#The First Mind Burn
#013
The bunker walls groaned under the weight of old storms. Dust shifted with every footstep.
Asher sat near the doorway, pulse pistol in hand, counting the seconds between the distant echoes of chaos outside. Eden worked furiously over a gutted terminal, rewiring it into a jammer. Veyr hadn't returned.
Juno barely moved, save for the occasional twitch. The copper-lined helmet crackled faintly, fighting an invisible war no one could see.
"We can't stay here forever," Eden muttered, soldering a frayed wire with the end of her blade. "They'll find this place eventually."
Asher said nothing. He was watching Juno.
The first tremor hit like a ripple through the room. A wrongness in the air. Like gravity pulling sideways.
Eden cursed under her breath. "They launched it."
"What?"
"The mind burn," she said. "Citywide pulse. Bliss isn't just wiping Recorders now. They're frying anyone who touched the truth."
A low moan escaped Juno's lips.
Asher rushed to his side. "What's happening to him?"
Juno clawed at the helmet, eyes wide and wild. "It's inside—it's inside—"
The walls vibrated. From somewhere deep beneath the city, a pulse rolled outward, making the lights flicker and die.
Outside, distant screams rose and fell, swallowed by the hum of Bliss's new weapon.
Eden slammed the last wire into place. "Shield's up! Helmets on, now!"
She tossed Asher a battered analog headset—a relic from the Riot Days, thick with static shielding. He yanked it on without a second thought.
Juno wasn't so lucky.
The copper helmet sparked, sending a thin wisp of smoke into the air.
"Hold him down!" Eden barked.
Asher pinned Juno's shoulders while Eden yanked the helmet free, slamming the analog headset over Juno's ears. His body convulsed, then slumped.
Asher leaned closer. "Juno. Talk to me."
For a moment, nothing.
Then a whisper, hoarse and broken.
"They're burning the past."
The door rattled with impact. Dust rained from the ceiling.
"They're here," Eden said grimly. She drew a compact EMP blade from her belt. "First wave."
Asher helped Juno to his feet, but the boy could barely stand.
"We can't fight them and save him," Eden said.
"Then we don't fight," Asher said. His mind raced. Options. Exits. Distractions.
He spotted a rusted maintenance hatch half-buried under debris.
"Through there," he said. "I'll cover you."
Eden hesitated—but only for a breath. She grabbed Juno and dragged him toward the hatch.
The door exploded inward with a shriek of twisted metal.
Sleek Bliss enforcers poured in, faces hidden behind reflective visors, neural stingers buzzing in their hands.
Asher fired twice, dropping the first two through sheer luck. He ducked behind a collapsed console as the rest returned fire.
Buy time. That's all.
Eden hauled Juno through the hatch. She looked back once—just once—and Asher saw it. The promise.
You better survive.
The hatch slammed shut.
Alone now, Asher braced himself as the enforcers closed in.
But even as the first stinger pierced the air toward him, Asher smiled grimly.
Because in the wreckage at his feet, a power conduit sparked—untouched, unstable, and ready to blow.
He kicked it with everything he had.
The world flashed white.