I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

For a second, nobody inside the relay station moved.

The hunter outside hit the ground behind an overturned loader. Blood spread across his sleeve where the round had passed through his shoulder.

The turret followed him.

Its barrel lowered.

Three more shots punched through the loader’s metal frame.

A candidate from Section Twelve stumbled away from the window.

Cale Mercer, the combat candidate who had connected the cell, grabbed its upper handle.

Tomas caught his wrist.

"Leave it."

"It started the system."

"The generators are already running. Pulling the cell won’t stop them."

"Then what will?"

"I need the console."

The station speakers crackled.

DEFENCE AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.

CONTAINMENT SWEEP BEGINS IN ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SECONDS.

The main display changed.

A map of the Foundry district appeared beneath lines of red text. More than a dozen weapon emplacements flashed across rooftops and road junctions.

Several were already active.

Iris moved toward the window.

"That hunter’s bleeding out."

A burst struck the road. She ducked as pieces of metal flew from the loader.

"He has cover," Cale said.

"It’s shooting through it."

One of his teammates stared at him.

"You put the cell in."

Cale kept looking outside.

"I know."

The answer came out quietly.

Nate placed a hand against the console.

The building vibrated around him.

Heavy generators were turning beneath the district. Their energy moved through buried Conductive lines and spread across the defence grid. The Class 2 cell remained locked inside the relay port, but it was no longer providing power.

It had unlocked something that was already waiting.

Tomas pushed past Cale and opened the station controls.

"The local shutdown isn’t here."

"Where?" Yara asked.

"Sublevel Two. Defence junction."

"Can we reach it through the hatch?"

"If the internal shutters haven’t closed."

Leor checked the district map.

"Main stairwell leads to the western service hall."

Tomas nodded.

"There’s a turret covering it."

"Training turret?" someone asked.

Tomas looked toward the holes in the loader outside.

The candidate looked away.

A pulse moved through the building.

Nate’s new Circuit tightened inside him.

Energy collected near his ribs. He stopped the loop before the pressure could reach the damaged section beneath his shoulder.

Above the road, the turret changed direction.

Its barrel turned toward the relay station.

Nate pulled his hand from the console.

The turret stopped.

Leor watched through the edge of the window.

"What did you do?"

"Touched the console."

"It turned toward you."

"The grid felt my circulation."

Tomas glanced at the screen.

"Old defence systems tracked active energy signatures. Soldiers were expected to carry authorization marks."

Yara’s expression changed.

"My Skill."

"Turn it off," Nate said.

She released Distributed Weight.

Across the room, one of Section Twelve’s candidates had reinforced both forearms. The pressure around them disappeared as soon as he noticed everyone looking at him.

The turret outside returned to the wounded hunter.

His First Circuit was still active.

Each time he tried to move, the barrel corrected toward him.

"He has to cut it," Nate said.

Iris reached the emergency intercom beside the door.

"Hunter outside the Foundry relay. Stop circulating."

Static answered.

She tried again.

"Cut your Circuit. The turret is following it."

The hunter did not react.

The exterior speaker might have been dead. With the gunfire hammering the road, he might not have heard it anyway.

The timer reached one hundred and forty-eight seconds.

Tomas pointed toward the floor hatch.

"When the sweep starts, the shutters may seal every route between us and the junction."

Cale took a training rifle from the wall rack.

"I’m going."

"You know how to disable a defence grid?" Yara asked.

"No."

"Then don’t crowd Tomas."

"I’m not staying here."

Nate opened the hatch.

The stairwell below glowed red.

"Tomas. Leor. Iris."

Iris looked at him.

"You’re choosing the team now?"

"We need Tomas at the junction. Leor finds the route. You keep them standing."

"And you?"

Nate checked the training pistol at his waist.

"I move whoever can’t."

Yara stepped toward the hatch.

"I can carry Tomas."

"Stay here. Keep their Skills off. If the door opens, move everyone below the windows."

She glanced at the people from Section Twelve, then at the timer.

One hundred and thirty-one seconds.

"Go."

Cale followed them into the stairwell.

Nobody stopped him.

The first suppression wave struck halfway down.

Nate’s Circuit seized.

Energy moving through the completed loop stopped beneath his ribs. Pressure built behind it, and his hand slipped from the railing.

Iris caught his sleeve.

"What happened?"

Tomas had folded against the wall. Cale pressed a hand over his Root Node. Leor remained upright, though her breathing had changed.

For them, the field had interrupted partial circulation.

For Nate, it had struck a closed loop.

He forced the trapped energy back toward his Core before it could collect beneath his shoulder.

"Suppression field," Tomas said. "Still low."

Cale stared at him.

"That was low?"

"It’ll increase when the sweep begins."

Iris kept hold of Nate.

"You reacted worse than they did."

"My shoulder caught."

"That wasn’t your shoulder."

The warning lights changed from red to white.

A shutter began descending across the bottom of the stairwell.

"Move," Nate said.

Cale reached the gap first and slid beneath it. Leor followed. Tomas dropped to his knees and rolled through with his harness scraping the metal.

Iris pushed Nate ahead of her.

The shutter hit the floor behind them.

Seventy-three seconds remained.

The western service hall stretched between them and a reinforced control room. Broken assembly lines filled the space. Overhead, a ceiling turret rotated through a slow testing cycle.

Its barrel passed over them.

Then returned to Nate.

He had reduced his circulation until almost nothing moved, but a closed Circuit could not become truly empty. Energy remained inside the loop even when restrained.

The turret’s targeting lens narrowed.

"Down," Leor said.

They dropped behind a conveyor as the first round struck the wall.

Concrete fragments sprayed across Tomas’s harness.

Another shot tore through the conveyor belt.

"This won’t hold," Cale said.

The control room stood forty metres away.

The turret covered the only visible entrance.

Tomas pointed toward a recessed channel beneath the machinery.

"Cable trench."

Leor looked over the edge of the conveyor.

"It leaves us exposed for the final ten metres."

"Better than forty."

They crawled into it.

The trench barely covered their backs. Old cables dragged across Nate’s chest while the turret fired at every movement it detected.

Its barrel followed him more closely than the others.

Nate kept the Circuit restrained.

His shoulder began to throb anyway.

Thirty-eight seconds.

They reached the end of the trench.

The control room door stood across ten metres of open floor.

Leor watched the turret’s movement.

"It pauses after four rounds."

"How long?" Nate asked.

"Two seconds. Three at most."

Cale raised his training rifle.

"This won’t damage it."

"Throw it left when the feed cycles," Leor said.

The turret fired into the trench.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Its barrel lifted while the internal feed turned.

"Now."

Cale rose and threw the rifle across the hall.

The turret snapped toward it.

Nate opened his Circuit.

Energy rushed through Posthumous Disciple and returned through Body Memory.

The hall sharpened.

His body remembered Rovan’s balance. Nate crossed the exposed floor before the turret completed its turn.

Pain cut through the pathway beneath his shoulder.

He reached the control room and pulled the manual release.

The door rose halfway.

"Tomas!"

Tomas ran first. Iris and Leor followed.

Cale crossed last as the turret fired again.

A round struck the floor beside his boot.

Nate dragged him through and slammed the release.

The door closed.

Cale stared at him.

"You’re Linked."

Nate’s right arm trembled.

"Help Tomas."

The technical candidate was already at the defence junction.

Someone had opened the cabinet before them.

Several wires had been removed cleanly. A black Conductive bridge connected the academy controls to the old military grid.

"This was installed," Tomas said.

"How long ago?" Leor asked.

"I can’t tell from here."

The containment timer reached fourteen seconds.

"Can you shut it down?" Iris asked.

Tomas pressed both hands into the cabinet.

Live Bypass entered the damaged junction.

The lights flickered.

"I can interrupt the authorization."

"That means yes?" Cale asked.

"It means stop talking."

The suppression field struck again.

Tomas cried out.

His Skill broke.

Blood ran from his nose.

Iris caught him before his face hit the cabinet.

The timer reached zero.

Across the district, heavy mechanisms engaged.

A new announcement passed through the station.

CONTAINMENT SWEEP ACTIVE.

The control display filled with moving red points.

Candidates.

Hunters.

Every active circulation inside the Foundry grounds.

Most were heading toward the emergency exits.

The defence grid turned with them.

Tomas wiped the blood beneath his nose.

"I know where the bridge enters now."

"You nearly passed out," Iris said.

"I didn’t."

"You fell into me."

"Then catch me again."

He pressed his hand back into the junction before she could stop him.

Something struck the service door behind them.

Once.

Then again.

Leor checked the reinforced window.

"The hunter."

He had reached the hall.

One arm hung uselessly. Blood covered the side of his uniform, and he carried an unconscious candidate across his good shoulder.

His Circuit had finally gone quiet.

Cale opened the door.

The hunter staggered inside.

Iris helped lower the unconscious candidate to the floor.

"Anyone behind you?" Leor asked.

The hunter tried to answer, but only air left his mouth.

A shout came from the far end of the hall.

Another candidate appeared between the assembly lines.

Reconnaissance grey. Section Eight.

Leor recognized him.

"Derren!"

Derren Vale dragged his left leg behind him. Energy wrapped the damaged joint, forcing it through each step.

The ceiling turret turned.

It found him at once.

"Cut the Skill!" Leor shouted.

Derren looked toward them.

Either he heard her or understood from the turret.

The circulation around his leg vanished.

His knee folded.

He crashed against the side of an assembly line, caught himself and forced his body upright with both hands.

The turret kept turning.

Its targeting lens had already locked onto him.

"Derren, move!" Cale shouted.

The control room door had begun closing automatically.

Cale grabbed its edge and held it.

Derren limped into the open.

Ten metres.

The turret’s barrel descended.

Nate looked through the doorway.

With the door open, the turret had a clear line past Cale and into the control room. Iris knelt over the unconscious candidate directly behind him. The wounded hunter could barely remain upright. Tomas could not move without breaking Live Bypass.

Derren needed several seconds.

The turret needed less than two.

Nate reached the manual control.

Iris looked over her shoulder.

"Wait."

He pressed the close switch.

Cale’s hands remained against the door.

"What are you doing?"

The motor dragged it from his grip.

Derren reached the last assembly line.

He saw the gap narrowing.

His face changed.

"Hold it!"

The door continued closing.

Derren threw himself forward.

He fell short.

The metal sealed between them.

His fist struck the other side.

Once.

The turret fired.

A second burst followed.

Then nothing.

Tomas remained bent over the junction, both arms shaking.

"Almost."

Nobody answered him.

Five seconds passed.

The suppression field pulsed again.

Tomas tore the Conductive bridge from its housing..

Every light in the control room went dark.

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