Rizak Hall locked itself shut.
Massive blast doors slammed down at every exit, shaking the entire chamber. Red warning lights ignited along the walls, bathing everything in a harsh glow. Sirens began to wail, low and constant, like the hall itself was screaming.
Andy stood at the center and laughed.
"You really think walls matter to me," he said.
Tara's voice cut through the noise. "All units execute. Now."
Scene: Everyone Moves
Alec Strom slammed both shockwave gauntlets into the ground.
The floor erupted.
Reinforced plates snapped upward around Andy like jagged teeth. The shockwave compressed inward, pinning him for half a second. Not enough to stop him. Enough to slow him.
That was all they needed.
Rion moved first.
Berzar.
His blade cut through the air again and again, not aiming to damage but to disrupt. Each slash distorted Andy's movement, forcing his regeneration to constantly reconfigure.
Xin followed.
Ignoring the pain in his hand, he rushed in low and fast. Phenom Force surged through his body as he struck Andy's knee, then his side, then his chest. Each hit detonated outward, cracking pillars and sending debris raining down.
Andy growled, irritation finally breaking through his calm.
Tentacles exploded outward.
Lila Mornay fired precision shots from the upper platform, each round aimed at joints, tendons, and sensory clusters. She was not trying to kill. She was trying to blind.
"Eyes disrupted," she shouted. "He's compensating."
Ethan Vaughn took position at the western support column.
"Charges set," he said. "Holding him in place."
Scene: Andy Breaks Free
Andy roared.
The sound was physical. The shockwave blasted outward, throwing Xin across the floor and slamming Rion into a wall hard enough to crack it.
The flesh around Andy bulged.
Then he moved.
He vanished from the center and reappeared directly in front of Ethan.
Too fast.
Too clean.
Ethan barely had time to widen his eyes.
A flesh blade formed instantly from Andy's arm.
One slash.
Ethan was cut cleanly in half from shoulder to hip.
His body slid apart and hit the floor in two separate pieces.
Blood sprayed across the support column.
The charges detonated anyway, collapsing the column onto Andy and burying him under tons of rubble.
Tara did not scream.
She clenched her jaw. "Do not stop. Do not hesitate."
Scene: Holding the Monster
Andy burst free.
Flesh and stone flew everywhere as he tore himself out of the debris. His regeneration surged faster now, more aggressive. The air around him warped.
Alaric shouted, "Core at sixty percent. We need thirty more seconds."
Xin forced himself up and ran again.
Rion joined him.
Together they attacked nonstop.
Xin struck with everything he had left, each Phenom Force blow aimed to keep Andy centered. Rion slashed in precise arcs, severing tentacles the moment they formed.
Kurai screamed inside Rion's mind.
He is adapting. He is learning your timing.
Andy's eyes locked onto Xin again.
"You bleed so easily," Andy said. "Just like her."
Xin roared and punched him square in the face.
The impact shattered Andy's skull.
It rebuilt instantly.
Andy smiled wider.
Scene: The Countdown
"Ten seconds," Alaric shouted.
Alec unleashed one final shockwave, collapsing the upper platforms and forcing Andy back into the center pit.
Tara fired a grappling round that wrapped around Andy's torso and detonated, pinning him for a fraction of a second.
Rion grabbed Xin by the collar.
"Now," he said. "We leave."
Xin resisted for half a second.
Then he saw Andy's flesh beginning to harden, compressing inward.
He turned and ran.
Scene: Detonation
They cleared the blast doors.
Alaric slammed the trigger.
For one impossible moment, everything went silent.
Then the world turned white.
The nuclear core ignited, not exploding outward, but collapsing inward. Space folded. Matter screamed. Light bent into itself.
Rizak Hall vanished.
The shockwave rippled through the earth, contained but absolute.
Xin was thrown down the tunnel, skidding hard until he hit a wall and went still.
Scene: After
When the dust settled, there was nothing where Rizak Hall had been.
Just a smooth, blackened cavity in the earth.
No heat. No radiation. No residue.
Erasure.
They stood in silence.
Alaric dropped to his knees. "It's done," he whispered.
Tara stared at the void.
"Ethan," she said quietly.
Xin clenched his remaining fingers until his hand shook.
Rion closed his eyes.
Far away, deep underground, something moved.
A fragment.
Not alive.
Not dead.
And somewhere beyond sight, Zane smiled without knowing why.