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"What's happening?" one of Hammond's guards asked nervously, glancing between the sparking equipment and his commander.

Hammond's eyes narrowed, assessing the situation rapidly. "Feedback loop," he snapped. "Someone stabilize the primary regulator!"

But it was too late. The whine intensified, rising to an unbearable shriek. Energy arced visibly between the console, the restraint table, and Claire herself. The air crackled, thick with the scent of ozone and burning circuits.

"It's overloading!" Rivera shouted, pulling Claire away from the epicenter of the surge.

Hammond barked orders, but the chaos escalated too quickly. The main console exploded in a spray of sparks and molten metal. The floor beneath us shuddered violently as the energy feedback loop spiraled completely out of control, ancient technology pushed far beyond its limits, tearing itself apart from the inside out.

RIVERA

The world exploded. One moment, Hammond stood framed in the doorway, radiating cold command; the next, the lab dissolved into pure chaos. Sound hit first—a deafening shriek of tortured metal and overloading energy systems that bypassed my ears and slammed directly into my skull. Then came the pressure wave, thick and hot, stealing the air from my lungs.

Dust and pulverized debris filled the air instantly, choking me, blinding me. My eyes streamed, useless. The acrid smell of burning insulation and ozone burned my nostrils. Lights flashed erratically through the swirling gloom—emergency strobes battling the violent blue-white arcs of uncontrolled energy erupting from the ruined console. My markings flared, a searing network of pain beneath my skin responding to the raw, chaotic power unleashed around us. It felt like being scraped raw from the inside out.

Something heavy slammed into my back, driving me forward. I hit the floor hard, the impact jarring through my bones. Before I could react, a massive weight covered me—solid, warm, smelling faintly of Arenix soil and something uniquely Nyxari. Varek.

Debris rained down, striking his back with heavy thuds. I heard him grunt, the sound tight with pain, but his body remained an unyielding shield over me and Claire, who lay somewhere beneath his other side. Through the gaps between his arm and torso, I caught flashes of the unfolding destruction—ceiling panels crashing down, equipment exploding, energy bolts striking indiscriminately. I saw a flash of Hammond's pristine uniform near the doorway, then scrambling movement as guards were thrown back by secondary blasts or falling wreckage. Their immediate threat vanished into the larger catastrophe.

The initial chaos subsided slightly, replaced by the groan of stressed metal and the ominous cracking of failing support structures. The air remained thick with dust, making each breath a painful effort.

"Varek?" I coughed, trying to push myself up.

His weight shifted slightly. "Stay down," he ordered, his voice rough, strained.

I twisted, trying to see past him. Claire lay beside me, terrifyingly still, her eyes closed. Her markings, usually a faint silver tracery, were completely dark, as if the overload had short-circuited them. Was she breathing?

"Claire?" I reached for her wrist, fingers fumbling in the dim, strobing light. Her skin felt cold, clammy. But there—a faint, thready pulse. Alive. Unresponsive, but alive.

Varek shifted again, pushing himself up slowly. His movements were stiff, pained. I saw fresh tears in his tunic, dark blood staining the fabric across his shoulder and side where debris must have struck him. He ignored it, his attention immediately fixed on our surroundings.

"The structure is unstable," he stated, his voice low and urgent. "We need to move. Now."

He was right. The floor tilted beneath us. Another support beam groaned ominously overhead. The salvaged hull plating Hammond had used for walls buckled inward. This whole section of the compound was coming down.

"Which way?" I scanned the wreckage-choked lab, my engineer's mind trying to assess structural integrity through the dust and chaos. My markings pulsed dully, offering confused signals—danger everywhere, no clear path.

Varek helped me pull Claire up between us. She remained limp, dead weight, her head lolling against my shoulder. Supporting her while navigating this unstable environment would be nearly impossible.

"Through there," Varek pointed toward a section where the outer wall had partially collapsed, revealing twisted girders and ruptured conduits leading into what might have been a service corridor. "It appears less compromised than the main exit."

We half-carried, half-dragged Claire toward the opening, stumbling over debris, ducking under sparking wires. The air grew hotter, thick with smoke. Behind us, a massive section of the ceiling collapsed where we'd been moments before.

Varek used his strength to shove aside a heavy piece of fallen machinery blocking the opening, his injured shoulder clearly protesting the effort. We squeezed through into the narrow service corridor beyond. It was barely standing—walls buckled, floor littered with rubble, emergency lights flickering weakly.

"Keep moving," Varek urged, taking more of Claire's weight as I navigated the treacherous footing.

We stumbled onward, the sounds of the lab's final collapse echoing behind us. This corridor offered temporary refuge, but it felt like a tomb waiting to happen. Every groan of stressed metal, every tremor beneath our feet, threatened to bring it down around us. We reached a junction choked with fallen ductwork and collapsed panels. One path angled sharply upward, the other continued level but looked even more unstable.

"Upward?" I suggested, eyeing the precarious slope. "Might lead toward the surface levels."

Varek scanned the options, his golden eyes narrowed in assessment. "The level path is structurally weaker. Upward offers the better chance, though the climb will be difficult."

Difficult was an understatement. Carrying Claire between us up that unstable slope seemed impossible. But staying here meant certain death. We braced ourselves, took Claire's weight, and started climbing into the darkness.

VAREK

Pain was a constant rhythm beneath the chaos—the fire in my shoulder, the sharp ache where the energy bolt had grazed my side, the deeper throb from impacts sustained shielding Rivera and Claire. I pushed it down, compartmentalized it. Duty demanded focus. Protect them. Escape.