Elias backed away from the body, his interface still flickering with interference.

  "Ash," he whispered into his comm. "We need to move. Now."

  Static was his only reply.

  [COMMUNICATIONS DISRUPTED]

  [ATTEMPTING SIGNAL RECOVERY...]

  The darkness in the bedroom seemed to deepen, coalescing in the corners.

  Not a visual effect—something more fundamental.

  The Shimmerskin struggled to compensate, subsystems fighting against the foreign interference.

  Elias reached for his sidearm, muscle memory taking over where technology failed.

  A sound from the main room drew his attention—footsteps, too light to be Ash's.

  He pressed himself against the wall beside the door, waiting.

  [SYSTEM REBOOTING]

  [EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS ACTIVE]

  [WARNING: REDUCED FUNCTIONALITY]

  His HUD stabilized momentarily, just enough to display a proximity alert.

  Multiple contacts approaching.

  The attack came without warning.

  Four black-suited operatives breached the room like ghosts—two through the door, one from the window, another dropping from a ceiling panel Elias hadn't even registered as access.

  No insignias.

  Clean movement.

  Not amateurs.

  The first attacker moved with preternatural speed, a blur of tactical efficiency.

  Elias barely dodged the strike aimed at his throat, countering with an elbow to the operative's solar plexus.

  The blow landed, but with less effect than it should have.

  His attacker merely grunted and pressed forward.

  Somewhere in the apartment, Elias heard the distinctive sound of Ash's sidearm firing twice.

  At least she was still alive.

  The second operative closed in, a neural disruptor humming in his gloved hand.

  One touch from that would bypass the Shimmerskin's protective layers, shutting down Elias's nervous system directly.

  [COMBAT ASSISTANCE UNAVAILABLE]

  [RECOVERY TIME: 17 SECONDS]

  Too long.

  Elias had no choice.

  Despite Dr. Chen's warnings, despite the risk, he mentally triggered the Shimmerskin's combat override.

  Pain lanced through his neural pathways as the suit fully engaged, nanofabric tightening against his skin like a thousand needles.

  His vision tunneled, the world reduced to tactical data points.

  In that moment of perfect clarity, he executed a ghost pass—slipping between the two attackers as they converged, their strikes passing through empty air.

  The Shimmerskin's camouflage wasn't perfect—more translucent than invisible—but in the darkened room, it was enough.

  He reappeared behind the operative with the neural disruptor, delivering a decisive strike to the base of the skull.

  The attacker crumpled.

  His HUD flashed to life, tags appearing over the remaining operatives:

  [HOSTILE ENTITY – SABLE DIVISION]

  [THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]

  [RECOMMENDED ACTION: EVACUATE]

  Sable Division.

  The designation meant nothing to him, but the threat assessment was clear enough.

  A crash from the living room, followed by Ash's voice—strained but controlled:

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Two down! East exit compromised!"

  The remaining operatives in the bedroom adjusted their tactics, splitting to flank him.

  One raised a weapon—compact, non-standard design.

  Elias didn't wait to see what it fired.

  He activated [Suppress], focusing his ability on the weapon.

  The operative squeezed the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  The momentary confusion was all Elias needed.

  He lunged forward, driving his palm into the operative's sternum, following with a knee to the head as the figure buckled.

  Three down.

  One to go.

  The final attacker was more cautious, maintaining distance.

  From a pouch at his belt, he extracted a small canister.

  "Ash!" Elias shouted. "Gas!"

  He dove for the window as the canister detonated, releasing a cloud of gray vapor.

  The Shimmerskin automatically sealed, filtering his breathing, but his exposed skin tingled where the gas touched it.

  Not lethal—an incapacitating agent.

  He crashed through the window, glass shards scattering as he rolled onto the fire escape platform.

  Ash was already there, her own tactical mask in place.

  "Extraction route," she gasped, pointing toward the rear of the building. "Service alley. Vehicle waiting."

  They descended rapidly, metal stairs clanging beneath their boots.

  Behind them, a figure emerged from the broken window—the last operative, already calling for backup on a subvocal comm.

  "We need a prisoner," Elias said as they reached the ground. "Intel."

  Ash nodded, checking her weapon.

  "Cover me."

  Before he could argue, she turned and braced, taking aim at the descending figure.

  Her shot caught the operative in the leg.

  A clean wound—disabling without killing.

  The operative tumbled down the remaining stairs, landing hard on the concrete.

  Elias was on him instantly, securing hands and confiscating equipment.

  "Vehicle," he ordered, hauling the struggling figure upright.

  They maneuvered their captive into the waiting sedan—nondescript, civilian plates, engine already running.

  Ash took the wheel while Elias secured their prisoner in the back seat.

  They pulled away just as sirens became audible in the distance.

  "EIDOLON?" Ash asked, navigating through back streets with practiced efficiency.

  Elias examined the operative's gear.

  "No. Different tactical approach. No signs of EIDOLON protocols."

  His interface was stabilizing, the distance from the apartment clearing whatever interference had affected his systems.

  [SYSTEM RECOVERING]

  [FUNCTIONALITY: 78%]

  [PENDING UPDATES: 3]

  He pushed the notifications aside, focusing on their captive.

  The operative was male, mid-thirties, physically enhanced—likely through chemical means rather than anomalous ones.

  No HUD visible through the tactical visor.

  "Who sent you?" Elias demanded, removing the operative's helmet.

  The man's face was unremarkable—close-cropped hair, no distinguishing features.

  His eyes focused on Elias, showing no fear.

  No reaction at all.

  Elias activated [Observe], scanning for tells, weaknesses, anything that might provide leverage.

  [SUBJECT: UNKNOWN]

  [ANOMALOUS INFLUENCE: DETECTED – NEURAL IMPLANT]

  [RECOMMEND CAUTION – POSSIBLE DEADMAN SWITCH]

  "He's wired," Elias warned Ash. "Neural implant. Might be rigged to prevent interrogation."

  She nodded, taking a sharp turn down an unmarked alley.

  "Safe house six minutes out. We'll have equipment there."

  The operative hadn't struggled since being placed in the vehicle.

  He sat perfectly still, eyes tracking Elias's movements with mechanical precision.

  "Sable Division," Elias tried. "Who are they? Private contractors?"

  Nothing.

  Not even a microexpression to indicate the question registered.

  Then, without warning, the man spoke—voice dry, emotionless:

  "You're all on borrowed runtime."

  Elias frowned, leaning closer.

  "What does that mean? Who's 'all'?"

  The operative's eyes remained fixed, pupils dilating slightly.

  Then blood began to trickle from his nose.

  "He's seizing!" Elias shouted, recognizing the warning signs.

  He tried to stabilize the man, but it was too late.

  The operative's body convulsed violently, spine arching against the restraints.

  Then, just as suddenly, he went limp.

  Dead.

  [SUBJECT: TERMINATED]

  [CAUSE: REMOTE NEURAL SHUTDOWN]

  [TRACEABLE: NO]

  "Damn it," Elias muttered, checking for any remaining life signs. "Someone flipped his kill switch."

  Ash's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.

  "They didn't want him talking. What did he say?"

  "'You're all on borrowed runtime.' Like we're programs running on limited allocation."

  She was silent for a moment, navigating through a series of turns designed to detect any pursuit.

  "It fits," she said finally. "If the Veil is a distributed system, we might be nodes running unauthorized processes."

  Elias stared at the dead operative, the implications settling in.

  "But who's the administrator?" he asked. "EIDOLON? SCP? This Sable Division?"

  "That's what we need to find out."

  They pulled into an underground garage beneath a nondescript office building.

  "What about Reid's data?" Elias asked as they parked. "We didn't get what we came for."

  Ash produced a small drive from her pocket.

  "I downloaded what I could while you were checking the bedroom. Not everything, but perhaps enough."

  They exited the vehicle, leaving the dead operative in the back seat.

  "We'll need to dispose of the body," Elias noted. "And the car."

  Ash nodded.

  "Already arranged. More pressing is what to do with this."

  She held up the drive.

  "And our next move. EIDOLON will be looking for you now. SCP for me. And whoever Sable Division is, they found us once already."

  Elias checked his interface.

  [SYSTEM STABILITY: 86%]

  [ESTIMATED FUNCTIONALITY: 39 DAYS, 2 HOURS]

  [NEW SKILL AVAILABLE: INTEGRATION CONTROL (PASSIVE)]

  [XP: 325/500]

  "First we analyze what's on that drive," he decided. "Then we need to understand what Reid discovered that got him killed."

  As they entered the safe house—a sparse but well-equipped apartment on the building's fourteenth floor—Elias felt the Shimmerskin adjusting to his elevated heart rate.

  The combat activation had taken its toll. His entire nervous system ached, like he'd been flayed and reassembled.

  "You need stabilizers," Ash observed, noting his condition. "Combat mode wasn't ready for field testing."

  "Didn't have much choice," he replied, accepting the injector she offered.

  The stabilizer compound entered his bloodstream, spreading cool relief through his inflamed neural pathways.

  [STABILIZER ADMINISTERED]

  [TEMPORARY RELIEF ACTIVE]

  [ESTIMATED DURATION: 6 HOURS]

  Ash connected the drive to a secure terminal, initiating specialized decryption protocols.

  "This will take time," she said. "You should rest while you can."

  Elias nodded, settling onto a utilitarian couch positioned to allow clear sight lines to all entry points.

  "Wake me when it's done. Or if anything tries to kill us."

  "Standard operating procedure," she replied with a hint of dark humor.

  As Elias closed his eyes, letting the stabilizers work through his system, one thought kept circling in his mind:

  Borrowed runtime.

  How much time did they truly have left?

  And who was counting down the clock?

  [SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE]

  [NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: TACTICAL OVERLAY (ACTIVE)]

  [DESCRIPTION: HIGHLIGHTS ENVIRONMENTAL TACTICAL ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.]

  [DURATION: 30 SECONDS.]

  [COOLDOWN: 5 MINUTES]