The lift groaned like an animal in pain, suspended in the shaft by nothing more than failing cables and the wheezing hum of emergency brakes. Every few seconds, it shuddered a deep, bone-vibrating tremor as metal strained against metal reminding me that at any moment, gravity might win.
My palms were slick against the wrench I hadn't let go of since the lab. It had been a tool once. Now it was a weapon. My anchor. The alarms had gone silent minutes ago, but the memory of their shrieking still clung to the air, pressing against my skull in waves. It was worse in the quiet like standing inside the hollowed-out ribcage of some dead machine, hearing its echo long after its heart had stopped.
Kael stood across from me, calm in a way that made my nerves itch. He leaned one shoulder against the wall, arms folded, posture loose as if we weren't trapped in a coffin dangling over a hundred-meter drop. But I knew better than to mistake his stillness for apathy. His eyes never stopped moving. They flicked between me, the flickering red emergency light, and the comm speaker above. Every muscle in him was wired, waiting for the strike.
"Dr. Ayla Morgan," the distorted voice crackled through the comm, mechanical and merciless. "Surrender the Code access. Confirm transmission."
I flinched. The sound of my own name felt like a knife against my skin.
"They know my name," I whispered, throat dry.
Kael's reply was blunt, stripped of comfort. "Of course they do."
That certainty lit a spark of fury hotter than my fear. I rounded on him, words spilling before I could stop them. "And how exactly would you know that? Who the hell are you, really? Because all I've seen is some kind of" I gestured sharply at the faintly humming device strapped to his wrist, its surface alive with shifting glyphs. "walking arsenal who conveniently crashes into my life the second I make a discovery nobody should even have access to."
Kael didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He let the silence stretch just long enough for my anger to coil tighter, then said evenly, "You woke something that was never meant to be woken. That makes you a problem. To them. To me."
A bitter laugh scraped my throat. "To you? You don't even know me."
"You're wrong."
The way he said it quiet, certain sent a chill crawling along my skin. There was weight in those two words, something dangerous and unspoken.
Before I could demand what he meant, the comm hissed again.
"This is your final warning. Hand over the Code. Or we'll extract it from you directly."
The voice was machine-filtered, but beneath the distortion I thought I caught something else. A note of eagerness. The sound of someone who wanted to dig their claws in.
I opened my mouth, ready to spit something reckless into the speaker, but Kael's hand shot up like a blade cutting through my rage. "Don't answer."
I froze, caught in his gaze.
"They're fishing," he explained, voice low. "Testing if you'll panic. The moment you respond, they'll triangulate our position in the shaft."
My pulse thundered against my ribs. "And if I don't?"
"They'll assume you're stalling." His expression hardened. "And send reinforcements."
A violent shudder rattled the lift, and dust sifted from the ceiling in lazy, choking streams. One grain landed on my tongue, dry and bitter like rust. I coughed, heart hammering.
Kael crouched without hesitation, prying open a small panel near the floor. Sparks leapt out, spitting against his gloves, painting his face in blue light. His hands moved with the efficiency of someone who had lived too long with machines that wanted to kill him. "They've got overrides in the system," he muttered. "Can't trust anything electronic in here."
I tightened my grip on the wrench until my knuckles ached. Anger clawed its way through my fear. "So what's your grand plan, soldier? Sit here until they cut us out? Or wait for the cables to snap so we can take the express ride to our deaths?"
His head lifted, his gaze locking on me. For the first time, his composure cracked just slightly, revealing something darker beneath. A shadow. "Neither. If I wanted you dead, I would've left you in that lab."
The words hit harder than I expected. He was right. Whatever Kael was, he'd shielded me when he could've abandoned me. He'd dragged me into this mess instead of letting me bleed.
Which made him either my only ally… or the most dangerous enemy of all.
Before I could form a reply, the comm sputtered again. This time, the voice that broke through was younger. Familiar.
"Ayla? Ayla, are you there?"
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. My blood turned to ice.
"Eli?" I lunged toward the speaker, wrench clattering against the wall. My voice cracked, raw with panic. "Eli, where are you?"
Static swallowed half his words, but I caught enough. "They they came looking for me. I don't" His voice dissolved into a sharp yelp, then muffled shouts in the background.
"Eli!" My scream tore from my chest as I slammed my palm against the comm. "Answer me!"
The mechanical voice replaced his, smooth and merciless. "Proof of leverage. Cooperate, and your brother lives. Resist, and he dies first."
My chest constricted until I could barely breathe. Rage roared through me, hot and blinding. "You bastards"
Kael's hand closed around my wrist, pulling me back from the panel. His grip was firm but not cruel, grounding me against the spiral of fury. "Don't give them what they want."
I jerked my arm free, vision blurring with unshed tears. "That's my brother! You don't get to tell me"
"Ayla." His voice cut through mine, low and razor-sharp. "Listen. If you hand them the Code, they won't let him go. They'll bleed him dry. Just like they'll bleed you. The Syndicate doesn't bargain. They consume."
The word landed like a stone in my chest. Consume.
Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them away. I couldn't break now. Eli needed me sharp, not shattered.
Kael returned to the panel, his movements sharp with focus. "We've got one option. I can force the emergency brakes and climb us out manually."
"Climb," I repeated, disbelief skirting the edge of hysteria. "As in scale the shaft like some kind of machine?"
His lips twitched humorless, grim. "Close enough."
The lift shuddered violently, a screech splitting the air as one of the cables frayed. The sound was the scream of something old and dying. My stomach plummeted.
Kael didn't hesitate. He pulled a coil of rope-like alloy from his belt, anchoring it to the wall with swift, practiced motions. The metal shimmered faintly, humming with stored energy. Not rope. Something stronger.
He looked at me then, eyes dark and unreadable. "You can wait here and let them carve this box open. Or you can come with me."
I stared, torn between fury and fear, between the brother I had to save and the stranger who might be my only hope.
The comm crackled again, Eli's voice breaking through faintly, torn apart by static. "Ayla don't give it" His words cut with a sharp click, replaced by silence.
My heart splintered.
Kael extended his hand toward me. His grip was steady despite the chaos, his expression unyielding. "Decide. Now."
The lift shrieked as another cable gave way. Metal screamed. The floor lurched beneath us, dropping several feet in a sickening plunge.
My scream echoed off the walls. The brakes caught with a bone-jarring slam, throwing both of us to the ground. Dust rained like ash.
Kael shoved the alloy coil into my hands, his voice a command forged in fire.
"Climb, Ayla. Or die here."
---
The lift is seconds from collapse. Ayla must make her choice climb with Kael into the unknown or stay and risk capture, or worse.