[LOCATION: THE FORGE - FABRICATION BAY]
[TIME: 14:00 HOURS]
"It looks like a bear trap for a neck," Tank grumbled, his voice vibrating through the new synthesis speaker in his throat.
On the workbench lay The Void Collar.
It was a masterpiece of Julian's Technomancy and The Forge's ancient tech. A heavy ring of matte-black titanium, etched with glowing violet circuitry. It hummed with a low, headache-inducing frequency.
"It is a dampener," Julian corrected, adjusting a micro-soldering tool with his telekinesis. "It creates a localized zero-point energy field. If the subject tries to drain power, the collar creates a feedback loop. Essentially, it will make him eat himself."
Julian looked up at Lucas. The boy's arrogance was back, but his eyes were tired.
"It requires a massive power source to clamp shut," Julian warned. "Once it's on, it draws from the wearer's own bio-energy to stay locked. But getting it on him... that's the hard part."
Lucas looked at Tank.
The big man was testing the servos of his Atlas MK-IV Chassis. The armor added bulk to his shoulders and legs, making him look less like a man and more like a walking bunker.
"I can hold him," Tank said, flexing a hydraulic fist. "For about ten seconds."
"Ten seconds is all we need," Lucas said. He picked up the collar. It was heavy. "Let's go feed the dog."
[SECTOR ZERO - THE BASEMENT]
The descent was different this time. They didn't repel down a wire. They took the cargo elevator, which Julian had miraculously brought online.
The lights in the hallway flickered as they approached the titanium door.
Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.
The sound of claws on metal echoed from inside.
"He knows we're here," Elena whispered, racking the slide of her shotgun. She stayed back by the elevator controls. Her job was to seal the sector if they failed.
Lucas stood at the door. His ghostly blue arm phased in and out of reality.
"Tank, you take point. I flank. Julian, jam the sensors."
"Opening in 3... 2... 1..."
The heavy door hissed open.
[TARGET: SUBJECT 001 - "THE HERETIC"]
[STATUS: HUNGRY.]
The room was pitch black. The Heretic had drained every photon of light.
"Lights!" Lucas ordered.
Julian snapped his fingers. A violet flare shot into the room, illuminating the ceramic sphere.
The Heretic was waiting on the ceiling.
He dropped.
He didn't scream. He fell silently, a spider made of grey skin and black crystal. He landed directly on Tank.
CLANG.
The impact shook the floor. The Heretic's claws raked across Tank's new chest plate. Sparks showered the room.
Before the upgrade, Tank would have been dead. But the Atlas Chassis held.
"Get off!" Tank roared.
He didn't punch. He activated the Grav-Pistons in his arms. He grabbed The Heretic by the waist and slammed him into the floor.
CRACK.
The ceramic tiles shattered.
"Now, Lucas!" Tank yelled, grappling the thrashing monster.
Lucas charged. He held the Void Collar open in his hands.
The Heretic turned his eyeless face toward Lucas. The black crystal in his chest pulsed.
"More food," The Heretic hissed.
A wave of Anti-Resonance exploded from him.
It hit Lucas like a physical wall of despair. The blue light of his Phase-Arm flickered and died. His legs felt like lead. The energy was being sucked out of his very marrow.
[HUMANITY INDEX: DROPPING... 65%... 60%...]
"He's draining the suit!" Julian screamed from the doorway. "Lucas! The collar! Close it!"
Lucas fell to one knee. The collar felt like it weighed a ton. He couldn't lift it.
The Heretic laughed—a wet, rasping sound. He began to phase his hand through Tank's armor, reaching for the big man's heart.
"Tank's armor integrity is failing!" Elena shouted.
Lucas looked at the monster. Physical strength wasn't enough. The Heretic fed on energy.
So give him energy.
Lucas didn't fight the drain. He pushed.
He accessed the Tier 3 reserves of the virus. He visualized a dam breaking.
[VIRAL OUTPUT: 200%.]
[WARNING: LETHAL OVERLOAD.]
"You want light?" Lucas roared. "CHOKE ON IT!"
He unleashed a blinding surge of blue power. He didn't aim it at the monster; he aimed it at the air.
The room flooded with so much energy that the Heretic's absorption field overloaded. It was like trying to drink from a fire hose.
The Heretic shrieked, recoiling. His black crystal glowed white-hot.
"Too much!" the monster screamed.
Lucas lunged. He slammed the Void Collar around The Heretic's neck.
SNAP.
The titanium ring locked shut.
Julian activated the rune sequence.
HUMMMMM.
The collar flared violet. The dampening field engaged.
The Heretic convulsed. He clawed at his neck, but every time he touched the metal, a shock of feedback blasted him.
He collapsed to the floor, panting. The black crystal in his chest dimmed to a dull, harmless grey.
The room fell silent.
Tank stood up, checking the deep gouges in his new armor. "That was close."
Lucas walked over to the prone monster. He crouched down, his blue eye burning.
"Can you hear me?" Lucas asked.
The Heretic rolled over. He was weak now. Small. Just a starved man in a cage.
"Loud and clear," The Heretic wheezed. He touched the collar. "Syndicate tech... mixed with something new. Clever."
"You said you wanted chaos," Lucas said. "I'm offering you a job."
"A job?" The Heretic chuckled weakly. "I am a prisoner. Again."
"No," Lucas said. "Prisoners stay in cells. You're coming with us."
Lucas pulled up a holographic image of The Banker.
"This man controls the money. The data. The flow of the world. He thinks he's untouchable because he lives in the cloud."
The Heretic sniffed the air, smelling the hologram.
"Data is energy," The Heretic whispered, licking his lips. "Numbers... codes... it's all just electricity."
"Exactly," Lucas said. "He has a firewall that no computer can break. But you... you eat walls."
The Heretic sat up. A slow, terrifying grin spread across his face.
"You want me to eat his algorithm."
"I want you to eat his empire," Lucas corrected. "Everything he owns. Every account. Every backup."
"And what is my price?" The Heretic asked. "I don't work for free, Ghost. And I don't eat money."
"You eat memories," Lucas said.
The room went cold. Elena stepped forward. "Lucas, no."
"The inhibitor serum is made from your blood," Lucas continued, ignoring Elena. "But to stabilize you... to keep you from turning on us... you need pure bio-energy."
Lucas tapped his own temple.
"I have memories I don't want. Nightmares from The Pit. The faces of the men I killed."
The Heretic's eyeless sockets widened.
"Pain," the monster whispered. "Pain is the sweetest vintage."
"One memory," Lucas negotiated. "For one mission."
"Lucas, don't do this!" Elena grabbed his arm. "Your memories are your humanity! If you feed them to him, you lose yourself! You'll become a hollow shell!"
"I'm already a shell, Elena," Lucas said softly. He looked at his ghost hand. "I'm just filling it with weapons."
He turned back to the monster.
"Do we have a deal?"
The Heretic extended a clawed hand.
"Deal."
Lucas took the claw.
The Heretic surged forward. He didn't bite. He placed his forehead against Lucas's.
FLASH.
Lucas gasped.
He saw a memory. Age 12. The Pit. His first kill. A boy named Thomas who had stolen his bread. He felt the cold knife in his hand. The regret. The tears.
Then... slurp.
The feeling vanished. The regret vanished. The face of the boy vanished.
Lucas blinked. He stood up. He felt lighter. Colder.
He remembered killing a boy, but he couldn't remember the boy's name. Or why he had felt sad. It was just data now.
[HUMANITY INDEX: 58%.]
"Delicious," The Heretic purred, standing up. The black crystal in his chest glowed faintly. He looked stronger.
"Get him to the comms room," Lucas ordered, turning away so Elena couldn't see his eyes. "Plug him into the network. It's time to bankrupt a god."