the crimson pulse

"I almost have it," Mina muttered, her fingers dancing over the silver pendant. "Just one more second to sync the frequency..."

Suddenly, the amber glow of her goggles turned a violent red. Every screen in the room began to scream with static.

"He's here," Kael whispered, drawing a jagged blade from his belt. "He’s overloading the local grid just to flush us out. That’s not a search—it’s an execution."

The heavy iron door of the workshop groaned, the metal beginning to glow white-hot as if someone were melting it from the other side.

"Take these!" Mina shouted, tossing a pair of reinforced carbon-fiber gloves to Litus. "They’ll act as a heat sink. If you keep venting cold energy like you did earlier, your own heart will stop."

Litus pulled the gloves on just as the door exploded inward. But instead of fear, a strange sensation washed over him. His vision blurred, flickering between the dark workshop and a digital, red-tinted perspective. He was seeing the room through the Officer’s cybernetic eye. He could see his own heat signature glowing like a star.

I see you, defect, a voice echoed in his brain, distorted by static.

"He's in my head!" Litus gasped, clutching his temples.

"Then push him out!" Kael grabbed Litus by the collar and shoved him toward a ventilation shaft. "Jump, Litus! Into the tunnels! The deep earth is the only place he can't follow your signal!"

As they tumbled into the darkness of the old subway lines, Litus felt the cold in his veins turn from a trickle into a roar. The hunt wasn't just physical anymore—it was a war for his mind.