They reached the edge of Blackridge Hollow at dawn.
It wasn't a facility—it was a scar in the earth. Twisted towers slumped into a crater where the sky never reached. The entrance was camouflaged, surrounded by sensor mines and scorched soil. But Rael had cracked bunkers tougher than this.
They scouted from the cliffs. Skye knelt beside him, studying a battered map.
"If we cut through the east tunnel, we can reach the comms relay," she whispered. "That's where her uplink feeds in."
"And where we shut it down."
Rael checked his rifle, then pulled a small chip from his coat — Elias Lorne's last encryption key, scavenged from the device Skye carried.
"Once we breach the relay, this goes in. It'll overload her network."
Skye looked at him. "And what if she's there?"
Rael chambered a round. "Then I settle the vow."
---
They infiltrated the facility under cover of smoke from a nearby skirmish — someone else fighting the Chain on another front. Inside, Blackridge Hollow was colder than death. Automated lights flickered across broken metal and humming terminals. Screams echoed through old ducts — machine-processed, memory loops from old experiments.
Then they found her.
Mirex.
She stood in the central chamber, sleek armor wrapped around her like a second skin, half her skull replaced with polished metal. Her eyes were calm and cruel.
"I knew he'd send you," she said to Skye. "Even in death, Lorne plays long games."
Rael raised his rifle. "Step away from the terminal."
"You don't understand what she is," Mirex said. "She's not a girl anymore. She's a code—a living cipher. He made her part of the architecture. If she dies, the map dies with her."
"Then I guess we don't let her die."
Mirex moved fast. Augmented fast. The first round bounced off her shoulder plate. The second found her leg. Rael dropped low as she fired a shock pulse — it scorched the wall inches from Skye.
Skye darted for the console, jacked in the chip.
Mirex lunged. Rael intercepted.
The fight was brutal — fists, knives, sparks. Mirex was stronger, faster, but Rael had something she didn't: purpose. He slammed her into the node and emptied the last of his ammo.
She collapsed, convulsing, the system shorting around her.
Skye screamed as the terminal lit up, data bleeding from her mind into the dying machine. Then silence.
Rael caught her before she fell. She was breathing—barely.
"It worked," she whispered.
"Yeah," he said. "It did."
---
Hours later, they stood outside, the facility smoking behind them. Blackridge Hollow was done. The signal was fried. The Chain's eye was blind.
But Rael knew it wasn't over. The Chain would rebuild. Hunt. Regroup.
"What now?" Skye asked.
Rael looked to the horizon.
"Now we hit back. Not just run. We break the chain, one link at a time."
She nodded. "Together?"
He looked at her, the girl who became the weapon her father designed — and the reason Rael found his fire again.
"Together."