It was the saddest sound she had ever heard.
And it was the most terrifying.
Her survival instincts screamed at her.
Run. Get out. This is a bomb. This is a trap. This is how the Rust Dogs died.
But the sound tugged at something else. Something she thought was long dead.
The whimper came again, louder this time, followed by a soft scratching from inside the crate.
SCRATCH. SCRATCH.
Before she could process it, before she could think, a flicker of movement caught her eye.
The magnetic lock on the crate sparked once, then went dark.
The heavy lid hissed open, releasing a cloud of condensation.
"Jinx?" Michael's voice was frantic now. "What's going on? Talk to me!"
Something rose slowly from the crate.
It was a dog.
Or it had been a dog once.
It was the size of a greyhound, with a thin, bony body covered in pale, scarred skin.
Glowing blue cybernetic parts ran through its flesh like a web.
Its legs had quiet hydraulic pistons that helped it move.
A shiny chrome spine ran down its back, making a low humming sound.
It had no eyes.
Just two smooth, dark sockets where they should have been.
It raised its head, its body flickering, glitching in and out of reality like a bad video feed.
For a split second, it was transparent, a shimmering ghost.
Then it was solid again.
"Oh, hells," Jinx whispered, her hand going for her rifle.
This was no puppy.
This was a Phase Hound.
"What in the hell is that thing?" she snarled, half to herself, half to the unholy beast in front of her.
The Hound took a hesitant step out of the crate. It didn't look aggressive. It looked… confused. Lost.
It let out another soft whimper.
"It's a Chimera prototype," a new voice cut through her comms, clean, cold, and clinical.
Chloe. The ghost on the radio.
"Looks like an early-gen phasing experiment," she continued, her tone that of a scientist observing a lab rat. "They probably used a canine base for its loyalty and tracking instincts. It's unstable."
The Phase Hound's head tilted, its non-existent eyes seeming to fixate on Jinx.
Its body flickered again, more violently this time.
Then, its posture changed.
The whimpering stopped.
A low, guttural growl rumbled from its chest, the sound of tearing metal and static.
Its lips peeled back, revealing rows of needle-sharp, metallic teeth.
"Unstable is right," Jinx growled, raising her rifle. "It's booting up."
"Don't engage!" Chloe's voice commanded sharply. "Its phasing ability is tied to those cybernetics. A standard energy round will just pass through it."
"I've got something that's not standard," Jinx retorted, her finger tightening on the trigger.
She fired.
BANG!
The Phase-Disruptor round screamed across the small space.
But the hound was faster.
In the instant she fired, it dissolved into a shimmer of transparent energy.
The round passed straight through the space where it had been and slammed into the back wall of the unit with a deafening CRACK, showering the room with concrete dust.
The hound solidified a few feet to the left, unharmed.
It let out a high-pitched, electronic shriek of pure rage.
"Well, crap," Jinx said, already chambering another precious round. "That was my best shot."
"Its phasing is reactive," Chloe's voice analyzed, cold and detached. "It's hardwired to its threat-detection sensors. It phases before the projectile can even reach it."
"Thanks for the helpful tip, Professor!" Jinx yelled, backing away as the hound began to stalk towards her. "Any other brilliant observations while I'm about to become dog food?"
"The power cells," Chloe said, her voice sharp with sudden insight. "The cybernetics on its spine. They're exposed. If you can overload them, you can crash its phasing system."
"Great. All I have to do is get behind a teleporting ghost-dog and shoot it in its magic spine. Easy."
The hound lunged.
It moved with a silent, blinding speed, a blur of pale skin and chrome.
Jinx dove to the side, rolling across the dusty floor, coming up in a crouch.
She was fast.
It was faster.
A clawed, metal foot raked across her back, tearing through her armor and drawing a hot line of fire across her skin.
She cried out in pain, stumbling.
The hound was on her, its metallic jaws snapping inches from her face.
"Michael!" she screamed into her comm, the sound a raw, desperate plea. "Get your ass in here! Now!"
From his rooftop perch, Michael had watched the whole thing unfold with a sickening sense of dread.
He had seen the hound emerge.
He had heard the crack of Jinx's rifle.
He had heard her scream.
He was already moving.
He didn't take the fire escape.
He didn't bother with stealth.
He ran to the edge of the roof, his heart pounding a frantic, desperate rhythm.
It was a four-story drop to the street below.
He didn't hesitate.
He jumped.
For a terrifying second, he was just falling, the wind rushing past his ears.
Then he activated the skill.
[SHADOW STEP.]
ZIP!
The world dissolved into a smear of black and purple.
He appeared on the ground in the middle of the street, landing in a low crouch, the impact absorbed by the void.
Alarms blared across the facility.
Red lights flashed.
The lockdown had been breached.
He didn't care.
He vaulted the chain-link fence, his movements fluid and desperate.
He sprinted down the silent, echoing aisles of the storage facility, following the sound of the fight.
He burst into Unit 347 just in time to see the Phase Hound pin Jinx against the wall, its metallic teeth sinking into the shoulder plate of her armor with a screech of protesting metal.
She grunted, driving the butt of her rifle into its head, but the blow just glanced off the chrome plating.
She was trapped.
She was losing.
"Hey!" Michael yelled, his voice raw. "Ugly! Pick on someone your own size!"
The Phase Hound's head snapped around, its empty sockets fixing on him.
It let go of Jinx, tossing her aside like a broken doll.
She slumped to the ground, clutching her shoulder, her rifle clattering to the concrete.
The hound turned its full attention to Michael.
It saw the Void Energy humming around him, a dark, delicious power that it recognized on a primal, cellular level.
It saw its true target.
It lowered its head, its body flickering, glitching, gathering its energy for another phase-lunge.
This was it.
The main event.
The boss fight.
"Asset Michael, engage," Chloe's voice ordered in his ear, cold and absolute. "Overload the power cells on its spine. Do not fail."
Michael stared at the monster.
He felt the cold, familiar hunger stirring in his soul.
He felt the 1.2% corruption whispering to him.
Efficiency. Lethality. The optimal path.
He smiled, a grim, humorless expression that was all teeth.
"Don't worry," he murmured, the Reaper's Fang materializing in his hand, its black blade drinking the dim light.
"I'm the best at failing."