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"Get off me!" Vesper drove her elbow into my ribs and slammed the muzzle under my jaw.
The shot never came. Her finger jerked against the trigger, and the tether punched the pain straight through my skull.
I hit the concrete on one knee. She staggered with me, one hand clamped over her temple.
"Don't shoot," I rasped. "Unless you want your brain cooked with mine."
"You don't get to give me orders." Vesper pressed the pistol harder against my throat. Her breath brushed my cheek, hot and sharp with panic. "You grabbed the blade. You took the hit. Why are you still standing?"
"Because I'm stubborn."
"Because you're infected."
A burst of white static flashed behind my eyes. I saw her pain before I felt my own. The live tether carried everything now. Her pulse. Her fear. The hard little spike of rage she kept buried under that cold corporate face.
Then the sewer shook again.
A section of floor behind us dropped with a grinding crack. Pipes snapped. Black water rushed across the concrete, dragging chunks of metal into the open shaft.
Vesper shoved herself up and aimed down the passage. "Boris."
"You know him?"
"I know what he does to people who run."
"Great. Love the details."
Something slammed into the lower pipe.
The impact threw dirty water over our boots. A broad shadow moved below the broken floor, too large for the tunnel and too fast for anything human.
Vesper grabbed my jacket and hauled me toward a rusted service ladder. "Move."
"You first."
"I have the gun."
"And I have the tether. Pull that trigger and you die with me."
Her blue-gray eyes snapped to mine. We were close enough for me to see the tiny cut at the corner of her mouth. Close enough to feel the heat of her palm through my jacket.
She hated that I was right.
I hated that she knew exactly how much it mattered to me that she stayed alive.
"Climb," she said.
"That sounded almost polite."
"Climb, Rex."
I grabbed the ladder. The metal bit into my palms as I pulled myself up. Vesper stayed below, covering the tunnel with her pistol while the water rose around her knees.
"You coming?" I called.
"I'm making sure it doesn't follow."
"That's not a plan. That's a dramatic way to die."
"Keep talking and I'll make it happen."
The tunnel behind her bulged.
Not the wall. The water.
A heavy shape rose beneath the surface, pushing the black current up in a thick wave. Vesper fired twice. The muzzle flashes turned her face white. The bullets sparked off armored plating.
"Vesper!"
"I said climb!"
The shape hit her from the side.
She disappeared under the water.
I dropped back down without thinking. My boots struck the ladder rung, then the flooded floor. The tether screamed the second her head went under. Her panic flooded my chest so hard I couldn't breathe.
"Rex! Don't—"
Her voice broke into bubbles.
I plunged both hands into the water and caught a fistful of her coat. Something heavy dragged her toward the open pipe. I wrapped my arm around a ladder support and pulled.
The thing below growled.
It sounded like a machine trying to remember how to be an animal.
"Let her go!" I shouted.
Vesper's hand shot out of the water. She fired blindly. The pistol clicked empty.
"I am not the one holding her!" she yelled.
"Then stop making this difficult!"
"You jumped into a sewer to rescue me!"
"I jumped in because if you die, I die! Don't make it romantic!"
She kicked backward. Her heel connected with my knee. Pain flashed through the tether, doubled, then came back worse.
"Ow!"
"You deserved it!"
The creature dragged again.
My shoulder nearly came out of its socket. I saw Vesper's fingers sliding through my grip, slick with filthy water. I tightened my hand around her wrist.
"Look at me," I said.
"What?"
"Look at me!"
Her eyes found mine through the dark.
"On three," I said. "You kick toward me. I pull."
"You can't pull that thing."
"I didn't ask for a lecture."
"You need a better plan."
"One."
"Rex—"
"Two."
"This is a terrible plan."
"Three!"
She kicked. I pulled with everything the new core had left in my arms.
The tether flared.
For one second, her strength became mine. Her balance. Her perfect timing. I felt her body turn before she moved, and I matched it. We twisted together through the water. My back hit the ladder. Her shoulder struck my chest.
The creature's grip tore loose.
Vesper came up hard, coughing against my neck.
I caught her around the waist and held her there until the current shoved us into the wall.
"Let go," she said.
"You can stand?"
"Let go."
"That isn't what I asked."
She drove two fingers into the nerve under my jaw. My hand opened on reflex.
"Still standing," she said.
Then she punched me in the mouth.
I tasted blood. "Was that for grabbing you?"
"That was for touching me."
"You were drowning."
"I had it handled."
"You were being eaten."
"I was not being eaten."
The creature slammed into the pipe again. The ladder shuddered between us. Vesper's shoulder brushed mine, and the tether sent a hot pulse across my skin.
She felt it too. Her jaw tightened.
"Don't," she warned.
"I didn't do anything."
"Your core did."
"Then yell at the core."
"Gladly."
She shoved away and climbed. I followed, but the thing below scraped its claws along the metal. The sound crawled up my spine.
At the top, Vesper kicked open a maintenance hatch and rolled onto a narrow platform. I came after her, landing beside her hard enough to rattle my teeth.
She was already on her feet.
The pistol had no rounds, but she held it like a club. Her other hand went to the blade strapped along her thigh.
"You're bleeding," she said.
"So are you."
"I asked about you."
"That almost sounded like concern."
"Don't flatter yourself. If you die before I sever this tether, I lose my only lead."
"Your only lead to what?"
She stopped.
The platform ran along the side of a huge sump chamber. Pipes crossed overhead. A maintenance rail separated us from a drop into brown water and broken machinery. At the far end, a narrow service tunnel disappeared into darkness.
Vesper wiped water from her eyes. "You don't get answers for free."
"You put a gun to my throat. That's usually when people start explaining things."
"You stole a military core."
"I scavenged a sealed crate. Big difference."
"You injected it."
"Also true."
"You killed three retrieval agents."
"They started it."
"And now the core is using my nervous system as a stabilizer."
I looked at the thin black lines glowing beneath the skin of her wrist. They pulsed in time with the red interface flickering at the edge of my vision.
"You said you could sever it," I said.
"I said I could try."
"You tried."
"The first attempt failed."
"Because you cut the wrong connection?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Because you moved."
"You stabbed me."
"You moved."
"You stabbed me while I was tied to a pipe."
"You were still moving."
I stepped closer. She didn't back up. The chamber shook beneath us, and her shoulder almost touched mine again.
"You want me dead that badly?" I asked.
"I want the core out of you."
"Same thing, unless you know a way to remove it without taking my spine with it."
Her gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second.
Then she looked away.
"There is a way," she said.
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Your pulse just jumped."
Her hand moved fast.
I caught her wrist before she could strike me. Her skin was cold from the water. Mine wasn't. The contact sent another pulse through the tether, and her breath caught between us.
"Let go," she said quietly.
This time, she didn't sound angry.
I should have released her. Instead, I felt the tremor in her fingers and held on for one second longer.
"Tell me the way," I said.
"You don't have the equipment."
"Then tell me what equipment."
"A surgical cradle. A live isolation field. Three liters of coolant. A cortical map built from the core's original imprint."
"And where do I find all that?"
"At Helix Tower."
I laughed once. It hurt my ribs. "The corporate fortress?"
"You wanted an answer."
"You want me to walk into Helix Tower with you?"
"I want you to stay alive long enough for me to remove the thing."
"No. You want to walk into Helix Tower, use me to bypass security, and take something."
Her fingers flexed under mine. "You noticed."
"I'm not completely stupid."
"No. You're reckless. There's a difference."
"And you?"
"I'm trained."
"You're trapped in a sewer with an empty gun and a scavenger you were paid to execute."
Her mouth tightened.
"Who paid you?" I asked.
"That's not your business."
"They sent Boris after us. That makes it my business."
"Boris isn't here for you."
"Then why did he nearly pull you into a pipe?"
She looked toward the tunnel. "Because he knows I have the core."
That landed harder than the gun.
"You knew it was in the crate," I said. "You weren't sent to kill me. You were sent to recover it."
"I was sent to recover property."
"And if I got in the way?"
"I was authorized to put you down."
"There it is."
I released her wrist and stepped back. The tether still held the space between us like a wire pulled tight.
Vesper didn't raise the gun again. She didn't need to. The blade came free with a soft mechanical click.
"Don't make that face," she said.
"What face?"
"The one where you're deciding whether to hit me."
"I'm deciding whether to push you over the rail."
"You won't."
"Confident."
"You need me."
"You need me more."
Her eyes sharpened. "Explain."
"The core picked me. It uses my body. You stabilize it. That means it needs both of us right now. If you kill me, the core burns through your nervous system before it shuts down. If I kill you, I lose the only person who knows how to keep it from tearing me apart."
"So we're both trapped."
"Looks that way."
"No. You are trapped. I have options."
She raised the blade and turned it toward my chest.
The weapon was thin, black, and vibrating so fast the edge blurred. It hummed between us. A red warning appeared across my vision.
CORE STRESS: 62 PERCENT. NEURAL LINK: UNSTABLE.
I swallowed. "Your options look sharp."
"Hold still."
"You said you needed me alive."
"Alive is a flexible term."
"Not for me."
She stepped in. The blade touched the fabric over my sternum.
The tether tightened.
Her body was inches from mine. I could feel the heat returning to her through the damp material of her jacket. Her eyes stayed on mine, but her hand shook once.
"You're scared," I said.
"I'm deciding where to cut."
"That's not what I said."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I can feel you."
Her expression went still.
"Don't say it like that."
"Why? It's true."
"Because you sound pleased."
"I'm not pleased. I'm trying not to throw up. Your fear tastes like burned metal in my head."
Her blade pressed harder.
"Keep talking," she whispered, "and I'll give you a reason to be sick."
The tunnel behind her boomed.
A metal bolt shot through the darkness and smashed into the rail beside my head. Vesper spun, dragging me down with her. We hit the platform together. Her body landed over mine, one palm flat against my chest.
The tether flared again.
My heart kicked. So did hers.
"Don't move," she breathed.
"You keep saying that while lying on top of me."
Her gaze dropped. The distance between our faces had narrowed to a few inches. Her wet hair brushed my cheek. I could feel each fast breath she took.
"Make one more joke," she said, "and I'll break your nose."
"You already punched it."
"Then I'll do a better job."
Another bolt struck the pipe above us.
Vesper rolled off and pulled me behind a support column. A shape moved at the end of the tunnel. Big shoulders. Heavy armor. Red targeting lights cutting through the steam.
"Boris," she said.
"That's him?"
"You saw him upstairs."
"I saw a wall with legs."
"He was holding back."
"That was him holding back?"
The figure took one step into the chamber.
Boris had once been human. I could still see pieces of the old version in his face, buried under reinforced plating and a jaw-mounted respirator. His right arm had been rebuilt into a rotating impact weapon. The left carried a vibro-blade longer than my forearm.
He tilted his head.
"Vesper Croft," he called. His voice came through a damaged speaker. "You were ordered to return with the asset."
"Tell Director Kaelen he can choke on the order," she shouted back.
Boris's red optics shifted to me. "The asset speaks."
"The asset has a name," I said.
"Not anymore."
Vesper leaned close to my ear. "When I say run, take the left tunnel."
"And you?"
"I keep him busy."
"You can't beat him."
"I don't need to beat him. I need to slow him down."
"That's what people say right before they get crushed."
"Rex."
Her fingers closed around the back of my jacket. The grip was hard, but her thumb pressed once against my neck. A warning. Or a promise. I couldn't tell anymore.
"If I tell you to run, you run," she said.
"No."
"That wasn't a request."
"Good, because I don't take orders from women pointing knives at my chest."
"You take orders from me when the alternative is dying."
"Then give me a better alternative."
Boris raised the impact arm.
The weapon began to spin.
Vesper shoved me left as the first strike came down. The support column exploded where my head had been. Metal fragments cut across my cheek. I hit the floor and rolled beneath a pipe.
"Move!" she yelled.
She fired the empty pistol anyway. The useless clicks made Boris turn toward her.
"You ran out of ammunition," he said.
"I noticed."
"You ran out of allies too."
"Not yet."
Vesper kicked a loose valve into his knee joint. Boris stumbled. She slashed across the cable bundle at his hip. Sparks burst against the water.
He backhanded her.
She flew across the platform and struck the rail. The tether sent the impact through my ribs. I grunted and crawled out from under the pipe.
"Vesper!"
"I'm fine!"
"You are absolutely not fine!"
"Stop checking on me and hit him!"
Boris charged.
I grabbed a length of broken conduit and swung at his head. The metal bent against his helmet. He didn't slow down. His armored shoulder hit my chest and drove me into the wall.
My back cracked against concrete.
His blade came up.
"You want the core?" I said.
Boris's respirator clicked. "I want the hunger inside it."
"Get in line."
He slashed.
I caught the blade with both hands.
The vibration ripped through my gloves and into my bones. Pain shot up my arms. The tether carried it to Vesper, and she screamed somewhere behind Boris.
"Rex! Let go!" she shouted.
"Can't!"
"You'll lose your hands!"
"Then cut him!"
"You're in the way!"
Boris forced the blade closer to my chest. The edge chewed through my jacket. A hot line opened across the fabric.
"Pull harder," he said. "Let the core open you."
"You sound weirdly excited about that."
"It will hollow you out and wear your body."
A red line crossed my vision.
CORE HUNGER DETECTED. TARGET: APEX MUTATION. PERMISSION REQUIRED.
I stared at the message.
Boris's armored arm was packed with illegal mods. I could feel them through the core. Every implant screamed at me like food behind glass.
My mouth filled with the taste of metal.
"Rex," Vesper said. Her voice was closer now. "Look at me."
"Busy."
"Look at me!"
I turned my head.
She stood behind Boris with the vibro-blade in her hand. Her face was tight with pain. Blood ran from her eyebrow. She had one clear strike at the back of his neck.
"If you let go, he kills you," she said.
"I noticed."
"If I strike, the blade hits your shoulder."
"Then don't miss."
"If the core takes his mods, it may not stop."
"You said it had to feed."
"I said it had to feed eventually. Not on a combat frame while it's unstable."
"What's the difference?"
"You could become the target."
Boris pushed again. My elbows buckled.
"Rex," she said, lower now. "Drop the blade."
"No."
"That's not bravery. That's stupidity."
"You like my stupidity."
Her mouth parted. For half a second, she forgot the fight.
Boris twisted his wrist.
The vibro-blade tore through my glove and bit into my palm. The tether erupted. Vesper cried out and nearly dropped her weapon.
I saw her knees dip.
I saw Boris's blade move toward my heart.
Then I made a choice.
I released one hand from the blade, grabbed Vesper by the front of her jacket, and yanked her into the line of my body. My other hand kept the vibrating weapon locked against my chest.
She crashed into me, her cheek pressed to my shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.
"Making sure you don't get fried when he cuts me open."
"You idiot!"
"You said I was reckless."
"I said you were stupid!"
"Same family."
Boris drove the blade forward.
I jammed the weapon against my own chest and locked my arm around Vesper's back. The edge stopped a finger's width from my heart.
The vibration shook through us both.
Her breath hitched against my neck. Her hand seized the back of my shirt, not pushing away this time. Holding on.
"Rex," she whispered.
"Pull it if I turn."
"What?"
"If my eyes go red, if I stop answering, if I reach for you—pull the blade and finish it."
"You want me to kill you?"
"I want you to kill me before the core does something worse."
"Don't say that."
"You heard me."
"I heard a desperate man trying to sound noble."
"I am not noble. I'm practical."
Boris leaned closer. His damaged speaker crackled beside my ear.
"The core has already chosen," he said. "It will eat her first."
Vesper's grip tightened.
"Ignore him," she said.
"He knows something."
"He knows how to scare people."
"You know him."
"I know what he was built to do."
"And what were you built to do?"
Her silence answered before she did.
Boris jerked the blade back, then drove it forward again.
I twisted my wrist and caught the weapon barehanded.
The vibration ripped through my palm. Pain flashed white, but the blade stopped. My fingers locked around the humming edge. The skin of my hand smoked against it.
Vesper stared at me.
"You can't hold that," she said.
"Apparently I can."
"Your hand—"
"Don't look at it. Hit him."
"You need to release it."
"Not until you're clear."
"Rex, let go!"
"No!"
The word came out of both our mouths at once.
Boris's optics brightened. His impact arm rotated faster.
Vesper shoved against my chest. "You said you'd let me kill you if you turned."
"I haven't turned."
"Your eyes are changing."
"Then hurry."
She lifted the blade.
For a second, the weapon hovered beside my neck. Her hand was steady now. Her face was inches from mine. Her eyes searched my pupils as if she could find the line between me and the thing inside me.
"Tell me your name," she said.
I blinked. "You know my name."
"Tell me anyway."
"Rex Vane."
"Again."
"Rex Vane."
"What do you want?"
"To live."
"What do you want from me?"
The question hit harder than Boris's shoulder.
Her fingers pressed into my jacket. Her breath warmed my throat. The tether carried her fear, but beneath it was something she refused to name.
"I want you to stop pointing knives at me," I said.
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one you're getting."
"Rex."
"I want you alive."
The blade in her hand lowered by an inch.
Boris roared and ripped his weapon free. The sudden movement tore my burned palm open. I stumbled, dragging Vesper with me.
His impact arm struck the platform.
The metal floor buckled.
"Run!" Vesper shouted.
We sprinted for the left tunnel.
Boris followed.
The passage narrowed fast. Pipes scraped my shoulders. Vesper ran ahead, then looked back every few steps. I could hear Boris behind us, each footfall cracking the floor.
"Faster!" she yelled.
"You first!"
"I'm already first!"
"Then stop yelling at me!"
A round punched through the pipe beside my head. Hot steam blasted across my face.
Vesper grabbed my wrist and pulled me around a corner. Her fingers stayed there as we ran.
The tether pulsed with every step.
"You can't keep feeding the core," she said.
"I'm not feeding it."
"You're thinking about it."
"Can you read my thoughts now?"
"No. I can feel your impulses."
"That sounds worse."
"It is."
"Then tell me what you feel."
She glanced at me. "Hunger. Pain. Anger."
"Anything else?"
"Don't push me."
"You started it."
"I feel you wanting to turn around and fight him."
"That's because he keeps trying to kill us."
"I feel you wanting to stay close to me."
I missed a step.
She tightened her grip before I fell.
"Careful," she said.
"You sure that's what you're feeling?"
"Don't make me repeat it."
"Maybe you should."
"Maybe I should leave you here."
"You won't."
She stopped so hard I nearly ran into her.
"You keep saying that like you know me," she said.
"I know you haven't pulled the trigger."
"I haven't had a clean shot."
"You had one upstairs."
Her eyes held mine. The tunnel was barely wide enough for us to stand shoulder to shoulder. Her hand was still wrapped around my wrist. Her thumb rested over my pulse.
"You were on your knees," she said. "You were bleeding."
"That sounds like a clean shot."
"It wasn't."
"Why?"
She looked at my mouth again, quick enough to pretend it hadn't happened.
"Because the tether would have taken me with you."
"That's the official answer."
"It's the only answer you get."
Boris's footsteps hit the corner behind us.
Vesper shoved me forward. "Move."
We burst into the sump chamber from the opposite side. A grated walkway crossed the water toward an emergency floodgate. The gate was half-open, its controls blinking amber.
Vesper pulled a thin access spike from her belt.
"Can you open it?" I asked.
"I can lock it."
"That wasn't my question."
"If I lock it, Boris stays on the other side."
"For how long?"
"Long enough if you stop talking."
She knelt at the control panel and jammed the spike into the port.
I turned toward the tunnel.
Boris stepped out.
His armor was torn at the shoulder. Steam curled off his plating. The blade hung low in his hand.
"Vesper," he called. "The director wants the core intact. Your survival is optional."
"Tell him to put it in writing," she said without looking up.
"He already did."
Boris raised his free hand.
A small projector lit on his palm.
Director Kaelen's face appeared in blue light, clean and calm, with no sign that he was watching a kill order play out in a sewer.
"Vesper," the recording said. "If Rex Vane resists extraction, terminate him. If the tether activates, terminate yourself before it reaches the network. Do not allow the prototype to evolve."
Vesper froze.
The access spike slipped from her fingers.
"You knew," I said.
"I knew there was a failsafe."
"You knew it could spread."
"I didn't know it was active."
"He just told you to kill yourself."
"I heard him."
"And you're still working for him?"
Her hand snapped up. "Don't."
"You dragged me into this."
"I was sent to retrieve the core."
"You were sent to erase the evidence."
"You think I don't know that?"
Her voice cracked on the last word.
Boris moved.
I stepped in front of her.
"Get behind me," I said.
"Don't be stupid again."
"You can shoot me later."
"I don't need you protecting me."
"Then protect yourself by opening the gate."
Boris charged across the walkway.
Vesper snatched up the spike and stabbed it into the control panel. The gate groaned. Yellow warning lights turned red.
"It needs a manual release!" she shouted.
"Where?"
"Below the platform."
"Of course it is."
Boris swung.
I ducked under the impact arm and drove my shoulder into his waist. The collision knocked us both against the rail. The metal bent under his weight.
"Rex!" Vesper yelled.
Boris grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me off the walkway.
My boots kicked above the brown water.
"You can't keep it," he said. "Your body will fail."
"You keep saying that."
"Because you keep refusing to understand."
His blade rose.
Vesper fired the pistol.
The empty weapon clicked.
Boris turned his head toward her.
I drove my knee into his damaged hip.
His grip loosened. I dropped, caught the rail, and swung my legs onto the walkway.
"Run!" I shouted.
"I'm not leaving you!"
"That's not what I meant!"
She slid beneath Boris's arm and slashed across the cable behind his knee. Sparks burst. His leg locked.
I grabbed the emergency release lever below the rail.
The lever fought me. It was jammed with rust and old sealant.
"Help me!" I yelled.
Vesper seized the bar beside me. Her shoulder pressed against mine.
"On three," she said.
"You like that plan."
"One."
"You skipped two."
"Three!"
We pulled.
The lever broke loose.
The floodgate dropped halfway with a scream of metal. Water surged through the gap, slamming into Boris's legs. He drove his blade into the walkway and held on.
"It's not enough!" Vesper shouted.
"Then pull harder!"
"I'm pulling!"
"Not at me!"
"You're in my way!"
The floor beneath us cracked.
A deep vibration rolled through the chamber. The core in my chest answered it. My vision stuttered. Red lines crawled across the edges of everything.
CORE HUNGER: 88 PERCENT. TARGET ACQUIRED. APEX MUTATION SIGNATURE DETECTED.
Boris's armor lit up in my vision.
Every illegal modification inside him became clear. The reinforced joints. The weapon system fused to his bones. The combat serum pumping through his frame.
Food.
The word did not come from me.
I grabbed the rail until my fingers hurt.
"Rex?" Vesper said.
"Stay back."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"You don't get to give me orders."
"Vesper, move!"
She stepped in front of me instead.
"Look at me," she said.
"Not now."
"Look at me."
Her hands came up and closed around my face. Cold fingers. Wet skin. Her thumbs pressed beneath my eyes.
The tether went quiet for one impossible second.
I saw her clearly. The blood at her brow. The tight line of her mouth. The fear she was trying to bury under command and steel.
"You are Rex Vane," she said. "You are not the core. You are not Boris. You are not whatever Kaelen wants to build."
"You don't know what I am."
"Then tell me."
"I'm hungry."
"I know."
"It wants him."
"I know."
"If I let it start, I may not stop."
Her hands stayed on my face.
"Then don't stop alone," she said.
I stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you keep the tether open."
"That could kill you."
"You said you wanted me alive."
"I do."
"Then trust me."
Boris ripped his blade out of the walkway and charged through the half-closed gate.
Vesper turned toward him.
I caught her by the waist and pulled her back against me. Her spine hit my chest. My arm locked around her middle as Boris's blade swept across the space where her head had been.
She gasped.
"Let go," she said.
"Not yet."
"Rex."
"You told me not to do this alone."
Her hand closed over my forearm.
"I meant the tether."
"Too late."
Boris raised his impact arm.
I shoved Vesper behind me and stepped toward him.
The red interface filled my sight.
PERMISSION REQUIRED. DEVOUR APEX MUTATION?
My burned palm opened by itself.
Vesper grabbed my shoulder. "Rex, wait."
Boris's blade came up.
My eyes flashed crimson as the core locked onto him down the pipe.
"What the hell are you—"