Chapter 14 Steel and Flesh

A beam of searing, concentrated light erupted from the barrel, bathing the room in an intense, blinding glow. The beam struck the steel bunker doors, and the metal instantly began to liquefy, glowing red, then white-hot as molten steel dripped in streams onto the floor. The smell of scorched metal filled the air as the beam carved through the reinforced doors, its precision like a scalpel wielded by a giant.

Sable watched in stunned silence. Mia shielded her eyes from the blinding glare, muttering, “That’s… insane.”

“Booo-yeah! Keep it coming!” Reed shouted, practically cheering her on.

Dune gritted her teeth, the Lazer cannon started to overheat burning her hands. The temperature gauge climbed higher, hitting 6000°C, then 7000°C. The steel gave way, revealing a growing, molten hole big enough for them to escape through. Steam hissed from the superheated edges of the freshly cut hole.

“Door’s open!” she shouted, turning toward the group—only to hear a deafening screech echoing from the hallway behind them.

At least six of the grotesque hybrids burst from the shadows, their red eyes glowing with murderous intent. The mechanical monstrosities charged toward them, their heavy footfalls shaking the ground.

“Get down!” Dune shouted, spinning the Lazer cannon around in a sweeping arc. The concentrated laser sliced through the hallway, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Abominators caught in the path of the beam were melted or cleaved in half, their mechanical components sparking and exploding as they fell. Walls crumbled, sparks and molten debris filling the air like a hellish storm.

But the cannon wasn’t built to sustain this kind of power for long.

A high-pitched whine emanated from the weapon, followed by a rapid series of warning tones.

“Uh-oh,” Dune muttered.

The cannon exploded in a fiery burst of energy, hurling Dune backward. She slammed into the wall with a sickening crunch, the impact leaving a crater.

“Dune!” Reed shouted. He was on her in an instant, scooping her up as if she weighed nothing.

“Move! Now!” Mia screamed, dragging Sable toward the hole Dune had cut into the doors.

Reed carried Dune through the molten edge of the bunker doors, the superheated air searing their skin as they passed. Mia and Sable scrambled after them, the sounds of more abominators echoing behind them.

The group stumbled into the open air, gasping as they emerged from the claustrophobic horrors of the lab city. Smoke and ash clung to their clothes, and the faint glow of molten metal still radiated from the hole behind them.

Reed gently set Dune down, shaking her shoulder.

 “Come on, Dune. You don’t get to check out now. You’re the crazy one, remember?”

Dune coughed, her eyes fluttering open. 

“Did… did it work?”

Reed barked a laugh. 

“You tell me. We’re outside, aren’t we?”

Mia helped Sable to his feet, glancing nervously back at the hole in the bunker doors.

 “We need to keep moving. That won’t hold them off for long.”

“Yeah,” Dune groaned, sitting up with Reed’s help.

 “Next time… remind me not to play with experimental doomsday weapons.”

“Can't promise you that, it was too awesome,” Reed said with a smirk, hefting her back onto her feet.

The moment they all piled into Dune’s buggy; relief washed over the group. Reed threw Dune a thumbs-up from the back seat as he helped Mia settle in. Sable clutched the old SSD as if it were the last treasure on earth.

Just as Dune started the engine, a cold sensation pressed against her temple. She froze.

The unmistakable feel of a gun barrel.

“Well, well,” a voice drawled, low and mocking. 

“Never thought I’d see the day Dune Vega would let her guard down.”

Her jaw tightened. She didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered.

 “You again? Would you leave me alone already, Steeljaw? I’m really not in the mood for one of your games.”

“Games?” he echoed with a humorless chuckle.

 “That’s what this looks like to you? Just a game? Well, today I’m dead serious.”

Something about him was off. This wasn’t the loud, overconfident Steeljaw she’d encountered so many times before. There were no over-the-top gadgets, no taunting bravado. He was calm. Cold. And far more dangerous for it.

“End of the road, Dune,” Steeljaw said quietly.

 “You’ve lost.”

The trigger clicked.

The gunshot shattered the desert stillness like a crack of lightning.

Reed lunged forward, grabbing Dune’s seat and yanking her sideways just in time. The bullet grazed her forehead, a searing line of pain that left a thin trail of blood.

Dune didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the gun barrel with her bare hand and crushed it in a single motion, the weapon crumpling like cheap aluminum.

With a growl, she shoved the buggy door open, slamming it into Steeljaw and knocking him flat on his back. She leapt out, ready to give him the beating of his life.

But she stopped.

Steeljaw didn’t move. He just lay there, his head resting on a jagged rock, staring up at the sky. His once-arrogant smirk was gone, replaced by something alien on his face: resignation.

“Heh. Looks like I’m the one who lost after all. And in the end, you never even recognized me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Her fists clenched.

 “What is this supposed to be, some cryptic deathbed nonsense? You damn gearheads pump yourselves full of that piss-poor version of super-soldier juice until your brains turn to mush. Just leave me alone already! What’s your deal? You’ve been stalking me for years like some bad joke. I’m sick of it.”

Steeljaw chuckled weakly, his mechanical jaw creaking as it struggled to keep up.

“Oh, Dune. You still don’t get it, do you? All those times we crossed paths… every fight, every ambush... you think it was just me being an idiot?”

He looked at her, his cybernetic eye flickering, his real one glassy and full of something she couldn’t place.

 “You were supposed to know me. We used to fight together, Dune. You and me. Before all of this. Before… before I became this.”

Her stomach twisted, but her expression didn’t falter.

 “Bullshit! You’re lying.”

“You think so? Think back. Dig deep. You could’ve saved me, but you didn't, Stela.”

After hearing that name—Stela—Dune felt her heart skip a beat. Her body stiffened, a cold shiver racing down her spine. That name… no one knew it. No one alive, at least.

It was her name when she was just a little girl.

And the only person who had ever called her that back then was dead.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at Steeljaw’s mangled, half-mechanical face.

“How the hell do you know that name, Steeljaw?! Who are you? Enough with your games—just tell me!”

Steeljaw’s flickering eye steadied for a moment, his expression dark and filled with raw emotion.

“I’m Conor,” he said quietly.

 “We were best friends once. But you left me to die in that cursed bunker. And I hated you for that.”

The name Conor hit her harder than an explosion. She stared at him, wide-eyed, her lips trembling.

“Conor?” she whispered.

 “No. No, that’s not possible. Conor… died. You died back then! I saw you! You were dragged away by those monsters! Abominator got you! There was nothing I could do! You died!”

His expression twisted into something bitter and broken. 

“You left me there, Stela. You turned your back on me and ran. You didn’t even try to help. You just… left me. To them.”

“No…” she whispered, shaking her head.

 “That’s not true! I was just a kid! I was scared! We were surrounded! There was nothing—”

“You left me there, Stela!” Steeljaw shouted, his voice cracking with rage and pain. 

“And they took me! They dragged me into that hellhole and turned me into this!”

 He gestured at his mangled body, his voice rising in anguish. 

“They tried to make me into one of their super soldiers. Pumped me full of their drugs. Cut my flesh away, piece by piece, replacing it with cold, unfeeling steel!”

Dune’s hands trembled as he continued.

“I escaped. Eventually. But by then, I wasn’t me anymore. I was this… thing. A half-human abomination. A mockery of what I used to be. And every moment since, I’ve lived with one thought: I hated you for what you did. I couldn’t forgive you. I wouldn’t forgive you.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at him. Finally, the fragmented pieces of his face, his voice, his movements, clicked into place in her mind.

It was him. It really was.

“I… I’m sorry. We were young. Stupid. We got in way over our heads. I got scared, Conor, and—”

“Save it, Stela! I don’t want to hear it! It’s too late now! Too late to make things right. This is it for me, and my last shot at you.”