[SFX:Alarms blaring]
[SFX:Metal crashing]
[SFX:Energy blasts firing]
The mech hangar had completely descended into chaos.
Explosions echoed endlessly across the massive metallic chamber while combat mechs moved through smoke and sparks like mechanical giants awakened from slumber.
Yet despite the overwhelming numbers surrounding them…
Squad Eclipse Veil remained firmly in control.
BOOOOM!
Bobby punched straight through the chest of a combat mech, completely crushing its core systems before spinning around and grabbing a human soldier by the collar.
The terrified man barely reacted before Bobby struck the back of his neck.
THUD.
The soldier collapsed instantly unconscious.
Bobby immediately caught him before his body could hit the ground.
Then—
FWOOOSH.
An energy blast shot directly toward them.
“Move!”
Damien appeared instantly beside Bobby and redirected the blast upward with a burst of Aether reinforcement.
The beam exploded harmlessly against the ceiling instead.
BOOOOM!
Metal debris rained down around them.
The squad moved almost perfectly together despite this being their first mission.
Years of instincts combined with their Superhuman bodies allowed them to adapt frighteningly quickly.
Yet one thing was obvious.
They weren’t fighting seriously.
Not really.
None of them actively infused Aether into their attacks.
Only their defense.
Only enough reinforcement to avoid accidentally killing someone.
Because despite everything Dr.
Frost had taught them…
Despite being genetically evolved beyond humanity…
At their core—
They were still teenagers.
Still human.
And killing another person…
Was not something they were ready for.
Jack ducked beneath a mech’s rotating cannon before leaping upward and driving his knee into the machine’s head.
CRAAAAASH!
The entire mech toppled sideways into two others.
Meanwhile Sylvia moved gracefully through the battlefield using minimal movement to disable enemies efficiently.
A quick strike to the neck.
A pressure point.
A shove enhanced by just enough Aether.
Every human she touched collapsed instantly unconscious.
Lisa blocked an incoming energy blade with crossed arms coated in yellow aura.
SPARKKK!
She grimaced slightly.
“This would be a hundred times easier without the humans here!”
Nearby Sandra kicked away a combat drone before catching an unconscious soldier from falling into crossfire.
“Yeah!”
She deflected another energy blast upward.
“Not only do we have to fight them…”
BOOOOM!
“…we also have to stop them from dying from their own people!”
Ria meanwhile stood near the center coordinating the battlefield calmly.
“Grace, left flank!”
“Jack, behind you!”
“Damien!”
Damien glanced toward her instantly.
“A mech unit is approaching from Sector Three.”
“Got it.”
FWOOOM!
Damien vanished forward with reinforced speed.
The terrifying thing about the squad wasn’t raw destruction.
It was how casual they made everything look.
Combat mechs capable of leveling buildings were being ripped apart with bare hands.
Enhanced armor cracked like paper under reinforced blows.
One moment soldiers surrounded them…
The next moment half their forces were unconscious across the floor.
And still—
The squad was holding back.
Far away from the mech hangar…
A phantom moved silently through darkness.
Sally.
Her stealth suit blended almost perfectly with the shadows while she sprinted through the facility corridors at frightening speed.
No sound.
No wasted movement.
Only purpose.
A security drone floated around a corner.
Its sensors scanned the hallway briefly.
Then—
SHHK.
A blade flashed silently.
The drone split apart before it even registered danger.
Sally caught the falling pieces before they hit the ground.
Two armed guards appeared ahead.
One looked confused.
“Did you hear som—”
THWIP.
A thin energy blade pierced his throat instantly.
Before the second could react—
CRACK.
His neck snapped violently.
Both bodies fell silently.
Unlike the S-Unit…
Sally had no reservations.
No hesitation.
No guilt.
Because unlike them…
She had already crossed that line years ago.
As she moved through the corridors her thoughts drifted briefly backward.
To memories she wished she could forget.
But never could.
Sawyer City.
Twenty years ago.
The sky had looked exactly the same.
Gray.
Cold.
Covered in industrial smoke.
She remembered giant Valkyrium machines arriving at her neighborhood.
Massive demolition mechs.
Corporate soldiers.
Evacuation notices.
Cold voices telling them to leave.
Why?
Because Valkyrium Industries wanted more land.
Another military facility.
As if the thousands they already possessed across Earth weren’t enough.
Her family begged.
Cried.
Protested.
It changed nothing.
They were pushed into the R-Zones.
Discarded.
Forgotten.
Thrown away like broken machinery.
There…
She learned what true hell looked like.
People starving in the streets.
Children fighting over scraps.
Bodies left abandoned in alleyways.
Entire families disappearing overnight.
Her parents tried to protect her.
Tried to feed her.
Even when they themselves slowly starved.
She still remembered her mother forcing a tiny piece of bread into her hands while pretending she wasn’t hungry.
She remembered her father smiling weakly despite looking like a skeleton.
Then one day—
They didn’t wake up.
Sally’s expression darkened slightly while running through the corridors.
They never even received proper burials.
Their corpses were dragged away by scavenger groups within the R-Zones.
Humans who had lost every fragment of humanity.
Humans who fed on the dead to survive.
At a young age…
She learned killing.
Stealing.
Surviving.
Because weakness meant death.
Compassion meant starvation.
And trust?
Trust got you buried.
Until one day—
A Verdancy agent found her.
Saved her.
Fed her.
Gave her purpose.
Since then…
Her life belonged entirely to Verdancy.
A cold look entered her amber eyes.
“Your resolve can’t falter now…”
SHHK.
Her blade sliced cleanly across another soldier’s throat.
Blood splattered across the corridor wall.
“These people ruined millions of lives…”
Another stab.
Another body dropped.
Eventually—
She reached the command center.
The massive doors slid open quietly.
SHHHHK.
Sally immediately entered with weapons raised.
Only to pause.
The room was empty.
No guards.
No engineers.
Nothing.
Her instincts screamed instantly.
Something was wrong.
But the mission came first.
Quickly—
She removed a small nano-chip from her belt and inserted it into the central data port.
BEEP.
[DOWNLOADING…]
Streams of classified files flooded into the chip.
Weapons data.
Mech schematics.
Military movement logs.
Aether research documents.
Everything transferred rapidly.
Within seconds—
[DOWNLOAD COMPLETE]
Sally removed the chip immediately.
Mission complete.
Now she only needed to regroup with Eclipse Veil and exfiltrate.
She turned calmly toward the exit.
Then suddenly—
GRAB.
Her body slammed violently against the wall.
A massive hand wrapped around her throat instantly.
CRAAAAACK!
Her stealth field shattered immediately.
Sally’s eyes widened.
Someone…
Had seen her.
Impossible.
The person holding her was shirtless.
Tall.
Built like a professional athlete carved from stone.
But what stood out most…
Were his eyes.
Deep golden-yellow.
Like miniature suns burning within darkness.
And he wasn’t alone.
There were three of them.
Standing side by side.
Identical.
Like three impossibly attractive twins copied from the same terrifying blueprint.
Their yellow eyes glowed faintly within the darkness.
“SERAPHS…”
Sally struggled slightly.
“How… did they see me…?”
The one choking her smiled faintly.
“You hide well.”
His voice sounded strangely calm.
“But not from us.”
Sally tried reaching for her blade.
The Seraph tightened his grip instantly.
CRACK.
Pain exploded through her neck.
Her vision blurred.
Her enhanced suit struggled desperately to compensate but it wasn’t enough.
These things were absurdly strong.
Far beyond enhanced humans.
Her consciousness slowly faded.
The last thing she saw—
Was another Seraph raising his hand casually.
“No need to rush.”
He stopped the first one calmly.
“We can use her.”
The Seraph holding Sally tilted his head slightly.
“As a hostage?”
A smile appeared on the third one’s face.
“And bait.”
Sally’s vision finally went dark.
Her unconscious body hung limply in the Seraph’s grasp.
Then one of them looked toward the distant sounds of battle echoing from the mech hangar.
BOOOOM.
The Seraph smiled calmly.
“Let’s go meet the other intruders.”
And just like that—
The three golden-eyed beings casually began walking toward the mech hangar.