Volatile-II

They need something to fight the fear

Blueprints and telemetry data covered the corner booth Iskandr-3 and Gnosis had claimed. Despite Gnosis' protests, Iskandr had continued working through what was supposed to be a relaxing drink. A polite cough interrupted an argument over the composition of a test alloy.

"Ada," Gnosis said warmly. "Pleasure as always. Please, sit. Iskandr is buying."

Iskandr shot him a look, then gestured toward the seat. "Please. I need your insight."

Ada sat. "Why meet here instead of the Tower?"

"What I need to discuss requires a stronger drink than anything the Tower can provide."

Her eyes moved across the scattered schematics. "You are the forge adept. Surely telemetry is not beyond you."

"This is not telemetry." His voice changed. "This is something worse."

Ada waited. Iskandr leaned back.

"Years ago, I worked with the Future War Cult."

"As a prophecy cipher."

"Correct."

"My days were Vanguard operations. My nights were simulations. Endless permutations of war." He tapped the table. "One of those simulations involved a Cabal vessel we would later know as the Leviathan."

Ada's attention sharpened.

"I saw Psions gathered around a shrine." Iskandr paused. "And then I heard laughter."

"In the simulation?" Ada asked.

"No."

The booth fell quiet.

"In the real world."

Gnosis dimmed slightly.

"It never stopped." Iskandr continued. "I started digging. Vanguard reports. Psion intelligence. Old references to a religion no one seemed to understand."

"The Psions had a religion?"

"Have," Gnosis corrected.

Iskandr waved him off. "I took every Cabal assignment I could get. Espionage. Sabotage. Assassination. Anything that might put me near someone who knew more."

"And eventually?" Iskandr pulled his helmet from beneath the table. "This."

Ada studied it.

"We were tracking a high-ranking Psion. Before I could fire, he looked directly at me."

Gnosis interjected. "He had no way of knowing we were there."

"Then I heard a voice in my head telling me to come closer."

Ada stared at him. "And you did?"

Iskandr shrugged. "I was curious."

Gnosis gave a low mechanical groan.

"The Psion held out the helmet. Said it was a gift from his master. A reward for feeding him."

"Feeding him what?"

"I asked." Iskandr's voice dropped. "He only laughed then the Psion had vanished into dust. The Vanguard had inspected the helmet. Nothing. No curse. No anomaly. No reason not to return it."

"So you wore it," Ada said.

"After testing."

"Of course."

"The next night, the nightmares began. Darkness. Laughter. A pressure so heavy it felt alive." Iskandr stared into his glass. "I could feel something feeding on the fear."

Ada's expression finally shifted. "And then?"

"I saw the Last City burning."

The words came slowly. "People crushed beneath hooves. Torn apart by things I could not name. Citizens dying with nothing in their hands. Nothing to fight back with."

Gnosis looked away.

"This is the short version."

"A shadow stood over everything," Iskandr continued. "Larger than anything I had ever seen. Laughing."

Ada looked down at the schematics. "So this is why you rebuilt the forges. Why you pushed every recovered design further. Why every answer was always more."

Iskandr nodded. "I need them ready."

"For what?"

He looked at the helmet.

"Nezarec."

Ada went still.

"If he comes from the Void, I intend to use the Void against him."

"And what exactly do you want from me?"

Iskandr slid a schematic toward her.

"A replicable munition capable of tearing a target apart at the atomic level—and spreading the effect."

Ada stared at him. "That is monstrous."

"I know."

"And if you build it?"

Iskandr lowered his gaze. "The things I saw may not care about anything we currently possess."

Gnosis moved between them. "Ada, he does not want this."

Iskandr shook his head. "I never did, but if this is the cost, I–"

He looked toward the scattered blueprints. "I only wanted humanity to have one more chance."

Ada studied him for a long moment. Then she looked down at the schematic again.

For the first time that night, Iskandr met her eyes without looking away.

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