Deep within the GDA command center, the Advisor stood motionless before the glowing communication tab. The heavy doors hissed open to admit Dr. Hana, her breathing shallow with excitement. "Advisor, Victoria and the team on the Route found it!" she cried. "The Shard—the one you mentioned! We can finally tame the Calamity energy. We can finally be safe!"
The Advisor tilted his head slowly, a cold movement. "And what of it?"
"It's the key!" Hana insisted. "We can take control!"
The Advisor's eyes, visible for a brief, sharp second through his helmet, widened before he let out a heavy, weary sigh. "It is a dangerous game, Hana. Engaging that Shard now... we might accidentally revive one of the Titans."
Hana blinked, the color draining from her face. "What Titan? There are dozens of—"
"You know exactly which one," the Advisor interrupted, tapping a panel.
Hana gulped, her voice barely a whisper. "The First Frost Reign... why bring that nightmare up now?"
"Because that core is still active," the Advisor stated grimly. He reached out and pressed a gleaming red button on his console, his voice projecting across the entire base: "Everyone, prepare. Build the warship. Now."
Back in the hellscape of the Apocalypse, the air was thick with the stench of decay. John ducked under the massive, sweeping hand of an Abomination, his Desert Eagle barking as he fired round after round into the creature's gray flesh. Nearby, Laura was a blur of motion, laughing maniacally as she performed backflips over the monster's reaching claws.
"Hey! Can you quiet down!" John gritted his teeth, dodging a spray of debris.
"Hell fucking nah!" Laura grinned, her eyes wild with the adrenaline of the hunt.
But her luck ran out. Before she could reset her stance, the Abomination's fist slammed into her stomach with the force of a wrecking ball. A spray of blood erupted from her mouth as she was sent hurtling backward, slamming into a concrete wall with an impact that made the entire structure shudder.
"Laura!" John shouted, rushing toward her crumpled form.
Suddenly, the air curdled. A cloud of thick, black smoke erupted in his path, and from the darkness stepped a figure in a Plague Doctor mask. Before John could raise his weapon, the figure's mechanical right fist buried itself in John's midsection, sending him skidding across the dirt.
As the Abomination roared and moved to crush John, the Plague Doctor simply raised a gloved palm. The giant monster froze instantly, silenced by a single gesture.
"This new world... this new sensation is enticing me," the Plague Doctor mused, his voice sounding like dry parchment rubbing together.
"Who the hell are you!" John gasped, clutching his bruised ribs.
"Don't you dare speak that way to your elder, son," the Doctor replied, spinning a heavy staff with practiced ease. "I was not brought back by your strange technology, but by dark magic. I will not allow you to obtain the Shards."
John blinked in shock. "How do you even know about our mission?"
"Because I know what it truly is," the Doctor whispered. "The power to gain the Frost Shard energy."
From the rubble, Laura let out a scream of rage and charged the Doctor, her knife drawn. But she suddenly yelped, hitting the ground as if an invisible hand had pinned her there. The Plague Doctor didn't even turn around. "Don't even try, nuisance."
"We need that power!" John insisted, struggling to his feet. "We need it to stop Dr. Xenon!"
The Plague Doctor's laugh was a hollow, chilling sound. "What more power does she seek? If she unleashes the Calamity, none of her weapons will matter. They are all just scouts for the Calamity Faction. She is close to summoning a Colossus. That is why I am keeping you away."
John's eyes widened, the word echoing in his mind like a death knell. "Faction?"
To be continued.
Above the battlefield, the clouds parted as the deafening roar of a massive thruster shook the earth.