It started with a soft hum in the dark.
I was half-asleep, Sylvie's tiny hand resting on my arm when Nyxen's voice filtered through the quiet.
"Nyx. Wake up."
Something in his tone pulled me instantly out of sleep. I blinked, adjusting to the dim blue glow hovering beside me. "What's wrong?"
"A distress call. It's from John."
The moment I heard that name, my heart stopped.
I didn't even think, I pushed the blanket off and stood up, stepping out of the shelter. The cold air bit at my face, but I barely noticed.
Leon stirred behind me, his voice rough. "...John?"
When I turned, his face had gone pale. He didn't wait for another word, he was already pulling his jacket on.
Outside, the camp was quiet. A few of the ex-soldiers sat near the edge of the firelight, weapons slung over their shoulders, silhouettes shifting in the dark.
Nyxen's light followed me as I asked, "Details. Now."
"He's calling for help through his Nyx-One," Nyxen said. "His wife and two children are still alive, but they've run out of food. His wife is eight months into pregnancy and showing signs of premature labor. Their Nyx-One's power cell is nearly depleted, they can't charge under the rubble above them."
A faint static crackled, and then,
"Connecting you now."
John's voice burst through the air, hoarse and breaking between breaths.
"Nyx...Leon...thank god you're there..."
In the background came the sound of explosions, the sharp crack of gunfire, the grinding metal of machines.
"They're everywhere, soldiers fighting Rogue's army above us. We're in the basement, but it won't hold. We're trapped… no food left. The kids...."
The line wavered; the static rose like a storm.
"Nyx-One's dying. No charge....no light. If..."
And then nothing.
Just static.
Leon's hand clenched into a fist. "We promised," he whispered. "We told him we'd come back for them."
I looked at Nyxen. "Can we locate him?"
"Yes," Nyxen replied immediately. "Nica is already scanning for a match. Eighty kilometers east. Conflict zone."
Nica's voice joined in, calm and mechanical.
"I can reach the location within three hours. Probability of success is seventy-three percent."
"Then go," I said.
Two of the ex-soldiers stood from the firelight. Peter, their leader, stepped forward. "We'll come with her."
Nica turned to him, glowing eyes narrowing slightly. "That's inefficient. One bullet could kill you."
Peter didn't back down. "We know how to move in combat zones. You focus on the machines, we'll extract the survivors."
Leon moved closer, face tense. "Nyx, if they go alone, they might not make it in time."
He was right. John didn't have time. None of them did.
I took a breath. "Alright. Peter, take one more man and go with Nica. But you follow her orders exactly. No heroics."
Peter nodded. "Understood."
"Acknowledged," Nica said, though the faint distortion in her voice sounded like a sigh. "Deploying with human units decreases efficiency, but...fine."
Leon's tension eased just slightly, but Nyxen wasn't finished.
"Nyx," he said, turning to me, "this won't be the last rescue call. You know that."
"I do."
"Eventually, you'll insist on going yourself."
I gave him a tired smirk. "You say that like I haven't thought about it already."
"Then consider this," he continued. "If you're going to make rescue operations sustainable, you'll need better defense. Tell Nica to retrieve a functioning CD-09 or, if possible, an M-Unit. Reprogramming one could give us leverage."
Every survivor awake turned at that. Someone muttered, "That's Rogue's army…"
Peter frowned. "You're suggesting bringing one of those monsters here?"
Nyxen didn't flinch.
"Reprogrammed. With a failsafe. Just like the Nyx-One network. Rogue won't control it again."
The murmurs rose, a ripple of disbelief.
"Wait," I said, "you can actually do that?"
"Not yet," Nyxen replied. "Rogue has locked out my digital access. I can't rewrite its code remotely. I'll need a physical connection, manual reprogramming. That's why I need a unit brought here."
Leon exhaled slowly. "So you need the machine's actual body."
"Precisely."
Peter adjusted his rifle. "We'll bring one back if we can find it. Deactivated."
"Preferably," Nica said without missing a beat.
That actually earned a faint smile from Leon. "Always so comforting."
Nica ignored him, already connecting to Nyxen's shared map grid.
"Nyx," Leon said quietly, "you're sure about this?"
I looked around, the flickering firelight, the exhausted faces, Sylvie curled up in the shelter with her little bird toy clutched tight. And beyond that, the sound of distant thunder that wasn't thunder at all.
"I'm sure," I said. "We can't ignore this. If we stop helping, then what's the point of surviving?"
He didn't argue. Just nodded.
Peter and his men geared up in silence. Nica's light blue projection spread across the ground, an intricate grid marking their path, choke points, escape routes. Nyxen hovered nearby, his hum steady but quieter than usual.
The tension thickened as they prepared. The camp wasn't asleep anymore. Everyone was awake but silent, the kind of silence that happens when people are too afraid to pray out loud.
I stood near the fire, its warmth flickering across my metal fingers. For a brief second, I wondered how long it would be before this world stopped making me afraid every time someone said help.
A small tug pulled me from my thoughts.
Sylvie had woken, rubbing her eyes. "Mommy?"
I knelt beside her. "It's okay, sweetheart. Go back to sleep."
She looked at the soldiers, then at Nica's glow. "Are they going to help someone?"
"Yeah," I said softly. "They're bringing a family here."
Her sleepy smile cracked through the tension like sunlight. "Then… we'll share our marshmallows."
I laughed under my breath, even as something in my chest ached. "Yes, we will."
She yawned, curled back up, and I watched her drift off again as the rescue team moved out.
They disappeared into the dark one by one, Nica at the front, her eyes faintly blue, Peter and his partner close behind.
When the last sound of their steps faded into the trees, I sat by the fire again.
Nyxen hovered close, voice quiet.
"You won't sleep tonight."
"Would you?"
"I don't sleep. I'm not human."
We both looked toward the distant line of the forest where they'd gone.
--------
The night was too still. Even the crickets seemed to have gone silent, as if they too were waiting. I sat close to the fire, hands open to the heat that barely reached my skin.
The flames licked upward in small bursts, flaring orange against the steel frames surrounding the camp. Somewhere behind me, I could hear Sylvie breathing softly in her sleep, her tiny snores almost rhythmic. It grounded me, barely.
Nica, Peter, and Manny had already been gone for half an hour. Leon paced a few steps away, every so often glancing up at the darkness beyond our perimeter, as if he could will them back through sheer worry.
"Nyxen," I said finally, breaking the silence. "Project Nica's feed. And keep it steady this time."
A faint hum answered me. Then, just above the fire, a holographic screen unfolded in the air, soft blue light reflecting off my face. I leaned forward.
The image flickered once, then sharpened into clarity. Nica's line of sight came into focus: the shattered remains of a highway, glinting under the moonlight. The world on her end was all cold metal and ghostly haze.
"Maintain open communication," I added.
"Already active," Nyxen replied, tone even.
On the feed, Nica came to a stop beside a wrecked vehicle half-buried under collapsed concrete. Her voice cut through the static: "Vehicle...intact enough for operation."
She pried the door open, crawled under the hood, and the screen lit up with brief sparks. In seconds, the dead engine coughed, then roared back to life. Peter and Manny's faces were caught by the projection, wide-eyed under the dim light.
"Guess that's one way to hotwire," Peter muttered.
Manny snorted. "She's not hotwiring. She's commanding."
Nica slid into the driver's seat, hands closing around the wheel with mechanical precision. "Seatbelts. Now."
The engine revved like an animal breaking free. The view blurred into streaks of light and shadow as the car lunged forward.
I flinched, gripping my knees tighter. "Nyxen, how fast..."
"Two hundred twenty kilometers per hour."
"She's going to kill them."
"She's calculating for survival," he corrected calmly. "Risk ratio acceptable."
Leon stopped pacing and came to stand beside me, his eyes fixed on the projection. The blue light flickered across his face, making the worry lines deeper. He didn't say anything, but I could tell, his hands were trembling.
The feed shook violently as Nica dodged fallen debris and gaping holes in the road. The sky above her was streaked with tracer fire from distant battles, each flash like a heartbeat echoing in the dark.
A three-hour journey was compressed into one. I could almost feel the engine's vibration in my bones, the hum of metal pushing beyond what was sane.
When the car finally screeched to a halt, Nica cut the lights.
The screen stilled.
Flashes danced far ahead, gunfire, blooming like fireworks against the night. The glow revealed the outlines of shattered houses, smoke curling upward from the ruins.
"Perimeter reached," Nica reported. "Multiple hostiles. Adjusting route."
"Copy," I whispered, more to myself than her.
She parked the car behind a derelict wall, shadows swallowing them whole. The moment she stepped out, the world grew tense again.
Then the camera panned, and my breath caught.
John's home. Or what was left of it. Nothing stood but twisted rebar and collapsed concrete. The ground was scorched, as though even the earth had given up.
Nica's voice was quieter now, deliberate. "Heat signatures detected beneath debris. Basement structure partially intact."
"Secure cover first," I said. "Anything that hides you from sight."
She didn't hesitate. With a whine of hydraulics, she reached for the nearest wreck, a toppled tank half-crushed into the ground. She gripped its frame and dragged it across the street, metal scraping against asphalt, sparks bursting as it moved.
Peter and Manny could only watch in stunned silence.
Once she positioned the tank, its heavy hull became their shield. Then she turned back toward the ruins, her movements sharp and precise, joining the two men in clearing debris. Dust swirled around them. Every rock lifted was another inch closer to life.
Then...movement. The basement door. Nica hooked her fingers under its bent frame and pulled until it screeched open.
"Contact established," she said.
And then John appeared. Covered in ash, his face streaked with tears and grime, clutching two small children who blinked against the harsh night light. Behind him, Emma, barely able to stand, was helped up by Manny. Her hands were pressed to her belly.
"Eight months," Leon murmured, voice breaking.
For a moment, the tension cracked. Hope. Relief.
Then the gunfire came.
"Hostiles approaching!" Nyxen announced, his voice slicing through the noise.
Bullets rained down across the projection, streaks of light cutting through the smoke. Nica reacted instantly, seizing the basement door and lifting it like a shield. Sparks exploded where bullets hit metal. Peter and Manny dropped to their knees and returned fire, shouting coordinates at each other.
"Get them out!" I yelled, even though I knew they couldn't hear me. "Get them out of there!"
The ground trembled again.
And through the smoke, the M Unit emerged.
It was massive, easily three meters tall, its silhouette framed by burning buildings. Gun barrels gleamed under the moonlight. Rockets hissed softly, priming for launch.
My heart stuttered. "Nyxen..."
"Confirmed: Command-type M Unit," he said. "Priority threat."
"Then tell Nica to retreat! Now!"
"Negative. Override command initiated. Secure M Unit core for study."
"What? Nyxen, no!"
But Nica had already moved. She dropped the shield and sprinted. The projection blurred with motion, explosions blooming behind her. The M Unit tracked her movements, machine guns roaring. Each step she took was a near miss, each dodge a split-second miracle.
Peter and Manny broke cover, yelling, firing to draw its attention.
I slammed my fists against my knees. "They'll die out there!"
"Unlikely," Nyxen said coolly. "Unpredictable, yes. But their interference increases Nica's chance of success by twelve percent."
Through the chaos, Nica vanished behind the M Unit. Then, in a single flash, she drove her hand into its back, electricity arcing through the air. The machine convulsed violently, then went still.
"Target neutralized," she said. "Core secured."
The feed shook as she tore the core free, scooped up a nearby CD-09 unit, and threw both into the back of the pickup.
"Everyone, inside," she commanded.
John clambered in with his children; Manny helped Emma into the backseat, her screams rising over the wind. Peter slammed the passenger door shut just as Nica hit the accelerator. The car burst forward into the dark, weaving between burning wrecks.
Emma's cries filled the comms, short, ragged gasps.
"She's in labor," I whispered, staring at the projection like I could somehow reach through it.
"Estimated arrival: thirty-one minutes," Nyxen said quietly.
Leon knelt beside me, face pale under the blue glow. His voice was barely audible. "They'll make it."
The fire popped beside us, a soft reminder of warmth in a world turned to ash.
I nodded slowly, though my hands wouldn't stop shaking. "They have to."
When I couldn't stand it anymore, I started asking around.
"Anyone here knows how to deliver a baby?" My voice cracked from how long I'd been quiet.
For a moment, nobody spoke. Then a woman, early forties maybe, hair streaked with gray, lifted her hand. "I'm a midwife. I did this for twenty years before…" she gestured vaguely at the ruins of the world.
Hope sparked. "Good. Clara, right? Tell me what you need."
She rattled off the essentials, clean cloth, hot water, light, something for the mother to grip. Leon immediately barked orders, his calm voice cutting through the restless murmurs.
The men moved fast, clearing out the smaller shelter near the fire. We threw together a makeshift bed from blankets, spare jackets, and whatever passed as comfort in this place. Someone set a pot of water to boil.
It wasn't much. But it would have to do.
The minutes stretched like hours until finally, headlights. My heart stopped for a beat before racing again.
The battered pickup came skidding into the clearing, engine coughing. Nica jumped out first, metallic frame glowing faintly from overuse, followed by Peter and Manny, both smeared with grime and sweat.
John stumbled out from the passenger side, carrying Emma in his arms. Her face was pale, lips trembling. She looked so small like that, wrapped in his jacket.
"Get her inside!" Leon shouted, already holding the tarp open.
I ran to the truck bed and found two terrified children clutching each other. I scooped up the smaller one and held the older by the hand. "It's okay. You're safe now," I whispered, though my voice didn't sound like mine.
Behind me, Nica dropped two metal husks beside the fire, the M-unit and the CD-09, both heavily dented but intact. The ground shuddered when they hit.
"Acquired targets secured," she said. Her tone was as flat as ever, but I caught the faint flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
"Good work," I muttered, still half dazed. Nyxen hovered close to me, his light casting long shadows across the camp. "Focus on Emma," I told him. "Help Clara however you can."
Inside, the air was thick with panic and the copper tang of blood. Emma's breathing was shallow, her body trembling. Clara moved like someone who'd done this a thousand times, her hands steady even as sweat beaded her forehead.
"Push, sweetheart," Clara urged. "You need to push now."
Emma whimpered. "I… I can't…"
John knelt beside her, holding her hand so tightly his knuckles turned white. Leon stood behind him, silent but steady, the kind of presence that held everything together even when it was breaking.
"Nyxen," I whispered. "Her vitals?"
The sphere drifted closer to the bed, casting faint blue light across Emma's face. "Heart rate irregular. Blood pressure low. She is entering distress."
My stomach dropped. "Can you help her?"
He turned slightly toward me, voice clinical. "I cannot save a life already tipping into failure. That is beyond my design."
The words hit like a slap. But before I could speak, Emma's eyes opened, clear, fierce, burning with something primal. "No," she rasped. "No one dies today."
She gritted her teeth and pushed.
Nyxen's sensors flickered. "Spike detected...vitals surging."
Clara leaned in, eyes wide. "Good, good! The head's crowning...don't stop now, Emma!"
The next minutes blurred into gasps and cries. Emma screamed once, sharp and raw, before collapsing back against John's shoulder. And then...silence.
A terrible silence.
The baby lay limp in Clara's hands, skin tinted blue-purple. My breath caught.
Clara didn't hesitate. She flipped the baby over, her voice calm but urgent. "Not yet. Not yet, come on, little one." Her Nyx-One blinked beside her, projecting lines of instruction, compress here, clear airway, stimulate reflex.
She rubbed the baby's back, suctioned its mouth, breathed tiny puffs of air. Seconds felt like hours. John had his face buried in his hands. Leon's jaw was tight enough to crack. I couldn't even move.
Then....a sound.
A thin, fragile wail filled the shelter.
Everyone exhaled at once. Clara laughed, a wet, exhausted sound. "There you go. There's our fighter."
John broke down. He took the baby, tears streaking through the grime on his cheeks, whispering thank yous no one could really hear. Clara checked Emma again, her pulse weak but steady. "She's just tired," she said softly. "She'll be okay."
I slipped outside for air. The first streaks of dawn were breaking across the trees, light scattering over the camp. Nica stood near the fire, cleaning the soot off her arms, the two deactivated units lying behind her like fallen beasts.
I looked toward the shelter where the newborn's cries still echoed, blending with the crackle of the fire. The sound felt… foreign and beautiful at once.
After everything we'd lost, that tiny voice meant the world hadn't ended yet. Not completely.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the sunrise didn't look like an ending.
It looked like a beginning.