The echo of Theta-seventeen's erasure still trembled in the air.A faint after-hum, almost metallic, like reality stitching itself back together.
Kayden leaned heavily against Alex, exhausted but conscious.Phineas sat on the floor, chest heaving, eyes wide like a cornered animal.
Then—
The alarms changed.
Not the warbling siren from before.A deeper, heavier tone.
BOOOO—BOOOO—OMEGA RESPONSE ACTIVE
APEX shattered the silence:
"Operator—SRD units converging.Multiple squads.Distance decreasing rapidly."
Kayden flinched.
"They're coming down here?"
Alex answered without hesitation.
"They saw Theta-seventeen's signature spike. They'll assume we caused it. We need to move."
Phineas scrambled to his feet.
"Move WHERE, genius?! This corridor leads to a vault room and a dead-end maintenance hall! I DON'T DO LABYRINTHS UNDER PRESSURE—"
Kayden winced, bracing against the wall.
"APEX… any path?"
APEX hummed.
"Mapping this level……mapping…ERROR."
Phineas screamed.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR ERRORS—"
But APEX wasn't done.
"Obstruction detected.SRD has sealed stair access.Omega team descending via central shaft."
Kayden's pulse raced.
"We're trapped."
Alex's jaw clenched.
"No. We're not. We'll find something."
Phineas's eyes darted across the walls, searching for anything—any panel, any hatch, any scrap—
And then he froze.
"…wait."
He stepped toward a grimy section of wall—not a door,not a panel,just a corroded metal sheet half-buried under grime and wiring.
"What is that?" Alex whispered.
Phineas scraped off dust with trembling hands.
Symbols appeared underneath—faded, scratched, almost erased by time.
But unmistakable.
SRD ARCHIVE NODE – UNDERGROUND LEVEL SCHEMA
A map.
Carved right into the wall.
Phineas made a strangled noise.
"I FOUND AN OLD MAP—I FOUND AN OLD MAP—AND OH MY GOD IT HAS STAIRS AND TUNNELS AND——AND A THING LABELED 'SURFACE ACCESS PROTOTYPE'???"
Alex's eyes ignited.
"You're serious?"
Phineas slapped the wall harder.
"LOOK! I AM 137% SERIOUS!"
Alex helped Kayden stand.
"You hear that, Kayden? We can get you out."
Kayden's breath shook.
"I… don't know if I can walk that far."
Alex gripped him tighter.
"Then I'll carry you."
Phineas squinted at the map, tracing the faded routes.
"Okay—uh—according to this, we follow the corridor to the right, drop two sub-levels through the old maintenance shaft, hang a left past something called 'biohazard storage'—OH GREAT—then reach a prototype elevator that goes to the surface."
Kayden blinked weakly.
"That sounds…like a horror game."
Phineas nodded vigorously.
"YES. EXACTLY. LET'S GO BEFORE THE FINAL BOSS GETS HERE."
APEX pulsed in Kayden's mind.
"Operator—Omega squads: 26 meters."
Alex stiffened.
"They're close."
Something BOOMED above them.
Concrete dust rained down.
Footsteps.Many.Fast.Coordinated.
Kayden gasped.
"They're coming—Alex, they're really coming—"
Alex pulled Kayden behind him protectively.
Phineas frantically rechecked the faded map.
"WE GO NOW OR WE DIE—PICK ONE."
Alex started forward.
But Kayden stopped him.
"Wait—APEX… where are they coming from?"
APEX projected a faint wireframe map into Kayden's nerves.
Not visual.Just instinctive knowledge.
"Omega units descending via central shaft.Secondary team approaching from main corridor."
Kayden felt his heart drop.
"We're between two squads…"
Phineas squeaked.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS—?!"
Alex didn't flinch.
"We outrun them. We go deeper."
Kayden swallowed hard.
"What if the elevator doesn't work?"
Alex smiled—tired, scared, but real.
"Then I will personally yank Kayden up the shaft with my bare hands. We're not dying here."
Phineas muttered:
"Okay but can we please NOT test that theory—"
APEX suddenly pulsed HARD.
"Operator!SILENCE.Movement detected behind us."
Alex swung around.
There—down the dark corridor—shadows shifted.
Heavy boots.
Visors flickering red.
SRD OMEGA UNIT – VISUAL CONFIRMED
Alex stepped in front of Kayden again.
Kayden felt Alex tense—like he was ready to fight an entire kill team alone.
Kayden whispered:
"No.Alex—no more fighting."
Alex's eyes softened.
"Then run."
Kayden nodded.
With APEX guiding his equilibrium and Alex holding half his weight,they sprinted toward the far tunnel.
Phineas led the way, repeating directions from the map like a panicked GPS:
"STRAIGHT—STRAIGHT—DON'T STOP—LEFT IN FIFTY FEET—OH GOD DON'T LOOK BACK—"
Behind them—a command shouted:
"TARGET IN SIGHT—ENGAGE—ENGAGE—"
Gunfire erupted.
Not bullets.Sound suppressors.Resonance snares.The kind built to bind anomalies.
Kayden's legs gave out.
Alex caught him mid-collapse.
"Keep going—COME ON—just a little further—"
APEX hummed urgently:
"Operator—Omega resonance suppressor behind you—DODGE NOW!"
Alex yanked Kayden sideways.
A device slammed into the wall beside them—
WHUM—
A net of shimmering energy activated,sparking violently against concrete.
Phineas shrieked:
"THEY'RE THROWING GHOST NETS AT US—WHY DOES THAT EVEN EXIST—"
Kayden forced himself upright.
"I can't keep up—Alex—I can't—"
Alex didn't slow.
"You don't have to. I've got you."
Kayden's chest shook.
"Why do you always say that…?"
Alex barely smiled.
"Because it's always true."
Phineas finally reached the rusted hatch that matched the map.
He slammed his body into it.
The hatch creaked—
Then opened.
"GO—GO—MOVE—MOVE—"
Alex shoved Kayden inside first.
Kayden stumbled into darkness.
Phineas followed.
Alex dove in last as the hatch slammed shut.
Above them—
Omega squad lights swept the room.Gunfire crackled.More snares deployed.
But they were gone.
In the dark.
Deep below.
In the forgotten veins of SRD.
Kayden collapsed onto his knees.
Alex knelt beside him.
Phineas gasped for air like a dying fish.
Then APEX whispered into Kayden's skull:
"Operator…This path is not safe.But it is the only path."
Kayden's breath trembled.
"Are we…still moving forward?"
Alex put a hand on his back.
"Yeah," he whispered."We are."
Phineas lifted the flashlight with shaking hands.
"Then buckle up—because this tunnel isn't on any modern map."
Kayden exhaled slowly.
"I guess we go where SRD forgot to look."
And in the pitch-dark underground,the three of them stepped into the unknown.