The tunnel mouth loomed like a jagged throat, coughing the three of them back into the underground.
Nice hit the ground hard, boots splashing into cold runoff. He didn't stop moving—just turned, grabbed Ezra, and helped him down after Cleo. His breathing was ragged, heartbeat still hammering from the building, the Swarm, and the thing that used to be Royce.
Ezra collapsed to his knees, coughing, soaked in sweat. "We made it. Holy shit—we actually made it."
"Alive," Nice said. "That's all."
He looked behind them.
The grate to the storm tunnel still trembled from when they kicked it shut.
It wasn't locked.
Cleo was already walking ahead, silent, face unreadable. Her coat was torn, one braid slick with dried blood, but she hadn't said a word since the final sprint from the tower.
They moved fast, not speaking, guided only by the dim wall lights and the memory of safe paths.
When they finally reached the main barricade at the base entrance, Mara and Reyes were waiting.
Mara stepped forward the moment she saw them, rifle half-raised. Her eyes scanned them like lasers.
"Status?"
Ezra practically fell into her. "The signal's real. We found the source—Captain Royce. He was alive. Or… kind of alive."
"Kind of?" Reyes asked, stepping forward, brows furrowed.
Nice met his eyes. "They were using him. Plugged into the walls. Talking through him. He wasn't human anymore."
Reyes looked shaken, more than he let show. "They've never used a human as a transmitter before."
"They're learning," Cleo said quietly. "And quickly."
Mara's gaze snapped to her. "Did they follow?"
"We didn't see anything," Nice said, though he couldn't shake the feeling. "But… it doesn't feel like we left clean."
Mara nodded once. "We'll run scans. You three, debrief in two hours. Eat. Rest. Reyes—blood test them all."
Reyes motioned for them to follow him into the infirmary. Nice went first, letting the doc draw a sample from his arm in silence. Ezra babbled nervously the whole time. Cleo didn't even blink.
Reyes kept checking his scanner, brows knitting together.
"Something wrong?" Nice asked.
The older man hesitated. "Your chemistry's off. Elevated cortisol. Neural strain. But nothing foreign. No swarm spores. No mutations."
He glanced at Cleo.
She stared straight back.
"You already knew, didn't you?" Reyes said to her.
"They reached out. I just heard it clearer this time."
He didn't press. He just sighed and waved them off. "Get some rest. I'll keep watching the data."
Later, Nice sat at the edge of the sleeping quarters, elbows on his knees, shirt off, steam rising from his skin. He'd cleaned the blood but not the memory. Royce's voice still rang in his ears. They were beautiful… until they screamed.
Mara sat beside him, handing him a sealed ration bar. She looked tired. Older than yesterday.
"They say what happened?" she asked.
Nice unwrapped the bar slowly. "It wasn't a rescue mission. It was a lesson."
Mara frowned. "Explain."
"They wanted us to find Royce. To see what they could do. What they are doing."
"They're evolving," she said quietly.
Nice nodded. "Faster than us. Every time we think we understand them, they shift the rules."
She chewed her cheek, then said, "We can't keep reacting. We need a plan."
Nice looked at her, eyes steady. "Then we start by figuring out what Royce became. And if there's more like him."
Mara stood. "Reyes is already working on it. You just stay sharp."
She left him alone with the darkness.
But the darkness didn't feel alone.
Nice turned slowly, eyes narrowing toward the corner of the chamber.
For just a second—he saw it.
A flicker.
Not light.
A shape.
Just… watching.
Then gone.