The lab haunted them,
Metal screamed as the corridor twisted inward, walls bending like ribs under pressure. Pluto sprinted first, boots slipping on sparks and ash, fingers tight around a handheld scanner that was losing its mind.
"Left! LEFT!" he shouted.
Tanya dragged Asuka hard, just as the floor on their right caved in and vanished into darkness. Emmanuel jumped the gap last, barely clearing it as a blast of air knocked him sideways.
They didn't stop running.
Behind them, something hit the outer structure again. Not random. Not accidental. Precise. Violent. The remains of the lab shuddered like it knew it was losing.
Asuka gasped, "This place is tearing itself apart!"
"No," Pluto snapped, skidding to a halt near a fractured junction. "Something is forcing it to."
The lights died.
Then came emergency red.
A low hum filled the corridor. Not electrical. Deeper. Warmer. Wrong.
Emmanuel slowed. "Do you feel that?"
Tanya turned, eyes sharp. "Feel what?"
Before he could answer, the air split.
A ripple tore through the hallway like glass bending under heat. Symbols flashed in midair, broken and flickering, as if reality itself was buffering.
Pluto swore. "That's not structural failure."
The ripple expanded.
Asuka screamed as the floor dropped an inch, then snapped back. Time hiccupped. Sound warped. Emmanuel staggered, clutching his head.
"No no no," he breathed. "This is… this is temporal."
Tanya grabbed his arm. "What do you mean temporal?"
He looked at her, eyes wide with realization and fear. "This lab isn't just collapsing. It's intersecting."
The hum spiked.
A shockwave threw them apart.
Pluto slammed into a wall. Asuka hit the floor hard. Tanya rolled, barely stopping herself from falling into the ground that hadn't existed a second ago.
Emmanuel was on his knees at the centre of it all.
The air around him fractured into sharp blue-white light, spiralling upward like a broken doorway.
Pluto shouted, "EMMANUEL, MOVE!"
He tried.
The light wrapped around him like chains.
Emmanuel looked down at his hands as they began to glitch, edges blurring, fingers phasing in and out.
His voice shook. "Guys… I think this is pulling me back."
Asuka scrambled up. "Back where?!"
He laughed once, breathless and disbelieving. "My timeline."
Tanya froze. "What are you talking about?"
"I don't belong here," he said fast now, panic rising. "I crossed over weeks ago. This place, whatever's happening, it's correcting itself."
The corridor split again. A chunk of ceiling collapsed between them and Emmanuel, stopping Pluto inches short.
"NO!" Pluto roared.
Emmanuel met their eyes through the distortion. He was smiling, but it was tight. Real. Terrified.
"Listen to me," he shouted over the tearing sound of reality. "You survive. You hear me? Whatever's attacking this place isn't done."
Tanya slammed her fist against the fallen debris. "You're not leaving like this!"
"I don't get a choice," he yelled back. "I never did."
The light surged.
Asuka screamed his name.
Emmanuel took one last breath, steadying himself like someone stepping off a cliff.
"Tell the others," he said softly, already fading. "Tell them I tried."
Then he was gone.
The light snapped shut.
Silence slammed down hard.
For half a second, nothing moved.
Then the lab screamed again.
Another impact hit. Walls buckled. Fire burst from ruptured lines. Pluto snapped out of it first.
"MOVE!" he shouted, grabbing Tanya and pulling her upright. "We don't die here!"
Asuka wiped tears with the back of her sleeve and ran.
They tore through collapsing corridors, jumping gaps, sliding under falling beams, barely staying ahead of the destruction. The lab wasn't just falling anymore. It was being torn apart piece by piece.
They burst into an outer chamber as the ceiling behind them imploded.
Pluto slammed the emergency hatch shut manually, sealing it with a wrench and sheer rage.
The room shook, but held.
For now.
They stood there, panting, covered in dust and blood and sparks.
Asuka's voice cracked. "He's really gone."
Tanya clenched her jaw, eyes burning. "Not dead. Just… somewhere else."
Pluto stared at the sealed door, hands trembling. "This place took enough from us."
Another distant crash echoed through the facility.
Whatever was out there was still moving.
Pluto straightened, eyes hard. "We keep going. For Emmanuel."
The lights flickered.
And the hunt continued.
---