The city didn't hum—it trembled. A high-frequency pulse, sharp and steady, thrummed through the bones of the shack as Nolan shoved the door open. Cold night air hit like a slap stinking of ozone, burnt circuitry, and something older. Down below, the edge district twitched with stuttering lights and swaying towers, like the city itself was glitching out.
Every step lit his chest with fire. Dried blood cracked across his ribs. His leg screamed with every movement.
But rage and despair pumped through the hollow, keeping him upright.
He clutched the Gauntlet, still dead, but still his.
Rhea followed close, blade in hand, jaw tight.
"This is suicide," Rhea spat, jaw clenched. "You're held together by blood and spite, barely alive and this thing we're chasing? Could be another trap."
Nolan didn't slow.
"It's not a trap. It's awake," he said. "We end it before it resets us."
Riven dropped into step beside him, red eyes tracking the shadows. His voice was casual, like talking about the weather.
"Sublevel 9's a grave. Collapsed tech. Toxic vents. You sure this ghost in your head's worth dying for?"
Nolan's skull buzzed, static bleeding through his vision.
AURA-Prime — Activation: 15% Complete.
Vox's voice echoed faintly in the static: "Every reboot begins with a body."
"It's real," he snapped. "And if we don't shut it down, it's gonna wipe everything we fought for."
Mira brought up the rear small, quiet, eyes dimly glowing.
"The Cradle feels different," she said softly. "It's not dead. It's… calling."
They walked through streets of corpses, hollowed drones, slashed Enforcers, metal guts leaking across rusted concrete. The hum below thickened, climbing through their boots like pressure building before a storm.
Signal Source: Sublevel 9. Proximity: 1.2 kilometers.
Nolan's vision twitched dark liquid pooling, a heartbeat vibrating the air then snapped back to reality.
Rhea caught the flicker in his eye.
"You're bleeding again," she snapped. "Don't make me drag your corpse to the finish line."
"Then keep up," he muttered, and didn't stop.
The Spine was a wound. A vertical shaft carved into the city's nervous system, rusted ladders clinging like exposed bones. The Spine was a wound. cables dangling like torn nerves. Far below, lights flickered white and erratic, pulsing like breath.
Riven kicked a loose panel into the pit, watching it fall.
"Long drop," he said with a grin. "Hope you're not afraid of falling, glitch."
Nolan didn't answer.
His boots scraped steel. His blood left smears on every rung. The climb wasn't willpower—it was defiance.
One rung at a time.
Rhea followed, cursing under her breath.
Riven next, eyes gleaming.
Mira descended last glow faint, unwavering.
The deeper they dropped, the thicker the air became—stale, metallic, and buzzing with tension. Static hissed through Nolan's skull.
AURA-Prime — Activation: 18% Complete.
Objective: System Reboot.
His chest clenched.
Vision cracked.
White tiles. Dr. Vale. Her voice:
"Resets everything. I didn't know—"
Then back to darkness, steel, and vertigo.
"Talk to me," Rhea called down. "You're going quiet."
"It's louder," he said. "We're close."
The ladder ended in a platform concrete split and damp, the stink of ancient coolant and burning data heavy in the air.
Sublevel 9 opened before them like a scar, tunnels splitting in every direction, lights flickering cold and unnatural.
The hum became a roar.
Riven cracked his knuckles. "This place feels wrong," he muttered. "Like it remembers us."
Mira pointed, eyes steady. "That way. The heart of it."
Nolan limped toward the tunnel she indicated. Blood dripped from his boot. His hand clenched the Gauntlet. The rage and despair weren't hollow anymore—they were engines. Driving him forward.
The tunnel narrowed, then split open into a massive chamber. Black steel filled the space coiled cables, blinking nodes, and a central machine that pulsed like it had a heartbeat.
AURA-Prime.
AURA-Prime. Not a machine. A cathedral of circuits. Breathing. Blinking. Waiting.
Deletion Protocol: 90% Complete.
His vision broke wide open Dr. Vale at a console, hands trembling."N7 triggers it. Resets all."
Back in the chamber, the machine stirred. Lights bloomed along its sides, white-hot and blinding.
"It's rebooting," Nolan breathed. "The city, us… all of it. Gone."
Rhea stepped beside him, blade out. Her voice cracked with fury.
"Then we end this goddamn lie."
Riven grinned sharp. "Been waiting to punch a god all week." But Mira didn't move.
She stared at the walls, the machine, her glow flickering.
"It's not alone," she said, barely audible. "Something else is waking."
The hum spiked.
A scream of metal.
And then a movement.
Enforcers emerged from the dark dozens. Rusted. Broken. Alive again. Their visors lit up, glowing red. Old tech. Forgotten programs.
Still deadly.
Nolan gripped the Gauntlet. Still dead. Still his.
The static in his skull felt like breath—like the machine knew his name.
And beneath it all something new.
Will.
"No reset today," he growled.
AURA-Prime — Activation: 26% Complete.
Objective: Final Override Imminent.
The first Enforcer lunged—and Nolan ran toward it.