Chapter 95 The True Master

Chapter 95 The True Master
Marcus

The metal floor groaned as the ship tilted upward, climbing fast into the sky. I rolled into a corner of the pitch-black cabin, my knees pressed hard against my chest. My knuckles were bleeding, and my head throbbed where Mason had hit me. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the cold horror freezing my chest.

A shadow.

The woman who had hunted us, the one who had ordered the Reaping in my home sector, was just a duplicate. A fake. The real monster had been sitting in the clouds all along, watching us bleed for a prize she already controlled.

The overhead lights suddenly buzzed to life, painting the small metal room in a harsh, clinical white. A thick glass wall slid down from the ceiling, splitting the cabin in half. On the other side stood the woman in the red military coat.

Up close, she looked older than the Director down in the theater, her eyes a pale, milky blue that felt empty of human feeling. Beside her stood Unit Seven, the massive gray machine that had broken my family.

"You look just like your father when he was angry, Marcus," she said. Her voice came through a small metal grille in the glass wall. It was smooth, steady, and terrifyingly gentle. "He always did have a terrible habit of fighting the hand that fed him."

"My father hated you," I spat, pulling myself up by using the metal wall for balance. I glared at her through the glass. "He died trying to hide the network codes from people like you."

The woman smiled, a small, cold twitch of her lips. "Julian Thorne didn't hide those codes to save you, child. He hid them because he wanted to keep the power for himself. I gave him the laboratory. I funded his cybernetic research when the Board wanted to execute him for illegal human testing. I am Grand Marshall Vane. Your father was my top scientist."

My breath hitched in my throat. No. That couldn't be true. Julian Thorne was a hero to the lower sectors. He was the man who gave us hope.

"You're lying," I whispered, my voice cracking. "He loved us. He wanted to destroy your system."

"He wanted to replace it with his own," Vane replied smoothly. She stepped closer to the glass, her pale eyes locking onto the blue lines on my skin. "Why do you think your body is compatible with the grid? Why do you think your brother Julian was built to act as a living battery? Your father didn't build a family, Marcus. He built a circuit. And now, I am going to plug you in."

Sarah

"Jax! Get up!" I screamed, shaking his shoulders.

The purple dust on his jacket was fading, but his eyes were still glassy and blank. Behind me, the sound of crackling wood grew louder. The electrical fire from Mason's ruined armor had caught the velvet stage curtains. Thick, black smoke was starting to fill the empty auditorium, making it hard to see, hard to breathe.

Lily was crying, her small hands tugging at my arm. "Sarah, the bad people are coming back! I hear them!"

I looked toward the back of the stage. The Director was gone. She must have crawled away into the shadows while the giant robot was attacking us. But then I heard it, the heavy sound of military boots marching down the hallway outside. Mason’s backup soldiers were entering the building.

"Jax, please," I sobbed, tears cutting lines through the soot on my face. "I can't carry both of you. We have to go."

Jax let out a sharp, ragged gasp, his chest heaving as his eyes suddenly snapped into focus. He looked at the smoke, then at me, the confusion on his face instantly turning into pure panic. "Marcus... where is Marcus?"

"They took him," I said, helping him drag himself to his feet. My broken ribs screamed in agony, but I forced the pain down. "A flying ship. We have to move, Jax! The soldiers are in the building!"

Jax grabbed the iron wrench I had dropped, his jaw tightening until the bone showed against his skin. "They think they can just take everything from us. They think we're just garbage they can sweep away." He looked at Lily, his expression hardening into something terrifying. "We aren't running down to the lower sectors anymore, Sarah. We're going up."

"How?" I asked, coughing as the smoke hit my lungs.

Jax pointed up through the shattered glass dome. A thick steel cable from the robot's descent was still dangling down, swaying gently above the stage. It was hooked to an automated winch on the high roof of the conservatory.

"Grab Lily," Jax barked, wrapping his arms around the heavy wire. "We're taking their own elevator."

Marcus

Inside the ship, the floor gave a massive lurch, signaling that we had reached our destination. The Grand Marshall turned away from the glass wall, tapping a few commands into a sleek wristpad.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, slamming my bloody hands against the thick glass.

"To the primary junction," Vane said without looking back. "The northern sectors are already integrated. Once your neural matrix is linked to the core, the lower sectors will be wiped clean. We will restart the city without poverty. Without the rebellion."

The glass wall suddenly shattered.

It didn't break from my hits. A massive, white-hot metal spike erupted through the floor of the ship, tearing through the steel plating right between the Grand Marshall and me. The ship violently rocked sideways, the alarms blaring a frantic, red warning.

Through the torn metal of the floor, a hand reached up. It wasn't human. The skin was gone, revealing a glowing, silver cybernetic skeleton covered in burning blue sparks.

A face rose from the smoke. It was half-crushed, the metal skull showing through the melted skin, but the single bright eye was a fierce, blazing blue.

It was Julian. He hadn't died under the concrete. He had crawled out of the grave, his body completely ruined, but his core still burning with an unstoppable desire for revenge.

He didn't look at Vane. His silver hand locked onto my ankle, pulling me down toward the open belly of the crashing ship.

"Marcus," his broken, metallic voice hissed through the smoke. "We finish this now."

Julian is alive, but he's barely functional! As the ship plummets toward the city core, will Julian save Marcus, or is he dragging them both into a final, fiery grave?