Eli collapsed before anyone could catch him.

  He went down hard, knees hitting the metal grating, then tipping sideways. The woman caught his shoulder, eased him to the floor. His eyes were open, but they weren't seeing anything. His pupils kept unfocusing, then snapping back. A tremor ran through his legs.

  I knelt beside him. The black capillaries had reached his pupils. They pulsed in slow rhythm, matching the filaments under my chest. His breath was foam now. Pink. Blood.

  "Eli."

  His lips moved. No sound.

  The terminal behind us flickered. Prime stood at it, pale eyes scanning data I couldn't see.

  "His neural sync is accelerating," it said. "The pathogen is using the Archive's frequency to replicate. He has minutes. Not hours."

  Marcus moved to the hatch, weapon raised. Watching the tunnel. The Rival pressed against the wall, listening. The woman stayed by Eli, her face hard.

  I looked at Prime. "What do you mean, sync?"

  "Infection isn't the right word." Prime's voice was flat. Clinical. "It's installation. The frequency writes itself into the nervous system. Your friend was exposed to the same broadcasts you were. His body can't process it. Yours can."

  "Mine can?"

  "You're a Deviation. You're built for it." Prime pointed at the filaments under my skin. "That's not damage. It's integration. Your body is accepting the hardware."

  I looked down at my chest. At the red lines spreading. At the numb hand hanging at my side.

  Eli coughed. Blood sprayed across the floor.

  "Don't let me die as a file," he whispered.

  The words hit like a physical blow.

  Prime moved closer. Knelt beside us. Its pale eyes studied Eli, then me.

  "There's a way," it said. "To stabilize you. To give you more time."

  "How?"

  "Use him as a buffer."

  Silence.

  The woman's hand went to her weapon. Marcus turned from the hatch.

  "Explain," I said.

  "His nervous system is already receptive. Dying on the same frequency you're broadcasting. If you sync with him, his body acts as a sink. Drains the excess integration from yours. Stabilizes your pattern."

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  "It kills him faster."

  "Yes."

  I looked at Eli. His eyes met mine. The black capillaries pulsed.

  "Do it," he said.

  "Eli—"

  "I'm dead anyway." His voice was barely audible. A thread. "You're not. Do it."

  The hatch behind us vibrated. The Custodian was close.

  I looked at Prime. "How?"

  "Press your chest to his. Let the filaments connect. Focus on the pulse. Let him become the ground wire."

  I hesitated. One second. Two.

  Then I pulled Eli toward me, pressed my chest against his. The red filaments touched the black capillaries.

  The effect was immediate.

  Pain. Hot and deep. Like someone was pulling nerves out through my skin. My vision went white. My ears filled with static. I felt Eli's heartbeat against my chest, then felt it slow, stutter, weaken.

  A warmth flowed out of me. Into him.

  His body jerked once. Twice. Then went still.

  I pulled back.

  Eli's eyes were open. Empty. The black capillaries had stopped pulsing. They were just lines now. Dead ink on dead skin.

  He wasn't breathing.

  I checked for a pulse. Nothing.

  He was gone.

  I looked at my chest. The filaments had stopped spreading. They were still there, still red, but they weren't advancing. They were waiting.

  The terminal behind me flickered.

  [OMEGA-NULL HOST: BIOMETRIC STABILIZATION CONFIRMED]

  [INTEGRATION LEVEL: 82% -> 74%]

  [NEW TRAIT UNLOCKED: SIGNAL GHOSTING (MINOR)]

  [EFFECT: ONCE PER HOUR, HOST CAN SPLIT TAG SIGNATURE INTO 2 FALSE LOCATIONS FOR 10 SECONDS]

  [COST: ACCELERATED NUMBING IN AFFECTED LIMBS + MINOR HEMORRHAGING]

  [NOTE: STABILIZED DOES NOT MEAN REVERSED. INTEGRATION CONTINUES.]

  I stared at the words. A new ability. A permanent change.

  Eli's body lay beside me. Still warm.

  The woman looked at me. Her face was unreadable. The Rival watched from the wall. Marcus stood at the hatch, back turned, shoulders rigid.

  Prime spoke.

  "You're stable now. For a while."

  I didn't answer. I closed Eli's eyes with my good hand. The numb one couldn't feel his skin.

  The smell of antiseptic and burned ceramic. It was in everything now.

  The hatch burst open.

  Not the Custodian. Something smaller. Faster. A drone, its sensors glowing red. It swept the room, locked onto me, and broadcast.

  [HOST ACQUIRED. TARGET CONFIRMED.]

  Then it exploded. Shrapnel sprayed. The Rival's detonator smoked in his hand.

  "We need to move," he said.

  I stood. My legs held. My hand hung useless. The filaments pulsed under my skin.

  Prime moved to the far wall. Pressed its palm against a maintenance panel. The metal hissed, slid open.

  "This way. It leads to the relay core. To your people."

  Marcus turned from the hatch. His eyes met mine. He looked at Eli's body. Then at me.

  He didn't speak. He just nodded.

  We moved.

  The tunnel was narrow. Dark. We crawled in single file. Prime led. Then me. Then the woman. Then the Rival. Marcus brought up the rear.

  Behind us, the Custodian entered the chamber. I heard its sensors sweep, heard it pause at Eli's body, heard it recalculate.

  Then it followed.

  Ahead, light. Flickering. Industrial.

  Prime stopped. Turned.

  "Your people are on the other side of this bulkhead. Kaelen's contractors are thirty meters behind them."

  I pressed my ear to the metal. Heard voices. Movement. The wet cough of someone dying.

  Marcus moved past me. Pressed his palm to the bulkhead.

  "We breach. We fight. We get to the core."

  The woman checked her weapon. Four rounds. The Rival held his detonator. One left.

  Prime looked at me. Its pale eyes were calm.

  "You're the only one who can end this now."

  I looked at my numb hand. At the filaments. At the dead plate in my pocket.

  The terminal beside the bulkhead flickered.

  [OMEGA-NULL DEPLOYMENT WINDOW: 00:59:12]

  [INCIDENT 7-C: ACTIVE]

  [TEST SUBJECTS: SECTOR 7-C SURVIVORS]

  [HOST: VARIABLE SEVEN]

  [LAB: ARCHIVE RELAY CORE]

  Fifty-nine minutes.

  I pressed my chest to the bulkhead reader. The filaments touched the metal.

  [BIOMETRIC: VARIABLE SEVEN]

  [OMEGA-NULL HOST: CONFIRMED]

  [BULKHEAD ACCESS: GRANTED]

  The door slid open.

  Beyond it, in the dim light of the relay core, stood the woman with the shiv. And behind her, three contractors with weapons raised.

  She saw me. Saw my chest. Saw the filaments. Saw my numb hand. Saw Eli's absence.

  Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

  "Leo?"

  I stepped through.