Chapter 6: Ghosts of the Past

Kade barely had time to breathe. The bodies of the Syndicate Hunters still lay cooling on the tunnel floor, their armor sparking from the final blows he and Nova had dealt. But something felt… off.

Nova must have sensed it too. She grabbed his wrist, her grip tight. "We need to move."

Kade didn't argue.

They sprinted down the dark tunnel, boots splashing through puddles of stagnant water. The sound of their breathing was loud, too loud, but not enough to drown out the eerie silence pressing in around them.

Then—a low, metallic hiss.

Both of them skidded to a stop.

The tunnel lights flickered violently before plunging them into darkness. A chill ran down Kade's spine.

"This isn't right."

Nova activated her cybernetic eye, the glow cutting through the blackness like a beacon. "Kade, we've got movement—no, wait…"

Her voice wavered.

"They're already here."

The air turned frigid.

Kade ignited his plasma blade just as something lunged from the shadows.

A figure cloaked in black metal and wires, moving too fast for the human eye to track.

Kade barely blocked the first strike.

Sparks exploded as his blade clashed against the attacker's razor-thin energy weapon, the force sending him staggering back. Nova fired three precise shots, but the figure twisted in midair, dodging with unnatural grace.

Then it spoke.

"Ronin."

The voice was familiar.

Too familiar.

Kade's blood ran cold. "No…"

The attacker stepped into the dim glow of Nova's cybernetic lens, and Kade's breath caught in his throat.

The face beneath the armor was one he had never expected to see again.

Talon.

His former partner. His best friend.

His brother.

Nova's eyes widened. "Kade… what the hell?"

Talon tilted his head, studying Kade like a predator sizing up its prey. "I told you," he said, his voice a mix of human and machine. "You should have stayed dead."

Kade's grip on his blade tightened. "I watched you die."

Talon took another step forward, his movements unnervingly smooth. Half his face was still human. The other half? Twisted metal, wires running through his skull like veins. His once-warm brown eyes were now replaced with glowing red implants—the mark of the Syndicate's elite experiments.

Nova's hand trembled on the trigger. "What the hell is this, Kade?"

Kade couldn't answer.

He was too busy staring into the ghost of his past.

Talon didn't wait.

He attacked.

The tunnel erupted into chaos as Kade and Talon clashed in a deadly dance of plasma and steel. Every strike was a memory, every block a betrayal.

Talon was faster. Stronger. His Syndicate modifications had turned him into a weapon.

But Kade knew his moves.

Or so he thought.

Talon vanished, reappearing behind him in an instant.

A fist to the ribs.

A knee to the spine.

Kade gasped as pain shot through his body. He barely turned in time to block Talon's next strike, but his blade was too slow.

Talon's weapon sliced across his shoulder.

The searing pain was immediate.

Nova shouted his name and fired. The blast hit Talon square in the chest, sending him skidding back.

For a second, it looked like it had worked.

Then Talon laughed.

A hollow, synthetic laugh.

"Is that all you've got?"

Kade gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain. He had fought Syndicate monsters before. But this?

This was something else entirely.

Nova grabbed his arm. "We have to go!"

Kade hesitated.

His brother was standing right there.

But this wasn't his brother anymore.

Talon smirked, his glowing eyes narrowing. "Run, if you want. I'll find you."

Then he vanished into the shadows.

Kade's heart pounded in his chest.

Nova pulled him forward. "Come on, Kade! We have to—"

A deep rumbling shook the tunnel.

Nova's cybernetic eye flickered. "Oh, hell."

The ceiling collapsed.

A wave of concrete and fire roared toward them.

Kade grabbed Nova and leaped into the unknown.

To be continued…