The Dark Matter spear in Doctor Science’s hand didn't strike like a weapon. It struck like an earthquake.
When the void-black energy hit my green construct dome, the sound was like a thousand windows shattering at once. My HUD flickered red: CRITICAL LOAD. INTEGRITY AT 12%.
"Hold the line, Vega!" Elizabeth’s voice cracked over the comms. She was a shadow among shadows, desperately trying to keep the Wraiths from flanking my position, but there were too many.
"I... can't... hold it!" I screamed. My knees hit the mall's marble floor. The Watch was burning hot against my skin, drawing not just on my energy, but on my very life force.
Doctor Science laughed, a cold, mechanical sound. He twisted the spear, and the Dark Matter flared. "Break, child!"
The dome didn't just collapse; it exploded.
The backlash of energy was immense. The shockwave sent me tumbling backward, slamming me into a concrete pillar. I heard a sickening crack—not from my bones, but from the armor itself.
A jagged piece of the violet alloy, superheated and charged with the unstable energy of the "Twin Rivers," broke off my left shoulder. It spun through the air like a shrapnel blade, glowing with a frantic, pulsing light.
I watched, helpless and pinned by the debris, as the shard sailed past the Wraiths and toward a group of fleeing civilians.
"Look out!" I tried to shout, but my lungs were empty.
A fourteen-year-old girl, Laura, had tripped near the fountain. She looked up just as the violet shard struck. It didn't just hit her; because of its magno-tech properties, it sank into her shoulder, disappearing beneath her skin with a flash of light. She let out a sharp cry and collapsed, her eyes momentarily glowing with the same violet hue as my armor before she went unconscious.
"No..." I whispered.
The Breach at West Corp
While I was failing in the streets, my father was succeeding in the shadows.
Detective Vega didn't use a keycard. He used a breaching charge he’d confiscated years ago. He blew the lock on the private elevator in the West Corp lobby and slid down the cable into the "Division" floor.
He stepped out, rifle raised, into a room filled with holographic monitors. He saw the live feed of the mall. He saw the purple-and-green armored figure—the "Anomaly"—getting beaten into the ground by a man with a black spear.
And then he saw the facial recognition scan running on a side monitor.
SUBJECT: VICTORIA VEGA.
MATCH: 99.9%
"My god," he whispered, the rifle lowering. "Victoria, what have you done?"
"She saved your world, Detective," a voice said from the shadows. Garder West stepped out, his arms crossed. "Or at least, she’s trying to. But if she doesn't get up in the next thirty seconds, there won't be a world left for you to protect."
The General's Mercy
Doctor Science hovered over me, the tip of his spear inches from my visor. The HUD was dark. The Watch was silent. I was just a girl in a broken suit, bleeding in the ruins of a shopping mall.
"You have the heart of a hero, Victoria. It's a shame Dementra requires a soul that is broken," he said. He reached down to rip the Watch from my wrist.
Suddenly, a massive jet of water slammed into his side. Leon.
A bolt of blue lightning fried his ship's guidance system. Avan.
"Get away from our intern!" Avan yelled, his eyes glowing blue.
Doctor Science hissed, looking at his malfunctioning ship and the approaching V-Team. He looked back at me, a cruel smile twisting his lips. "Enjoy your 'victory,' Victoria. The shard you lost today... it’s a seed. And the Queen loves to watch things grow."
He tapped a device on his wrist. A rift opened behind him, and the ship, the Wraiths, and the General vanished into the black void.
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