“Three confirmed,” Tess said, cycling through the camera feeds. “Maybe more. The sensors only cover about sixty percent of the facility.”
Petra stood at the door, vibroblades humming in her hands. The emergency lighting painted her face in alternating bands of color and shadow. “Where are they now?”
Tess found the feed again. “One in Corridor 7, moving toward the research wing. One near Junction 4. The third…” She switched cameras, searching. “I lost it. It was near us when I first spotted it.”
“And the staff?”
“Gone. Evacuated, maybe.” Tess pulled up more feeds, scrolling through empty hallways and abandoned workstations. Coffee cups still steaming on desks. A chair knocked over in front of a terminal. “Or hiding. I’m not seeing anyone.”
Petra processed that for a moment. Then she sheathed one vibroblade and dialed something on her communicator. “Perimeter team, this is Petra Tertian. We need assistance.”
Static. Then a voice, professional and clipped: “Lady Tertian. Containment breach protocol is in effect. Facility is sealed until the situation is resolved.”
“Sealed,” Petra repeated. “Meaning you’re not coming in.”
“Correct. Protocol requires external containment until internal threats are neutralized. We cannot risk breach of the outer perimeter.”
Tess watched Petra’s jaw tighten. “There are spawns loose in here. At least three.”
“Situation understood. Best of luck Lady Petra.”
Petra closed the channel and looked at Tess. “What? No… dammit! We’re on our own.”
“I gathered.” Tess turned back to the cameras. The spawn in Corridor 7 had stopped moving, its angular form barely visible in the emergency lighting. “The good news is they’re not heading toward us. Yet.”
“Then I go to them.” Petra drew her second blade again. “You coordinate from here. Watch my path, open doors, warn me if anything moves.”
“You’re hunting spawns alone?”
Petra’s smile was thin but genuine. “This is literally what I’ve trained for.”
Tess wanted to argue, but Petra was right. Of the two of them, only one had combat skills. The other had a plasma torch and a multi-tool.
“Fine. But you keep your communicator open. Anything goes wrong…”
“You’ll watch it happen on camera. I know.” Petra moved to the door. “Which way to Corridor 7?”
Tess pulled up the facility map, tracing the route. “Left out the door, down the main hall, second right. The spawn was near Lab 2 last I saw it.”
“Lab 2. Got it.” Petra paused at the threshold. “Find out where everyone went. And find Allen.”
She was gone before Tess could respond.
***
The control room felt larger with Petra gone. Tess settled into a console chair, arranging the camera feeds across the display array. Eight screens. Not enough to cover the entire facility, but enough to track Petra’s progress.
She spoke aloud to Bee, keeping her voice low even though the room was empty.
“Three spawns loose. Petra’s hunting them. I’m coordinating from the control room. Guards won’t help—containment protocol.”
BEE: Your father wants to know: “Are you in danger?”
“Some.” Tess switched cameras, found Petra moving down the main corridor. “Petra’s got it handled. I think.”
BEE: “You think?”
“She’s confident, and Level 5. That counts for something.”
Petra’s voice crackled through the communicator. “Main corridor clear. Approaching second right.”
Tess checked the Corridor 7 feed. The spawn had moved again, now crouched at an intersection about forty meters from Petra’s position. “Contact ahead. It’s at the junction where Corridor 7 meets the research wing.”
“Distance?”
“Maybe forty meters once you turn the corner. It’s not moving. Might be hunting.”
“Or waiting.” Petra’s voice carried a note of dark amusement. “This feels like a dungeon. The irony isn’t lost on me.”
Tess watched the camera as Petra rounded the corner, moving from the main corridor into Corridor 7. The lighting was worse here—half the emergency strips had failed or been damaged, leaving pools of shadow between islands of red.
The spawn noticed her immediately. On the grainy feed, Tess saw it shift, orienting toward the movement. Then it charged.
It covered the distance in seconds, faster than she’d expected, angular limbs eating up the hallway in a skittering rush.
Petra didn’t retreat. She planted her feet, both blades raised, and waited.
The spawn leaped. Petra moved.
Tess couldn’t follow the details on the low-resolution feed, but she saw the outcome. One moment the spawn was airborne, all sharp angles and mechanical menace. Next, it was on the ground in two pieces, still twitching as whatever passed for its nervous system tried to process the sudden interruption.
Petra stepped back, flicking something off her blade. The spawn’s body sparked once, twice, then went still.
“One down.” Petra’s voice was calm, almost pleased. “Got experience, nice.”
“That’s it?”
“They’re pretty flimsy compared to what I’ve fought before,” Petra said, kneeling over the remains.
“Okay, I feel safer now,” Tess couldn’t help but chuckle as she checked the other feeds. The spawn at Junction 4 was still moving, but slowly. The third one remained unaccounted for. “Two more confirmed.”
“Then I keep moving. Which way to Junction 4?”
Tess traced the route on her map. “Continue down Corridor 7, take the third left. Should bring you to the junction from the west side.”
“Got it.”
Tess watched Petra move deeper into the facility, passing abandoned labs with equipment still running. Through one window, she could see a centrifuge spinning, whatever sample inside long forgotten. Through another, a holographic display flickered with data nobody was reading.
“Tess, I’m seeing signs of people leaving in a hurry. Equipment left running, personal items abandoned.”
“Before or after the spawns got loose?”
“Hard to say. We were in the control room for a while.”
Petra reached the third left and turned. The Junction 4 camera showed her entering from the west, exactly as planned. The spawn was on the far side, near a sealed door marked LAB 4 in faded lettering.
“I see it,” Petra said. “It’s… doing something. Scratching at a door.”
Tess zoomed the camera. The spawn was smaller than the first one, built low to the ground with multiple limbs. It was focused on the Lab 4 door, claws scraping against the metal in a rhythmic pattern.
“Why would it…” Tess started.
Then she saw the window. The observation window next to the door, partially obscured by the camera angle. Faces pressed against the glass. People.
“Petra, there are people in Lab 4. That’s why the spawn is interested.”
“I see them.” Petra’s voice hardened. “I’m moving.”
The second fight lasted longer than the first. The smaller spawn ran up the wall just as Petra closed in, dropping from above. She bounced back, blades raised, faster than the thing could track. It charged again. This time Petra met it mid-lunge and carved it into pieces. Sparks flew until it went still.
“Two down. These spawns are a lot like what was in the dungeon before the power increased. They’re… soft.”
“Still another somewhere. Stay sharp.”
“Always.” Petra moved to the Lab 4 door, examining it. “Control panel’s destroyed. Smashed, deliberately. Someone didn’t want this door opening from outside.”
Tess pulled up the Lab 4 environmental controls. “I might be able to open it remotely. Give me a second.”
She navigated through the facility management system, but the door controls came back with an error. Manual override engaged. Remote access disabled.
“No good. The lock’s been physically destroyed. I can’t get in from here.”
Through the communicator, Tess heard muffled voices—probably the trapped researchers trying to communicate through the heavy door. Then a different sound: metal shrieking.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s a ventilation grate next to the door. Standard industrial design, thin gauge.” Another shriek of parting metal. “My blades go through it like tissue paper. Can’t cut the door, it’s too thick, but I can make a hole big enough to talk through.”
The camera showed Petra pulling away a section of vent cover, revealing a rectangular opening about a foot across. A face appeared in the gap almost immediately: a man in a lab coat, eyes wide but voice controlled.
“Thank the founders. We’ve been trapped in here for…” He stopped, recognizing Petra. “Lady Petra?”
“Doctor…?”
“Vasquez. Lead researcher for the manifestation protocols.” He glanced behind him. “We have twelve people in here. Allen called a staff meeting, locked the door behind him, and left. Ten minutes later the alarms started.”
Petra’s voice went flat. “Allen locked you in. Deliberately.”
“Yes.” Vasquez’s voice wavered. “He said… he said we’d take the blame when everything went wrong. That it was better this way. Then he destroyed the panel and left.”
“Better this way.” Petra repeated the words like they tasted wrong. “And the spawns? Did he say anything about…”
“The containment field starting failing this morning. We reported it to Allen, he said he’d called in a specialist.” A bitter laugh. “Was that you? The repair tech?”
Tess leaned toward her communicator. “Doctor Vasquez, this is Tess Rivera. I repaired the containment field, but the spawns were already loose when I brought the system online. How long has the spawner been active?”
“Who is…” Vasquez stopped, apparently deciding the question didn’t matter. “At least thirty-six hours. We noticed the first manifestation early this morning. The containment field was failing but Allen told us to continue normal operations while we waited.”
“How many spawns?” Tess asked.
“We counted five before being locked in here. Three escaped into the facility. Two remained in Lab 9, within the original containment zone.”
Petra had killed two. One still hunting somewhere in the facility, plus the pair trapped in Lab 9.
“Doctor, how do we shut off the spawner?” Tess asked.
“The spawner has an emergency override. A manual kill switch in Lab 9, in case the automated systems fail. Blows the Aether-conduits which will cause a cascade failure in the crystal lattice,” Vasquez’s voice grew tighter. “Allen accessed the control network before he left. We saw the logs after. He disabled the remote shutdown command.”
Petra and Tess reached the same conclusion at the same moment.
“So the spawner keeps producing,” Petra said.
“Until it drains the facility’s power reserves. Yes. With the remote shutdown disabled, the only way to stop it is the manual override.”
Tess stared out over the facility towards Lab 9. The containment field she’d repaired shimmered around the crystalline structure, holding the spawner and its products inside. “But I fixed the containment. I brought it back to seventy-eight percent.”
“Which is buying us time,” Vasquez agreed. “But not enough. The spawner will keep producing, the field will keep degrading under the strain, and eventually it fails completely. Then we’re back where we started, only with more spawns.”
Behind Vasquez, other researchers were gathering at the vent—some terrified, barely holding it together, others focused and already calculating variables and outcomes.
“What’s the timeline?” Tess asked.
“A few hours. Maybe a little more. After that, the containment field collapses and everything in Lab 9 comes out.”
“And the guards outside?”
Vasquez’s expression darkened. “Purge protocol. If the containment fails and the facility shuts down, the doors seal to prevent anything from breaching the perimeter. After that… well, it’s called a Purge protocol for a reason.”
One researcher behind him—a younger woman with a datapad clutched to her chest—spoke up. “Allen knew. He knew what would happen. Lock us in, disable the shutdown, let the spawner run until the purge protocol triggers. No witnesses. No evidence.”
“The guards outside confirmed it,” Petra said. “But why?”
“It’s more than that.” Another researcher pushed forward, older, with the look of someone who’d seen things they couldn’t unsee. “Chen and Drosselmeyer left two days ago. Said they’d been reassigned. We thought it was strange—the project was at a critical phase. Why pull senior staff?”
Vasquez nodded slowly. “Morris got a call last week. Took it privately, wouldn’t say who from. Became silent after. Nervous.”
“The Network?” Petra asked.
“We don’t know that,” Vasquez said quickly. “But something was wrong. We could all feel it. And then this. Lord Tertian assured us that this project was officially sanctioned.”
Tess relayed the situation to Bee, voice low. Allen’s sabotage. Spawner running wild. Hours before containment fails. Purge protocol.
BEE: This is very concerning. Tess, please do not do anything dangerous.
“Pretty sure we’re past that, Bee.”
Petra turned from the vent, checking the corridor behind her. “Doctor, is there another way to get you out of there?”
“The ventilation system connects to the main air handlers, but the ducts aren’t large enough for people. We need the door.”
“I can’t cut through it. The metal’s too thick.”
Vasquez considered. “There might be another option. This lab has a secondary access point—a service corridor that leads to the maintenance level. But it requires power, and well… we don’t exactly have it in excess.”
“Great.” Petra’s voice dripped with contempt. “Tess, can you get power to Lab 4?”
Tess was already pulling up the distribution network. The system was a mess—someone had made changes throughout, creating bottlenecks and redirects that funneled everything toward Lab 9. “Maybe. It’ll take time. And I’d need to pull power from somewhere else.”
“Do it. I’ll clear the third spawn and make sure our exit path is secure.”
“The third spawn,” Vasquez said. “We saw it on the internal monitors before Allen locked us in. It was heading toward the storage section. Cold storage.”
“Cold storage?”
“Sample repository. Bio-crystal materials, extracted components…” He hesitated. “Things the spawner needs to continue production.”
Tess stared at the camera feed. “Bio-Crystal? Like what the spawner is? What is it trying to do?”
“We only just started studying spawns. We’re uncertain how much autonomy they have. Allen… was always cagey about that part of the research.”
Petra checked her blades. “Then I’d better find it before it gets comfortable. Tess, work on that power reroute. Doctor, keep your people calm. We’re getting you out of here.”
She moved off down the corridor, and Tess started tracing power conduits, looking for something she could safely redirect.
BEE: Tess. The timeline is very concerning.
“I know.”
BEE: If the containment field fails and the purge protocol you told me about…
“I know, Bee. I get that you’re worried, but that doesn’t help.”
BEE: I am sorry, Tess. I do not know what emotion is being processed right now, but my definitions put it somewhere near… despair.
“I know Bee, I’m going to have a friendly chat with Amos Tertian when we’re done here. No more.”
The manual shutdown—that had to be the key. If she could get to Lab 9, get to the override, she could stop the spawner entirely. No more production. Containment field stable. Crisis averted.
But Lab 9 was inside the containment field she’d just repaired. The barrier she’d just carefully brought back online.
She pulled up the Lab 9 camera feed again. The spawner dominated the center of the room, crystalline spires reaching toward the ceiling, pulsing with Aether. Around its base, she could see movement—the two spawns Vasquez had mentioned, prowling their confined space like caged animals.
Through her communicator, she heard Petra: “Found the storage section. The Doctor may have undersold how cold it was going to be. Spawn is here, but it’s not moving. Dormant, maybe?”
“Careful.”
“I’m always careful.” A pause. “Don’t even say it. Fine. I’m approaching slowly.”
Tess watched the camera feeds, but there was no coverage in cold storage. She could only listen as Petra moved closer to whatever was waiting in the dark.
A burst of static. Then: “Got it. Three down. That’s all the loose ones, right?”
“Unless there are more we didn’t detect.” Tess checked the sensors. No movement anywhere except Lab 4 and Lab 9. “I think we’re clear.”
“Good. I’m heading back to Lab 4. How’s the power reroute coming?”
“Working on it. Give me a minute.”
Tess glanced at the broken and rerouted power schematics on the screen. This whole thing felt like a setup, and she doubted Allen had the technical skills to pull it off—director or not.
She moved back to the containment field generator and looked at the signal repeater she’d fixed. Something about it seemed off—a detail that also showed up in the power network.
SIGNAL_STATUS: CONNECTED (LOOPBACK MODE—pwnd_lol)
She’d recognized the tag from the signal spoof she’d reactivated earlier. The same signature—‘pwnd_lol’—was embedded all over the power grid. Whoever created the Loopback had also messed with the distribution network.
Before she knew it, Tess had found a solution—not elegant, but functional. She could pull reserves from the secondary environmental systems, reducing climate control to emergency minimums. Cold, but survivable. It was like whoever broke the system left her breadcrumbs to find the solution.
“I think I can get power to the door, but it’s going to get cold,” Tess said.
“Do it. Then we figure out the spawner.”
With the spawner sucking up all the power, the manual override, the containment field—with two spawns still prowling inside.
Tess stared at Lab 9, thinking through the problem, then swore.
“Petra, the power reroute solution… I think it’s a trap. Whoever is using that weird signature left it. If I kill the environmental and try to reroute the power the spawner’s going to pick it all up and leave us in the cold. We need to get it off before we can help the researchers.”
Her mind raced. Two spawns inside. A kill switch somewhere in the room. And her, with a plasma torch, no combat skills and a few hours until the facility failed. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her heartbeat.
Sorry Bee.
“Petra. I need you to meet me at Lab 9.”