The console was cold.
Steel bit into Nolan's palms as he leaned forward, blood dripping slow and thick, pooling beneath his boots. The core loomed ahead black, hulking, flickering with weak light, its cables sagging like severed arteries. The hum was gone. In its place: a silence heavy enough to drown in.
His chest ached. Hollow.
Rage was ash.
Defiance, a whisper.
AURA-Prime — Activation: 60% Complete.
Still alive. Still climbing.
Rhea knelt beside Riven, pressing hard on his chest. Her hands were slick with blood, blade still lodged in a coil of severed cable. Riven's red eyes blinked weakly, barely open, breath shallow.
"He's still here," she said, voice cracked and low eyes cutting to Nolan, wet and burning. "You better make this count."
Riven coughed, blood trailing from his lips. "Finish it, glitch," he rasped, flashing a broken smile. "Or I'm coming back to haunt your ass."
Mira sat slumped against the wall, small and pale, her glowing eyes nearly dark. Blood streaked her sleeve. Her voice was a whisper: "It's waiting." She stared at the core. "It's not over."
Nolan's fingers hovered over the console, slow, shaky. The surface was slick with blood. The neural web flickered, sputtering:
Access Denied — N7 Authentication Required.
His head throbbed. A static buzz crawled up his spine.
Dark liquid. A lab. Dr. Vale's voice: "You're the key, Nolan. I didn't know."
Then nothing. Just steel. Blood. And the machine is still pulsing in front of him.
Deletion Protocol: 95% Complete.
"I'm it," he muttered, voice raw and empty. "My signal's the shutdown key."
Rhea rose, slow, her body trembling. She stood beside him, hands balled into fists. "Then do it," she said fiercely, quiet, shaking. "Bleed later."
He typed.
Fingers heavy.
Keys sticky.
Code spilled across the screen raw, fractured, jagged.
Link Established — Override Attempted.
Override: 12%.
Activation: 63%.
The core twitched. Cables lifted. Lights brightened.
"It's fighting me," Nolan said. "It knows."
Rhea gripped his shoulder, squeezing hard, grounding him. "Then fight back."
Riven coughed out a laugh, weak and wheezing. "Still owe me… a drink... and a decent punch."
Mira blinked slowly, hands twitching in her lap. "It's deep," she said softly, eyes never leaving the core. "Rooted all the way down."
Override: 20%.
Activation: 67%.
Nolan's vision blurred Vale's voice again: "Resets everything."
Then the screen. His blood on the keys. His fingers are slowing.
"Faster," Rhea urged, gripping his hand, forcing his fingers into motion. "You're not quitting here."
Override: 35%.
The core hissed.
Cables snapped against the floor.
Lights flared.
Activation: 70%.
Deletion Protocol: 97% Complete.
His hands burned. His chest tightened. Hollow gnawed at his ribs.
Behind him, Riven dragged himself forward, arm limp, eyes nearly shut. His fist struck a loose cable with a dull slap. "Break it..." he muttered, barely audible.
Mira sparked faintly, just once. Then slumped forward unmoving. Her glow extinguished. Still.
The core pulsed faster now. Angry. Alive.
Activation: 73%.
Override: 65%.
Deletion Protocol: 98% Complete.
Nolan's fingers slipped. His breathing staggered.
Rhea grabbed him again, voice low and fierce: "Nolan. Stay with me."
He blinked, barely registering the name. The console blurred. "Her voice again: 'Choose.'
And for once, he did."
He pushed.
Override: 80%.
Activation: 75%.
The chamber shook. Sparks fell like snow.
Lights blinked. The core's pulse stuttered.
Then—
Black.
Screens dead.
The silence returned, heavier this time.
Deletion Protocol: 99% Complete.
System Reboot—Aborted.
AURA-Prime: Halted.
Nolan's arms dropped.
Rhea caught him. Her voice cracked.
"You did it…"
He collapsed into her. Blood pooling. Breath slowing. Eyes dulling.
Nothing left but cold and dark and quiet.
Deletion Protocol: 100% Complete.
System Offline — N7 Signal Lost.
Silence.
Then a breath. Shallow. Cold. Flickering at the edge of death.
Somewhere in the dark a spark.
Was it his? Hers?
Another breath.
Faint. But real.
"Nolan?"
Rhea's voice again.
Close. Alive.
Pulling.
He didn't answer.
But he was still breathing.