“Three confirmed,” Tess said, cycling through the camera feeds.

  “Maybe more. The sensors only cover about sixty percent of the

  facility.”

  Petra stood at the door, vibroblades humming in her hands. The

  emergency lighting painted her face in alternating bands of color and

  shadow. “Where are they now?”

  Tess found the feed again. “One in Corridor 7, moving toward the

  research wing. One near Junction 4. The third…” She switched cameras,

  searching. “I lost it. It was near us when I first spotted it.”

  “And the staff?”

  “Gone. Evacuated, maybe.” Tess pulled up more feeds, scrolling

  through empty hallways and abandoned workstations. Coffee cups still

  steaming on desks. A chair knocked over in front of a terminal. “Or

  hiding. I’m not seeing anyone.”

  Petra processed that for a moment. Then she sheathed one vibroblade

  and dialed something on her communicator. “Perimeter team, this is Petra

  Tertian. We need assistance.”

  Static. Then a voice, professional and clipped: “Lady Tertian.

  Containment breach protocol is in effect. Facility is sealed until the

  situation is resolved.”

  “The facility is sealed,” Petra repeated. “Meaning you’re not coming

  in.”

  “Correct. Protocol requires external containment until internal

  threats are neutralized. We cannot risk breach of the outer

  perimeter.”

  Tess watched Petra’s jaw tighten. “There are spawns loose in here. At

  least three.”

  “Situation understood. Best of luck, Lady Petra.”

  Petra closed the channel and looked at Tess. “What? No… dammit! We’re

  on our own.”

  “I gathered.” Tess turned back to the cameras. The spawn in Corridor

  7 had stopped moving, its angular form barely visible in the emergency

  lighting. “The good news is they’re not heading toward us. Yet.”

  “Then I go to them.” Petra drew her second blade again. “You

  coordinate from here. Watch my path, open doors, warn me if anything

  moves.”

  “You’re hunting spawns alone?”

  Petra’s smile was thin but genuine. “This is literally what I’ve

  trained for.”

  Tess wanted to argue, but Petra was right. Of the two of them, only

  one had combat skills. The other had a plasma torch and a

  multi-tool.

  “Fine. But you keep your communicator open. Anything goes wrong…”

  “You’ll watch it happen on camera. I know.” Petra moved to the door.

  “Which way to Corridor 7?”

  Tess pulled up the facility map, tracing the route. “Left out the

  door, down the main hall, second right. The spawn was near Lab 2 last I

  saw it.”

  “Lab 2. Got it.” Petra paused at the threshold. “Find out where

  everyone went. And find Allen.”

  She was gone before Tess could respond.

  The control room felt larger with Petra gone. Tess settled into a

  console chair, arranging the camera feeds across the display array.

  Eight screens. Not enough to cover the entire facility, but enough to

  track Petra’s progress.

  She spoke aloud to Bee, keeping her voice low even though the room

  was empty.

  “Three spawns loose. Petra’s hunting them. I’m coordinating from the

  control room. Guards won’t help—containment protocol.”

  BEE: Your father wants to know: “Are you in

  danger?”

  “Some.” Tess switched cameras, found Petra moving down the main

  corridor. “Petra’s got it handled. I think.”

  BEE: “You think?”

  “She’s confident, and Level 5. That counts for something.”

  Petra’s voice crackled through the communicator. “Main corridor

  clear. Approaching second right.”

  Tess checked the Corridor 7 feed. The spawn had moved again, now

  crouched at an intersection about forty meters from Petra’s position.

  “Contact ahead. It’s at the junction where Corridor 7 meets the research

  wing.”

  “Distance?”

  “Maybe forty meters once you turn the corner. It’s not moving. Might

  be hunting.”

  “Or waiting.” Petra’s voice carried a note of dark amusement. “This

  feels like a dungeon. The irony isn’t lost on me.”

  Tess watched the camera as Petra rounded the corner, moving from the

  main corridor into Corridor 7. The lighting was worse here—half the

  emergency strips had failed or been damaged, leaving pools of shadow

  between islands of red.

  The spawn noticed her immediately. On the grainy feed, it shifted,

  orienting toward the movement. Then it charged.

  It covered the distance in seconds, faster than she’d expected,

  angular limbs eating up the hallway in a skittering rush.

  Petra didn’t retreat. She planted her feet, both blades raised, and

  waited.

  The spawn leaped. Petra moved.

  Tess couldn’t follow the details on the low-resolution feed, but the

  outcome was clear. One moment the spawn was airborne, all sharp angles

  and mechanical menace. Next, it was on the ground in two pieces, still

  twitching as whatever passed for its nervous system tried to process the

  sudden interruption.

  Petra stepped back, flicking something off her blade. The spawn’s

  body sparked once, twice, then went still.

  “That’s one.” Petra’s voice was calm, almost pleased. “Got

  experience, nice.”

  “That’s it?”

  “They’re pretty flimsy compared to what I’ve fought before,” Petra

  said, kneeling over the remains.

  “Okay, I feel safer now,” Tess couldn’t help but chuckle as she

  checked the other feeds. The spawn at Junction 4 was still moving, but

  slowly. The third one remained unaccounted for. “Two more

  confirmed.”

  “Then I keep moving. Which way to Junction 4?”

  Tess traced the route on her map. “Continue down Corridor 7, take the

  third left. Should bring you to the junction from the west side.”

  “Got it.”

  Tess watched Petra move deeper into the facility, passing abandoned

  labs with equipment still running. Through one window, she could see a

  centrifuge spinning, whatever sample inside long forgotten. Through

  another, a holographic display flickered with data nobody was

  reading.

  “Tess, I’m seeing signs of people leaving in a hurry. Equipment left

  running, personal items abandoned.”

  “Before or after the spawns got loose?”

  “Hard to say. We were in the control room for a while.”

  Petra reached the third left and turned. The Junction 4 camera showed

  her entering from the west, exactly as planned. The spawn was on the far

  side, near a sealed door marked LAB 4 in faded lettering.

  “I see it,” Petra said. “It’s… doing something. Scratching at a

  door.”

  Tess zoomed the camera. The spawn was smaller than the first one,

  built low to the ground with multiple limbs. It was focused on the Lab 4

  door, claws scraping against the metal in a rhythmic pattern.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Why would it…” Tess started.

  The observation window next to the door—partially obscured by the

  camera angle. Faces pressed against the glass. People.

  “Petra, there are people in Lab 4. That’s why the spawn is

  interested.”

  “I see them.” Petra’s voice hardened. “I’m moving.”

  The second fight lasted longer than the first. The smaller spawn ran

  up the wall just as Petra closed in, dropping from above. She bounced

  back, blades raised, faster than the thing could track. It charged

  again. This time Petra met it mid-lunge and carved it into pieces.

  Sparks flew until it went still.

  “Two down. These spawns are a lot like what was in the dungeon before

  the power increased. They’re… soft.”

  “Still another somewhere. Stay sharp.”

  “Always.” Petra moved to the Lab 4 door, examining it.

  Tess pulled up the Lab 4 environmental controls. “I might be able to

  open it remotely. Give me a second.”

  She navigated through the facility management system, but the door

  controls came back with an error. Manual override engaged. Remote

  access disabled.

  “No good. The lock’s been physically destroyed. I can’t get in from

  here.”

  Through the communicator, Tess heard muffled voices—probably the

  trapped researchers trying to communicate through the heavy door. Then a

  different sound: metal shrieking.

  “What are you doing?”

  “There’s a ventilation grate next to the door. Standard industrial

  design, thin gauge.” Another shriek of parting metal. “My blades go

  through it like tissue paper. Can’t cut the door, it’s too thick, but I

  can make a hole big enough to talk through.”

  The camera showed Petra pulling away a section of vent cover,

  revealing a rectangular opening about a foot across. A face appeared in

  the gap almost immediately: a man in a lab coat, eyes wide but voice

  controlled.

  “Thank the founders. We’ve been trapped in here for…” He stopped,

  recognizing Petra. “Lady Petra?”

  “Doctor…?”

  “Vasquez. Lead researcher for the manifestation protocols.” He

  glanced behind him. “We have twelve people in here. Allen called a staff

  meeting, locked the door behind him, and left. Ten minutes later the

  alarms started.”

  Petra’s voice went flat. “Allen locked you in. Deliberately.”

  “Yes.” Vasquez’s voice wavered. “He said… he said we’d take the blame

  when everything went wrong. That it was better this way. Then he

  destroyed the panel and left.”

  “Better this way.” Petra repeated the words like they tasted wrong.

  “And the spawns? Did he say anything about…”

  “The containment field starting failing this morning. We reported it

  to Allen, he said he’d called in a specialist.” A bitter laugh. “Was

  that you? The repair tech?”

  Tess leaned toward her communicator. “Doctor Vasquez, this is Tess

  Rivera. I repaired the containment field, but the spawns were already

  loose when I brought the system online. How long has the spawner been

  active?”

  “Who is…” Vasquez stopped, apparently deciding the question didn’t

  matter. “At least thirty-six hours. We noticed the first manifestation

  early this morning. The containment field was failing but Allen told us

  to continue normal operations while we waited.”

  “How many spawns?” Tess asked.

  “We counted five before being locked in here. Three escaped into the

  facility. Two remained in Lab 9, within the original containment

  zone.”

  Petra had killed two, but one was still hunting somewhere in the

  facility, plus the pair trapped in Lab 9.

  “Doctor, how do we shut off the spawner?” Tess asked.

  “The spawner has an emergency override. A manual kill switch in Lab

  9, in case the automated systems fail. Blows the Aether-conduits which

  will cause a cascade failure in the crystal lattice,” Vasquez’s voice

  grew tighter. “Allen accessed the control network before he left. We saw

  the logs after. He disabled the remote shutdown command.”

  Petra and Tess reached the same conclusion at the same moment.

  “So the spawner keeps producing,” Petra said.

  “Until it drains the facility’s power reserves. Yes. With the remote

  shutdown disabled, the only way to stop it is the manual override.”

  Tess stared out over the facility towards Lab 9. The containment

  field she’d repaired shimmered around the crystalline structure, holding

  the spawner and its products inside. “But I fixed the containment. I

  brought it back to seventy-eight percent.”

  “Which is buying us time,” Vasquez agreed. “But not enough. The

  spawner will keep producing, the field will keep degrading under the

  strain, and eventually it fails completely. Then we’re back where we

  started, only with more spawns.”

  Behind Vasquez, other researchers were gathering at the vent—some

  terrified, barely holding it together, others focused and already

  calculating variables and outcomes.

  “What’s the timeline?” Tess asked.

  “A few hours. Maybe a little more. After that, the containment field

  collapses and everything in Lab 9 comes out.”

  “And the guards outside?”

  Vasquez’s expression darkened. “Purge protocol. If the containment

  fails and the facility shuts down, the doors seal to prevent anything

  from breaching the perimeter. After that… well, it’s called a Purge

  protocol for a reason.”

  One researcher behind him—a younger woman with a datapad clutched to

  her chest—spoke up. “Allen knew. He knew what would happen. Lock us in,

  disable the shutdown, let the spawner run until the purge protocol

  triggers. No witnesses. No evidence.”

  “The guards outside confirmed it,” Petra said. “But why?”

  “It’s more than that.” Another researcher pushed forward, older, with

  the look of someone who’d seen things they couldn’t unsee. “Chen and

  Drosselmeyer left two days ago. Said they’d been reassigned. We thought

  it was strange—the project was at a critical phase. Why pull senior

  staff?”

  Vasquez nodded slowly. “Morris got a call last week. Took it

  privately, wouldn’t say who from. Became silent after. Nervous.”

  “The Network?” Petra asked.

  “We don’t know that,” Vasquez said quickly. “But something was wrong.

  We could all feel it. And then this. Lord Tertian assured us that this

  project was officially sanctioned.”

  Tess relayed the situation to Bee, voice low. Allen’s sabotage.

  Spawner running wild. Hours before containment fails. Purge

  protocol.

  BEE: This is very concerning. Tess, please do not do anything

  dangerous.

  “Pretty sure we’re past that, Bee.”

  Petra turned from the vent, checking the corridor behind her.

  “Doctor, is there another way to get you out of there?”

  “The ventilation system connects to the main air handlers, but the

  ducts aren’t large enough for people. We need the door.”

  “I can’t cut through it. The metal’s too thick.”

  Vasquez considered. “There might be another option. This lab has a

  secondary access point—a service corridor that leads to the maintenance

  level. But it requires power, and well… we don’t exactly have it in

  excess.”

  “Great.” Petra’s voice dripped with contempt. “Tess, can you get

  power to Lab 4?”

  Tess was already pulling up the distribution network. The system was

  a mess—someone had made changes throughout, creating bottlenecks and

  redirects that funneled everything toward Lab 9. “Maybe. It’ll take

  time. And I’d need to pull power from somewhere else.”

  “Do it. I’ll clear the third spawn and make sure our exit path is

  secure.”

  “The third spawn,” Vasquez said. “We saw it on the internal monitors

  before Allen locked us in. It was heading toward the storage section.

  Cold storage.”

  “Cold storage?”

  “Sample repository. Bio-crystal materials, extracted components…” He

  hesitated. “Things the spawner needs to continue production.”

  Tess stared at the camera feed. “Bio-Crystal? Like what the spawner

  is? What is it trying to do?”

  “We only just started studying spawns. We’re uncertain how much

  autonomy they have. Allen… was always cagey about that part of the

  research.”

  Petra checked her blades. “Then I’d better find it before it gets

  comfortable. Tess, work on that power reroute. Doctor, keep your people

  calm. We’re getting you out of here.”

  She moved off down the corridor, and Tess started tracing power

  conduits, looking for something she could safely redirect.

  BEE: Tess. The timeline is very concerning.

  “I know.”

  BEE: If the containment field fails and the purge protocol

  you told me about…

  “I know, Bee. I get that you’re worried, but that doesn’t help.”

  BEE: I am sorry, Tess. I do not know what emotion is being

  processed right now, but my definitions put it somewhere near…

  despair.

  “I know Bee, I’m going to have a friendly chat with Amos Tertian when

  we’re done here. No more.”

  The manual shutdown—that had to be the key. If she could get to Lab

  9, get to the override, she could stop the spawner entirely. No more

  production. Containment field stable. Crisis averted.

  But Lab 9 was inside the containment field she’d just repaired. The

  barrier she’d just carefully brought back online.

  She pulled up the Lab 9 camera feed again. The spawner dominated the

  center of the room, crystalline spires reaching toward the ceiling,

  pulsing with Aether. Around its base, she could see movement—the two

  spawns Vasquez had mentioned, prowling their confined space like caged

  animals.

  Through her communicator, she heard Petra: “Found the storage

  section. The Doctor may have undersold how cold it was going to be.

  Spawn is here, but it’s not moving. Dormant, maybe?”

  “Careful.”

  “I’m always careful.” A pause. “Don’t even say it. Fine. I’m

  approaching slowly.”

  Tess watched the camera feeds, but there was no coverage in cold

  storage. She could only listen as Petra moved closer to whatever was

  waiting in the dark.

  A burst of static. Then: “Got it. Three down. That’s all the loose

  ones, right?”

  “Unless there are more we didn’t detect.” Tess checked the sensors.

  No movement anywhere except Lab 4 and Lab 9. “I think we’re clear.”

  “Good. I’m heading back to Lab 4. How’s the power reroute

  coming?”

  “Working on it. Give me a minute.”

  Tess glanced at the broken and rerouted power schematics on the

  screen. This whole thing felt like a setup, and she doubted Allen had

  the technical skills to pull it off—director or not.

  She moved back to the containment field generator and looked at the

  signal repeater she’d fixed. Something about it seemed off—a detail that

  also showed up in the power network.

  She’d recognized the tag from the signal spoof she’d reactivated

  earlier. The same signature—‘pwnd_lol’—was embedded all over the power

  grid. Whoever created the Loopback had also messed with the distribution

  network.

  SIGNAL_STATUS: CONNECTED (LOOPBACK MODE—pwnd_lol)

  Before she knew it, Tess had found a solution—not elegant, but

  functional. She could pull reserves from the secondary environmental

  systems, reducing climate control to emergency minimums. Cold, but

  survivable. It was like whoever broke the system left her breadcrumbs to

  find the solution.

  “I think I can get power to the door, but it’s going to get cold,”

  Tess said.

  “Do it. Then we figure out the spawner.”

  The spawner sucking up all the power. The manual override. The

  containment field—with two spawns still prowling inside.

  Tess stared at Lab 9, thinking through the problem, then swore.

  “Petra, the power reroute solution… I think it’s a trap. Whoever is

  using that weird signature left it. If I kill the environmental and try

  to reroute the power the spawner’s going to pick it all up and leave us

  in the cold. We need to get it off before we can help the

  researchers.”

  Her mind raced. Two spawns inside. A kill switch somewhere in the

  room. And her, with a plasma torch, no combat skills and a few hours

  until the facility failed. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her

  heartbeat.

  Sorry Bee.

  “Petra. I need you to meet me at Lab 9.”