Chapter 540

As soon as Owen let go of her, Catalina jumped to her feet. Barely sparing a glance over her shoulder at the morphus, she resumed sprinting in the same direction, her boots pounding against the rocky ground.

A second later, she disappeared into the tunnel. Jake could no longer see her on the screen of Rachel’s PDA, as there were no CCTV cameras installed inside it. But he assumed she was racing down its length toward the freight elevator as fast as she could.

The only problem was that the elevator was currently one level below, at the tech lab. She would need to call it up and then wait a few precious seconds while it slowly rumbled its way to the upper floor. If Owen decided to resume chasing her, those few seconds could easily cost Catalina her life.

Since every second could mean the difference between life and death, Jake looked back over his shoulder, focusing on the freight elevator’s control console mounted on the wall beside the tunnel entrance. He hacked into it with the same ease he had hacked into Rachel’s PDA only moments earlier.

The elevator’s controls offered no resistance whatsoever. He immediately overrode its current command and sent the platform rising toward the upper floor. With that done, he shifted his attention back to the screen of Rachel’s PDA.

He saw Owen’s body jerk from the impacts of Silvia’s shots. Each hit rocked him ever so slightly, flashes of blue-white light erupting across his armor as the energy bolts struck home. Still, his armored body absorbed the punishment with barely any lasting damage.

The morphus continued running toward his target, paying no attention to the other Spartans. They fired at him from every direction, if not to stop him entirely, then at least to distract him from pursuing their leader. Energy bolts streaked through the cavern, illuminating the semi-darkness in rapid bursts. Most of the shots missed by a wide margin, hissing past him or slamming into the rocky walls, where they burst into showers of sparks and glowing fragments.

Completely ignoring the rest of the Spartans, Owen kept moving in the same direction. Silvia fired shot after shot, refusing to let up. Since the morphus was directly in front of her and made no attempt to dodge, most of her shots found their mark.

The energy bolts punched small glowing craters into his armored body, scattering molten fragments with every impact. Yet the damage they inflicted was superficial at best. His relentless charge never slowed, his heavy footsteps echoing through the cavern as the distance between them rapidly disappeared.

As Silvia fired another shot, she hesitated for a fraction of a second. Owen had gotten too close, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. All the shots she had poured into him had barely harmed him at all. His armor was scorched and pitted in dozens of places, but he barely noticed it. She realized she needed to flee. Without wasting another moment, she spun on her heel and darted away.

But it was too late. Owen intercepted her in two tremendous leaps, crashing into her from behind with enough force to send both of them tumbling across the rocky ground. Silvia hit the stone hard, the breath driven from her lungs. Before she could recover, Owen was already on top of her, pinning her beneath his weight.

The human struggled desperately, twisting and kicking, trying to throw him off, but she couldn’t even budge him. He seized her head with his hands and immediately crushed it between his armored fingers. Her skull resisted only momentarily before giving way. Bits of torn flesh, shattered skull, brain matter, and blood burst in every direction, scattering across the cavern floor.

Just like that, the leader of the Spartans was no more.

Silvia’s body went limp beneath him. Without another glance at her lifeless body, Owen pushed himself to his feet and spun around.

The other Spartans never stopped firing. Energy bolts continued streaking across the cavern from every direction. Two slammed into his chest one after another, staggering him for barely a moment. A third hissed past his head, close enough to graze one of the armored plates covering his shoulder.

But he didn’t even glance toward the Spartans. Instead, he broke into a sprint toward the tunnel where Catalina had disappeared only seconds earlier. His heavy footsteps thundered across the cavern floor as he accelerated with astonishing speed, covering ground in long, powerful strides. It was obvious that it wouldn’t take him long to catch up with his prey.

Rachel kept scrambling away from Jake like a crab, pushing herself backward with her hands and feet. She had already put a considerable distance between them and showed no intention of stopping, her frightened eyes never leaving him. Ignoring the human entirely, Jake wheeled around. Just then, he heard the familiar creaking and whining of the freight elevator making its way down through the shaft.

Had to be Catalina. He immediately ran toward the end of the corridor, his eyes fixed on the freight elevator doors as the mechanical rumbling grew steadily louder. A few seconds later, the platform finally reached the tech lab with a heavy metallic clunk. The doors slid open.

As soon as Catalina spotted him standing there, she hurried off the platform and rushed toward him, still breathing heavily from her sprint through the tunnel.

“Jake, there’s…”

“I know,” he interrupted, handing Rachel’s PDA to her.

Catalina took the PDA from his hand and immediately glanced at the screen. The live feed from one of the cameras overlooking the main cavern filled the display. One quick look was all she needed to realize Jake was already fully aware of everything that had happened above.

She lowered the device, still struggling to catch her breath after sprinting the entire length of the tunnel. Her face was flushed crimson, her chest rose and fell rapidly, and each breath came in ragged gasps.

“He just killed Silvia,” Jake told her. “And he’s headed here. He should be here any second now.”

Fear flickered across Catalina’s face. Her grip on the PDA tightened instinctively as she quickly glanced over her shoulder toward the freight elevator behind her, half expecting Owen to come charging through its doors at any moment.

“Don’t worry,” Jake added. “I’ll stop him here.” He pointed toward the opposite end of the corridor. “Head over there and…”

Before he could finish, a tremendous thud echoed through the tech lab as something extremely heavy landed squarely in the center of the freight elevator.

Sure enough, it was Owen.

Upon landing, he dropped to one knee to cushion the impact. The massive freight elevator shuddered beneath his weight, its metal floor groaning loudly. For a brief instant, he remained perfectly still, one hand braced against the platform, before slowly lifting his head. His emotionless eyes immediately locked onto Jake.

“Go!” Jake shouted to Catalina.

She didn’t hesitate. Clutching the PDA tightly in one hand, she immediately broke into a run down the corridor. Jake, meanwhile, turned his full attention to Owen.

His counterpart rose smoothly to his feet and immediately shot forward. It was obvious he had no interest in fighting Jake. His only goal was to slip past him and continue chasing Catalina.

But Jake didn’t let him. The instant Owen drew abreast of him, Jake lunged sideways and intercepted him, crashing into him with all his strength and driving him hard into the corridor wall. The impact sent a deep rumble through the concrete, leaving a web of fresh cracks radiating across its surface.

Owen recovered almost instantly. Before Jake could capitalize on the successful attack, Owen twisted and hurled himself at him. Jake managed to evade the first punch Owen threw, but the second strike that came immediately afterward from a different angle left him no time to react. The fist slammed into his head with crushing force.

And it wasn’t just an ordinary punch. Owen had infused the blow with one of his abilities. The instant it connected, a powerful shock rippled through Jake’s body. His vision blurred, his balance faltered, and his senses seemed to dull for a brief but critical moment. The corridor around him swam as he struggled to shake off the disorienting effect.

When his mind finally cleared, he saw something horrifying. Owen had already spun around and resumed sprinting down the corridor after Catalina. He clearly wasn’t keen on fighting him. Instead, he was intent on killing Catalina.

Jake immediately broke into a sprint after Owen. He pushed himself to his limit, running as fast as he could. He had to intercept Owen before he caught up with Catalina. There was no question about it. If Owen reached her first, there was nothing she could do to stop him from slaying her.

And Jake was certain he would make it in time. While Owen was far more powerful than he was, Jake was much faster. He was certain he would close the distance between him and Owen way before Catalina reached the end of the corridor.

Only, as it turned out, Catalina had no intention of running all the way to the other end of the corridor. Instead, she did the one thing she shouldn’t have done. Jake felt a pang of fear as he realized where she was heading. All the doors lining both sides of the corridor were closed. All but one. The one leading into the teleporter room.

And as Catalina reached it, she didn’t slow down. She threw herself through the open doorway, diving inside and disappearing from view. It was the one place she should never have gone. And yet, completely unaware of the danger waiting inside, it was exactly where she had chosen to go.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that Chen was hiding in the security control room, patiently waiting for the exact moment Jake entered the teleporter room. The human had been counting on that moment, planning to activate the Dark Void and pull Jake into the anomaly.

But now the situation had changed. It was no longer just Jake who was about to enter the teleporter room. Two morphuses were heading there. It was the perfect opportunity for Chen to kill two birds with one stone.

But if he activated the Dark Void now, not only would the two mutants be dragged into the anomaly, but Catalina would be caught in it as well. She would have no chance of escaping once the anomaly took hold.

Would Chen actually be willing to sacrifice her to finally get rid of the two morphuses for good? Jake definitely wouldn’t put it past that human, whoever he was. What did the life of a human being he barely even knew matter to Chen if, in exchange, he could eliminate two powerful predators whom he and his two conspirators hated so deeply?

It was bad. As Jake raced down the corridor, his mind worked frantically, searching for a solution to what seemed like an impossible situation. But as he kept sprinting after Owen as fast as he could, he already could tell he wouldn’t reach him in time.

Owen was too far ahead, and even Jake’s incredible speed wouldn’t be enough to close the distance before his counterpart entered the teleporter room. What happened after that was anyone’s guess. Would Chen activate the Dark Void the moment Owen crossed the threshold?

If he did activate it, Catalina and Owen would be gone. But Jake wouldn’t. As long as he stayed out of the teleporter room, he would remain beyond the Dark Void’s range. And unless Chen was a complete idiot, he should understand that. He should realize that killing Catalina, the only person Jake truly cared about, would be the one thing that would guarantee his own death afterward.

Chen had to know that. So the logical choice was obvious. He needed to refrain from activating the Dark Void. It was the only move that would keep him and the other two conspirators alive.

The problem was that humans were prone to making stupid mistakes.

But even if Chen didn’t activate the Dark Void the moment Owen entered the teleporter room, Jake knew he wouldn’t have the luxury of simply staying outside and waiting. Immediately after entering the teleporter room, Owen would immediately go after Catalina. So whether he liked it or not, Jake knew he would have to go in as well without hesitation.

And once both morphuses were inside the teleporter room, the situation would become even worse. At that point, nothing would stop Chen from activating the Dark Void. He would have exactly what he wanted: both of his targets trapped in the same place, with no chance of escape.

The situation was dire. As Jake continued sprinting down the corridor, his thoughts raced just as quickly as his body. He desperately searched for some kind of solution, some way out of the impossible situation unfolding in front of him.

If he refused to enter the room, if he even slowed down for a single second, Catalina would be doomed. It had taken Owen only one second to kill Silvia, so there was no reason to believe it would take him any longer to take Catalina out.

But if he entered the teleporter room after Owen, Chen would immediately activate the Dark Void, and it wouldn’t just be Catalina who would be doomed. All three of them would be dragged into the anomaly to meet the same grim fate.

It wasn’t the first time Jake had found himself in a predicament. But it was definitely the first time he didn’t have the slightest idea of how to unfuck the situation he’d found himself in.