Between the Hover Plates
The sea swallowed them both.
Kieran slid onto the water first, his impact cutting a clean line of white across the black tide. A fraction of a second later, Orion slammed through the surface in a spiral of bubbles and refracted light. Sound vanished. Only motion remained—distorted, slowed, heavy.
Below the surface, the ocean opened into a labyrinth of metal and light. Six massive pillars encircled the space, each as wide as a building and carved with shifting rings of luminescent glyphs. They rose from the depths to end just below the waves and the underbelly of the hover plate above—the plate's foundation and the assurance of restful peace for the entire island.
Every few seconds, the rings along each pillar pulsed, pushing ripples through the water as the calibration system adjusted. Beneath their feet, the ocean bed thrummed—a living machine maintaining balance between sea and sky.
Orion righted himself first. A transparent dome extended from his neck ring, water flushing out as air filled the chamber. His artificial lungs pressed against their subaqualis housing, drawing in oxygen with mechanical precision.
He oriented himself and dove deeper, angling toward the pillars. The moment his boots touched one of the stabilizer struts, the glyphs flared in warning. The sensors read him as a foreign body—and the system shifted to compensate. The pillar moved.
The sudden tilt forced a wave of pressure across the circle, and Kieran appeared through it—a blur of silver and black, his nanite hair streaming behind him like liquid wire. The mask across his face had hardened fully, smooth and unreadable. His voice, when it reached Orion through the comm static, was a hollow echo.
"Nice trick, Orion. But you shouldn't have followed me down here."
Orion adjusted his stance, eyes narrowing. His voice was rough, even over the link.
"You think I was going to let you vanish into the fog?"
"Fog?" Kieran's tone curved into a low laugh. "No. You followed me into a graveyard."
He moved.
The current tore around them as Kieran's kick sent him spinning toward the second pillar. Orion countered, driving his knee into the structure's hydraulic brace and launching himself upward. He collided with Kieran mid-spin, their impact cracking the nearby stabilizer ring.
Electric arcs snapped through the water—containment field bleed.
Orion cursed under his breath, breaking away just in time. "You'll destabilize the platform," he said tightly. "The entire island could go down." His eyes flicked upward.
Kieran's head tilted, nanite locks rippling. "Then maybe it wasn't built to last."
He surged forward again, striking from the blind side. Orion's sensors picked up the distortion a fraction too late; Kieran's knee met his chest, slamming him backward against the next pillar. Orion's subaqualis housing groaned under the pressure, the impact driving the air from his lungs.
The glyphs along the nearest column glowed red. The stabilizer emitted a low groan—and then a hydraulic pulse fired upward. The entire ocean seemed to lurch.
Above them, the hover plate trembled.
---
Above the Surface
Jackie's head snapped up as the ground shifted. The metallic corridor groaned beneath her feet, vibrations rolling through the plating.
> BDJ: Substructure instability detected. Source: underwater stabilization ring three. Probability of collapse: forty-seven percent and rising.
"Of course it is," Jackie muttered, kneeling beside the damaged conduit. "Sura, brace that side—no, your other side—there."
Sura gritted her teeth, propping a metal beam against the trembling wall. Lyra crouched nearby, ruby eyes darting behind her visor.
> Tally: Seismic motion consistent with subaqueous conflict.
Lyra frowned. "You mean someone's fighting under the damn plate?"
> Tally: More precisely within the pillars, most likely.
Lyra's eyes widened.
Jackie's head turned slightly. "Someone?"
"Two someones," Lyra said, standing and scanning the floor. "And one of them's generating readings I've only seen from military-grade augments."
Jackie tightened the weld line and rose, wiping coolant from her gloves. "Terrific. It would seem Kieran and Orion want to bring the whole city down. And what are these pillars—"
> BDJ: Correction: probability of catastrophic collapse now sixty-three percent. Priority task: reinforce upper bracket before oscillation increases.
Jackie exhaled sharply, abandoning her question. "All right, I'm on it."
She moved toward the next junction, her nanosuit's plating unfolding over her spine. The seam of living metal spread to her shoulders, and her organic arm pulsed with borrowed strength. As she pressed her palm to the floor, nanites streamed through her glove, extending her reach into the structural layer beneath.
Her fingers dug in, searching for the pulse of instability—and found it.
"Got you," she whispered.
---
Below
The water roared.
Kieran swung wide, driving his palm into the pillar. The stabilizer shrieked, a cloud of bubbles exploding outward as the field buckled. Orion came through the distortion, blade in hand now—not a standard-issue weapon, but a curved arc-blade flickering with photon heat.
Their weapons met, and the sea flashed white.
The impact scattered light in every direction, the sound muted but deafening in the skull. Orion twisted, catching Kieran across the jaw. The strike cracked part of the mask—just enough to expose the skin beneath. It wasn't human anymore. Nanites swarmed the exposed patch, knitting the damage shut in seconds.
"You're not Resistance," Orion said, voice low.
Kieran smiled—or something like it. "And you're not here for observation."
They collided again, a blur against the glowing ring of machinery. Every impact sent vibrations up the pillars, through the hydraulic plates, and into the hovering city above.
---
Between the Massive Hover Plates
Jackie's pulse synced to the metal around her. Her arm burned from strain as her nanites dug deeper, stabilizing the pressure beneath.
> BDJ: Pulse synchronization achieved. Brace applied to stabilization ring three. Pressure rebalancing in progress.
She gritted her teeth. "Hold together, you beautiful piece of junk."
Lyra knelt beside Sura, wrapping a fresh compression band around her injured arm. "She's going to tear herself apart if she keeps that up."
Sura winced but smiled faintly. "She'll be fine. She doesn't know how to stop."
Lyra looked up, watching Jackie's armor pulse faintly in time with the tremors. "Does she ever?"
> Tally: Rebalance readings improving. Structural integrity stabilizing.
Lyra nodded to herself. "Good. Because I think the storm's not done yet."
---
Below the Surface
Kieran lunged, slamming Orion into the final pillar. The glyphs burst to life in a kaleidoscope of red and gold, feedback streaking through the water like lightning veins.
Orion twisted the blade, locking Kieran's wrist. They were close enough now that their faces reflected off each other's armor—human and machine, each mirrored in distortion.
"Who sent you?" Orion demanded.
Kieran leaned in until his voice cut through the static between them.
"Same people who sent her," he whispered. "You'll find out soon enough."
Then he slammed his foot into Orion's chest, propelling them both backward—one toward the sea floor, the other toward the ascending current. Orion caught a stabilizer cable, holding himself steady as Kieran vanished into the dark.
Orion's comm crackled.
> [Nexus Directive]: Operative Orion, report!
He looked up, jaw tightening. "Not yet. The pieces aren't all on the board."
> Nexus Directive: Reports are coming in. Stratos Pelagia Island is destabilizing. New orders: stabilize Stratos Pelagia. If not possible, ensure Subaqualis One's survival.
Orion glanced toward the turbulent surface. He would continue to watch. If she failed, he would intervene. His eyes flicked down into the darkness below, his head turning slowly as he began to swim upward against the current.
---
Surface — Minutes Later
The vibrations eased. The corridor steadied. Jackie exhaled, letting her hand drop to her side.
> BDJ: Stabilization complete. Environmental readings nominal.
She rolled her shoulders, exhausted. Lyra approached, lowering her weapon at last. "I guess the boys have decided to calm down," she said quietly. "Hopefully for good."
"Good," Jackie replied. "Let's make sure it stays that way."
But even as she spoke, a citywide alarm sounded, and a calm electronic voice filled the corridor.
> "Destabilization event has occurred. Secondary stabilizers are now online. There are seventy-two hours for repairs before secondary systems fail…
Destabilization event has occurred. Secondary stabilizers are now online…"
BDJ's voice dropped into her ear.
> "Eighty-six point four-nine percent probability that secondary systems have activated due to physical damage to underwater surfaces. Ninety-two point one-four percent chance underwater pillars are taking on water. On-site repair is required, or there is a seventy-three point eight-two percent chance Stratos Pelagia Island will fall into the ocean.
Citywide evacuation now set for forty-seven hours, fifty-nine minutes, and ten seconds."
Jackie stood still. She looked up through the shattered skylights above the corridor. All this work, all this effort…
She sighed, her cannon folding back into her arm, and turned to Lyra and Sura.
"How do I get down to those pillars?"