The Silver Shadow.
856 Words
The air in the workshop turned thick with the smell of vaporised steel. A glowing white line appeared in the centre of the reinforced door, tracing a perfect circle.
"Get her behind the capacitor banks! Now!" Sloane roared, racking the slide on her pulse rifle.
Cameron didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Brittany’s waist, hauling her off the table. Her legs buckled, still weak from the siphon, but he practically dragged her behind a wall of humming machinery.
"Cameron, my hands... they're still shaking," she whispered, clutching his jacket.
"Mine too, Princess. Just keep your head down."
The centre of the door slammed inward, hitting the floor with a deafening clang. Through the billowing smoke and sparks, a figure stepped in. Commander Vane didn't look like he had just chased them through a war zone. His silver suit was spotless, the visor of his helmet reflecting the dim emergency lights of the shop.
"Sloane," Vane said, his voice amplified by his suit’s external speakers. "I haven't seen you since the Architect stripped you of your clearance. I see you’ve pivoted to harbouring fugitives."
"I pivot to whatever keeps the Heights from breathing down my neck, Vane," Sloane spat, levelling her rifle at his visor. "One more step and I’ll see if that fancy suit can handle a high-yield pulse."
Vane stopped. He didn't look at Sloane. He looked toward the machinery where Cameron and Brittany were hiding. "The surge you just released was visible from orbit. You didn't disarm the girl, you just bled the battery. She still belongs to Solaris."
"She’s not a battery!" Cameron yelled from behind the bank. "She’s a person, you silver-plated bastard!"
Vane turned his head slowly. "Ah, the scavenger. Still alive. I admire the persistence, Ellis, but you are playing a game with rules you don't understand."
"Rules?" Cameron stepped out from the shadows, his vibro-knife humming in his hand. "The rule is: I found her, I keep her. You want her? Come get her."
"Cameron, no!" Brittany reached for him, but he was already moving.
Vane flicked his wrist. A blade of solid, dark energy erupted from his gauntlet—Shadow-Tech. "As you wish."
Vane moved faster than the human eye could follow. He was a blur of silver and black. Sloane fired, a blue bolt of energy screaming across the room, but Vane tilted his head, the shot whistling past him. He slammed his palm into Sloane’s chest, sending her flying back into a pile of scrap.
Cameron lunged, aiming for the gap in Vane’s neck armour. Vane caught his wrist mid-air, the strength of the suit’s hydraulics making Cameron’s bones groan.
"You are brave, scavenger," Vane whispered, leaning in. "But you are made of flesh and bone. I am made of the future."
Vane kicked Cameron in the stomach, sending him skidding across the floor. He landed hard near the Siphon machine.
"Stop it!" Brittany screamed, stepping out from behind the capacitors. Her eyes were glowing again, but this time, the gold was streaked with a dark, angry orange. "Leave him alone! I’ll go with you! Just stop!"
Vane retracted his blade, his visor focusing on her. "A wise choice, Brittany. Your father is waiting."
"She’s not going anywhere," a voice groaned from the floor.
Cameron struggled to his feet, spitting blood. He grabbed a heavy power cable that had been disconnected from the Siphon. "Hey, Vane. You ever wonder why Sloane keeps so many capacitors in here?"
Vane frowned. "What are you—"
Cameron slammed the live cable into a puddle of cooling fluid on the floor.
The workshop exploded in a web of blue electrical arcs. The current travelled through the floor, hitting Vane’s boots. The silver suit began to seize, the hydraulics whining in protest as the electricity fried the internal sensors. Vane let out a distorted roar, his armour smoking as he collapsed to one knee.
"Jax! Now!" Cameron yelled.
From the rafters above, Jax dropped a massive industrial magnet used for moving aircraft engines. It slammed onto Vane’s back, pinning the silver-suited commander to the floor with five tons of magnetic force.
"That won't hold him forever!" Jax shouted, hanging from a chain. "We gotta go!"
Cameron grabbed Brittany’s hand. "Sloane! You coming?"
Sloane sat up, rubbing her jaw. "Go. I’ve got enough explosives in this floor to drop the whole building into the sewers if he gets loose. Get her to the Dead Lands. It’s the only place the satellites can't see."
Cameron didn't look back. He pulled Brittany through the jagged hole in the door and into the freezing night.
"Cameron, wait," Brittany panted as they hit the street. "Look."
She pointed to her wrist. The digital tattoo was no longer blue. It was a flashing, angry red.
"What does that mean?"
"It means the Architect isn't tracking the surge anymore," she whispered, her eyes wide with terror. "He’s tracking my heart."
- Writer
