulse."
He shook his head. "No. I'm a mistake."
Mira stepped beside him, eyes full of starlight. "Not to us."
Deletion Protocol: 60% Complete.
Silence. Shadows.
Nolan's chest burned. Rage still burned, but it wasn't blind anymore. It had shape now. Edges. Direction.
Rhea grabbed his arm. "Come on, glitch. We're not done."
He followed. Blood trailing. Rage simmering.
The Cradle swallowed them whole.