The shriek of the alarm tore through the command hall like a knife through silence.
Everyone froze. For a heartbeat, the only sound was the low hum of emergency generators and the synchronized pounding of hearts.
"Alert!"
The voice from the sensor operator cracked with panic.
"High-speed inbound targets—three units! Energy signatures… abnormal! Not matching any known mutation pattern—but aggression levels are off the charts!"
Evelyn Kane shot to her feet.
"Bring up visuals. Defense units, full alert!"
Red lights bathed the room in an ominous pulse.
But this time, the danger wasn't coming from the Brotherhood's direction.
The southeast sensors—Prism Base's quietest quadrant—were flaring like the surface of the sun.
"Targets breached outer perimeter sensors! Estimated contact—five minutes!"
Lieutenant Valk turned sharply, hand to his comms.
His tone was clipped, military cold.
"All Brotherhood units—defensive formation delta. Hold fire until confirmed hostile. Maintain observation."
He wanted control. But even he felt the wrongness in the air—the sharp taste of static that came before a storm.
Neo leaned closer to the screen.. A stabbing ache bloomed behind his eyes, sharp enough to make him stumble.
Not the whispers this time—no language, no call.
Just raw hunger.
"Not regular mutations," he hissed, gripping the edge of the console.
"They're draining energy. I can feel it."
He closed his eyes, forcing his perception deeper—past the data feeds, into that strange resonance he alone could sense.
"They… crave power. Energy. Like they're starving for it. Their signatures—familiar, but fractured. Fragments of the old resonance, the same base frequency as the Dominator… but twisted."
Evelyn's gaze darkened. "Fragments of the Dominator?"
He nodded grimly. "Or its offspring."
When the creatures broke from the horizon, the world seemed to shrink.
They came on all fours, bodies low to the ground, movements like the flicker of corrupted film—too fast, too wrong.
Their hides glistened with molten purple plates that steamed where they touched the earth.
Each had four reverse-jointed limbs ending in serrated talons, and where their faces should have been—
a gaping, spinning vortex of red light, devouring every photon that strayed too near.
Even from behind reinforced glass, the operators felt the air drain of warmth. The radiation monitors dropped.
"By the Core…" whispered Dr. Dane, scanning rapidly through his archives.
"It matches pre-Collapse classifications… Type-E Absorber Entities. Old-world designation: Energy Eaters.
Subspecies of parasitic constructs that feed on high-density energy fields. Their absorption field can neutralize energy weapons!"
Before anyone could process it, the beasts fired.
Three waves of distortion rippled outward—no light, no color, just air folding in on itself.
The nearest plasma turrets sputtered and died, sparks cascading from their housing.
Two of the older guns exploded, hurling chunks of molten steel across the outer wall.
"Shields failing!"
"Turret grid compromised!"
"Fire everything we've got!" Evelyn snapped.
"Suppress and contain!"
The base lit up like a thunderstorm—pulse rifles blazing, autocannons roaring—but the results were devastatingly one-sided.
Every burst of energy was devoured midair.
The beasts grew brighter, faster.
"We're feeding them!" Leighton roared, slamming a fist on the console.
"This is suicide!"
Even Valk looked grim now. His armored hand clenched. If these things reached his camp, they'd wipe out his men just as easily.
Then Neo's voice cut through the chaos:
"Cease all energy fire! Switch to kinetic rounds only! Armor-piercing, high explosive—aim for the base of the energy core in the head cavity! That's their conversion node!"
The soldiers hesitated, then obeyed.
Neo turned to Valk. His voice was fast, deliberate, controlled.
"Lieutenant—energy weapons make them stronger. But your railguns—your kinetic systems—can pierce the resonance shell.
If you want to live through this, we need your firepower now."
For the briefest moment, Valk's expression hardened—conflict flashing behind the visor.
He could wait. Let the creatures weaken the base, claim the remains.
But instinct overrode ambition. The way those monsters moved—they wouldn't stop at Prism Base.
"All Brotherhood units—target the heads of the entities. Concentrated barrage. Fire for effect!"
A deep thoom shook the valley as twin railguns on the Brotherhood suits powered up.
Blue sparks arced, magnetic coils screaming, before launching tungsten slugs at hypersonic speed.
The first shell hit home—piercing one creature's whirling head cavity.
It screeched—a sound like a collapsing star—and fell, its energy vortex flickering and dying.
The remaining two beasts shrieked and lunged—but this time, Prism's defenders were ready.
Hammer, the towering engineer, piloted his modified exo-frame—its massive hydraulic drill glowing orange from friction.
"You ugly bastards like to eat energy? Let's see if you can chew through steel!"
He drove the drill straight into the second beast's skull-joint.
A burst of thick, black energy spattered across the armor, sizzling the plating—but the beast convulsed and dropped.
The final one howled and turned to flee, but a Brotherhood trooper's missile caught it mid-stride—high-explosive, physical detonation.
It burst apart in a spray of purple-black ichor that dissolved into dust.
And then—silence.
A silence so profound it roared louder than the battle.
Smoke curled into the night. The acrid tang of burnt ozone filled the air.
Both sides stood staring across the ruined no-man's-land.
Prism soldiers, dirt-streaked and bloodied.
Brotherhood troopers, armor scorched but unbowed.
For the first time, they looked at one another—and didn't see enemies.
Only survivors.
Valk strode through the smoldering wreckage toward Evelyn and Neo.
He stopped within arm's reach, removing his helmet. The arrogance in his face was gone—replaced by something harder, more calculating.
"Your analysis was… accurate." He paused, almost grudgingly.
"These things—Energy Eaters—our archives have fragments about them, but no confirmed sightings.
Your ability to identify and adapt mid-battle… impressive. You weren't exaggerating about your anomaly experience."
Evelyn met his gaze.
"When the wasteland throws nightmares at us, we don't freeze—we adapt.
That's how Prism Base survives.
Perhaps the Brotherhood could learn something from that."
For a moment, Valk said nothing. Then, slowly, he inclined his head.
"Perhaps."
He looked past her to Neo, and there was a faint, reluctant respect there.
"I'll report this engagement to Major Kailas. It changes things. You've proven you're more than scavengers."
Evelyn gave a single, sharp nod.
"Then maybe next time, Lieutenant, we talk as allies—not conquerors and subjects."
Valk's mouth twitched, something between a smirk and acceptance.
"We'll see, Commander. For now… my men owe you a drink."
He turned away, leaving behind the corpses of monsters that had no right to exist—and the uneasy beginnings of an alliance forged in battle.
As the smoke thinned and the stars bled through the haze, Neo glanced toward the east, where the beasts had come from.
Something about that hunger—the resonance that had clawed into his mind—felt unfinished.
Incomplete.
Like the echo of something worse still stirring beyond the horizon.
And somewhere deep below, in the slumbering core of the base, the relic pulsed—just once— as if answering a call only he could hear.