Chapter 9: Blood on the Sand

The assault began at midnight.
Ryo was lying on his cot, pretending to sleep, when the first explosion shook the facility. Alarms shrieked. Emergency lights flooded the corridors red. Guards outside his door scrambled, shouting into communicators.
"Perimeter breach! North entrance!"
"Multiple contacts! We're under attack!"
Ryo was on his feet instantly, heart pounding. *Sera.*
A second explosion, closer. The lights flickered. Through the door's small window, he saw guards running past, weapons ready, faces tight with fear.
Zero's voice echoed through the facility's intercom system: "All personnel to defensive positions. Intruders in sections A through D. Protect the Cascade laboratory at all costs."
The guards at Ryo's door hesitated, looking at each other.
"What about the prisoner?" one asked.
"Leave him. He's locked in. We need every gun on the line."
They ran.
Ryo was alone.
He approached the door, tested it. Locked, reinforced, no way to break through without tools or time he didn't have.
Then the door's electronic lock sparked and went dead.
The door swung open.
"Miss me?"
Ryo spun to see a figure in the corridor—short, nervous, wearing too-large body armor and carrying a data pad that glowed with override codes.
Tommy "Glitch" Mercer.
"Glitch?" Ryo stared. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving your ass, apparently." Glitch gestured frantically. "Quinn's here with an army. Well, not an army. More like an angry mob with guns. But close enough. She sent me to get you out before this whole place becomes a crater."
"How did you even get inside?"
"I'm a hacker, genius. I hacked." Glitch was already moving down the corridor. "Come on! Zero's soldiers are converging on the main breach. We've got maybe five minutes before they realize you're gone."
Ryo followed, checking his revolvers—still loaded, still ready. "Where's Sera now?"
"North entrance with Razorgrin and half the strike team. Blackthorn's got the south entrance with his FDI goons. They're creating a pincer movement, trying to push toward the Cascade laboratory." Glitch stopped at an intersection, checking his data pad. "This way. I mapped the ventilation system—we can use it to bypass most of the fighting."
They moved quickly through the facility, Glitch's hacking skills opening doors and disabling cameras. Around them, the sound of battle grew louder—gunfire, explosions, screams.
"How bad is it out there?" Ryo asked.
"Bad. Zero had defensive positions already set up. It's like he knew we were coming." Glitch paused at a ventilation grate, prying it open. "Blackthorn thinks there's a mole. Someone feeding Zero information."
Ryo thought about that as they crawled through the ductwork. Zero had said he could predict outcomes ten moves ahead. But this level of preparation suggested something more specific.
Unless...
"The tracker," Ryo breathed. "Zero knows about the tracker. He's been letting it transmit. Wanted Sera to come."
"Oh shit," Glitch whispered. "This is a trap."
"We need to warn them."
"Too late. They're already—"
The ductwork exploded beneath them.
Ryo and Glitch fell through a cloud of smoke and debris, crashing onto a metal catwalk. Below, the Cascade laboratory stretched out—a massive chamber where technicians frantically worked to complete the Neural Cascade even as battle raged above.
And standing on a platform in the center of the chamber, looking up at them with those dead eyes, was Zero.
"Hello, nephew," he called calmly. "Right on schedule."
Soldiers appeared from all sides, weapons trained on Ryo and Glitch.
"Run!" Ryo shoved Glitch toward a side corridor, drawing his revolvers and firing in one smooth motion.
His bullets found their marks—not killing shots, but disabling ones. Weapons torn from hands. Legs shot to slow pursuit. He'd become too good at non-lethal takedowns from years of bounty hunting.
They ran through the facility, Zero's soldiers in pursuit. Ryo could hear his uncle's voice echoing through the corridors: "Don't kill him. I need him alive. The girl and the hacker are expendable."
*Expendable.*
Ryo pushed harder, pulling Glitch along.
They burst through a door into a large staging area—and ran straight into a firefight.
Sera's team was pinned down behind overturned cargo containers, trading shots with Zero's soldiers who held elevated positions. Bodies littered the ground. Too many bodies.
"Ryo!" Sera spotted him, her face splitting into a grin even as bullets sparked off the metal behind her. "About damn time!"
Ryo and Glitch dove behind her cover. Ryo immediately started returning fire, his enhanced reflexes letting him pick off targets even in the chaos.
"Status?" he asked.
"Totally screwed." Sera reloaded her rifle. "Zero was ready for us. Every corridor's a kill zone. We've lost six people already. Razorgrin's team got separated. And Blackthorn—" She grimaced. "Blackthorn's pushing too hard. Like he's trying to get himself killed."
"Where's the Cascade?"
"Center of the facility. Three levels down. But we'll never reach it. Zero's got it locked down tight."
Another explosion rocked the chamber. Part of the ceiling collapsed, crushing two of Zero's soldiers.
"Artillery support," Sera explained. "Blackthorn's mortars. But they're shelling blind. As likely to hit us as them."
Ryo thought fast. They were losing. Zero had predicted everything. Unless they did something unpredictable.
Something insane.
"I need to get to the Cascade," he said. "Alone."
"Are you crazy? You'll be killed!"
"No. Zero wants me alive. Remember? I'm his nephew. His key to bringing back my parents." Ryo met her eyes. "If I go alone, he'll let me through. Then I can sabotage the Cascade from inside."
"And how do you plan to do that when you're surrounded by his soldiers?"
Ryo pulled out a small cylinder from his boot—not the tracker, but something he'd stolen from the armory when the guards weren't watching. An EMP grenade. Military grade. Powerful enough to fry every circuit in a hundred-foot radius.
"That'll shut down the Cascade," Sera said. "But it'll also kill you if you're too close. The neural feedback would be—"
"I know." Ryo stood, hands raised in surrender. "But it's the only way. You need to get everyone out. Glitch, can you hack the exit routes? Clear a path for the retreat?"
"I... yeah. Yeah, I can do that." Glitch's hands were shaking but his voice was steady. "But you'll be trapped in there."
"I know," Ryo said again.
Sera grabbed his arm—her mechanical one, strong enough to hurt. "No. We don't leave people behind. That's the rule."
"Rules change." Ryo gently removed her hand. "You came here to stop Zero. So did I. This is how we do it." He looked at her—really looked at her. "Thank you. For everything. For being my partner. For caring enough to launch a suicide mission. For—"
"Shut up." Sera's voice cracked. "You're not saying goodbye. You're going to plant that EMP, get clear, and we're riding off into the sunset like the end of a terrible Western. Got it?"
Ryo managed a small smile. "Got it."
He stepped out from cover, hands still raised.
"Zero!" he shouted. "I surrender! I'll come with you! Just stop shooting!"
The gunfire ceased. Silence fell over the chamber.
Zero appeared on an upper catwalk, looking down at Ryo. "Smart choice, nephew. Come. We have much to discuss."
Soldiers moved in, surrounding Ryo. They searched him—found his revolvers, took them. But they missed the EMP grenade in his boot. Too small, too well hidden.
As they led him away, Ryo glanced back at Sera.
She was watching him go, her expression a mix of rage and grief and something else. Something that looked like pride.
Then she turned to her team. "Fall back! Everyone to the extraction point! Glitch, clear the route!"
Ryo was led deeper into the facility, toward the Cascade laboratory. Toward the end.
---
The Neural Cascade pulsed like a living heart.
Up close, it was even more terrifying than Ryo had imagined. Fifteen feet of crystalline neural processors, each one containing fragments of the Crimson Core's energy. Cables ran from it to stations where technicians worked frantically.
And at its center, a socket waited—empty, ready for the Neural Interface Core that would complete the system.
Zero stood beside it, running his hand along its surface lovingly.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Three years of work. Millions in resources. All leading to this moment." He turned to Ryo. "The Interface Core arrives in one hour. When I integrate it, the Cascade will activate. And the frontier will be mine."
"You'll kill thousands," Ryo said. "The neural feedback alone—"
"Will be survivable. I've run the calculations. Acceptable losses for the greater good." Zero approached him. "But you don't have to be among the losses. Join me, Ryo. Help me manage the transition. Together, we can minimize the damage. Save more people than we lose."
"By enslaving everyone who survives?"
"By *optimizing* them." Zero's voice rose slightly. "Why can't you understand? This isn't about control. It's about saving humanity from itself. From the violence and chaos and stupidity that killed your parents. That kills millions every year."
Ryo felt the EMP grenade in his boot. Heavy. Ready.
But Zero was still talking.
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you can destroy the Cascade. Stop me. Save everyone." Zero smiled—a terrible expression on his emotionless face. "But you can't. Because I made you a promise. And unlike your father, I keep my promises."
He pressed a button on a control panel.
Containers rose from the floor—stasis pods, just like the ones holding Ryo's mother.
But these held his father. Preserved. Waiting.
And beside them, a third pod. Empty except for medical equipment and neural reconstruction hardware.
"I can bring them back," Zero said quietly. "Today. Right now. Before the Cascade activates. I can restore their neural patterns, reanimate their bodies, give you back everything you lost." He met Ryo's eyes. "All you have to do is help me. Stand by my side when the Interface Core arrives. Show the others that family supports family. That what I'm doing is right."
Ryo stared at his parents' bodies—so close, so achingly close.
Everything he'd ever wanted. Right there.
All he had to do was betray everything they'd died for.
"No," he whispered.
"What?"
"No." Louder now. "They wouldn't want this. Wouldn't want to come back if it meant enslaving the frontier. And I won't dishonor their sacrifice by helping you."
Zero's expression went cold. "Then you're a fool. Like your father."
"Maybe. But I'm a fool who's still human. Who can still choose." Ryo stepped toward the Cascade. "And I choose to stop you."
"Guards!"
Soldiers moved in—but Ryo was already moving.
His hand went to his boot. Drew the EMP grenade. Activated it with a twist.
Five seconds until detonation.
"No!" Zero lunged forward.
Ryo threw the grenade directly into the Cascade's core.
Then time seemed to slow.
Zero's enhanced reflexes kicked in. He dove after the grenade, his hand closing around it just as it entered the Cascade's central chamber.
But it was too late to throw it clear. Too late to deactivate it.
Zero looked up at Ryo, and for the first time, Ryo saw fear in those dead eyes.
"Get down!" someone shouted.
The EMP detonated.
The blast was invisible—a wave of electromagnetic energy that ripped through every circuit, every processor, every electronic system within a hundred feet.
The Cascade screamed—a sound like a dying god—as its neural processors fried. Smoke poured from ruptured components. Energy arced wildly, burning technicians who couldn't get clear fast enough.
And Zero, who'd been holding the grenade at the moment of detonation, took the full force of the electromagnetic pulse.
He fell, convulsing, the Crimson Core inside his body sparking and failing. Red energy leaked from his eyes, his mouth, his hands.
Ryo was thrown backward by the blast, his own enhanced reflexes saving him from the worst of it. He crashed into a wall, pain exploding through his body.
But he was alive.
And the Cascade was dead.
He struggled to his feet, ears ringing, vision blurred. Around him, soldiers were down—their cybernetic enhancements fried, their weapons dead. The laboratory was chaos—smoke, screaming, emergency systems failing.
Ryo stumbled toward Zero.
His uncle lay on the ground, still alive but barely. The Crimson Core's energy flickered weakly beneath his skin. Without it enhancing his body, he looked old. Fragile. Human.
"You... destroyed it," Zero rasped. "Everything. All my work."
"I'm sorry," Ryo said, and meant it. "But it had to end."
"My brother... would be proud of you." Zero coughed, blood on his lips. "Stupid... sentimental... and proud."
"I need to destroy the Core. The real one. Inside you."
"Already... dying. The EMP... damaged it. It's... killing me." Zero's hand grabbed Ryo's wrist—weak now, barely any strength. "Listen. The backups. I lied about... backups. There's only... one more fragment. Hidden in... Red—"
He coughed, couldn't finish.
"Where?" Ryo demanded. "Where is it?"
But Zero's eyes were already glazing over. The Crimson Core's light fading to nothing.
"Tell my brother... I'm sorry..."
Ezekiel Vance died.
Not as Zero. Not as the ghost. Just as a man who'd lost himself trying to save the world.
Ryo knelt beside his uncle's body, tears streaming down his face.
He'd won. Destroyed the Cascade. Stopped the Neural Cascade from activating.
But it felt hollow. Empty.
Like he'd lost something he couldn't name.
Then he noticed something wrong.
His hands were shaking. But not from emotion or exhaustion.
They were twitching. Involuntary movements. And his vision kept flickering red at the edges.
*No.*
He looked down at himself. Where the EMP blast had hit him. His body should have been fine—he had no cybernetic enhancements, no neural implants to fry.
Except...
Except he'd always been faster than normal. More accurate. Better reflexes than seemed possible.
He'd thought it was training. Natural talent.
But what if it wasn't?
What if his father had done something to him? Before he was born? Some kind of genetic enhancement tied to the Crimson Core project?
What if Ryo had always been part of the experiment?
His hands twitched again. Red flickered across his vision.
And deep in his chest, something pulsed.
Something that felt like the Crimson Core.
"Oh no," he whispered. "No no no—"
"Ryo!"
Sera burst into the laboratory, Glitch and what remained of the strike team behind her. She saw the destroyed Cascade, saw Zero's body, saw Ryo kneeling on the ground.
She ran to him. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
"I destroyed the Cascade." Ryo's voice sounded distant to his own ears. "Zero's dead. But Sera... something's wrong. I can feel—"
His body convulsed. Red energy crackled across his skin—brief, painful, wrong.
Sera caught him as he fell. "What is this? What's happening to you?"
"I think..." Ryo struggled to speak through the pain. "I think my father did something. Before I was born. Bonded me with fragments of the Core. To protect me. Or maybe... maybe he wanted to create someone who could stop Zero. Someone who could resist the Core's influence because they'd grown up with it."
"That's insane."
"My whole family's insane." Ryo laughed—a broken sound. "The EMP damaged whatever he did to me. It's... it's trying to activate. Or maybe it's dying. I don't know. I can't—"
Another convulsion. This one stronger. Red energy poured from his hands, his eyes, burning the ground where it touched.
"We need to get him out of here!" Glitch shouted. "This whole facility could collapse!"
"Carry him!" Sera ordered. "Everyone move!"
They lifted Ryo between them and ran through the smoking ruins of Zero's fortress. Behind them, more sections of the facility collapsed as the Cascade's death throes destroyed support structures.
They emerged into the canyon at dawn—the sun just rising over the Scorched Wastes. Blackthorn's forces were already evacuating. The sheriff himself stood by the extraction vehicles, covered in blood but alive.
"Quinn!" he called. "We need to move! The whole facility's going down!"
"Ryo's hurt!" Sera shouted back. "He needs medical—"
The facility exploded.
A massive fireball erupted from the canyon, rock and steel flying in all directions. The shockwave knocked everyone off their feet.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but rubble.
Zero's fortress. The Neural Cascade. Everything.
Gone.
Ryo lay on the ground, the red energy slowly fading from his body. The pain was subsiding. Whatever had been happening to him was passing.
For now.
Sera knelt beside him. "You're okay. You're going to be okay."
"Am I?" Ryo's voice was barely a whisper. "Or am I turning into him? Into Zero?"
"You're not. You're nothing like him." Sera gripped his hand—her mechanical one, cold and strong. "You're Ryo Kazehara. You're my partner. And you just saved the entire damn frontier."
Ryo wanted to believe her.
But as the red energy finally faded completely, he could still feel something inside him. Dormant now. Waiting.
A fragment of the Crimson Core.
His father's final gift. Or curse.
He didn't know which yet.
---
**END OF CHAPTER 9**
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