Free Web NovelThe room shifted focus.
Aris Thorne's fingers danced across the control panel, pulling up new data streams, tactical maps, and energy signature analyses. The holographic display now showed the wasteland in its entirety, the fallen Eclipse territories marked in gray, the Tech-Savants base pulsing blue, and two red blips indicating the last known positions of Darwin and Subject Omega.
"We need a strategy," Aris said, her voice crisp and professional. "A real, executable plan."
Fey nodded, her data-slate already glowing with notes. "Agreed. But we can't move until Julian wakes up. He's the core of any assault."
"Then we plan around him," Celestia said calmly. "We prepare everything we can now, so when he's ready, we move immediately."
Veronica crossed her arms. "What about Darwin? He's not going to just sit still while we recover."
Aris shook her head. "Actually, he doesn't have a choice."
Every eye turned to her.
"Explain," Fey said.
Aris tapped the holographic display. The image zoomed in on Darwin's last known position—a pulsing red blip near the ruins of the Eclipse stronghold.
"Darwin's fusion with Subject Zero wasn't a clean process," Aris said. "Our sensors picked up massive energy fluctuations during and after the event. His body is still stabilizing. His skills are probably unstable. And his forces..." She pulled up another data stream. "Are scattered, leaderless, and terrified."
Nox's pale eyes narrowed. "You're saying he's weak right now."
"I'm saying he's vulnerable," Aris corrected. "But not weak. There's a difference." She turned to face the room. "Darwin is smart. He knows that attacking us now, in our own base, with his forces in disarray and his body still adapting, would be suicide. He'll wait. He'll regroup. He'll figure out how to use his new abilities before he tries anything."
Zoe's golden eyes flickered. "How long?"
"Days. Maybe a week." Aris glanced at Julian's vitals on a side screen. "About the same amount of time Julian needs to recover." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Beatrix, sitting near the holographic projector, finally spoke. Her tired eyes were fixed on the data streams.
"So we have a window," Beatrix said quietly. "A short one."
"Yes," Aris agreed. "Which means we use it wisely. No wasted movements. No unnecessary risks. We prepare everything we need for the assault, and when Julian is ready, we move."
Dori raised her hand slightly, like a student in a classroom. "What about the mutant woman? Subject Omega?"
Aris's expression darkened.
"That's the problem," Aris admitted. "We don't know where she is. She vanished after the confrontation, and our sensors haven't picked up any trace of her since." She paused. "She could be anywhere. Planning anything. And until she shows herself, we're blind."
Nox smiled slightly. "Good. Because I didn't come alone."
He raised his hand and gestured toward his two crew members standing near the door.
The scarred-faced man stepped forward first. He was broad-shouldered, with close-cropped gray hair and a network of old scars across his face and hands. His eyes were a calm, steady brown, and he moved with the quiet efficiency of someone who had survived many battles.
"This is Krieg," Nox said. "My second-in-command. He doesn't talk much, but he doesn't need to."
Krieg nodded once at the women around the table. No smile. No words. Just acknowledgment.
The tattooed woman stepped forward next. She was lean, wiry, with short-cropped dark hair and a series of intricate black tattoos spiraling up her arms and across her neck. Her eyes were sharp, intelligent, and constantly moving—assessing, calculating.
"And this is Vesper," Nox continued. "She's our intelligence specialist. If there's information to be found, she'll find it."
Vesper's lips curled into a small smile. "Charmed."
Aris raised an eyebrow. "And their skills?"
Nox's expression turned serious.
"Krieg has a skill called Will Breaker. It's passive, grants him near-total immunity to mental attacks. Domination, fear, confusion, mind control, none of it works on him." He glanced at Krieg. "He's also our primary close-quarters combatant. He's killed more men with his bare hands than most factions have soldiers."
Krieg's expression didn't change.
"Vesper," Nox continued, "has a skill called Data Stream. She can interface directly with any electronic system, cameras, computers, communications, even some locked databases. If it runs on electricity or Aethel energy, she can crack it."
Vesper's smile widened. "I've opened doors that weren't meant to be opened."
Fey's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Those are... useful."
"They're essential," Nox corrected. "Because we're not just fighting Darwin. We're fighting whatever Subject Omega is planning. And to do that, we need more than just firepower. We need information."
Beatrix spoke up from her seat near the holographic projector, her tired eyes fixed on Vesper.
"Meaning with her ability, we could potentially track Omega's movements," Beatrix said quietly. "If she's controlling mutants or zombies, she's leaving traces. Energy signatures. Communication frequencies. Something."
Nox nodded slowly, his pale eyes glinting with approval.
"Exactly right," Nox said. "Vesper has already begun scanning the wasteland for irregular signal patterns. Anything that doesn't fit normal mutant behavior." He glanced at his intelligence specialist. "Tell them what you found."
Vesper stepped forward, her sharp eyes moving across the holographic display. She raised her tattooed arm and tapped a few commands into the control panel beside Aris. The display shifted, showing a series of data points scattered across the wasteland, dozens of them, clustered in specific regions.
"Most of these are ordinary hordes," Vesper said, her voice calm and professional. "Random movements, no coordination, no leadership. But here"—she pointed to a cluster near the eastern mountains—"and here"—another cluster closer to the Cradle—"the patterns are different. They're not random. They're organized. Moving with purpose."
Fey leaned forward, her blue eyes narrowing. "Organized how?"
"Zombies don't usually form defensive perimeters," Vesper said. "They don't set up ambushes. They don't leave scouts behind to watch for pursuit." She looked up, her dark eyes meeting Fey's. "But these ones do."
The room went quiet.
Zoe's golden eyes flickered. "Someone is commanding them."
"Someone," Vesper agreed. "And given what we know about Subject Omega's abilities, it's a safe bet that someone is her."
Celestia's silver-thread skill coiled around her fingers, slow and thoughtful.
"So she's building an army," Celestia said. "Right under our noses."
Nox's expression darkened.
"Not under our noses," he corrected. "Under Darwin's. She's operating in his territory, using his resources, building her forces right where he used to be strongest." He paused. "The question is whether Darwin knows."
Aris tapped the holographic display, zooming in on the cluster near the Cradle. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"If he doesn't know, he'll find out soon," Aris said. "And if he does know..." She glanced at Nox. "Then they might be working together."
Nox shook his head slowly.
"No," he said. "They're not allies. I watched them interact. Darwin was... wary of her. And she looked at him like he was beneath her." His pale eyes hardened. "Whatever their relationship is, it's not cooperation. It's competition."
Veronica uncrossed her arms, her sharp eyes gleaming with something like interest.
"So we have two monsters," Veronica said slowly. "One rebuilding his strength. One building an army. And both of them are threats."
Nox nodded.
"Which means," Veronica continued, "we might not have to fight them both at once. If they're competing for the same territory, the same resources, the same... dominance..."
"They'll eventually clash," Beatrix finished.
Nox's lips curled into a thin smile.
"Exactly."
