Sometimes survival isn't victory. It's simply staying alive one minute longer.
"They found us sooner than expected."
Jasper's voice echoed softly through the underground corridor.
The survivors all froze in place as dust drifted through the dim blue light while rows of dormant Gen-One units lined the walls endlessly behind him with thousands of motionless figures and standing in front of them was Jaspr alive.
Stacy's chest tightened painfully.
"Jasper…"
His eyes shifted toward her slowly as blue light flickered faintly beneath them not fully human and not fully gone. For one horrible second, she didn't know which version of him was standing there. The hum of hidden machinery echoed softly through the underground corridors. Ancient systems awakening deeper beneath the earth. Jasper stepped forward slowly.
"You shouldn't have come this far."
Mercer immediately lifted his shotgun.
"Buddy, I say this with love…"
He squinted carefully.
"…You look terrible."
That scared Stacy more than anything else.
Distant crashing thundered through the maintenance tunnels behind them as the Helix Titan was still coming and massive metal impacts shook the underground structure repeatedly.
Kane looked back sharply.
"We don't have time for a reunion."
Jasper's expression darkened slightly.
"They're adapting faster than projected."
The scientist stared at him in horror.
"You're synchronized…"
Jasper slowly looked toward him.
"Partially."
The answer chilled everyone instantly.
Stacy stepped closer carefully.
"What happened to you?"
There was a pause and then Jasper responded
"The Core Connected."
That wasn't an explanation but a warning. One of the dormant Gen-One units behind Jasper suddenly activated with eyes glowing alive and then another and then dozens more. They weren't reacting to threats but were reacting to him.
Mercer muttered softly:
"Yeah I REALLY don't like this."
The tunnel behind them exploded violently as concrete shattered outward. The Helix Titan forced itself through the collapsing maintenance corridor.
White lights burned through dust clouds.
"INTERFACE SIGNAL CONFIRMED."
Its mechanical roar shook the walls as the Helix operatives flooded into the tunnels behind it immediately and suddenly everyone understood that he ambush had never ended. The moment the Titan charged, Jasper stood still for a second and then the next he slammed his hand against the corridor wall.
Each and every one of the Gen-One unit activated simultaneously as blue light exploded through the underground chamber and then they all moved fast enough to blur.
Gen-One units collided with Helix operatives in brutal silence as metal limbs tone through reinforced armor, The Helix blades carved into synthetic flesh as blue light and white light clashed violently through darkness. The corridor became a slaughterhouse instantly and in the middle of it—Jasper stood motionless with his eyes glowing faintly blue controlling it.
"Jasper!"
He turned slowly toward her and the human part of him was still there somewhere buried yet still fighting.
"We need to move NOW!" Kane shouted.
The tunnel ceiling cracked overhead violently as the Titan smashed Gen-One units apart with massive armored limbs as more kept coming and an endless underground war was waking beneath the wasteland.
"Oh God…"
The former Obsidian scientist stared at Jasper with growing horror.
"He's interfacing directly."
Stacy grabbed him sharply.
"What does that mean?!"
The man looked pale.
"It means the Core is using him."
The problem was that part of Jasper understood that already as signals flooded through his mind endlessly including system pathways, threat assessments, facility control networks including dormant sectors awakening and beneath all of it something and beneath all of it—Something was calling to him from deeper underground.
The Titan smashed another Gen-One unit through the tunnel wall violently as Helix operatives advanced through the chaos with terrifying coordination.
"TARGET PRIORITY: INTERFACE RETRIEVAL."
Jasper's eyes flickered brighter and suddenly every Helix operative in the corridor froze for half a second which was enough for all to understand the outcome.
"MOVE!" Jasper shouted suddenly.
His real voice came through this time which was human and desperate. A hidden blast door opened beside the survivors instantly as ancient emergency pathways were exposed behind it.
Kane didn't hesitate.
"GO GO GO!"
The survivors rushed into the side corridor immediately while Gen-One units held back the Helix advance. The underground walls shook violently around them and Jasper stayed behind.
She turned instantly.
"What are you doing?!"
Jasper didn't look at her, he just couldn't
"Keeping them off you."
"No."
Her voice cracked hard.
"No, we leave together."
The Titan roared violently through the corridor as more Helix forces poured into the underground chambers and the Gen-One defenses were already collapsing. Jasper finally looked at her and for one painful second—He looked like himself again.
"If I come with you…"
His jaw tightened.
"…they'll never stop."
The survivors knew it was true because everything hunted Jasper now, Dominion, Helix including the Core itself and everyone who heard him became collateral damage eventually.
"We're not leaving you."
Jasper almost smiled, he almost did.
Then suddenly his expression changed sharply widening slightly.
"They're below us."
Everyone froze.
"What?"l
Jasper's head tilted slightly like he was listening to something impossible.
"More Helix units."
"Thousands of them".
The scientist's face drained completely.
"That's impossible…"
Jasper looked toward the deeper tunnels.
"No."
His voice became frighteningly calm again.
"They've been down here for years."
The realization was real that the Helix hadn't just arrived underground.They were already part of it. The maintenance corridor behind them suddenly exploded completely. The Titan forced its full body through the shattered passage as concrete collapsed everywhere and Helix operatives advanced beside it as their White eyes glowed through the smoke and from deeper ahead more white lights appeared closing in from both directions.
Mercer stared ahead slowly.
"Oh come on."
Kane reloaded his rifle hard.
"No exits."
The survivors backed together instinctively as fear tightened around them. Even the Gen-One units paused, now calculating the impossible odds. Then all of a sudden Jasper stepped into the center of the corridor as Blue light intensified beneath his skin. The hum throughout the underground facility became deafening, system Ma responded and the network awakened.
"Jasper…" Stacy whispered.
He looked back at her one last time and his time he looked completely human again.
"Run when the door opens."
"What door?"
Then Jasper slammed both hands against the underground floor.
The entire facility roared alive as massive ancient machinery awakened beneath them violently and then tunnel walls split apart having the emergency systems exploded online and a gigantic vertical shaft opened beneath the survivors suddenly. Wind screamed upward from impossible depths below. The survivors nearly lost footing as the underground structure shifted violently.
The Helix Titan stopped advancing for the first time as they all heard the voice.
"CORE ACCESS DETECTED".
Red emergency lights flooded the shaft as ancient elevator systems activated beneath the survivors. A platform rose rapidly from darkness below, massive and industrial as an Old-world technology far beyond anything they'd seen yet and on its surface were rows of cryogenic chambers lined the platform walls. Inside them people were sleeping, hundreds of them. Perfectly preserved beneath frost-covered glass.
The scientist staggered backward in horror.
"No…"
Stacy looked sharply at him.
"What is this?!"
But before he could answer, one cryogenic pod suddenly opened. Cold vapor exploded outward and the person inside slowly stepped out. It was a young woman, she looked pale and barefoot with her eyes growing faint blue. Then she looked directly at Jasper and smiled softly.
"Brother."
Everyone froze, including Jasper because to his greatest surprise he also recognized her.