The middle deck corridor was far narrower than the one below.
Alloy doors lined the left wall, their plaques reading Modification Bay, Interrogation Room, and Comms Room.
Cold white light seeped through the crack in the comms room door, and a steady, low-frequency hum drifted out from inside.
The only way to get there without being noticed.
Keran pulled the collar of his uniform higher, tugged his cap lower over his eyes, and strode down the central corridor.
Plans never survive first contact.
He was still ten meters from the comms room when the interrogation room door slid open.
A massive Undercurrent Operative stepped out and brushed past him.
A huge hand shot out and clamped down on his shoulder.
“Wait a second. Which squad are you from? I don’t recognize you.”
Keran kept his head down, his cap shadowing his face.
His voice was rough and gravelly.
“I’m new. Squad B.”
The hand tightened until his knuckles were white as iron, digging so hard it felt like it would break bone.
“Squad B? I’m the Squad B captain. When did we get a new transfer? I sure as hell don’t remember. Lift your head.”
Keran cursed internally.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
I make up a random squad and run straight into the guy in charge.
He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw the man’s hand already drifting toward his hip holster, ready to draw.
Three other Operatives who’d noticed the commotion started closing in.
If he got made, this captain would radio Zevran instantly.
Once that bastard found out he’d escaped the cargo hold, he was dead.
Keran had no illusions about Undercurrent giving him a second chance.
If they dragged him back, who knew what those sick fucks would do.
They’d strap him back to that operating table, cut his head open to pick around his brain.
Then they’d probably brainwash him, implant a hundred loyalty commands, and turn him into a mindless, obedient drone.
A dozen cold, chaotic thoughts flashed through Keran’s mind in an instant.
“Shit,” Keran sighed, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth hidden in shadow.
“I really didn’t want to use Plan B.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The Squad B captain frowned and stepped back half a step, suddenly wary.
And in that exact moment, Keran lifted his head.
The face that had been marked “dull, worthless” in every Undercurrent file twisted into a sharp, dangerous smile.
“I’m saying since you’re too blind to see what’s right in front of you. You can die.”
“You’re the Otherworld Lifeform!”
It hit him like a lightning strike.
A hundred battles’ worth of instinct screamed in his head, and he recognized those cold, dead eyes instantly.
But Keran’s strike was faster than his shout.
The knife slid from his sleeve in a blur of cold steel, glowing faintly with high-frequency vibration, and stabbed straight for the captain’s chest.
The captain’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks.
He threw himself backward in a desperate dodge, but he was too slow.
Rip!
The blade raked across his jaw and neck, spraying a shower of blood.
“Open fire!”
The three Operatives scrambled for their guns, but they’d been standing too close.
Less than two meters away, there was no time to aim.
Keran charged forward instead.
He flipped the knife in his hand and threw it in one smooth motion, driving it straight through the lead man’s throat.
The man gurgled and collapsed face-first, clutching his neck.
Before the other two could react, Keran slammed into them.
He drove his fist into the side of the first man’s face, and the crack of breaking bone was loud and clear.
The second man swung his gun around, but Keran grabbed his wrist and twisted it upward.
The gun fired a burst into the ceiling.
Crack.
He snapped the man’s neck with a sharp twist.
Three bodies hit the floor in less than two seconds.
The smell of gunpowder hung thick in the corridor.
One of the overhead lights had been shot out, casting the hallway in deeper shadow.
[You have struck 3 fatal vital points! Killed Undercurrent Armed Operative. Gained 500 experience points.] x3
The captain clutched his bleeding neck, his eyes turning from shock to pure rage.
He didn’t waste words.
He raised his gun and emptied the entire magazine at Keran.
Keran dove behind a metal shelf.
Bullets ricocheted off the steel, sending orange sparks flying.
Several crates were torn open, spilling parts across the floor.
“All units, converge on the second floor comms room! Target is the Otherworld Lifeform! I repeat, all units converge now!” the captain roared into his collar communicator, his voice shaking with unbridled fury.
Voices crackled back from every deck.
“The Otherworld Lifeform? He was cuffed in the cargo hold! How the hell did he get to the second floor?”
Bullets screamed off the shelf, denting the metal.
Keran took a deep breath, locked onto the captain’s position, and scanned the corridor, mentally mapping every piece of cover.
The captain was reloading.
Reinforcements were still minutes away.
And the comms room was right there.
He didn’t hesitate.
He burst out from cover.
He wasn’t running away.
The comms room was exactly where he wanted to be.
“Running?” The captain grinned savagely and fired.
Keran didn’t dodge.
He held his left arm up in front of him.
Bullets pinged off his armor, leaving only shallow dents.
[Power-Reinforced Armor Durability -3]
He launched himself at the comms room door like a black lightning bolt.
“Hiding in the comms room? That’s a dead end!” The captain slammed a new magazine home and gave chase.
“Four walls and one door! There’s nowhere to run!”
He thought Keran had panicked and run into a dead end.
Keran burst into the comms room and left the door wide open.
The captain froze at the threshold.
Fifteen years of combat screamed at him.
No one runs into a one-door room by accident.
He didn’t step inside.
Instead, he pressed himself flat against the wall to the left of the door, his gun trained steadily on the opening.
Only a third of his body was exposed.
“You made it further than the reports said you would. But it ends here.”
He didn’t care why the Otherworld Lifeform had broken free.
His orders were simple.
Capture him.
Kill him if necessary.
No questions asked.
The captain took a deep breath and raised his arm, ready to roll a flashbang through the door.
And then.
Every single light in the comms room exploded into brightness.
Not blinding white light.
A chaotic storm of red, green, and blue lights flashing so fast it made his eyes burn.
Every cooling fan in the room spun up to maximum speed at once, screaming in unison with the crackle of overloading circuits.
It was a deafening wall of noise.
The captain’s ears exploded into ringing.
He squeezed his eyes shut against the strobing lights, and his gun drifted slightly off target.
Worse.
The communicator at his collar suddenly blared with ear-splitting static, driving straight into his eardrum.
This was Keran’s trap.
For that split second, while the captain was blind and deaf.
Keran tipped over an entire row of equipment racks.
The heavy metal cabinets crashed toward the doorway.
The captain dove sideways to avoid them.
The flashbang slipped from his hand and exploded far down the corridor.
Keran slipped through the gap and charged at the still-staggering captain like a silent predator.
The captain reacted fast.
Even half-blind and deaf, he fired from muscle memory.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
All three shots missed.
Keran was already on him.
His armored forearm slammed into the captain’s gun hand.
Crack!
The sound of breaking bone.
The gun flew from his hand and skittered across the floor.
The captain grunted and charged forward instead of backing away.
He threw a wild haymaker with his left hand.
It was the instinct of a man who’d killed a hundred men with his bare hands.
Keran didn’t dodge.
He turned his head slightly and took the punch full on his left shoulder armor.
Clang!
[Power-Reinforced Armor Durability -7]
Keran’s left hand shot out and clamped around his throat.
His right fist, amplified by the power armor, slammed into the captain’s ribs.
Boom!
The dull crack of breaking ribs.
The captain doubled over, spitting blood.
But he didn’t quit.
He grabbed Keran’s left arm with both hands and lunged forward, trying to bite his throat out.
Keran’s eyes went cold.
He kept his grip on the captain’s shoulder, and his right hand snaked around the back of the man’s head, tangling in his hair.
Before the captain’s teeth could sink into his skin, Keran dropped his hips and twisted with all the strength of his power armor.
Crack.
The sharp snap of breaking vertebrae cut through the chaos.
The captain’s body went rigid.
His hands fell away from Keran’s arm.
His eyes stared wide and empty.
All movement stopped.
Keran let go.
The captain collapsed to the floor like a broken puppet.
[You have killed Undercurrent Squad B Captain. Gained 1500 experience points.]
“Looks like this dead end of yours wasn’t quite so dead after all,” Keran said flatly, staring down at the body.
…
Reinforcements from Squads A and B finally poured into the second floor corridor.
They froze at the sight.
Squad B’s captain lay on the floor, his neck twisted backward at a grotesque angle.
Three more guards lay scattered around him, all killed with single, precise strikes.
“Captain!” a young Squad B operative screamed.
“What the hell happened? Who did this?”
“All external comms are dead! We can’t reach headquarters, nearby outposts, ground relay stations, or the cockpit!”
“What about the cargo hold? Who was guarding the Otherworld Lifeform?”
An operative ran back, his face grim.
“Cargo hold is compromised. Both guards are dead. The target is loose.”
The corridor fell deathly silent.
A cold chill ran down every single spine.
He’d broken out of power cuffs.
Escaped a heavily guarded cargo hold.
And killed Squad B’s captain and five fully armed guards in less than ten minutes.
One man had thrown their entire transport into absolute chaos.
Only now did they realize.
This powerless Otherworld Lifeform was far more dangerous than he looked.
He’d been hiding in plain sight this whole time, a sheathed knife.
And every single one of them had looked right through him.
The thought made them all break out in a cold sweat.
“Everyone, calm down!”
Squad A’s captain stepped forward and took charge.
“There’s only one of him! No matter how good he is, he’s still just one man! Now listen up!”
He scanned the panicking crowd and barked out sharp, clear orders.
“Squad A, with me to the armory! Squad B, split up. Half hold the second floor elevator. Half hold the cargo hold fire escape! Squad C, get to the cockpit and find Inspector Zevran! Confirm he’s alive! Squad D, secure all emergency exits and escape pods! If he tries to jump, shoot him on sight! Move!”
The panicking guards snapped into action and split up.
There had been forty armed men on the transport.
Six were dead.
Thirty-four remained.
More than enough to hunt one man down.
But they hadn’t counted on one thing.
Keran was always three steps ahead.
BOOM!
A dull explosion rocked the upper deck, shaking the entire plane.
Squad A’s captain went pale.
He grabbed his radio.
“Squad C! Report!”
Coughing and gunfire crackled over the line, drowned out by static.
“Upper deck crew quarters… under attack! He blew the backup oxygen tanks! The fire’s too big! We can’t hold them! Send help! Now!”
“What?!” Squad A’s captain stared in disbelief.
“How the hell did he get to the upper deck that fast? The elevator’s still on the second floor!”
“He took the maintenance tunnels! God damn it, he blew the hatch!”
“Squad B, leave two men here to guard the elevator! The rest of you, with me to the upper deck! Now!”