Chapter 14
THE SOUND of Voss’s voice reverberated through the chamber, sinking under her skin.
Apex’s posture changed, every line of his body going still as carved stone.
The air between them snapped with tension.
Emmy’s heart hammered in time with the Valenmark’s glow, a frantic rhythm that told her the calm was over.
She shifted Hannah more tightly into her arms and whispered, “We’ve been found.”
And deep inside the walls, machinery stirred.
Steam hissed from the seams of the vault. The lights along the ceiling strobed red, each pulse making the glassy walls tremble. Core’s voice whispered into the silence again. “Multiple hostiles inbound. Eight signatures. Primary unit augmented.”
“Voss,” Emmy breathed. “What’s he augmented with?”
Lume’s wings flared with agitation. “It smells wrong. Metal and blood.” The creature’s rainbow eyes dimmed to wary green as she darted closer to Emmy’s ear. “He is near. He is different now.”
Apex moved toward the front of the chamber, calm in that unnerving way of his, no wasted motion. “Get behind the pods,” he said.
His voice was measured, deep, almost quiet, but it filled the space as if the vault itself obeyed him. He looked back once, and the connection between them tightened so fiercely she could barely breathe.
She nodded and lowered Hannah beside Winn.
Both women still looked ghost-pale, lips bluish from the cold of stasis, but they lived.
Locus and First leaned against the pod casings, barely conscious, struggling to rise.
To assist Sixth. Emmy crouched between them, trying to pull what little protection she could from the glass barriers around them.
The floor shuddered. The main door split with a shriek of grinding steel. Smoke poured through the widening gap, thick and oily. Through it stepped Voss.
He was worse than she expected after the Predator attack.
Flesh met machine in a grotesque marriage of sinew and steel.
Half his face gleamed with alloy plates that caught the red light and threw it back like a monster’s glare.
The other half was scarred meat, his mouth twisted into something between a grin and a wound.
One arm was completely mechanical, the fingers clawed and segmented, humming faintly with power.
Where his heart should have been, cables pulsed under translucent armor.
“You really do not know when to quit,” Voss said, voice distorted with static. “I counted on that.”
Apex stood utterly still, violet light flickering in his eyes. “Release the corridor,” he said, low and constrained. “Let them pass.”
Voss laughed. “Pass? You misunderstand, Commander. This is my vault. My merchandise. You broke the lock and freed my stock.” He tilted his head toward the four semi-conscious forms behind Emmy.
“Do you have any idea what they are worth? Whole syndicates would drain their coffers for warriors this pure.”
“They are not yours.” Apex’s tone did not rise, but the words hit like a weapon.
Voss circled closer, mechanical joints whining with each step.
“You broke me once, Vettar. You left me to die. So I rebuilt. Stronger. Better. I learned what lasts.” He tapped the metal covering his chest. “This lasts. Flesh rots. Love rots. You think that mark makes you strong? It chains you. The strong do not bond. They take.”
The silence stretched taut. The heat rolled off Apex, the storm of fury beneath his iron stillness. Her Valenmark burned, pulsing with his restraint, a living thing holding back something hideous.
Voss smiled, cruel and knowing. “Come on then. Let us see if your little pet can save you again.” He gestured to his mercs. “Take them.”
The vault erupted.
Bolts of plasma slashed the air, hitting pods and consoles, spraying molten glass.
Apex moved before Emmy could think. He crossed the space in a blur, intercepting the first two mercs, his movements precise and silent.
The impact shook the room. A single strike crushed the first man’s armor.
Another sent the second crashing into the wall.
“Down!” Apex barked as he took out a third merc.
Emmy dropped behind the pods, heart pounding. Core’s voice in her ear was sharp. “Four remaining hostiles. Two heavy, one drone-class. Apex engaged.”
Lume streaked through the chaos, light flaring as she spat a thread of dazzling sparks into a merc’s visor.
The man screamed, clawing at his faceplate.
Emmy grabbed the pulse-tool at her belt, set it to overload, and hurled it into a group of attackers.
It detonated in a burst of blue light, dropping them in a twitching heap.
Apex turned briefly, the barest glance of approval in his eyes before a new shadow loomed behind him.
Voss charged, faster than his size should allow, cybernetic arm crackling with power.
Apex caught the blow with both hands, metal screaming against his palms. The shock drove him back a step, boots gouging tracks into the glass floor. Sparks showered between them.
“Still flesh,” Voss snarled. “Still weak.”
Apex twisted, shoving him sideways, sending the slaver crashing into a console. “You would know weakness, Voss.”
The slaver laughed, rising. “And you will know loss. Shall we test how much you can bear?”
The next strike was a blur of light and sound. Emmy ducked as part of the ceiling shattered. The battle became chaos, a rhythm of violence that left her breathless even to watch. Apex’s accuracy met Voss’s brute power, and the floor vibrated with every collision.
Emmy crawled to the fallen mercs, checking each one, stripping weapons she might use. The air was thick with smoke and ozone. Through it she could see Apex, barehanded now, gripping the edge of Voss’s mechanical arm, forcing it back inch by inch.
Voss’s remaining flesh twisted into a grin. “You cannot kill what has already replaced itself.”
He twisted, claws raking across Apex’s bicep. Metal scraped flesh. Blood splattered the floor. The Valenmark on Apex’s arm flared white-hot. Emmy gasped. Pain seared through her wrist, sharp enough to steal her breath.
“Apex!”
He turned his head slightly, enough for her to see the gleam in his eyes. “Stay down.”
Voss lunged again. Apex caught him mid-motion, driving his elbow into the slaver’s chest. Metal dented under the force. He pivoted and threw Voss across the chamber. The impact sent a wave of blue fire through the glass wall. Cracks spidered outward, glowing.
“Warning,” Core said, voice rising. “Containment field destabilizing. Magnetic structure will collapse in one hundred and twenty units.”
Emmy’s mind reeled. “We have to get out of here.”
Apex didn’t answer. He stalked forward, movements fluid and lethal. Voss dragged himself upright, chest plating shattered. “Run if you wish,” Voss hissed. “You cannot save them all.”
Apex’s voice came calm and low. “I will save who I must.”
He drove his fist into Voss’s midsection, the blow landing with a thunderous crack that echoed through the chamber.
The scent of scorched metal filled the air, mixing with blood and ozone.
Heat radiated from the reactor core behind them, washing over Apex’s skin in waves as his knuckles connected with armor and bone.
Sparks flew, searing the floor. The shock vibrated up his arm, a burst of sensation that blurred pain and fury together.
In a blindingly swift move, Apex lifted Voss and sent him crashing through the final containment pillar.
The reactor core beyond it flared, lightning crawling up the walls.
Energy licked the ceiling, igniting the storm overhead. The planet roared.
“Core,” Emmy shouted, “map a path to the ship!”
“Exit vector east by northeast. Seismic instability rising.”
She pulled Hannah up, shouting for Locus. “Move! Now!”
Apex turned once, blood streaking his arm. His gaze met hers through the storm. “Go.”
“No! Not without you!”
“Go!” The word cracked like thunder.
She obeyed because the alternative was dying where she stood.
The vault collapsed in stages, beams giving way, cables snapping. Emmy hauled Hannah toward the passage, Core guiding every step. Locus and Jo’Nay followed, half-carrying Winn. Behind them came the sound of something enormous tearing loose.
She risked one look back. Apex and Voss were locked together in the heart of the storm, lightning crawling across both bodies, sparks haloing them in blue and white.
For a moment they looked almost the same—two titans made of light and fury.
Then Apex broke free, driving Voss backward into the reactor core. The explosion lit the canyon like dawn.
Emmy was thrown forward, hitting the tunnel floor. The shockwave followed, slamming into her back. She screamed for Core, for Apex, for anything that might still answer.
“Continue to the ship. I will locate Apex.”
She staggered up, dragging her sister. Locus helped while the tunnel shook. The world was ending behind them.
They burst out into the open air just as the vault imploded. The sky above Varnoss IX went white. The floating continents trembled, their silver tethers flaring in violent arcs. Glass and ash rained down.
The ship waited on the ridge, engines cycling, hull glowing with energy discharge. Locus stumbled inside with Winn and Hannah. Jo’Nay and Emmy followed, lungs burning. “Core, find Apex!”
“Confirmed. Launching.”
“No, not without Apex!”
Ignoring her, the ship lurched skyward. The blast hit seconds later, turning the canyon into molten light. Emmy fell against the console, gasping.
“Core! Where’s Apex?”
“Detecting life signature,” Core replied. “Coordinates ahead.”
Through the haze below, a silhouette rose from the destruction, backlit by fire and lightning. Apex walked through the inferno, armor cracked, blood on his face. He leapt, landing on the ship’s slowly closing ramp as Core adjusted altitude.