NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66: Don't take too long
The tunnels spat them out into the dim, damp underbelly of Zaun's industrial district. The air was heavier here, thicker with the sting of metal and burnt oil. Lukas led the way, boots splashing through shallow water, Eleanor's quiet steps following in sync.
He was wearing a white wolf mask Ekko had handed him before they left. In the dim light, its pale surface caught the occasional glint from overhead grates. He turned it over in his hands for a moment before putting it on.
"…heh," he muttered to himself. "Some things never change."
The closer they got to Fontaine Futuristics, the louder the sound of boots and machinery became.
The factory loomed ahead, scarred from the previous attack, its walls pocked and scorched, windows blown out. But it was still standing.
And in front of it…
"Huh."
A statue.
It was tall, metal, and unmistakably him. He stepped closer, studying the details. The craftsmanship was precise.
At the base, barely noticeable, a small graffiti tag in faint blue paint read:
Miss you…
His chest tightened.
He exhaled slowly. Yeah. This was her work. He didn't know when she'd been here, but he could see her in every scratch of metal, every stroke of paint.
"I'm definitely going to save you."
---
The Chem-Enforcers hated this post.
Too close to the factory wreckage, too far from anything resembling a decent drink, and crawling with scrap rats who'd sell your boots before your body cooled.
Renni had given them the strict orders:
Secure the place. Salvagem Anything worth saving. Keep the curious away.
"Whole damn place's Fubar," one of them muttered, leaning his back to the half-collapsed gate. "We're just wasting our time here."
"Yeah, well," another replied, digging a heel into the mud. "Beats getting reassigned to the Sump."
A few more minutes of boredom. Then—
"…Hey."
The first enforcer squinted past the fence line.
There was someone standing in front of the factory.
White mask. Nice clothes.
"Who's that?" the second muttered.
"What's he doing here?" Others continued.
Eight in total.
They stepped forward, boots sinking into the wet grit.
"Oi! This area's off limits!" one barked. "I Don't know who you are, But fuck off!"
The man didn't look at them. Didn't answer. Just kept his head tilted toward the giant hunk of metal dominating the front yard—a statue, twice their height, worn at the edges by soot and rain.
They closed in, hands drifting toward their weapons.
"I said—"
The masked man finally spoke. Voice low. Almost bored.
"Don't take too long."
They froze.
"Don't take too long for what?" one asked.
That's when something dropped in the middle of them, heavy enough to make the mud jump.
"Roger."
Eleanor didn't wait for them to process what had just happened. Her gauntlet roared as she drove her syringe into the nearest Enforcer's chestplate. The others barely had time to shout before she was moving again.
Metal cracked.
Bones broke.
The air filled with the chemical tang of ruptured tanks and the copper sting of blood.
Lukas slipped past it all without a glance, stepping through Fontaine Futuristics' battered doors like he owned the place.
Well, He indeed owned the place.
Inside, the air was heavier. Stale.The faint hum of dying machinery crawled along the walls.
He'd barely crossed the main floor when a cluster of goons rounded a corner, boots slamming against the grating.
"Who the fuck—"
They didn't get the rest out.
Lukas just raised his hand.
"Just shut the fuck up."
Then came the sound.
A low, furious buzzing — swelling in an instant into a swarm.
The air darkened as countless bees erupted from his palm.
The Chem-Enforcers screamed, clawing at their own bodies as the swarm buried into them, tearing past armor, stinging like molten glass. The smell of adrenaline and panic cut through the factory's stale air.
Lukas walked past them without so much as a glance.
His boots crunched glass and powdered concrete. Sparks rained from the severed cables above him.
At the far end of the hall, a section of the wall was buried under twisted beams and collapsed machinery.
Using his telekinesis, the debris shuddered, then tore free of the wall entirely, flung aside as if gravity had simply decided to stop applying to it. Behind the wreckage,a hidden switch was embeded in the wall.
Lukas pressed his hand against the switch.
A seam split open, revealing a narrow passage that led down into the bowels of the factory.
Without hesitation, he stepped through and vanished into the dark.
---
Outside.
Eleanor stood amidst the bodies, her armored gloves dripping with blood.
One last enforcer tried to crawl away — she didn't even look at him as she stepped over his Head and smashed his skull.
That's when it happened.
A ripple In the Air.
A half-second later, she heard the supersonic hiss of a bullet tearing toward her.
Her gauntlet moved almost lazily.
Clang. The round flattened against the reinforced alloy of her gauntlets.
No dent.
She turned her head toward the source.
Up on a pile of scraps, a girl stood with her pistol still smoking. Her hair was an unnatural, icy blue. Her face, tight with rage, left no question: she wasn't here to intimidate. She was here to kill.
And bellow her, on the cracked pavement, stood another figure.
A woman. Broad-shouldered. One arm replaced by a brutal, mechanical prosthetic.
"You done fucked up."