Bio Weapon Dystopia

Graves quickly left the small office room as soon as it was presented to Vomi. He left some minor details about the missing analyst, but it was clear that wasn't Graves’ main concern, or at least the thing he was asked to get done. After all, Blackwall breaches aren't something to take slightly. There is a reason the wall was put up in the first place, making whatever it was at the other side stay at the other side. So, Vomi put her personal cord on the terminal and immediately removed it before any progress on whatever upload could be done.

They didn't even have the decency to wait a few minutes before gathering every information about her, huh? Well, no matter, the laptop was built exactly for situations like these. Connecting via the laptop to the terminal was surprisingly easy and with no risk of getting a Daemon on her system. With a few tweaks, she even made the line subtle enough so she could work without triggering any of the special programs or hacks that M-Tech has, making her initial work all the easier. Granted, Blackwall leaks, but still.

First thing Vomi did was to look at the leaks themselves. If the Netrunners were as good as they were they would clean their traces and leave almost no evidence or leads back to them, not to mention the fact they are avoiding their brains getting fried by the ICE programs, but that's another detail for later. Upon inspecting some of the leaks, mostly harmless stuff about financial archives, Vomi quickly realized that there was a pattern in all of these attempts, be them successful in taking the data or not.

They all came from the same Netrunner.

How? The methods used were the same, although in different IP addresses, making it near impossible to track. Thankfully the patches for the leaks are simpler to deal with, just an update and a few other programs and it's good to go. What didn't make sense however was how this Netrunner kept probing different files that had no connection with the last one. Sometimes the files were about car dealerships, sometimes about immunosuppressors, and even sometimes about… XBDs? How did any of this connect with whatever they are trying to expose? And bring from the Blackwall?

Is it an AI? Because that would mean it would be almost a genocide at this point, but even the stupidest of minor gangsters can understand that the Blackwall was just something you didn't mess with unless you had extreme backup, and an investor.

Investor… Hmm…

The only other corporation that could, and absolutely would do something like this is KanedaCorp, another minor Japanese corporation trying to grow up to be another Arasaka, but hardly had the same success as the big ones.

Did it make sense? Maybe. Was it a possibility?

Absolutely.

So Vomi started digging.

Vomi's fingers flew across the keyboard as she started cross-referencing the breaches, trying to make sense of the seemingly random data. Immunosuppressors, XBDs, car dealerships… none of this lined up with anything directly, but the fact that they were all coming from one Netrunner? That was a clue. Whoever this was, they were either sloppy, desperate, or incredibly confident.

And that’s when it hit her. The scattershot approach. It wasn’t just random; it was meant to confuse anyone trying to backtrace the intrusions. The Netrunner was gathering specific intel from various sectors, but the question remained—why?

She leaned back, letting out a frustrated sigh. Vanguard, sitting on the desk next to her, after confirming that no one was watching, flicked his tail in mild irritation at the pause in typing.

“What do you think, Vang? A corpo scheme? Maybe KanedaCorp pulling strings?”

The cat blinked lazily, not offering much in the way of deep insight, but his presence was comforting nonetheless.

“Investor… backer… gotta be someone with deep pockets, right?” she muttered, pulling up the files on KanedaCorp. If anyone was crazy enough to poke around the Blackwall with this level of finesse, it was a smaller player trying to make big moves. The type to take risks that the larger corps wouldn’t—until the payoff was huge, of course.

She dove into KanedaCorp’s recent dealings. It was a smaller corp, aggressive in its expansion, but still nowhere near the reach of Arasaka or Militech. Yet, their name had started popping up more frequently in underground circles. They were hiring like crazy, buying up assets, and making shady alliances with merc groups. Definitely trying to punch above their weight class.

Vomi ran a few more back-end searches, masking her tracks while she dug into KanedaCorp’s hidden assets. As expected, they had their fingers in a lot of pies: bioengineering, weapons development, and… something else. Something buried deep in encrypted files labeled "Project Ouroboros."

“The same project that Marco was dealing with…” she murmured to herself, intrigued. She hacked into the file’s metadata, pulling up whatever she could before hitting a wall of heavy ICE. “Of course, it's locked.”

But not for long.

After a few more quick hacks and bypasses, she managed to snag a small fragment of info from the files before the system kicked her out. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to confirm her suspicion: KanedaCorp was funding the Blackwall breaches. They were testing the waters, trying to pull something—or someone—out from the other side.

A wave of unease washed over her. This wasn’t just about corporate espionage or boosting profits. This was playing with fire, and if KanedaCorp was successful, they’d be letting loose something that could potentially wreak havoc on the Net, maybe even in meatspace too.

She glanced at the clock. Time was running short, and she needed more information. Vomi quickly patched up the breaches on M-Tech's systems, doing just enough to make it look like she’d completed her job without arousing suspicion. But she couldn’t leave it at that. There was still the matter of the missing analyst. Whoever they were, they could have valuable intel on what KanedaCorp was planning.

Before disconnecting, Vomi ran one last search for the analyst’s name—Takeo Kenzo. No hits on public databases, but a shadow profile appeared under a different alias. It seemed Kenzo had been digging too deep into something he wasn’t supposed to, and now he was missing. Probably abducted—or worse.

She closed her laptop and stood up, her mind racing with possibilities. She could report what she found to HustleNet, get her eddies and be done with it. Or… she could dig deeper, uncover what KanedaCorp was really after, and possibly stop them before they tore a hole in the Blackwall.

But doing that would put her at odds with not just KanedaCorp, but potentially every other corpo with a vested interest in keeping the Blackwall intact. And let’s face it, messing with AI or rogue Netrunners trying to break through the Wall? That was a whole new level of dangerous.

Vomi exhaled, rubbing her temples. “Of course, it’s never simple.”

She knew what she had to do. This was bigger than just some corpo job, and she wasn't about to walk away when something this dangerous was in play.

Grabbing her coat, she exited the office. She’d have to move carefully, but she wasn’t about to let KanedaCorp, or whoever was behind this, crack the Blackwall.

As she made her way back to her car, her Agent pinged. A message from Thiago. Looks like they already missed her, despite the corpo talk last night.

"Heard you're still stuck in corpo land. When you're done, we’ve got a new gig lined up. Bigger than the last one. Don’t get fried before then, alright?"

Vomi smirked at the message. “As long as it doesn't involve shooting. Kinda busy.”

The message came back after a few seconds, “Just band work today. We are trying to figure out a name. Suppose you could help?”

“Sure thing, choom. Tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.”

She slid into the Colby and revved the engine. Time to find Takeo Kenzo.

Vomi checked her bank account for now. Almost 59K EuroDollars, enough to have a comfortable life for a few months, but part of this money was going to be used wisely.

By hiring a merc to search for Takeo, of course.

Whoever is going to take the job, is going to search the old way while she searches on the Cyberspace, at least as deep as she can without going there herself. Despite being in a Cyberpunk world, she doesn't feel nearly as comfortable as the next guy with chrome, so she isn't getting a dive anywhere near sooner than in a few years. Maybe not at all. But something she didn't expect was to find someone that wasn't even on the Edgerunners anime, at least not in the official airing of the show, but in a promotional video, a almost 5 minute prequel.

Sasha, the cat Netrunner.

“Sup!”, The unapologetically pink wearing clothes girl, probably no older than 20, spoke as Vomi was still in her corpo uniform.

Although the lab coat was covering most of it.

Vomi blinked as she sat on the table of the noodle stand, still wrapping up her head that an anime character was talking to her, “Sasha.”

“Yo! You have a cat?! So preem!”, The girl jumped out of her seat and immediately petted Vanguard, who wasn't going to say no, of course.

Sasha, dressed in neon pink and black, practically radiated energy as she lavished attention on Vanguard, who purred contentedly, soaking up the affection.

“Yeah, this is Vanguard. He’s got good taste in people, I guess,” Vomi said with a slight smirk, watching Sasha’s enthusiasm.

Sasha grinned, still petting Vanguard, her hands moving quickly, but gentle. “Well, he’s a smart choom. Knows how to pick ’em.”

Vomi leaned back, still staring at Sasha with minor bewilderment, “Unless you plan on petting my cat all day, I suppose we can talk biz.”

Sasha huffed, getting back at her seat, “You corpos are all the same. Can't have foreplay.”

That made Vomi snort, “I am sure you would like that, but I've got jobs to do.”

Vang just meowed, much to Sasha's gushing, “So cuuute! But fine, name's Sasha Yakovleva. Kitty Netrunner!”

The pose she made after that couldn't be less anime.

“Vomi Kurosaki.”, She replied, almost surprised to sound so corporate, “I assume I don't need to retell the gig?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Find the Takeo guy and report back to you.”, Sasha waved off with a smirk, “I'll see what I can do.”

“Good.”, Vomi said as the noodle stand owner put down two cups, “I am in a time limit to get that done.”

“No worries. I am as good as…”, She failed to give a point of reference, “I guess there is no one as good as me in San Francisco. Night City? Maybe, but I'm missing that place for now.”

“Bad memories?”

“Bad memories.”

“Fair enough.”, Vomi agreed as she slurped her cup.

“Alright, gotta delta. See ya later Corpo Kitty.”, Sash got up and left, leaving no room for Vomi to deny her corpo connections.

“I like her.”, Vanguard muttered, his tail flickering with happiness.

“Of course you do.”

As Sasha bounced away, disappearing into the neon haze of the street, Vomi couldn’t help but chuckle. Corpo Kitty, huh? She hadn’t exactly embraced her new “corpo” lifestyle, but maybe there was no escaping the label at this point. Between the job with M-Tech and her ties to HustleNet, she was playing a dangerous balancing act.

Vomi scratched Vanguard behind the ears, watching as his tail flicked lazily. “You like anyone who gives you attention.”

Vanguard purred in response, completely unbothered. “She has good energy. You could use more like that around.”

“Maybe,” Vomi conceded, though she wasn’t about to admit that Sasha's energy was contagious. It was strange meeting someone so light-hearted in a world that seemed to chew people up and spit them out. Then again, Sasha was far more dangerous than her bright pink aesthetic suggested.

Vomi polished off her noodles, tossing a few scraps to the ground for some stray cats lingering nearby. It was time to move on. Sasha would start tracking Takeo on the streets, while Vomi would focus on digging through cyberspace for any additional leads.

Sliding into her Colby, Vomi pulled out her personal cord and plugged in her deck, preparing for a deep dive. Her laptop buzzed softly, waiting for commands. She wouldn’t be diving into the Blackwall directly—at least, not yet—but there was still plenty of data to comb through.

First stop: the dark net. M-Tech had layers upon layers of protection, but Vomi knew where to look to start scraping under the surface. She tapped into some old Netrunner forums, setting her proxies and firewalls in place, as she searched for whispers of Takeo’s whereabouts.

It wasn’t long before something popped up.

A thread on a hidden forum, barely a week old, discussing “unregistered extractions.” A certain Netrunner had gone missing, someone who had been poking around in corpo business that didn’t concern them—M-Tech, to be exact. Vomi scanned the thread quickly, her heart racing. Could this be about Takeo? It wasn’t a concrete lead, but it was better than nothing.

The thread mentioned a meeting, some kind of underground exchange that went sideways. Rumors of a corpo-backed hit on a Netrunner who was getting too close to something classified. Vomi’s mind whirred with the possibilities.

She started to dig deeper, bypassing more security protocols, until she found a reference to an address: an old data storage facility on the outskirts of the city, barely operational and mostly forgotten.

Problem was that despite it being almost perfect for someone to just vanish from existence, it was monitored 24/7.

A few minutes of searching in the cameras, audio logs and motion captures was enough to show that no one was there.

Disappointing, but expected.

Vomi leaned back in her seat, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. The data storage facility seemed like a dead end—no signs of Takeo, no suspicious activity. But the fact that it was being monitored 24/7 was interesting in itself. A rundown facility like that being watched so closely? There had to be something more going on beneath the surface.

"Looks like they’re covering their tracks,” she muttered, closing out the feed.

Vanguard, curled up in the passenger seat, cracked an eye open. “Or setting a trap.”

Vomi sighed, glancing out the window at the sprawling cityscape. He wasn’t wrong. For a place that dead, it could easily be bait for any Netrunners trying to follow the same lead. Someone wanted people like her—or worse, Sasha—sniffing around.

“Guess we’ll have to play it a little smarter,” she said, pulling up her own encryption software and preparing to ghost her signal. If there was something worth hiding at the facility, she wouldn’t be able to find it by normal means. But a direct digital dive? That could trigger defenses she wasn’t ready for.

Instead, she searched the dark net again, cross-referencing any chatter about old M-Tech facilities and their real purpose. Most of the conversation pointed toward data storage, but there was a subset of rumors suggesting that some of these facilities were used for… experimental purposes. That made her stomach turn.

She pinged Sasha on a secure line. If anyone could help dig deeper into this, it was her new contact.

“Yo, Corpo Kitty, what’s good?” Sasha’s voice came through her earpiece, as cheerful as ever.

“I’ve got a lead on Takeo. Old M-Tech facility, outskirts of the city. But it’s locked down tighter than it should be, and I’m pretty sure it’s being watched.”

“Sounds like a fun day trip. You want me to check it out IRL or do some snooping in the Net?” Sasha replied, clearly eager for action.

“Both, if you can manage it. I need you to get eyes on the place first—see if anything’s off. Meanwhile, I’m digging through some old records to see if I can find out what M-Tech was really doing there.”

“Preem. I’ll head over now. You got my back if I need a quick jack-in?”

“Always,” Vomi said, feeling a strange sense of relief. Despite the weirdness of their interaction earlier, Sasha was a solid Netrunner—reliable in a pinch.

As Sasha signed off, Vomi returned to her own dive into the dark net. This time, she broadened her search to include not just M-Tech, but any other corp or group that might have an interest in covering up a Blackwall breach. Her mind kept drifting back to KanedaCorp and Project Ouroboros. The threads were starting to connect, but she still needed more solid evidence.

After an hour of digging, she found something. It was buried deep in a long-abandoned Netrunner forum, one filled with half-finished conversations and broken links. But one thread stood out—an encrypted chat log discussing KanedaCorp’s experiments with AI beyond the Blackwall. They were using old M-Tech facilities as testing grounds, and according to the log, they weren’t just pulling data. They were trying to pull something… a Cyberdeck.

A ping from Sasha snapped her back to reality.

“Yo, Kitty, you’re gonna love this. Place looks dead on the outside, but I found some hidden motion sensors and cams not on any public record. Someone’s definitely keeping an eye on this place.”

Vomi clenched her jaw. “Figures. I’m coming down there. Don’t engage until I get there.”

“Got it. But hurry. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Vomi started the Colby’s engine, her mind racing. If KanedaCorp was behind this, and if they were really trying to pull something through the Blackwall, then Takeo wasn’t just a missing analyst. He was a key piece in a much larger, more dangerous puzzle.

Thing is: What exactly?

“The theory of mind control doesn't sound insane now, does it?”, Vang commented in a yawn.

“This is definitely the second time Ouroboros gets named in this city, that's for sure.”, Vomi said as she waited in a red light, “But why the Blackwall? Can't the corps just make this instead of ripping apart the only thing that keeps the AIs at bay?”

Vanguard flicked his tail, eyes half-closed. "Maybe it's not just control they're after. Could be something bigger. Something worse."

Vomi shifted in her seat as the light turned green. The idea was unsettling—AI being used for more than just control, but as a weapon, maybe even autonomous. If KanedaCorp was pulling something from the Blackwall, they might not fully understand what they were messing with. That kind of hubris wasn’t uncommon in corpo circles, but it was always dangerous.

“They’re playing with fire,” Vomi muttered, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “Ouroboros… some kind of self-perpetuating system? A loop? What if they’re trying to create something that can’t be stopped, something that evolves?”

Vanguard’s ears perked up slightly. “An evolving AI would explain why they’re pushing the Blackwall so hard. They’re not just trying to break it—they’re looking for something behind it. Something that can grow beyond it.”

Vomi shuddered at the thought. If KanedaCorp had a rogue AI that could evolve on its own, beyond human control, it wouldn’t just be a problem for cyberspace. It would be catastrophic for the entire city—and maybe beyond.

She arrived at the outskirts of the facility. It was as quiet as the surveillance feeds had shown, but now that she was here, Vomi could feel the tension in the air. Sasha was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, scanning the perimeter.

“Glad you could make it, Corpo Kitty,” she quipped, pushing off the wall as Vomi approached. “Place is dead on the outside, but there’s something weird going on inside. I can feel it.”

“Motion sensors? Any signs of activity?” Vomi asked, glancing at the building.

“Nothing overt, but I caught a glimpse of some automated defenses. We’re talking high-level ICE, black-market stuff. Whoever’s running this op doesn’t want anyone poking around.”

Vomi nodded. “Then we need to move quietly. If we trip anything, we might alert KanedaCorp, or worse.”

Sasha grinned. “I like quiet. Let’s get this done.”

The two women slipped into the shadows, making their way toward the facility. Sasha had already disabled most of the external sensors, allowing them to approach without triggering alarms. As they got closer, Vomi’s internal HUD pinged with a warning—an unusual frequency was broadcasting from inside the facility, faint but constant.

“Picking up a signal,” Vomi whispered, her eyes narrowing. “Encrypted, but not strong enough to be a standard transmission. Could be local.”

Sasha crouched down, pulling out a small device from her bag. “Let me take a crack at it. I’ll boost the signal and see if we can figure out where it’s coming from.”

While Sasha worked, Vomi kept an eye on their surroundings. The facility was eerily silent, and the longer she stood there, the more she felt like they were being watched.

Suddenly, Sasha’s device beeped, and she swore under her breath. “Shit. You’re not gonna like this.”

“What is it?”

“That signal? It’s not just a transmission. It’s an AI—a piece of one. Looks like they’ve been trying to pull fragments through the Blackwall. This isn’t just about data; they’re trying to build something.”

Vomi’s heart sank. “Ouroboros. They’re assembling it piece by piece, aren’t they?”

Sasha nodded grimly. “No clue what Ouroboros is, but it looks like it. They’re not just messing with the Blackwall—they’re using it to pull parts of an AI from the other side and integrate it here. But they’re still missing pieces. I think that’s where Takeo comes in.”

Vomi clenched her fists. “We need to find him, fast. If they complete this AI…”

“We’re all fried,” Sasha finished for her, packing up her gear. “No pressure, though.”

The two continued deeper into the facility, their steps silent, hearts pounding with the weight of what they had just uncovered. If KanedaCorp succeeded, they would unleash something that could break free from the Blackwall—something far more dangerous than any Netrunner or corpo could control.

They reached the entrance to the facility’s main storage area. The door was sealed, but Sasha quickly bypassed the lock, and the heavy metal slid open with a quiet hiss.

Inside, the room was dark, illuminated only by the dim glow of old terminals. Rows of server racks hummed quietly, their drives blinking like distant stars. In the center of the room, a single chair was overturned—next to it, a tablet lay abandoned.

Vomi’s heart skipped a beat. “That has to be Takeo’s.”

She rushed forward, picking up the tablet. It was still warm, the screen glowing faintly. As she powered it on, a single message popped up:

“Help me.”

Vomi’s blood ran cold.

“Alright, time to dive.”, Sasha said as she started undressing.

Vomi almost, almost, yelled for her to stop, “What are you doing?”

“Do you see an ice bath here?”, She said, putting on a collant suit used by Netrunners, “There's a cord there to dive in the Cyberspace, so I will use their terminal and start munching their leftovers.”

“Right…”, Vomi nodded, unsure how to react, “I should call back up. M-Tech needs to find this place.”

Sasha laid down on the NetChair ready to plug the cord on the back of her head, “And bring a bunch of unwanted attention to this place and make whoever and whatever you need from here delta in an instant.”

Vomi hesitated, Sasha’s words sinking in. She was right—calling in M-Tech or any corpo backup would tip off KanedaCorp and whoever else had their fingers in this operation. If Takeo was still alive, they needed to move quietly.

"Fine. No backup." Vomi muttered, pacing the room while Sasha plugged herself in. "But if something goes sideways in there, yank yourself out immediately. I don't care how good you think you are—this place feels off."

Sasha flashed a cocky grin. "Relax, Corpo Kitty. I’ve got this. Just keep an eye on the meatspace while I work my magic."

Vomi shot her a glare but didn’t argue. As much as she hated to admit it, Sasha was likely the best shot they had at getting any intel out of the system before it all went to hell. Still, the unease gnawed at her, something about the facility felt wrong—like a place built to trap, not just store data.

Vomi glanced around again. “What are the odds this place has any booby traps for Netrunners?”

Sasha’s laugh was muffled as she plugged into the chair. “Oh, probably 100%. But I’m preem, remember?”

The confident smirk on Sasha’s face faded as her eyes glazed over, the telltale sign that she’d fully jacked in. The room fell silent, save for the faint hum of the servers. Vomi felt a chill creep up her spine, her gut telling her that whatever Sasha was about to encounter in the Net wasn’t going to be pretty.

Minutes passed, each one more tense than the last. Vomi paced, keeping her hand near her gun, glancing back at Sasha every so often. Vanguard, perched on the edge of a nearby console, watched intently, tail flicking back and forth. His ears twitched, sensing the tension in the air.

Then, without warning, Sasha gasped.

Vomi snapped her attention back to the chair. “What happened?”

Sasha’s fingers twitched, her face contorting as if she were seeing something that shouldn’t exist. “It’s… massive. Bigger than anything I’ve ever seen,” she whispered, her voice strained. “Ouroboros… it’s not just an AI. It’s… something alive. Pieces of it are everywhere—spreading like a virus through the Net. They’re assembling it piece by piece, but it’s already starting to adapt…”

Vomi’s heart raced. This was worse than she’d imagined. “Can you locate Takeo? Is he still alive?”

Sasha’s expression tightened. “I’m looking… but the system’s got layers of black ICE, more than I’ve ever seen. This isn’t just about pulling data anymore—it’s about keeping something in.”

Vomi clenched her fists. “Sasha, I don’t care about the AI right now. We need Takeo. Now.”

“I know, I know! Just… give me a second—there!” Sasha’s eyes widened. “I’ve got him. He’s still alive, but he’s deep—trapped in some kind of containment program. They’ve got him tethered to the AI, feeding it data through his neural interface.”

Vomi felt a rush of relief mixed with dread. “Can you pull him out?”

Sasha hesitated. “It’s risky. The program is designed to fry his brain if I try to break the connection. But I can sever some of the ties, make it so he’s not feeding it anymore. It’ll buy us time.”

“Do it.”

Sasha’s fingers twitched as she worked, sweat beading on her forehead. Vomi could feel the tension in the air thickening, the hum of the servers growing louder, more insistent. Something was happening—something big.

Suddenly, Sasha’s body jerked violently, and she let out a pained scream.

“Sasha!” Vomi rushed to the NetChair, shaking her. “Pull out, now!”

Sasha’s eyes fluttered, her body trembling as if she were locked in a battle she couldn’t win. “It’s… trying to stop me,” she gasped, her voice weak. “It knows… we’re here…”

Vomi didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the cable connecting Sasha to the terminal and yanked it free. Sasha’s body went limp, her breathing ragged.

For a moment, the room was eerily silent, then Sasha coughed and sat up, her face pale. “Holy shit… that was close.”

“What happened?” Vomi demanded, helping her out of the chair.

Sasha shook her head, still catching her breath. “The AI… Ouroboros… it’s awake. And it’s pissed.” She rubbed her temples. “But I managed to sever the connection to Takeo. He’s not feeding it anymore, but we’ve got to move. Fast.”

Vomi nodded. “Where is he?”

Sasha pointed to a door at the far end of the room. “Through there. But be careful. If the AI is awake, it might start fighting back in the real world.”

Vomi’s blood ran cold at the thought. “Great. Just what we needed.”

With a quick glance at Sasha to make sure she was steady, Vomi drew her gun and led the way toward the door. They weren’t just fighting against a rogue AI now—they were racing against time before the system lashed out in desperation.

If they didn’t get to Takeo soon, whatever KanedaCorp had unleashed could end up tearing down more than just the Blackwall.

Thankfully, Sasha wasn't one to go guns blazing at every single guard there was in the facility.

Yes, a facility. Underground and all.

The cat-like chrome she had in her hands made it really easy to just go about the entire thing without making a sound.

However, what Vomi didn't expect was that the rogue AI wasn't an AI, or even a robot possessed by one. As far as anyone in the Cyberpunk world could understand, this place had Nanobots mixed with Goo.

Another Symbiote, to be precise.

Dormant, but still as dangerous.

Vanguard immediately merged back with Vomi as soon as Sasha wasn't looking, because this wasn't something to cat-behave now. It was serious.

Vomi felt Vanguard’s presence envelop her, the symbiote integrating seamlessly into her body. It was a sensation she was used to by now, but every time, it still felt like a jolt of electricity—sharpening her senses, heightening her awareness. The fact that another symbiote was lurking in this place made her pulse quicken. They couldn’t afford to underestimate what they were dealing with.

Sasha stayed ahead, her chrome-clad figure moving with precision as they crept down the narrow corridor. The walls were cold, metallic, and sterile, but the faint hum beneath the surface hinted at something far more advanced and unsettling—KanedaCorp’s twisted experiments merging biology and technology in ways they were never meant to.

Vomi scanned the area ahead, her instincts heightened by Vanguard's merging. “Nanobots and symbiotes,” she muttered under her breath. “KanedaCorp’s playing with fire.”

Vanguard’s voice echoed softly in her mind, "And they don’t realize they’re about to get burned. We need to get out before this thing wakes up."

They reached the final door, a thick, reinforced slab of metal that seemed to pulse faintly with a life of its own. Sasha tapped at a panel, hacking the lock with ease, but she shot a wary glance at Vomi.

“Whatever’s behind this door, it’s not gonna be pretty,” Sasha said. “You ready?”

Vomi nodded, steadying her breath. “Let’s get Takeo and get the hell out of here.”

The door slid open with a low hiss, revealing a dark chamber bathed in the eerie glow of flickering, suspended screens. At the center, Takeo was strapped to a chair, wires and tubes connecting him to the terminals that blinked with strange, shifting data. His face was pale, gaunt, his body limp like a puppet on strings.

“Takeo!” Vomi whispered sharply, rushing toward him. She reached out, checking his pulse. It was weak but steady. “He’s alive.”

Sasha moved quickly, examining the connections. “They’ve been siphoning his mind, using his neural link to piece together whatever they’re building. This thing—it’s not fully active yet, but it’s merging with the system.”

Vomi cursed under her breath. “Can you disconnect him?”

Sasha hesitated. “I can try, but if I pull the wrong line, it could kill him—or worse, wake up whatever the hell that is.” She motioned toward a large containment tank at the far end of the room, filled with dark, viscous liquid. Inside, something was shifting, slow but unmistakable. It looked like it was breathing.

Vomi’s stomach churned. This was worse than she’d thought.

“We don’t have time for careful,” Vomi said, her voice tight. “Do it. We’ll deal with the fallout later.”

Sasha nodded, her fingers flying over the connections, her eyes focused. “Alright, hold onto him. This could get messy.”

Vomi braced herself, gripping Takeo’s limp body as Sasha yanked the main line. The second the connection severed, the lights in the room flickered violently, the hum of the machinery growing louder, more chaotic.

The containment tank in the corner began to bubble, the dark substance within swirling rapidly. The thing inside shifted again, more violently this time, and a low, guttural growl echoed through the room.

Vanguard’s voice sharpened in Vomi’s mind. "It's waking up. We need to move. Now."

“Go!” Sasha shouted, pulling Takeo free from the chair. Vomi hefted his body over her shoulder, the weight dragging her down, but adrenaline pushed her forward.

As they rushed for the exit, the sound of metal scraping against metal echoed behind them. Vomi didn’t dare look back, but she could feel it—something was following, something fast and angry. The symbiote, whatever it was, had woken up, and it wasn’t happy.

They barreled down the hallway, Sasha leading the way, her cyber-enhanced legs giving her an edge in speed. Vomi struggled to keep up with Takeo’s dead weight, but Vanguard’s strength helped keep her moving.

"Faster!" Vanguard urged, his voice a growl in her mind.

The exit was in sight, but the sound behind them was growing louder—heavy, wet slaps of something massive and liquid crawling after them.

“Almost there!” Sasha shouted.

But Vomi didn't make it.

They burst through the final door, into the cool night air. Vomi tossed Takeo into the back of the Colby as Sasha leapt in after him. Sasha was forced to get in the driver's seat expecting Vomi to appear right after, only to see no one behind them.

“Corpo Kitty?”, She asked, only to hear crushing sounds coming from the facility.

Truth is, Vomi was fighting that thing. Symbiote against Symbiote.

Vomi had barely made it through the hallway when the symbiote-entity surged forward, latching onto her with a tendril of viscous, black ooze. It slammed her into the wall with brutal force, knocking the wind from her lungs. Vanguard reacted instantly, shifting through her body, amplifying her strength and reflexes.

"It's not going to stop," Vanguard growled in her mind. "We either kill it or it kills us."

The creature lashed out again, but this time Vomi was ready. She twisted out of its grasp, rolling to her feet and firing her pistol at the mass of goo. The bullets barely slowed it down, but that wasn't her goal. She just needed to buy time.

With Vanguard fully activated, Vomi's senses sharpened to near-superhuman levels. The symbiote-enhanced speed allowed her to dodge the next attack, but the creature was relentless, morphing and expanding with every hit. It was growing, feeding off the environment and energy around it, and Vomi knew she couldn't keep dodging forever.

"This thing isn't just a symbiote," Vanguard noted grimly. "It's merged with nanotech. It can adapt, reform... it's becoming stronger the longer we fight.”

Vomi's heart pounded. She could feel the heat of the symbiote coursing through her veins, ready to lash out, but something inside her hesitated. This wasn't just about brute force anymore. She needed a strategy. Something smarter.

Vomi gritted her teeth and darted toward the facility's power conduit-a large, rusted breaker box hanging on the wall. She fired two shots, hitting the panel and sending sparks flying. The lights flickered wildly, and for a moment, the creature hesitated, its form rippling like liquid caught in an electrical current.

"Vang, hit it hard!" Vomi yelled, knowing that this might be her only opening.

Vanguard roared, surging through Vomi's body, their combined strength amplifying her next move. She launched herself forward, a blur of speed and power, slamming into the creature with enough force to drive it back. The symbiote's tendrils flailed, but the electrical surge from the damaged power conduit seemed to disorient it, slowing its regeneration.

Vomi gritted her teeth, using every ounce of strength Vanguard gave her to pin the creature against the exposed wires. Electricity coursed through the creature, causing it to writhe and convulse violently. Its screeches echoed through the facility, a deafening, inhuman wail that made Vomi's skin crawl.

For a moment, it seemed like they might have the upper hand. The creature was weakening, its form destabilizing under the constant electrical surge.

But then, it adapted.

The goo reformed, shifting away from the direct current, and with a sickening slurp, it surged toward Vomi again. She barely managed to leap back as it lashed out, tendrils snapping like whips. One tendril grazed her leg, burning through her pants and searing her skin. She hissed in pain, but Vanguard quickly suppressed the feeling, numbing her enough to keep fighting.

"We can't hold it here forever," Vanguard warned. "It's evolving too fast.”

“Then consume it!”, Vomi ordered.

“What?! We can have serious problems if—”

“Do it!”

Vanguard hesitated for a split second, his voice laced with uncertainty. "You realize what you're asking for, right? This thing is more than just another symbiote—it's a hybrid, full of nanotech. We could end up more like it than it ends up like us."

Vomi’s face tightened in resolve. "We don’t have a choice. If we don’t consume it, it’ll consume everything."

With a low growl of acceptance, Vanguard surged through her body again, tendrils of his own symbiotic mass extending outward. Vomi could feel the shift immediately—Vanguard was no longer merely her protector, but a predator, his instincts sharpened into something primal and ravenous.

"Brace yourself," Vanguard warned, his voice more feral than usual.

The black tendrils of Vanguard met the goo-like creature mid-lunge, and the two symbiotes clashed, merging and tearing at one another in a sickening display of biological warfare. Vomi staggered back as the two entities fought for dominance, feeling Vanguard’s hunger and the foreign nanobots fighting back.

Searing pain shot through her veins as the nanotech from the enemy symbiote attempted to invade her body, but Vanguard’s presence was overwhelming, consuming every inch of the rogue symbiote it touched. Vomi's vision blurred as the world around her seemed to pulse with the ebb and flow of the symbiotic battle.

"It’s fighting me," Vanguard snarled. "Trying to rewrite us. I can hold it off, but..."

Vomi’s knees buckled, and she hit the floor hard, struggling to stay conscious. Her body was caught in the middle of a war between two powerful forces—one trying to break her down, the other fighting to maintain her integrity. The lines between them began to blur as she gasped for breath.

But Vanguard was winning. Bit by bit, he consumed the rogue symbiote, integrating parts of it into himself, but it was dangerous—she could feel it. His essence was changing, warping under the influence of the nanobots, adapting faster than she had anticipated. It wasn’t just a fight for survival anymore—it was evolution.

With a final surge, Vanguard ripped the last of the rogue symbiote apart, absorbing it into himself. The tendrils retracted into Vomi's body, leaving her gasping on the cold, metallic floor, her vision spinning.

The room was silent, save for the hum of electricity and the distant echoes of machinery. Vomi lay there for what felt like an eternity, her heart racing, her body trembling from the strain. She could feel Vanguard inside her, but he felt… different.

"It’s done," he said, his voice low and rough. "But... we’ve changed."

Vomi closed her eyes, forcing herself to stand despite the searing pain in her leg and the overwhelming fatigue. She could feel Vanguard’s presence—stronger, but also more alien. The nanotech had become part of him, and by extension, part of her.

"We’ll deal with it later," Vomi muttered, staggering toward the exit, the symbiote suit slowly retracting. "We need to get out of here before anyone else finds us."

As she reached the surface, Sasha was still on the Colby as Vomi came into view, the engine still running. Sasha spotted Vomi through the windshield and jumped out, running toward her.

“Vomi! You made it!” Sasha’s relief quickly turned to concern as she took in Vomi’s battered appearance. “What happened to your eyes?”

“My eyes?”, She asked, looking at the car’s mirror.

Her sclera was turned black, while her eyes became even more red than before.

“What the fuck?!”