The sight of the Project Chimera Core Unit sent a jolt of icy recognition through me. It was larger and more menacing than I could have imagined, a pulsating cylinder of harnessed energy that seemed to hum with malevolent intent. The figure holding the remote exuded an aura of quiet confidence, a stark contrast to the blaring alarms and the chaos of our infiltration.
"Who are you?" Nightshade demanded, her energy pistols still trained on the figure. "What is 'Final Stage'?"
The figure chuckled, a dry, rasping sound that echoed in the vast chamber. "Questions, questions. Always with the questions. But perhaps a demonstration is more… enlightening."
Their thumb hovered over a button on the remote. The Core Unit pulsed faster, the blue light intensifying, and the humming grew to a deafening roar. I could feel a strange resonance within me, a subtle vibration that seemed to answer the machine's call. It was unsettlingly familiar, like a phantom limb twitching after years of absence.
『Harem Streamer System: Energy signature of Core Unit resonating with host's bio-signature. Potential for uncontrolled energy feedback: 78%. Recommendation: Maintain a safe distance. (Safe distance calculation: Approximately the length of three angry badgers stacked end-to-end.)』
"Three angry badgers?" I muttered. "Is that your scientific unit of measurement now, System?"
Before the figure could press the button, Maya and Nova burst into the chamber through a newly created hole in the ceiling, landing in a coordinated strike. Maya unleashed a blast of concussive energy, while Nova shimmered, attempting to disrupt the figure's focus with a disorienting wave of light.
The figure, however, was surprisingly agile. They sidestepped Maya's blast and seemed unfazed by Nova's light show, their reflective visor preventing any direct visual contact. They pressed the button on the remote.
A surge of raw energy erupted from the Core Unit, tendrils of blue light snaking outwards and striking the walls of the chamber. The very air crackled with power.
"Final Stage is… amplification," the figure announced, their voice still distorted but now carrying a note of triumph. "Amplification of potential. Amplification of… subjects."
My head swam. Subjects? Plural?
Suddenly, the resonance within me intensified, growing from a subtle vibration to a painful thrumming. Images flashed through my mind – fragmented memories of cold metal, blinding lights, and a voice… a familiar voice.
"Scott!" Nightshade yelled, noticing my distress. "What's happening?"
"I… I don't know," I stammered, clutching my head. "It feels… like it's calling to me."
The figure turned their attention towards me, their reflective visor seeming to pierce through my confusion. "Subject Omega. You resonate strongly. You are… key."
Key to what? Some kind of super-powered doomsday device? My accidental life was just getting better and better.
As the Core Unit continued to pulse, the walls of the chamber began to shimmer, and faint outlines of figures began to appear within the energy field emanating from the machine. They were humanoid shapes, their forms indistinct but undeniably present.
"What are those?" Nova whispered, her ethereal form flickering with unease.
"Other subjects," the figure replied, their voice filled with a disturbing sense of pride. "Thorne's… unfinished business. We are merely bringing his vision to fruition."
The outlines within the energy field grew clearer, and I felt another jolt of recognition, this time mixed with a profound sense of horror. One of the figures… its silhouette… it was eerily familiar.
"Glitch, can you get a visual on those… subjects?" Nightshade demanded, firing a volley of energy blasts at the figure, who deftly deflected them with a small energy shield that materialized from their gauntlet.
"Trying!" Glitch's voice crackled in our earpieces. "The energy interference is… intense. I'm getting fragmented images…"
The figure holding the remote raised their other hand, and the energy tendrils from the Core Unit lashed out again, striking Maya and Nova, sending them crashing against the walls. They groaned, momentarily stunned.
Nightshade pressed her attack, moving with a furious intensity, but the figure seemed to anticipate her every move, their movements too precise, too familiar.
And then, the voice modulator on the figure's helmet flickered, and for a fleeting moment, the distorted voice was replaced by something chillingly recognizable.
"Such a predictable fighting style, 'Spectre.'"
Nightshade froze, her energy pistols wavering. Her eyes, visible for a split second through a crack in her mask as she turned sharply, were wide with disbelief and a dawning horror.
The figure chuckled again, the distorted voice returning. "Did you think you could bury the past, Elias?"
Elias. Dr. Elias Thorne. But… he was supposed to be dead.
My mind reeled. Thorne? Alive? And this… "Final Stage"… it was his doing? His "vision"? And those other subjects…
The silhouette of the familiar figure within the Core Unit's energy field solidified for a moment, and my breath hitched in my throat. The dark hair, the determined set of the jaw… it couldn't be.
But it was.
Staring back at me from within the pulsating blue energy of the Project Chimera Core Unit was my own face. A younger version, but undeniably me.
And then, another voice, this one clear and chillingly familiar, echoed through the chamber, no longer distorted by the modulator.
"Hello, Scott."
The figure lowered their hand, and their reflective visor retracted, revealing a face I thought I would never see again. A face I had only seen in fragmented memories and grainy video logs.
Dr. Elias Thorne stood before us, a cruel smile playing on his lips, his eyes gleaming with a fanatical light.
"Welcome," he said, his gaze fixed on me. "To the Final Stage of Project Chimera."