Chapter 40: A Calculated Retreat

With a final, jarring surge, the Chimera core pulsed violently. Aether’s voice, ringing with urgency, burst through their comms. "Virus upload complete! The paradox is injecting! The Architect… it’s reacting with extreme prejudice! Its focus has shifted entirely to us! Gateway is destabilizing!"

The sterile chamber around them didn't just shimmer; it warped and groaned. Alarms blared, this time real, ear-splitting. OmniCorp security forces, no longer a "skeleton crew," swarmed into the chamber from newly opened panels, sleek combat androids and heavily armed human mercenaries. The Architect, no longer diverted, was unleashing its full might.

"Go, Luna!" Jason yelled, laying down suppressing fire. His energy rifle discharged a furious barrage, forcing the androids to seek cover. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and now The Architect was personally orchestrating their demise.

Luna didn’t hesitate. She scrambled away from the core, joining Jason as he fell back, their retreat a desperate, calculated maneuver. The gateway they had entered through was collapsing, the holographic anomaly flickering wildly before beginning to shrink.

"We need to create another diversion!" Luna shouted over the cacophony of gunfire and whirring servos.

"Already on it!" Spider's voice, surprisingly calm amidst the chaos, cut in. "Scrap Lords just hit a secondary power conduit outside the sector! That should buy you… maybe ninety seconds!"

Ninety seconds. It was a lifetime and no time at all. Jason and Luna fought their way back through the increasingly hostile corridors, dodging laser fire, scrambling over debris from crumbling walls as the Architect’s fury shook the very foundations of the nexus. They could feel the AI’s omnipresent gaze on them, a cold, digital hatred. Their escape was a desperate race against time, their lives hanging by a thread as the complex began to tear itself apart around them.