Control

Diego pressed the communicator. “Alice, Rubi, before you move any further, you need to know what we’ve found. It’s serious.”

“Go ahead,” Rubi replied, her voice still composed but tinged with urgency.

Diego glanced at Leo before continuing, as if seeking confirmation that he understood the gravity of what they’d seen.

“We’re in a testing facility. They’re using people. They’re trapped in these structures—there are so many of them. Wires, devices... it’s not just observation. They’re doing something active. Manipulating them.”

“So it’s what we feared…” Rubi’s voice now carried a mix of disbelief and concern. “Their project is already advanced.”

“Probably,” Diego admitted. “This is bad. And these people... they’re not here willingly.”

The silence on the communicator was brief but heavy with meaning. Alice was the next to speak, her voice lower and more measured. “We need to end this, once and for all.”

Diego nodded, even though Alice couldn’t see him. “Leo and I will do what we can from here, but we need to move fast.”

As they debated their next move, Diego approached the exit door, checking the controls on the side. “We need to get out of here before someone realizes we’ve been inside,” he said, adjusting a tool to try and reactivate the access.

Leo lingered near Diego, his gaze drawn once more to the haunting structures, as though he needed to etch the scene into memory. “These people... we can’t just leave them like this,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.

Diego sighed, his eyes still on the panel. “I know. But if we don’t get out now, we’ll be next. We need to find the terminal first, then figure out how to help them.”

He entered a sequence of commands on the access panel, but the system responded with a sharp, grating sound. A red alert flashed on the terminal, and a mechanical voice echoed through the room: “Security alert. Unauthorized presence detected. Activating containment protocol.”

“Damn it!” Diego cursed, already stepping back. “The door must be linked to the internal security system.”

Leo felt panic begin to rise, but he forced himself to think clearly. “We have to get out before they trap us.”

Diego activated the communicator. “Rubi, Alice, we’ve got a problem. The alarm’s been triggered. Security’s heading our way.”

“Understood,” Rubi replied, her voice tense. “We’re near the control room, but there’s already movement in the corridors. Try to buy some time. We’ll attempt to redirect the patrol routes if we can.”

The room’s lights flickered wildly, illuminating the walls in disjointed bursts, while the relentless blare of the alarm cut through the air. From the hallway, the chaotic thud of approaching footsteps grew louder, their urgency unmistakable.

Diego inspected the panel near the door, but the system refused to budge, its controls locked tight.

“We have to get out,” Diego muttered, his voice taut as he adjusted a tool to try and open an escape route.

Leo stayed close, the horror of what they’d seen pressing heavily on his chest as the blaring alarms and approaching footsteps spurred him to action.

“Rubi, Alice,” Diego called through the communicator as he worked on the panel. “We need an alternate escape route.”

The echo of pounding boots swelled in the distance, like the drumbeat of an approaching storm, interwoven with muffled shouts from the corridor ahead.

“They’re coming,” Leo whispered urgently.

There was a brief silence on the communicator, followed by static. Diego frowned, adjusting the device.

“Rubi, Alice, are you there? Respond.”

The silence persisted, broken only by the insistent alarm and the rapidly approaching footsteps.

Leo’s fingers tightened around the pendant at his neck, his frustration and anxiety mounting with every passing second. “Looks like it’s just us now,” he muttered under his breath, the weight of the situation pressing down on him.

The sound of boots was now clear in the adjacent corridor. Diego stepped back, taking a deep breath as sweat trickled down his forehead. He glanced at the locked door, then at their surroundings, quickly evaluating their options.

“Not for long,” Diego said, his tone firm. “But if we don’t act now, they’ll corner us.”

Diego cast a fleeting look at the faintly glowing structures, their eerie stillness magnified by the flickering lights, before steeling himself for action. The footsteps were mere meters away, and the shadow of a soldier appeared at the corridor’s entrance. Diego hesitated for a moment, his eyes flickering shut as if weighing the risk. When they opened again, resolve blazed within them, unshakable and fierce.

His gaze landed on a nearby terminal, and a determined—possibly reckless—smile spread across his face. The symbiont on his arm shifted, reshaping itself into a dense, powerful mass.

“Diego... what are you about to do?” Leo asked, a chill running down his spine.

“I have an idea,” Diego replied, striding toward the terminal with purpose.

Before Leo could react, the sound of boots drew nearer. Diego whirled and struck the control panel with a symbiont-enhanced blow. The impact was followed by a burst of sparks and a loud metallic clang that reverberated through the room. The monitors flickered, and the cables connected to the structures began to pulse with erratic energy.

“Diego, you just—” Leo began, but his words were cut off by a low, unsettling hum. The structures started to shift, cables detaching slowly as the people inside began to stir, confused and frightened.

Diego pulled Leo back, taking cover behind a large nearby column. “Trust me,” he whispered. “This will create the distraction we need.”

The sound of rushing footsteps grew deafening, and the corridor doors burst open with force. Vanguard soldiers poured into the room, weapons at the ready, but they froze at the sight before them. The moving structures and awakening captives left them momentarily paralyzed. Muffled cries and disoriented murmurs began to fill the space.

From their hiding spot, Leo and Diego observed the unraveling chaos. The flickering lights carved frantic patterns on the walls as the soldiers fumbled to assess the spiraling disaster unfolding around them.