Chapter 102: To Each Their Own Hell

Chapter 102: To Each Their Own Hell
That was when a voice crackled through the air. Distorted. Inhuman in its neutrality.

“You are progressing well.”

Silence. Then:

“I wanted to be sure you were ready to see what remains of my failures.”

The screens shifted.

A room. Half-filled tanks. Incomplete, malformed bodies suspended in stasis. Others in advanced stages of decay, accompanied by incomplete, blurred medical notes.

One name appeared again and again. A codename: Subject-EV.

Evelyn’s blood ran cold. She knew it. That code had been used in the old files of the laboratory where she had grown up.

Griffin stepped closer, his expression grim.

“These are… drafts. Test versions.”

“Of what?” Rax asked, breath tight.

“Of people,” Evelyn whispered.

Her fists clenched. Something inside her recognized these places, these protocols, this smell… the clinical order of a nightmare.

But she still hadn’t understood. Not yet.

The Master, still unseen, added simply:

“Go on. I’m curious to see how far you’ll go this time.”

A click. The doors opened again.

No one moved.

Not yet.

A harsh burst of static cut through the silence. The screens changed again, revealing a partially blurred face. A silhouette frozen in shadow, barely outlined by digital lines.

The Master’s voice, cold and controlled, echoed through the room:

“I must acknowledge a certain audacity. Even for you, Evelyn.”

Her name cracked like a whip. Zeynn flinched. Rax growled under his breath.

“You never knew how to stay in your place. But I admit you demonstrated a… remarkable strategy. Even if it wasn’t truly your own.”

A faint laugh followed. Distorted. Without warmth.

Then the shadow on the screen rotated, revealing biometric readouts identified by the interface: Jonathan Kane.

“He was useful to me. I let him guide you. Up to this point.”

Kane froze.

“No… He’s lying.”

Evelyn, tense, turned her head toward him but said nothing. Not yet.

The Master continued, relentless:

“You served your function, Kane. The path is marked, the pack is assembled, the pieces are all in place. It is time to begin the game.”

And he switched to another frequency.

One word thundered through every speaker at once, reverberating through the walls of the complex.

“Activation.”

The floor vibrated. New lights snapped on, harsh and cold. A section of the nearby wall rotated, revealing a row of armored pods. The first opened with a hydraulic hiss.

Humanoid security units stepped out in silence. Bulging muscles, veins threaded with internal cabling. They wore the black uniforms of modified mercenaries, their pale, smooth skin stretched taut over combat implants.

Behind them, armed drones burst from the ducts.

And a heavier rustle rolled across the ceilings.

“Armed defense AIs deploying,” Kryna reported, her voice strained. “I can’t disable more than three at once. I have to choose my priorities.”

Vykhor instinctively stepped back, his cybernetic arm beginning to glow faintly.

“We fall back. Now.”

But Evelyn remained frozen, her gaze locked on one of the mercenaries. A face. A detail in the way it moved.

“They… feel nothing. They’re hollow beings,” she breathed.

“Evelyn,” Griffin growled. “This isn’t the time.”

She shook her head, forcing the vertigo away, then clenched her jaw. Her voice hardened.

“Then let’s destroy them.”

Vykhor activated his blades. Rax grabbed his pulse grenades. Skye engaged her rifle scope, already tracking targets.

Zeynn stepped in front of Evelyn. Instinctively.

Kane swore—but he was ready to fight.

Griffin placed a hand on a control panel, prepared to sabotage the entire room if needed.

The Master concluded:

“You were never meant to come this far. But since you insist… amuse me.”

And the battle began.

The first impacts made the walls shudder.

A deluge of projectiles, energy arcs, and metallic shocks slammed into the room. The modified mercenaries advanced without a sound, impervious to pain. A drone exploded in a blue flash under Skye’s precise shot—but others were already taking position.

“Kryna!” Evelyn shouted. “Find us an exit!”

“Impossible. Full lockdown. The AIs are compartmentalizing access… I’m losing control!”

A drone slammed into Rax head-on. He was thrown backward, his implants crackling. Vykhor leapt, hauling him up with one arm. The other—his cybernetic arm—transformed violently, deploying an energy blade thin as a sickle. He cleaved the drone in half, which collapsed in a shower of sparks.

“Move!” he yelled.

But the floor was already giving way beneath them.

A breaching charge planted in the ceiling by an AI detonated with a dull roar. The deck collapsed in a metallic howl. Zeynn, Blue, and Griffin plunged into the void.

“Zeynn!” Evelyn screamed, arm outstretched.

Too late. The boy and the old Exotherian vanished into a cloud of dust, accompanied by Blue’s feline roar—his fangs gleaming white, his fur bristling with energy.

“They’ve fallen into the technical wing!” Kryna reported. “But I’m losing their signal…!”

A mercenary charged. Vykhor caught it bare-handed. His prosthetic vibrated, released a shockwave, and the enemy was reduced to a crushed husk splattered against the wall.

“Evelyn! With me!”

Rax had scrambled back to his feet, bleeding but alive. The three of them sprinted into a secondary corridor Kryna unlocked on the fly. Anti-intrusion shutters slammed shut behind them at the last second.

“Medical wing,” Evelyn murmured. “We’re in the medical wing… I recognize it.”

She was pale but upright. Resolute. Even on the edge of the abyss.

Meanwhile, Skye and Kane, left covering the rear, tried to follow—but the upper levels collapsed with a deafening roar. A bulkhead sealed shut between them and the rest of the group.

Skye swore. “What kind of fucked-up plan was that?”

Kane laughed despite the tension. “The Master never planned for us to walk out alive.”

They looked up. A squadron of drones was already encircling them in the gloom near the ceiling.

Skye raised her rifle. “We improvise.”

Technical Wing – Zeynn, Griffin, Blue

At the other end of the complex, amid the wreckage of the technical wing, Zeynn pushed himself up with difficulty. Cables lay strewn everywhere. Conduits leaked. He reached out a hand to Griffin.

“You okay?”

“I’ve been better.”

They turned at the same time. A low growl rose behind them. Blue—massive, blue-furred, streaked with energy, fangs gleaming—was already shielding the two men, eyes locked on a group of drones advancing through a wall hatch.

Zeynn flashed a feverish smile.

“We’re not alone.”

Griffin reloaded an old ion pistol, teeth clenched.

“No. There are three of us. And one of us bites.”

Medical Wing – Evelyn, Vykhor, Rax

The trio moved down a corridor that was too clean, too silent to be abandoned. A chemical smell hung in the air—recent disinfectant, no dust, no mold.

Evelyn slowed, her hand brushing the metal wall.

“This isn’t just a forgotten complex. Someone maintains this place…”

“Or something,” Rax growled, scanning the shadows with a sharp eye.

They reached a consultation room. Wall screen. Dormant consoles. Intact furniture. Then, suddenly, the screen lit up.

No sound.

Just an ancient crest: that of the Kael’seth. And immediately after, archival footage.

Vykhor went pale.

Kael’vryn, his father, appeared on screen. The king fell, stabbed in the back, fighting to his last breath with that same spark of defiance in his eyes—the same spark Vykhor carried.

Then a woman with silver hair standing before a group of children. Althara. His mother. Arms outstretched, a final barrier between them and the flames. She fell, pierced by multiple blows.

Finally, himself—younger—screaming, grabbing a guard to rush back into the fight… his right arm reduced to a bloody stump.

Evelyn raised a hand to her mouth. Rax frowned, ready to fire.

Then another sequence. Less clear. Blurred silhouettes. And among them, one recognizable face:

The Master. Younger. Present that day. A participant in the betrayal.

The Master’s synthetic voice echoed through the speakers:

“You have always wondered, haven’t you? Who betrayed your people. Who destroyed your legacy. Now you know. And you also know that I allowed you to live.”

A glacial silence fell.

Vykhor stared at the screen as if the flames might burn him again. His fists clenched.

“All this time…” he murmured.

“Vykhor,” Evelyn whispered. “I’m sorry…”

“Sorry?” His voice was low, dangerous. “You knew? You knew he was there that day?”