Following Jett into the portal was like being thrown into a malfunctioning washing machine during an earthquake. Leo's scooter, not built for such instability, wobbled violently, its wheels screeching against a reality that was coming apart. The world dissolved into a blur of colors and static, a visual cacophony that assaulted his senses. His aura scanner went haywire, the screen flashing with dozens of "UNSTABLE REALITY" tags before shutting down with a glitching sound, unable to process the chaos.
When his vision finally focused, he was in the most terrifying place he had ever seen.
The Crossroads wasn't a place; it was a slow-motion disaster. It was the epicenter of a thousand-dimensional car pile-up, a moment of destruction frozen for eternity. Fragments of worlds floated everywhere: islands of earth with trees growing sideways, defying a gravity that no longer existed; chunks of futuristic cities with broken skyscrapers floating silently, their empty windows staring into nothingness; and rivers of lava that flowed from a tear in space and spilled into the void, cooling into impossible obsidian sculptures. And amidst it all, the junk. Broken spaceships, crushed probes, malfunctioning drones, and the wreckage of countless failed deliveries. It was a monument to failure, a graveyard for all who had strayed from the path.
"Welcome to my playground!" Jett's manic voice yelled through the communicator, filled with a glee that Leo found deeply disturbing. His "Vortex Jumper" danced through the debris with reckless joy. "Beautiful, isn't it? Chaos in its purest form!"
Leo didn't answer. He was too busy trying not to collide with a piece of a floating Aztec temple, its stone steps leading to a portal that briefly showed a blue sky before flickering out of existence.
"Your target is out there somewhere!" Jett shouted. "Syndicate Enforcer Drones. Black, angular, they look like angry wasps made of nightmares. They usually fall in clusters. Look for Syndicate energy signatures. And try not to get eaten by the Reality Eaters! They love the sound of struggling scooter engines!"
Leo swallowed hard, his gaze scanning the spaceship graveyard. How was he supposed to find one small part in the middle of all this? He reactivated his aura scanner. This time, instead of shutting down, it adapted, showing not the auras of beings, but technological energy signatures. Most of the dots were grey and faint, dead tech. But he was looking for something specific, a Syndicate energy signature, which, according to Jett, would have a residual blueish glow.
He carefully navigated his scooter, using the wreckage for cover. He saw things his mind could barely process: the hull of a ship that seemed to be made of bone, with windows that looked like empty eye sockets; a small cargo drone repeating the same delivery route between two asteroids, stuck in a two-second time loop, its small status light blinking incessantly; and, in a moment of pure terror, a gigantic, squid-like creature made of pure television static, devouring a small freighter, which dissolved into nothing with a silent scream. A Reality Eater.
After nearly an hour of tense searching, he found it. On a large sheet of metal, the remains of three Syndicate Enforcer Drones were tangled together. They looked exactly as Jett had described them: black, angular, and menacing, even as scrap.
Leo landed his scooter on the metal sheet, the sound echoing in the silence. He approached the destroyed drones, a makeshift wrench in his hand. The first drone was too damaged, its power core cracked and leaking a dark, corrosive liquid that hissed as it touched the metal. The second had the gyro-stabilizer compartment completely torn out, a black hole where the part should be.
But the third... the third was almost intact. Its fuselage was dented, but the compartment Jett had shown him on the diagram was sealed.
With his heart pounding, Leo started to work, undoing the bolts on the access plate. The metal was dense and strangely resilient, made of an alloy that seemed to absorb sound. As he worked, his aura scanner, which he had left on in his scooter, beeped.
He glanced at the screen. A single red dot had appeared at the edge of its range. It was moving in his direction, fast and with purpose.
Kael.
He had followed him. Or maybe the contract that bound them allowed Kael to know his general location. It didn't matter. He was coming.
Leo worked faster, his fingers slipping on the bolts. He finally managed to pry the plate open. Inside, glowing with a soft blue light, was the Gyro-stabilizer, a perfect sphere of silently spinning rings.
He was about to pull it out when a red light began to flash on the damaged drone. A calm, synthesized female voice echoed from the drone's speaker.
"Anti-tampering protocol activated. Unauthorized biological signature detected. Detonating antimatter charge in... 10... 9..."
Leo froze. The drone was a trap. A bomb.
"...8... 7..."
He looked at his radar. Kael's red dot was almost on top of him. He was trapped between an antimatter bomb and his relentless rival.