Sylas escaped the Spires in a stolen skiff, the Nexus's skyline a blur of neon and smoke. The Collective's attack had been a distraction, but it confirmed one thing: they were desperate. Veyra's disappearance was another piece of the puzzle.
She wasn't just a Cleaner—she was a key, and Sylas needed her data-core to unlock the Sub-Vaults.Back in the Underdistrict, Rhea met him in a safehouse, a cramped bunker hidden beneath the Sump. "The Nexus is a powder keg," she said, tossing him a stim to clear his head. "The Colonies hit the Syndicate again, and the Enclaves are locking down the Spires.
You've got every faction gunning for you.""Good," Sylas said, plugging Joren's shard into a new rig. "Keeps them distracted." The shard's map fragment had updated, likely from Veyra's data-core syncing in the Sub-Vaults. It pointed to a specific node in the Sub-Vaults, Sector 12, guarded by a quantum firewall and rogue AI fragments. The Nexus Core was there—he could feel it.
"We need Veyra," Sylas said. "Track her signature. She's not with the Enclaves or the Collective—she's running her own play."Rhea's optic whirred. "And the Sub-Vaults? You're not walking in there without an army.""I don't need an army," Sylas said. "I need a lie." He activated his spy-drone network, broadcasting a new leak: Sylas Vren has the Nexus Core. Location: Sub-Vaults, Sector 12. It was a half-truth, but it'd draw every faction to the same spot.
Let them fight. He'd slip through the chaos and claim the Core.By nightfall, the Underdistrict was alive with movement—Syndicate enforcers, Colony raiders, Collective zealots, all converging on Sector 12. Sylas and Rhea infiltrated the Sub-Vaults through a maintenance shaft, his ghost rig cloaking them from psi-drones. The air was thick with static, the walls pulsing with ancient conduits. Sylas's lenses mapped the node's location, but a new alert flashed: Quantum breach detected. Origin code active.The Core wasn't just a system—it was awake.