Chapter 2: The Hunt Begins

Kade surged forward, his plasma blade slicing through the air in a blur of neon light. The first Syndicate soldier barely had time to react before the searing energy cut through his chest plate, sending him crashing to the ground. Nova ducked behind a rusted pillar, firing off precise shots from her pulse pistol, each bolt finding its mark.

The tunnel echoed with shouts and gunfire as more soldiers flooded in. Kade twisted, using the momentum of his cybernetic-enhanced body to deflect incoming blasts with his blade. Sparks erupted as energy rounds ricocheted off the metal surfaces around them.

"They just keep coming!" Nova shouted, ejecting a depleted power cell from her pistol and slamming in a fresh one.

Kade gritted his teeth. "Then we cut a path through them."

A Syndicate officer stepped forward, clad in heavier armor than the others. He raised a massive railgun, the barrel humming as it charged.

"Kade Ronin," the officer called out, his voice distorted by his helmet's modulator. "You should've stayed dead."

Kade recognized the voice—Commander Saren, one of the Syndicate's elite enforcers. A former ally turned enemy.

"Funny," Kade said, gripping his blade tighter. "I was just thinking the same about you."

Saren fired. The energy blast ripped through the air like a meteor. Kade barely dodged in time, the heat from the shot scorching his shoulder armor.

"Move!" Nova yelled, tossing a grenade toward the advancing soldiers.

The explosion sent shockwaves through the station, taking out a few Syndicate operatives and giving them a brief window to escape.

"There's a service tunnel behind us," Nova said, already sprinting toward it.

Kade hesitated. His instincts screamed at him to finish the fight, to take down Saren now before he became a bigger threat. But he knew better. They were outnumbered, outgunned.

"Next time," he muttered, before following Nova into the darkness.

They ran through the abandoned tunnels, their breath heavy. The walls were lined with old maintenance drones, long inactive. But as they moved deeper, Nova's cybernetic eye flickered.

"We're not alone," she whispered.

Kade stopped, gripping his blade. "Who?"

A low, mechanical growl echoed through the tunnel. Then, from the shadows, a figure emerged. It was unlike any Syndicate soldier Kade had seen before—its body a fusion of flesh and machine, glowing veins of energy coursing through its limbs. Its eyes burned with an eerie red light.

"Welcome to the hunt," it rasped.

Kade exhaled slowly, raising his blade. The Syndicate wasn't just sending soldiers after them anymore. They had unleashed something far worse.

To be continued…