Chapter 6 – Heart of Steel
The virtualization room was quiet again. The hum of the scanners had faded, and the new team stood at the edge of the platform, adrenaline slowly seeping from their bodies.
Kekoa wiped his brow with the edge of his cloak. "So… that was awesome."
Zaynah stood beside him, arms crossed, eyes locked on the cooling monitors. "It was calculated chaos. Effective."
"I prefer awesomeness," Kekoa said, flashing a grin.
Ubel sat on the floor near the elevator shaft, head resting against a support pillar. "My soul left my body four different times in there…"
"You did good," Kite said, placing a hand on Ubel's shoulder. "You all did."
Odd tossed a water bottle to Kekoa, who caught it mid-spin. "That was your first mission and you took out a Nullshade. We didn't see anything like that for years."
Zaynah tilted her head. "Then why now?"
Everyone paused.
Kite's voice was calm but low. "Because X.A.N.A. isn't playing games anymore."
Later That Night – Yumi's Room
Yumi sat at her desk, staring at her phone. There were no new messages from Jeremy. None from Aelita either. She scrolled up through old conversations, reading Jeremy's analytical breakdowns of code fragments, Aelita's calming reassurances.
She closed her eyes.
That's when it happened.
A buzz.
Her monitor blinked to life—she hadn't touched it.
Lines of code filled the screen.
PROJECT: SPECTRE
ACTIVE NODE: Y.R.04
She leaned closer.
"Jeremy?" she whispered.
A tone echoed from the monitor. Not a beep. A soft, digital chime. Then the screen flashed white—and for the briefest moment, she saw herself staring back.
But her eyes were wrong.
Pitch black with red circuitry veins.
She stumbled backward.
The door slammed shut behind her.
She turned—nothing was there.
But her body felt heavy, like gravity was bending around her.
Her limbs trembled.
"X.A.N.A.?" she gasped.
The air warped.
Her knees buckled.
Meanwhile – Factory Tower Access
Haseo stood alone in the control room, reviewing data from the last mission. The others had gone for rest. He didn't need it. He didn't want it.
He ran the Nullshade playback again.
And paused at a frame where the monster phased through a glitched tree.
He zoomed in.
The tree had been marked.
Not randomly.
Scratched into its side were five digits: J-0589.
Jeremy's project number.
Before Haseo could say anything aloud, the power cut.
Emergency lights flashed red.
He reached for his communicator. "Kite. We've got a breach—"
Static.
The monitor flared back on.
A face appeared.
But it wasn't clear. It was made of fragments—pieces of Jeremy's old scans, voice patterns, even facial recognition models.
"Help… me…" the face said.
Then it smiled.
But not like Jeremy.
Like X.A.N.A. was trying to pretend.