The sun hung low and bruised in the sky as Marcus and Danny raced back toward their transport. Every instinct screamed that they were being watched—not by monsters, but by something colder. Calculated. Patient.
Back inside the battered vehicle, Danny slammed the door shut and began interfacing with what little tech still functioned beyond the System's range.
"We can't fight her alone," he said immediately, his fingers flying over the console. "Even with your Evolution, even with everything you've absorbed, this... this is bigger."
Marcus didn't respond right away. His mind reeled through possibilities, strategies, risks.
"We need the others," he said finally.
Danny blinked. "The other Awakened? But—most of them scattered after the Fall. They're dangerous, unstable—"
"Exactly," Marcus said, eyes sharp. "They're the only ones unstable enough to fight something built to preserve stability."
He tapped the dashboard, bringing up a crude map riddled with holes where the Spiral had torn the earth apart. Only a few blinking markers remained: Outposts. Ruins. Survivors.
[System Sync: Partial – Coordinates Available for 3 Awakened Operatives]
"We'll start with them," Marcus said. "Anyone strong enough to survive this long has already faced the Spiral at its worst."
Danny hesitated. "You know most of them aren't going to like you."
Marcus gave a humorless smile. "They don't have to like me. They just have to hate extinction more."
The transport roared back to life, and they sped toward the nearest marker.
As they drove, Marcus opened his System interface manually, bypassing the damaged auto-links.
[Custom Mission Directive Created: Operation Phoenix][Objective: Assemble Evolutionary Strike Team][Secondary Objective: Sabotage Legacy Protocol Before Awakening]
The first name blinked into existence: Lucien Vale—once a soldier, now a rogue warlord of a broken city. Known for absorbing and weaponizing structural evolution: skin like concrete, fists like wrecking balls.
"Lucien will be a problem," Danny muttered. "Last anyone heard, he was carving up Outpost 17 for spare parts."
Marcus nodded grimly. "We won't convince him. We'll challenge him."
Danny swallowed nervously. "Challenge him how?"
Marcus's System flared quietly inside his chest, the promise of new evolutions whispering just beneath his skin.
"Simple," Marcus said. "We beat him."
The transport crested a ruined hill. In the distance, the cracked skyline of Outpost 17 rose like jagged teeth against the blood-colored sky.
Smoke curled from crumbling towers.
Gunfire echoed faintly across the wasteland.
Lucien was home.
And Marcus was coming.
[Mission Start: Reclaim the Future]