Chapter 11: The Desert of Burning Glass

 
The water tower stood like a skeletal sentinel against the morning sky—a rusted monument to Redwater Ridge's failed attempts at civilization. Fifty feet tall, covered in graffiti and bullet holes, abandoned for a decade after contamination made the water undrinkable.
Perfect place to hide a weapon that could reshape the world.
Ryo and Sera approached from the east, using the scrapyards as cover. The sun was climbing, turning the desert into an oven. Heat shimmered off the metal structures around them.
"I don't like this," Sera muttered, scanning through her rifle scope. "Too quiet. Too easy."
"Agreed." Ryo checked his revolvers—loaded, ready. The fragments inside him were vibrating now, responding to the proximity of their parent Core. It felt like his bones were humming. "We go in fast. Grab the fragment. Get out before anyone knows we were here."
"And if Crane's people are already there?"
"Then we improvise."
They crossed the open ground to the water tower's base—a rusted metal structure barely held together by corroded bolts. A ladder led up to the main tank access hatch.
Ryo climbed first, Sera covering him from below. The ladder groaned under his weight, rust flaking off with each rung. At the top, he found the access hatch—sealed with a lock that looked newer than the rest of the structure.
He pulled out the access code Crane had given them and entered it into the lock's keypad.
The lock clicked open.
"Here we go," Ryo whispered.
He pulled open the hatch and dropped into the tank.
Inside, the air was stale, metallic. The tank's interior was bigger than he expected—twenty feet across, with walls covered in old algae stains. But in the center, suspended by cables, was something that definitely didn't belong in a water tower.
A containment unit. Sleek, modern, about the size of a coffin. It hummed with barely contained energy.
The Crimson Core fragment.
Ryo approached carefully, his enhanced senses screaming warnings. The fragments inside him pulled toward the containment unit like magnets seeking their other half.
"Ryo?" Sera's voice came through his earpiece. "Status?"
"Found it. Looks intact. I'm going to—"
The hatch above slammed shut.
Ryo spun, hand on his revolver.
From the shadows around the tank's edges, figures emerged. Six of them, dressed in tactical gear, weapons raised. And on their necks, the brass insignia of the Vultures.
"Well, well," one of them said, pulling off their helmet. A woman with chrome facial implants and cold eyes. "Ryo Kazehara. The boy who destroyed Zero Vance. We've been looking for you."
"Sera!" Ryo shouted into his earpiece. "It's a trap! Vultures are—"
One of the soldiers fired a pulse weapon. Electromagnetic energy washed over Ryo, shorting out his communicator and sending pain lancing through his body as the fragments inside him reacted violently.
He fell to his knees, gasping.
"Don't kill him yet," the woman ordered. "The boss wants him alive. Something about leveraging what's inside him." She approached Ryo, weapon trained on his head. "You're going to open that containment unit. Give us the fragment. And then you're coming with us. We have questions about Zero's operation. About his research. And you're going to answer them."
Through the pain, Ryo managed to speak. "The Vultures... don't know what they're dealing with. That fragment... will kill you."
"We'll take that risk." She gestured to two soldiers. "Open the unit. Carefully."
They approached the containment unit with scanning equipment. One of them started entering codes, trying to bypass the locks.
Ryo's mind raced. Sera was outside, probably already engaging Vulture forces. He was trapped inside a metal tank with six armed soldiers and a weapon that could level the city if improperly handled.
And the fragments inside him were screaming—not in pain now, but in hunger. They wanted to reunite with the Core fragment. Wanted to become whole.
*No*, Ryo thought desperately. *I won't become like Zero. I won't lose myself.*
But another part of him whispered: *What if you don't have to lose yourself? What if you can be strong enough to control it?*
"Got it!" one of the soldiers called. "Containment unit is opening!"
The unit's seals hissed. Steam vented from pressure releases. The lid began to rise.
And inside, pulsing with crimson light, was a fragment of the Crimson Core the size of a human fist.
The moment the containment opened, reality seemed to bend.
Everyone in the tank felt it—a wave of raw power that made their teeth ache and their vision blur. The fragment pulsed faster, brighter, hungrier.
"Seal it! Seal it!" the woman shouted. "Get it into the transport case—"
The fragment exploded out of the containment unit.
Not physically. But energy—pure, terrible, crimson energy—erupted in all directions. It hit the soldiers, and they screamed. Their cybernetic implants sparked and failed. Their weapons melted. Their bodies convulsed as the Core's power tried to integrate with their systems and found them incompatible.
And it hit Ryo.
The fragments inside him detonated in response.
Red energy flooded through his body—not painful now, but *right*. Like pieces of a puzzle clicking into place. His senses expanded. His reflexes tripled. His mind processed information at impossible speeds.
He could see everything. The trajectory of falling water droplets. The electromagnetic signatures of the soldiers' failing augmentations. The structural weaknesses in the tank's walls.
And he could feel the fragment calling to him.
*Take me. Complete yourself. Become what your father intended.*
"No," Ryo gasped, fighting the pull. "I won't—"
A soldier lunged at him, knife raised.
Ryo moved without thinking.
His hand shot out, fingers closing around the soldier's wrist with inhuman precision. He twisted, disarmed the man, and threw him across the tank—all in less than a second.
Another soldier fired. Ryo saw the bullet coming, its path traced in his mind like a glowing line. He tilted his head. The bullet missed by millimeters.
Then he was moving.
Red energy crackled around his hands as he fought. He wasn't using techniques he'd learned. He was operating on pure instinct—the Crimson Core fragments guiding his body, optimizing every movement.
It was terrifying.
It was beautiful.
It was everything Zero had promised.
In ten seconds, all six Vulture soldiers were down—alive, but unconscious or groaning in pain.
Ryo stood in the center of the tank, breathing hard, his entire body glowing with crimson light.
And the fragment hovered in the air before him, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.
*Take me*, it whispered. *Complete what your father started. Become the weapon that saves the world.*
Ryo's hand reached out slowly, drawn by a force he couldn't name.
Then the hatch above exploded open.
Sera dropped through, rifle raised, and froze when she saw Ryo.
"Oh shit," she breathed. "Ryo, what did you do?"
"I... I didn't..." Ryo looked down at his hands, at the red energy still crackling around them. "It activated. When the containment opened. The fragments inside me—"
"Step away from that thing. Right now." Sera's voice was steady but urgent. "Whatever it's offering you, it's a lie. You're not Zero. You don't need that power."
"But what if I do?" Ryo's voice was barely his own. "What if this is what I was meant to be? What if my father gave me these fragments because he knew I'd need them?"
"Your father gave you those fragments to *fight* the Core. Not to bond with it." Sera took a step closer. "Look at yourself, Ryo. You're glowing. Your eyes are turning red. You're becoming what you swore to destroy."
"I'm becoming what I need to be to survive." Ryo turned to face her fully, and she flinched at what she saw in his eyes. "You don't understand, Sera. I can feel it. The power. The clarity. I could protect everyone. Stop any threat. Make sure nothing like Zero ever happens again."
"By becoming Zero yourself?"
"I'm not Zero! I'm—" Ryo stopped, realization hitting him. His hands were shaking. Not from weakness. From the effort of maintaining control. "I'm losing myself. Oh god, you're right. It's taking over."
"Fight it!" Sera lowered her rifle, approaching slowly. "You're stronger than this. Stronger than any weapon. You've proven that every day since we met."
The fragment pulsed brighter, sensing Ryo's wavering resolve.
*Don't listen to her. She can't understand. She's limited. Weak. But you? You could be perfect.*
"Get it away from me," Ryo gasped. "Sera, please. I can't—I can't fight it much longer—"
Sera pulled out her revolver and fired.
The bullet hit the fragment dead center.
The containment field around it shattered. The fragment fell to the tank floor, its energy flickering and unstable.
And the connection between it and Ryo snapped.
He collapsed, the red energy draining from his body. The fragments inside him went dormant, no longer pulling toward their missing piece.
Sera caught him before he hit the ground.
"I've got you," she said. "You're okay. You're going to be okay."
"The fragment—" Ryo gasped.
"Is contained. Barely." Sera looked at where her bullet had damaged the fragment's outer shell. It was cracked, leaking energy, but still intact. "We need to get it somewhere safe. Somewhere Crane can't—"
"Crane," Ryo breathed. "This was her plan. She knew opening the containment would trigger my fragments. Knew I'd be tempted to bond with it. She was testing me."
"Or trying to create another Zero." Sera helped him stand. "Either way, she doesn't get this thing. Blackthorn doesn't get it. Nobody gets it except the bottom of the deepest canyon we can find."
"Agreed." Ryo's strength was returning slowly. "Help me seal it in something. Then we need to leave. Fast. Those Vulture soldiers will wake up soon, and—"
Gunfire erupted from outside the tank.
Sera's earpiece crackled: "Quinn! This is Glitch! The whole damn Brass Vultures army just showed up! At least fifty soldiers! We're pinned down at the scrapyard!"
"Who's we?" Sera demanded.
"Me, Razorgrin, Wrench, what's left of the strike team! We were watching your back, but there's too many of them!" More gunfire. "They want that fragment, Sera! And they're willing to kill everyone in Redwater Ridge to get it!"
Sera and Ryo exchanged glances.
"We need to move," Ryo said, forcing himself to stand steadily. "If the Vultures are here in force, they'll breach the tank any minute."
"Can you fight?" Sera asked.
Ryo checked his revolvers. His hands were steady now. The fragments inside him were quiet but present—a tool he could use if necessary, but no longer controlling him.
"Yeah," he said. "I can fight."
Sera moved to the damaged fragment, pulling out a lead-lined transport case from her pack—something she'd grabbed from Blackthorn's supplies before they left. She carefully loaded the cracked fragment inside, sealing it.
"This won't hold it for long," she said. "The damage you did—the energy's unstable. If it ruptures completely—"
"Then we make sure it doesn't." Ryo climbed toward the hatch. "Come on. Time to break through an army."
They emerged onto the top of the water tower just as the Vultures breached the base.
Fifty soldiers, like Glitch had said. Maybe more. They swarmed the scrapyard below, exchanging fire with Sera's criminal allies who were badly outnumbered and outgunned.
And standing in the center of it all, directing the assault with cold precision, was a figure Ryo recognized from bounty boards and whispered warnings.
Commander Vex. The Brass Vultures' top enforcer. Seven feet tall, more machine than man, with chrome armor that could stop small artillery.
He looked up at the water tower and saw Ryo.
Even from a hundred feet away, Ryo could feel his gaze.
"KAZEHARA!" Vex's voice boomed through external speakers. "SURRENDER THE FRAGMENT! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS!"
"Or what?" Sera shouted back.
"OR I LEVEL THIS ENTIRE DISTRICT!" Vex raised one massive arm. Built into it was a plasma cannon that could punch through tank armor. "I'LL KILL EVERYONE HERE! EVERY CRIMINAL! EVERY SCAVENGER! EVERY CHILD HIDING IN THOSE RUINS! TEN! NINE! EIGHT!"
Ryo looked at Sera. At the transport case containing the fragment. At his friends below, fighting desperately against impossible odds.
"We can't let him get it," Sera said.
"We won't." Ryo's mind raced. The fragments inside him pulsed—not trying to take over now, but offering information. Tactical analysis. Probability calculations.
He could see a path. Narrow. Dangerous. Possibly suicidal.
But it was there.
"FIVE! FOUR! THREE!"
"I'm going down there," Ryo said. "With the fragment."
"That's insane—"
"When I give the signal, you shoot the transport case. Crack it open. Release the fragment's energy." Ryo met her eyes. "It'll create an electromagnetic pulse. Fry every cybernetic within a hundred feet. Including Vex. Including most of the Vultures."
"It'll fry you too! The fragments inside you will—"
"Will activate. I know." Ryo's voice was steady. "But this time, I'll be ready. I'll stay in control. Use the power to protect everyone, then let it go when the threat's over."
"You don't know if you can do that!"
"No. But I have to try." Ryo prepared to climb down. "Because if I don't, Vex kills everyone. And the Vultures get the fragment anyway."
"TWO!"
"Sera. Trust me."
She looked at him—this boy who'd become her partner, her friend, maybe something more. This boy who carried weapons inside his body and nightmares in his sleep. This boy who was about to gamble his humanity to save a bunch of criminals in a forgotten district of a dying town.
"ONE!"
"I trust you," Sera said. She raised her rifle, chambering a round. "Make the signal. I'll take the shot."
Ryo smiled—quick and genuine—then jumped off the water tower.
He fell fifty feet and landed in a crouch that should have shattered his legs. But the fragments activated instinctively, reinforcing his bones, cushioning the impact.
He stood, the transport case in one hand, revolvers in the other.
Commander Vex turned his plasma cannon toward Ryo.
"Smart choice," Vex rumbled. "Hand it over."
"Actually," Ryo said, "I've got a counterproposal."
He threw the transport case into the air—high, spinning, directly above the center of the Vulture formation.
And shouted: "NOW!"
Sera's rifle cracked.
The bullet hit the transport case midair.
The fragment's cracked shell shattered completely.
And the Crimson Core's energy exploded.
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**END OF CHAPTER 11**
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