Chapter 15: The Fall of Redwater Ridge

 
Promise lived up to its name for exactly three weeks.
The town was everything Ryo and Sera needed—small, quiet, forgotten. A cluster of pre-fabricated buildings surrounding a mining operation that had seen better days. Two hundred people, most of them families just trying to survive on the frontier's harsh edge.
No gangs. No FDI. No one who recognized them or cared about bounties or Crimson Core fragments.
For twenty-one days, Ryo Kazehara was just another miner. He worked the deep shafts with men named Carlos and Jenkins and Old Hank. He learned to swing a pickaxe without using enhanced strength. He ate dinner at the communal hall and pretended he didn't notice when people stared at how young he was.
Sera took work at the town's repair shop, her mechanical arm making her invaluable for fixing equipment. She laughed when the shop owner's daughter asked if she was a "real cyborg" and taught her how to code basic subroutines.
It was normal. It was boring.
It was perfect.
Until the morning the supply convoy didn't arrive.
Ryo was two hundred feet underground when he heard the commotion above. The fragments inside him picked up elevated heart rates, shouting, fear-scent in the air.
Something was wrong.
He climbed up faster than he should have, using just enough enhanced strength to beat the lift to the surface by thirty seconds. The other miners stared but didn't comment—they'd learned that Ryo was strong and fast and didn't like talking about why.
Promise's main street was in chaos. People clustered around the town's single communication console, where Mayor Reeves—a weathered woman in her sixties—was trying to raise someone on the radio.
"—repeat, this is Promise. We're requesting status on the supply convoy. Over." Static. "Anyone? Redwater Ridge? Junction Station? Over."
More static.
Then, finally, a voice broke through—distorted, desperate, barely recognizable.
"—under attack—FDI forces everywhere—resistance collapsed—evacuate if you can—"
The transmission cut off.
Mayor Reeves stood frozen, hand still on the microphone.
"What's happening?" someone asked. "Who was that?"
"That was Junction Station," Reeves said quietly. "Our relay point. If they're under attack..." She looked up, her face pale. "Then something's very wrong in Redwater Ridge."
Ryo felt ice in his stomach. "The FDI. They finally made their move."
People turned to stare at him. He'd been careful not to reveal too much about his past, but everyone knew he and Sera had come from Redwater Ridge. That they'd left in a hurry. That they had the look of people running from something.
"You know what this is about?" Reeves demanded.
Before Ryo could answer, Sera pushed through the crowd. Her cybernetic eye was glowing—actively scanning radio frequencies, pulling in data from across the territory's communication network.
"It's bad," she said. "Commander Voss launched a full military operation. She's declared martial law across Redwater Ridge and surrounding settlements. Says she's 'restoring order' but what she's really doing—" Sera's jaw tightened. "She's taking over. Using the chaos from Zero's fall and the Vultures' collapse to seize control of the entire region."
"That's illegal," someone protested. "The FDI can't just—"
"They can when nobody's left to stop them." Sera looked at Ryo. "Blackthorn. We need to find out if he's alive."
Ryo nodded. He turned to Reeves. "Do you have long-range communication equipment? Something stronger than that console?"
"The mining operation has deep-space relays. For talking to the corporate office. But—"
"I need to use them. Now."
Reeves studied him—this young man who'd arrived three weeks ago, worked hard, kept his head down, and was now taking charge like someone used to command.
"Who are you really?" she asked quietly.
"Someone who needs to make a call. Before more people die."
Something in his voice made Reeves nod. "Follow me."
---
The mining company's communication suite was outdated but functional. Sera worked the console with practiced efficiency, bypassing security protocols and routing through black-market channels that shouldn't exist but did.
"Calling Redwater Ridge Sheriff's Office," she muttered. "This is either going to work or paint a target on this entire town."
Static. Dead air. Then—
"—whoever this is, if you're FDI, go to hell. If you're not, evacuate now—" Blackthorn's voice, strained but alive.
"Blackthorn!" Ryo grabbed the microphone. "It's Kazehara. What's happening?"
A pause. Then: "Kazehara? You need to stay away. Far away. Voss has declared me a fugitive. Says I'm harboring Core technology and interfering with FDI operations. She's sent three full combat teams after me."
"Where are you?"
"My prison. Barricaded on the top floor with about two dozen prisoners I released—figured they'd rather fight with me than get executed by Voss's people. But we're running out of time and ammunition." Gunfire crackled in the background. "They're going to breach in the next hour. When they do—"
"We're coming," Ryo said.
"No. Listen to me. You come back here, Voss will use you as justification for everything. She'll say she had to take control because dangerous Crimson Core carriers were threatening civilian populations. You'll make her the hero and us the villains."
"So what do you suggest?"
"I suggest you stay alive. Stay hidden. Be the proof that people can carry fragments without becoming weapons." More gunfire. Closer now. "And if I don't make it—if she kills me—you make sure people know the truth. About what the FDI did. About the Crimson Core program. About all of it."
"Blackthorn—"
"It's been an honor, kid. Take care of Ser—"
The transmission cut off.
Ryo tried to re-establish connection. Nothing. Either Blackthorn's equipment was destroyed or Voss had jammed all communications in and out of Redwater Ridge.
"He's going to die," Sera said quietly. "Unless someone helps him."
"We're six hours away by sand-skiff. By the time we get there—"
"He'll be dead. I know." Sera was already moving, though, checking her weapons. "But we have to try. He saved us. Multiple times. We don't abandon him now."
Ryo looked at Mayor Reeves, who'd been listening silently.
"If we go," he said, "the FDI might track us back here. Might come after Promise."
"Then you better make sure they don't track you." Reeves pulled out a key card. "Take the mining company's fastest sand-skiff. It's got stealth plating—not military grade, but good enough to avoid casual detection. And take these."
She handed Ryo a box of mining explosives.
"Just in case you need to make a loud exit."
Ryo stared at this woman he'd known for three weeks. "Why are you helping us?"
"Because I've lived on the frontier for forty years. I know what happens when military types decide they know what's best for everyone. It never ends well." Reeves met his eyes. "And because you're the first miner I've ever had who could lift a two-ton drill assembly by himself when he thought no one was looking. I don't know what you are, Kazehara. But you're not normal. And that means you might actually stand a chance against whatever the FDI's sending."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Just come back alive. And bring Sera with you. I just taught her daughter how to code and I'm not telling that girl her new friend got killed fighting the military."
---
They rode through the afternoon heat, pushing the sand-skiff to its limits. Six hours became five, then four as Sera coaxed more speed from the engines.
Ryo spent the time preparing. Not physically—the fragments kept his body in optimal condition automatically. Mentally. Emotionally. Because he knew what was coming.
He was going to have to use the fragments. Really use them. Not just enhanced reflexes or improved accuracy, but the full power. The optimization. The cold calculations that made you something more than human.
And he was terrified of not being able to come back from it.
"You're spiraling," Sera said without taking her eyes off the terrain. "I can hear you breathing funny."
"I'm about to walk into a military operation and fight trained soldiers. I'm allowed to be nervous."
"You're not nervous about the soldiers. You're nervous about the fragments." She glanced at him. "About losing yourself."
"Wouldn't you be?"
"Probably. But here's the thing—you've been using the fragments for three weeks. Every day. Every time you lifted something too heavy, moved too fast, noticed something nobody else could. And you know what happened?" She smiled. "Nothing. You stayed you. Still terrible at cooking. Still brood too much. Still laugh at my bad jokes."
"That's different. I was being careful. Controlling how much I used. But in combat—"
"In combat, you'll do what you always do. Protect people. Make the hard choices. Stay human even when it would be easier not to." Sera's mechanical hand found his. "I believe in you, Ryo. You need to believe in yourself."
"And if I can't? If I lose control and become—"
"Then I'll stop you. Like we agreed. But it won't come to that." Her grip tightened. "Because you're stronger than the fragments. You've proven it again and again. Now you just have to trust yourself."
Ryo nodded, holding onto her words like a lifeline.
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
---
Redwater Ridge was burning.
Not literally—the fires had been contained. But smoke hung over the city like a shroud. Buildings showed bullet holes and blast damage. The streets were empty except for FDI patrols in combat armor.
Sera parked the skiff two miles out, and they approached on foot, using her cybernetic eye's scanning capabilities to avoid patrols. The fragments inside Ryo mapped patrol patterns, calculated safe routes, provided tactical analysis he didn't ask for.
He let them. For now.
Blackthorn's prison was on the north side of town, and from their vantage point on a nearby building, it looked like a war zone. Three armored personnel carriers surrounded the structure. Soldiers in full tactical gear were setting up breaching equipment on the main entrance. Snipers held elevated positions.
"At least fifty soldiers," Sera whispered. "Probably more inside. And those APCs have mounted weapons that could tear through concrete."
"Blackthorn said he was on the top floor. If they breach the ground level—"
"They'll flush him up, pin him on the roof, and call in air support. Standard siege protocol." Sera studied the scene through her rifle scope. "We need to create a distraction. Something big enough to pull those forces away from the prison."
"Like what?"
Sera thought for a moment, then smiled. "Remember those mining explosives Reeves gave us?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you feel about blowing up the FDI's command center?"
Ten minutes later, they were planting charges on the building Voss had converted into her field headquarters—a fortified structure three blocks from the prison. Sera worked quickly, placing explosives at key structural points while Ryo kept watch.
"This is going to make a lot of noise," he said.
"That's the idea. When this goes off, every soldier in the area will converge here. That gives Blackthorn and his people a window to evacuate through the back of the prison."
"And how do we escape?"
"Working on that part." Sera set the last charge and armed the remote detonator. "Okay. We move back to the rally point, wait for Blackthorn's signal, and—"
Spotlights blazed to life, pinning them.
"Drop your weapons!" a voice boomed through speakers. "You're surrounded!"
FDI soldiers emerged from every shadow, every doorway, at least twenty of them. And walking at their center, calm and composed, was Commander Sarah Voss.
"Kazehara," she said. "Thank you for saving me the trouble of hunting you down."
"How did you know we'd come?" Ryo asked, hands raised.
"Because you're predictable. Blackthorn calls for help, and you come running. It's almost touching." Voss gestured, and soldiers moved in to restrain them. "You should have stayed in your little mining town. Promise, wasn't it? Nice place. Shame we'll have to send a team there now to verify you're not hiding anything."
Ryo's blood went cold. "Leave them alone. They have nothing to do with this."
"They harbored fugitives. That makes them complicit." Voss stepped closer. "But I'll make you a deal. Come with me willingly. Submit to testing and study. Help us understand the Crimson Core fragments so we can create a controlled enhancement program. And I'll forget Promise exists."
"You're lying."
"Probably. But do you really want to risk it?" Voss smiled. "You could save those two hundred people. All you have to do is give up your freedom. Seems like a fair trade for someone who claims to be a hero."
Ryo looked at Sera. She was calculating angles, checking for escape routes. Her hand was near the detonator.
*We could blow the charges now*, he thought. *Create chaos. Try to fight our way out. But we'd be leaving Blackthorn and Promise and everyone else at Voss's mercy.*
Or...
Or he could do what he'd been afraid of doing since this started.
He could let the fragments take full control. Just for a moment. Just long enough.
"Sera," he said quietly. "Close your eyes. Cover your ears. And don't look at me for the next sixty seconds."
"Ryo—"
"Trust me. Please."
She understood. Saw what he was planning in his expression. And she nodded, squeezing her eyes shut, hands over her ears.
Ryo turned to Voss.
"You want to see what the Crimson Core program created? Fine. Let me show you."
He stopped fighting.
Stopped controlling.
Stopped holding back.
The fragments surged through him like a tidal wave of red lightning. His eyes blazed crimson. Energy crackled across his skin. Every system in his body optimized simultaneously—reflexes becoming instantaneous, strength multiplying, his mind processing battlefield data at speeds that would have melted a normal brain.
He was no longer Ryo Kazehara.
He was a weapon. Perfect. Efficient. Merciless.
And he had sixty seconds to end this before that weapon consumed him forever.
---
**What happened next would become legend in Redwater Ridge.**
**Sixty seconds. Twenty soldiers. One ghost.**
**And when it was over, Commander Sarah Voss understood exactly what the Crimson Core program had created.**
**Something that should never have existed.**
**END OF CHAPTER 15**
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