Chapter 05 Name’s Conor

Ichiban took a step back, her pulse hammering in her ears. Her mind screamed at her to run, to fight, to do something—but she forced herself to keep her voice steady, even as her throat tightened.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, eyes darting between the mercenaries, their weapons, their cold, unflinching stares. 

"Why are you here? Who sent you? What’s going on?! Do you know what’s happening in this facility?! The crystallization—it’s spreading, consuming everything! People are dying! If you come to help, you better start talking—now!"

Kaiju remained motionless beside her, staring at the floor, his hands clenched into trembling fists. He didn't speak. He didn't even look up.

She swallowed hard, forcing the next words past the knot in her throat.

"Wait... Did you know this would happen?"

Ichiban’s pulse quickened as she took a quick glance at Kaiju. He was still staring at the floor, motionless, trapped in whatever guilt-ridden spiral was eating him alive. She gritted her teeth and turned her focus back to the mercenary in front of her.

The leader didn’t flinch under her glare. His voice was flat, devoid of any patience.

 “All I can say is that we have orders to secure... you two.”

 He paused for a brief moment, as if debating whether to reveal more, then added, “Know the name Eel Schmuck? That should give you an idea.”

Before she could demand more, the mercenary shifted his rifle slightly. 

“Now shut up and follow us. We’re getting out of this shithole.”

But Ichiban took a step back, shaking her head.

“No! We can’t leave yet! The Code Red—we have to initiate it!” 

She gestured wildly to the ruined control room, to the growing crystal corruption swallowing the walls like a cancer. 

“The crystallization is spreading at an astonishing rate—at least twenty floors are consumed by now. Soon, the entire Helios-9 facility will be overrun, and those things will find their way out!”

For the first time, the mercenary leader hesitated. It was subtle—his stance remained rigid, his grip on his rifle unchanged—but his head tilted slightly, his gaze flicking briefly to Kaiju before snapping back to her.

“…What? Code Red isn’t engaged yet?”

Before she could respond, one of his men stepped forward. Unlike the others, his voice was eerily calm.

“Sir, we’re going off-track from the plan. We were supposed to extract the cargo within a ten-minute window between Code Red initiation and the explosions going off, sealing this place into a concrete coffin.” 

He nodded toward the wreckage around them. 

“But the control room is trashed. If they didn't start Code Red, then we’d have to set the detonation timers manually.”

The leader exhaled sharply through his nose, considering the words.

The soldier continued, “That’ll result in a total lockdown, and only authorized personnel will be able to open the blast doors to evacuate. That will take more time and ammunition than we planned. Sir, we’re not equipped for that kind of mission."

The leader of the extraction team cursed under his breath, "Well, shit!" his hand tightening around his rifle. 

“This complicates things.”

Ichiban stepped closer, her voice low but intense. 

“Listen to me. If we don’t initiate Code Red now, this facility won’t be the only thing consumed. The crystallization will spread beyond these walls. Those creatures—whatever they are—will escape. And if they do, there’s no telling how far they’ll go or how much damage they’ll cause. We can’t let that happen.”

Before the leader could voice his decision, a thunderous clank reverberated through the control room, making the walls tremble. The sound came from the blast doors Ichiban and Kaiju had entered through.

A second clank followed, this one sharper—metal shrieking under immense pressure.

Then, with a sickening crunch, crystal claws—each one the size of a man’s forearm—punched through the reinforced steel like it was paper. Shards of metal curled outward as the monstrous fingers flexed, dragging slow gouges down the door’s surface. Sparks rained to the floor. The entire doorframe groaned, buckling against the sheer force.

The mercenaries wasted no time. Weapons snapped up, rifles trained on the breach. Fingers hovered over triggers, breath held.

Kaiju, however, lurched forward, urgency crackling in his voice.

“Major, wait!” he shouted. 

“Listen, everyone! There’s still a way out of this!”

The leader’s head snapped toward him, but Kaiju pushed on, speaking fast.

“The Main Security Hub! If we can get there, Ichiban can hack into the terminals and connect to the mainframe! Theoretically, she could still activate Code Red remotely—no need to run through this hellhole arming charges one by one!”

Another ear-splitting crunch came from the doors. The metal bulged inward.

Kaiju’s voice rose in urgency.

 “If the hub still stands, it’s our best shot! We won’t make it if we waste time—these things are strong! You’ve seen what they can do. They tear through steel like wet paper! If we hesitate—”

A final, deafening screech echoed through the chamber. The door snapped, splitting down the middle.

“—we’re dead!” Kaiju finished.

The leader of the mercenaries didn’t hesitate. He turned sharply to Ichiban.

“Can you do it?!”

Ichiban’s hands curled into fists, her mind racing through the calculations. It was a long shot. The mainframe should still have emergency overrides, but with the level of corruption spreading through Helios-9, there was no guarantee the system was even intact.

Still, it was the only shot they had.

She met the leader’s gaze, her voice firm.

“Yes. It’ll take a few minutes, but I can do it—if you can keep us alive long enough to get there.”

The major didn’t hesitate. He whirled around, his voice cutting through the rising noise.

“Alright! Security Hub it is! Moving out!”

The squad instantly snapped into motion, forming tight ranks around the scientists. The air filled with the sharp clicks of safeties being switched off, magazines slammed into place, and the cold certainty of men preparing for war.

“Shoot anything that’s not human!” the major barked.

“No questions asked.”

The doors exploded inward, jagged steel fragments flying like shrapnel. Before the creatures could fully breach the doors, the mercenary leader strode forward without hesitation. He reached to his belt, pulled a grenade free, yanked the pin, and lobbed it casually through the widening crack in the steel.

The device disappeared into the darkness beyond the ruined doorway, landing with a dull clink against the floor.

Then, without so much as watching for the outcome, he turned on his heel and started walking away. His tone was almost casual, as if they weren’t moments from being torn apart by crystalline horrors.

“By the way,” he said over his shoulder, “name’s Conor.”

Then the explosion hit.