They sprinted through the lower maintenance chamber, footsteps echoing over metal.Alex stumbled but Kayden pulled him upright.Phineas scanned every wall, every pipe, every shadow — calculating escape vectors at impossible speed.
APEX flickered above Kayden's shoulder, its hologram cracked and dim.
"Commander…Citadel operative arrival in next sector in… 23 seconds…"
Alex screamed into the darkness:
"TWENTY-THREE SECONDS?! He's NOT HUMAN—!"
Kayden kept running.
But something else shifted.
The air pressure changed.
Phineas felt it first.His breath caught.
"Kayden… stop."
Kayden slid to a halt.
Alex slammed into his back."Wh— why are we stopping— RUN—"
Phineas slowly lifted his tablet, hand trembling.
"It's not him."
Kayden's jaw tightened."Then who—"
BOOOOOOMMMMM—!!!
The entire chamber erupted in white light.
A shockwave slammed into them and threw them off their feet. Alex hit the ground screaming. Phineas rolled, clutching his side. Kayden staggered up, ears ringing.
APEX went blank for three seconds.
Then came back flashing red:
"WARNING.SRD SUPPRESSION FIELD DETECTED.SIGNATURE: OMEGA-DOME."
Alex's voice cracked.
"OMEGA WHAT—?!"
Kayden's blood ran cold.
He knew that word.
Hale had warned him once:
"Omega-class domes are used only for two things—containment of catastrophic threats…or retrieval of irreplaceable assets."
Phineas staggered forward, eyes wide with horror.
"Kayden… SRD isn't trying to KILL you—they're trying to TAKE you before the Citadel does."
Before Kayden could react—
The ceiling tore open.
A circular aperture unfurled like metal petals.
SRD operatives rappelled down FAST —full armorlinked visorsoxygen sealsshock batons charged.
A voice boomed through amplifiers:
"ARCLIGHT VARIABLE — YOU ARE ORDERED TO STAND DOWN!"
Alex screamed back:
"STOP CALLING HIM THAT!! HE'S A PERSON!!!"
The SRD commander didn't even pause.
"DEPLOY THE DOME— NOW!"
A DISK slammed onto the ground in front of Kayden.
It unfolded like a mechanical flower—
And then the world died.
Every sound.Every frequency.Every vibration.
THUD—Air compressed.Pressure locked.
A shimmering spherical barrier rose around Kayden — crystalline, blue-white, humming with brutal electromagnetic force.
Alex hit the barrier instantly and bounced back, screaming:
"KAYDEN!!!"
Phineas slammed his hands against the dome, shouting:
"STOP— YOU'LL CRUSH HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM— THIS FIELD ISN'T APPROVED FOR HUMANS—!!"
SRD ignored him completely.
Inside the dome, Kayden felt gravity flip sideways.His vision doubled.His bones vibrated.
APEX tried to stabilize—
"Commander— neural strain rising—I cannot protect you in here—the dome is blocking system output—"
Kayden clenched his teeth so hard he tasted blood.
Outside the dome—
Alex hammered his fists against the barrier until his knuckles split.
"LET HIM GO— LET HIM GO— LET HIM GO—!!"
Phineas grabbed Alex, dragging him back before he broke his own hands.
"Alex— STOP— you'll kill yourself—!!"
Alex sobbed, shaking violently.
Inside, Kayden's knees buckled.
He hit the ground hard.
SRD operatives swarmed the dome perimeter, setting up stabilization emitters.
The commander spoke again:
"Subject secured.Initiate full extraction protocol.Move him to Sublevel Theta for Operator Orientation."
Alex froze.
Phineas's head snapped toward the commander.
Kayden's breath caught.
Operator Orientation.
They had just spoken the words Hale feared most.
Alex's voice shattered:
"N-NO— PLEASE— DON'T TAKE HIM— DON'T TAKE HIM—!!"
The commander didn't even look at him.
"Position the secondary dome.Resonance risk increasing."
Then—
A new sound.
A sharp metallic ping.
Phineas whipped his head toward the tunnel entrance.
His heart stopped.
Alex's breath died in his throat.
APEX whispered, terrified:
"Citadel operative… re-acquired position."
The operative stood at the far end.Facing SRD.Facing the dome.Facing Kayden.
SRD soldiers panicked.
"CITADEL PRESENCE?!""WE ARE NOT AUTHORIZED—""RETREAT—?!""NO— WE PROCEED—!!""THEY'LL WIPE US OUT—!!"
The commander shouted:
"STAY ON MISSION!THE CITADEL DOES NOT CONTROL SRD PROTOCOL!"
The operative tilted his head—
And the entire chamber's lights shattered.
Glass imploded.Metal twisted.Air pressure inverted.
The Citadel had arrived to reclaim what SRD was trying to steal.
Kayden looked up from inside the dome—
dizzy, weak, half-conscious—
and saw two unstoppable forces converging on him.
SRD scrambling to secure him.The Citadel closing in to take him.
Alex screamed his name.Phineas cursed.APEX flickered on the edge of collapse.
And Kayden whispered, barely audible:
"…stop… fighting… over me…"
But neither side heard.
Because in that moment—
Kayden Voss was no longer running.He was the prize.