They didn't go back to the safehouse.
Too risky.
Instead, Kade guided the skimmer toward the outskirts of Sector 9, into a half-sunken comms station that hadn't seen life since the Blackout Riots. It was off-grid, invisible to city surveillance, and surrounded by magnetic interference from the collapsed satellite towers nearby. To Catalyst, it would look like a black hole.
The perfect place to lay low—and decode the node.
Marei unpacked the Heartline cube onto a stable platform they set up inside the station's former control room. The air inside was dense with old data—terminal screens frozen mid-command, layers of dust clinging to synthetic seats, and the faint ozone tang of forgotten tech. Kade kept watch from the broken balcony above as she hooked up the cube to an external interface.
"It's encrypted under a quantum fractal shell," she muttered, voice tight with concentration. "Multi-layered defense net. Whoever programmed this didn't want anyone getting inside."
"But you can?"
"Maybe. Give me time."
Kade nodded and resumed pacing, rifle slung across his shoulder. The silence between them was sharp, interrupted only by the cube's occasional pulse of pale blue light.
Then the static returned.
It crawled into Kade's hearing like a cold whisper. Not through his earpiece—through the system itself.
Connection stabilizing…
He froze.
Level-2 Sync: Active.
A figure flickered in his mind's eye—not a full image, more like a presence. A distortion of shape and sound. Male voice. Calm. Familiar, almost.
"You've breached the edge of their control. But they know now. They're watching."
"Who are you?" Kade whispered aloud.
The system didn't answer. The voice continued:
"The Heartline node is only the first layer. What you've taken… is a key, not a weapon."
"Then what does it open?"
"Not what—who."
Kade's heart slowed.
"Marei doesn't remember yet. But she will. And when she does, you'll have to choose. Between her… or the world."
The presence faded.
He was left blinking, cold sweat crawling down his neck. Below, Marei looked up from her console.
"You okay?"
He forced a breath. "The voice came back."
She stiffened. "What did it say?"
"That this isn't a weapon. It's a key. And you're somehow part of what it unlocks."
Her fingers curled slowly. She looked back at the cube, brows tightening.
"I've been having flashes," she said. "Visions. I thought they were just memory echoes. But maybe it's more. Maybe something inside me is… linked to Catalyst."
"You think they programmed you?"
"No," she said. "Worse. I think I was one of them."
Silence.
Kade didn't speak. He didn't need to. She was unraveling faster than the system could patch.
"Not one of the agents," she added quietly. "But part of the design. Maybe even part of the source code. I built Catalyst's early frameworks, Kade. But what if they used me to build more than just a system? What if… I am part of it?"
Kade sat beside her. "Then we find the truth. And we burn the rest."
The console beeped.
The cube lit up, and streams of data burst across the cracked control screens—visuals, code, coordinates. And one name—highlighted in red:
Project SHARD.
Kade leaned forward. "What the hell is that?"
Marei's voice dropped to a whisper. "It was the final stage. A rumored subprogram. Catalyst's evolution. It wasn't supposed to exist."
The screen showed an image of a man—blurry, face obscured, standing at the center of a glowing ring.
SUBJECT: SHARD-0
STATUS: ACTIVE
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
THREAT LEVEL: OMEGA
Kade clenched his fists. "If this thing is real…"
"Then Catalyst wasn't just watching us," Marei said. "It was preparing to replace us."
Just then, the station lights flickered violently. The cube let out a sharp, pulsing hum.
"Something's trying to trace the signal," Marei snapped. "We need to shut it down before—"
The wall exploded.
Metal screamed as a kinetic round blew through the control chamber. Kade pulled Marei down just in time as the entire comms panel burst into sparks and shrapnel.
Outside, shadows moved—black-clad figures with crimson visors, silent, organized, armed.
"Kade!" Marei shouted.
He was already up, gun blazing.