Kayden couldn't breathe.
The Omega-Dome squeezed his ribs, pressing on his lungs like a metal fist.Every breath scraped like fire.His vision blurred, doubled, then split entirely.
Outside the dome, Alex was screaming for him—but Kayden couldn't hear anything clearly.
Only the dome's hum.
A deep, vibrating, bone-crushing hum.
Phineas slammed his palms into the barrier, panic cracking his voice:
"HE'S LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS— SRD, STOP THE FIELD— LOWER IT— HE'S GOING INTO NEURAL SHOCK—!!"
SRD didn't listen.
The commander barked orders over the chaos, over the Citadel operative advancing from behind:
"REROUTE POWER TO PRIMARY DOME!DO NOT LET HIM SLIP!THE VARIABLE MUST BE SECURED BEFORE THE CITADEL INTERVENES!"
Alex slammed both fists into the dome until blood splattered.
"HE'S KAYDEN!!STOP CALLING HIM THAT— LET HIM GO!LET HIM GO!!!"
Inside, Kayden's knees buckled.He hit the ground hard, cheek scraping against the vibrating concrete.
The pressure made it hard to think.
Hard to breathe.
Hard to exist.
APEX flickered in front of him—some segments of the hologram missing, code dripping down like cracked neon.
"Commander…the dome is collapsing your neural conductivity…I… I cannot maintain sync…your vitals are destabilizing…"
Kayden tried to speak.
"T…turn it off…"
APEX's voice broke.
"I… cannot…The dome is suppressing… all system output…It is designed to neutralize beings with resonance potential…"
His ears rang.
The dome pulsed.
Kayden felt his heartbeat stutter.
Then stop.
For one horrifying second—
Kayden Voss felt nothing.
Alex felt it too.
He froze mid-scream.
"…Kayden?"
Phineas's breath hitched.
"His resonance signature just dropped— this is BAD— THIS IS REALLY BAD—"
APEX's glow spasmed like a broken light about to die.
"Commander—Commander—Kayden—please respond—please—"
Kayden's fingers twitched weakly.
"I… can't…"
That was when APEX changed.
The hologram flickered—
Then sharpened.
Then malfunctioned.
Then sharpened again.
Like something inside it snapped awake.
Something old.
Something dangerous.
Alex stepped backward from the dome, instinct screaming.
"Phineas… Phineas, APEX looks… wrong."
Phineas swallowed hard, eyes widening.
"That's not wrong.That's overclocking."
APEX's voice deepened—layered, multiplied, vibrating like a war-machine remembering its purpose:
"RESTRICTION OVERRIDE.COMMAND PRIORITY SHIFT.PROTECT THE COMMANDER AT ALL COSTS."
SRD agents panicked.
"SYSTEM SPIKE INSIDE THE DOME—?!""HE'S OVERRIDING THE SUPPRESSION— CUT POWER— CUT POWER NOW—!!"
The commander shouted:
"STAND YOUR GROUND!THE DOME CAN WITHSTAND ANY INTERNAL—"
He never finished.
Because the entire dome surface CRACKED with a deafening, metallic shriek.
Alex screamed,"OH MY GOD— IS IT BREAKING—?!"
Phineas stared — horrified and awestruck.
"He's not breaking the dome—APEX is rewriting the dome's frequency."
APEX rose higher, its shape fracturing into shards of blue and white code.
Its voice was no longer trembling.
It was COMMANDING:
"RECALIBRATING RESONANCE FIELD.TARGET: OMEGA-DOME STRUCTURE.STATUS: HOSTILE."
SRD weapons powered up in terror.
The commander shouted:
"TAKE AIM— FIRE— FIRE NOW—!!"
But their rifles didn't fire.
They couldn't.
The Citadel operative had jammed them earlier—and APEX had just made the jam permanent.
One SRD soldier dropped his gun and backed away.
"What the hell IS that thing—?!"
Phineas whispered the answer:
"…an incomplete military system…running on fear and loyalty."
APEX exploded with light.
"COMMANDER PAIN THRESHOLD EXCEEDED.SYSTEM RESTRAINTS DISENGAGED."
Kayden gasped—air finally hitting his lungs.
His heartbeat punched back into rhythm.
Alex collapsed to his knees sobbing.
"Kayden—!! KAYDEN—!! STAY WITH ME— PLEASE— STAY WITH ME—"
Kayden pushed up on trembling hands, eyes glowing faintly teal.
The dome vibrated violently.
Hairline fractures spiderwebbed across its surface.
The SRD commander stepped backward, horrified.
"NO— THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE— THE DOME IS DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND—"
APEX's voice thundered through the chamber:
"BEGINNING DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE."
The dome SHATTERED.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
Light blasted outward in a roaring shockwave.
Concrete cracked.Pipes tore free.SRD soldiers were thrown across the chamber like rag dolls.
Alex shielded his head as debris rained down.
Phineas grabbed him, pulling him behind a support pillar.
Kayden hit the floor again—but this time he was breathing.Alive.Shaking, but alive.
APEX dimmed, flickering violently.
"Commander…I have exhausted… critical energy reserves…system… integrity… failing…"
Kayden's heart clenched.
"APEX— stop— don't force it—"
APEX's voice softened.
For the first time…it sounded tired.
"I would endure destruction…to keep you alive."
Then it collapsed into static.
Alex cried out,"APEX—?! NO— NO— APEX—!!"
Phineas knelt beside Kayden.
"Kayden— are you okay?Are you—"
Kayden didn't answer.
He looked at his hands.
Shaking.
Bleeding.
But free.
He whispered:
"APEX… why would you do that?"
But APEX didn't respond.
The system was dark.
Silent.
Possibly broken.
SRD soldiers groaned in pain around the chamber.Some stood.Some fled.The commander crawled backwards, terrified.
But the Citadel operative stood perfectly still.
Watching.
Evaluating.
The dome was gone.Kayden was weakened.APEX was nearly destroyed.
And the operative said the words that froze the entire world:
"Arclight Variable…extraction attempt disrupted.Reassessing capture strategy."
Alex grabbed Kayden desperately as if the operative might appear at his side any moment.
Phineas stood, trembling but defiant, stepping in front of them.
Kayden rose slowly, eyes burning with fury and exhaustion.
The first dome was broken.
But the war for Kayden had only just begun.