“Tessari, don’t!” Darya shouted in her ear.

The hand of the Imp hesitated on the metal push plate on the double-doors.

“Wha–” Renata started.

“Get away from the door! Hide!” Darya yelled.

Renata walked the zeo back a few steps, then twisted clumsily and ran between twin rows of data banks—processors and storage units for all the lab’s work. She crouched the Imp low and tried again to bring up the functions menu.

The Imp was designed to be a specialized infiltration and electronic warfare platform, meant to slip behind enemy front lines with its unique bio-camouflage systems and disable other zeoforms with its bio-feedback device, which interfered with the interface between a zeo and its pilot’s nervous system. The bio-feedback system was planned to broadcast a mess of random neural signals, but so far, Tessari had only figured out how to transmit a pilot’s own real-time neural patterns. 

Over the databanks, the lights flickered slightly as another explosion shook the lab. Tessari opened the utilities menu in the Imp’s HUD and quickly navigated to the camouflage program. 

The moment she tried to execute it, however, it crashed.

ERROR 202

“Tessari,” Darya whispered in her ear. “Get that camouflage up.”

The lights… she thought, lifting the Imp’s head to look at the flickering lights. The suit’s trying to adapt the camouflage to the ambient light.

She heard the double-doors burst open, followed by a rush of footsteps. Renata jammed the button to initiate camouflage again.

ERROR 202

A distorted voice crackled across the lab.

“Tessari is not in the lab. Suit is not in the lab.”

“Search the lab. There might be another way out.”

In the flickering light, Renata saw two soldiers in black armor stalking across the room, sweeping their rifles in slow arcs. She hammered the initiation button again and again, watching the program restart over and over in her peripheral vision. Her eyes were locked on the soldiers.

A burst of gunfire rang out, and Renata flinched. The databanks to her left went dark, then began pouring smoke from a cluster of holes that went straight through the casing. She watched a shadow move out from behind the databanks and turn the corner. 

A black-armored soldier with glowing green eye lenses looked down the corridor between the databanks, gazed directly at the Imp, then hosed the other row of databanks with gunfire.

Her eyes flicked to the green message on her cockpit display: VISUAL CAMOUFLAGE ACTIVE.

‍

###

‍

Fang climbed up the facility’s exterior to the roof and brought up the blueprints for the building in her HUD. She traced the route from each of the labs to the nearest exits.

If she had been in the Synthetics Lab, she’d be surrounded. Same with the Mechanics Lab.

Her eyes traced the route from the Assembly Lab to the closest exit—a door leading to a maintenance corridor that let out at the rear of the building. Fang walked her zeo along the roof, heading toward the Assembly Lab. 

If the suit is operational, she could still be there.

As she strode, she looked down into a barred skylight, where a line of BiYoTa staff were being marched down the hall in their sleeping clothes. She felt disgust well up inside her as she imagined her squadmates lining the staff up like melons, then bursting their heads one by one as they crossed names off their lists. They were so eager to kill, it didn’t matter who. 

Fang called up a real-time map of her squad’s positions in the building, causing twenty-three pulsing red lights to begin moving around the blueprints. One light hovered near the maintenance corridor—a Stormer zeo like hers.

Fang raised them on comms. “Green 6, this is Bloodhound. What’s your status?”

“Status clear. No contact. Searching for VIP 1.”

“No sign of her?”

“No sign yet.”

She set a waypoint on her HUD’s map: FACILITY SECURITY OFFICE.

“Hold position, I’m going to rendezvous with you. ETA five minutes.”

While she moved to another skylight, Fang pulled up the specs on the experimental zeo.

Visual and radar camouflage…bio-adhesive pads enable climbing sheer surfaces…

“Green-6, can you give me a thermal scan of your immediate surroundings?”

“Thermal scan, roger. One se—”

A scream pierced Fang’s ears. 

‍

###

‍

Tessari clung to the ceiling of the Assembly Lab, watching the two soldiers exit through the double-doors. 

Carefully, she crawled forward, until she could push open one of the doors from above. 

“Now. Hallway’s clear,” Darya said.

Renata pushed open the left door and scrabbled onto the ceiling of the hallway. She could see the pair of soldiers walking up the right side of the hallway before disappearing around a corner.

The hallways were oversized, meant to facilitate the movement of loaders and maintenance zeos. Now, a hulking Uns-65 Stormer loomed at the left end of the hallway, in front of the door to the maintenance corridor.

“Tessari, you there?” Darya whispered in her ear.

“Here,” she breathed.

“The maintenance corridor is your way out. There should be a zeo in front of it.”

“I see him.”

“You gotta take him out. Can you incapacitate him?” Darya asked.

“I d-don’t know. The EWAR module hasn’t been calibrated.”

“Calibrate it now. And get closer, if you can.”

“Okay…okay…” Tessari whispered. With a ginger touch, Renata initiated the module and watched it run its initial checks. While the calibration progress bar filled, Tessari held her breath and stared at the real-time diagram showing her visibility profile:

Radar: 4%

Thermal: 20%

Visual: 9%

She tried to breathe slowly. Okay, okay…he can’t see me…he can’t see me…

The Stormer looked away from the open hallway and out a window, where the dull roar of an explosion lit up the night.

“Now, get closer!” Darya whispered.

Tessari began crawling along the ceiling, watching the Stormer upside-down. She inched closer until she could almost reach down and touch the zeo’s helmet.

The calibration progress showed 81%. 

“Almost ready…” Renata whispered.

“You have one shot,” Darya said.

At this range, her zeo could overhear the pilot of the Stormer speaking to someone.

“No contact. Searching for VIP 1.”

“No sign of her?”

Tessari felt a stab of terror. Are they talking about me?

“No sign yet.”

“Hold position, I’m going to rendezvous with you. ETA five minutes.”

Darya’s voice was urgent. “Go, go, go, he’s gonna have backup soon.”

“The module’s still booting up!” Renata hissed.

Renata watched the EWAR module complete its last check. A small window appeared, showing her biorhythm—jagged, with high peaks and troughs. She recognized it immediately.

Intense physical and mental strain. Indicative of fight-or-flight response, Renata’s brain regurgitated. Her finger hovered over the activation button. Once she activated the module, that biodata would be broadcast in a six-meter radius.

Only one shot… she thought

Below her, she could overhear snatches of the conversation. “Green-6, can you give me a thermal scan of your immediate surroundings?”

Renata’s eyes flicked to her thermal profile. 21% visible—enough to raise alarms.

“Tessari, do it!” Darya said through gritted teeth. “Do it now!”

“Thermal scan, roger. One se—”

Renata pressed the button. A faint keening rang in her ears and she felt her stomach twist. She watched the Stormer drop their rifle and fall to the floor, seizing and writhing in terror, then heard garbled screams. The zeo began thrashing, digging deep gouges in the floor with its feet and denting the reinforced walls.

Renata watched, stunned. So that’s what it’s like.

“Get going! Get through the door!” Darya shouted. “I’ll open it for you!”

“R-right…”

Renata crawled across the ceiling and down the wall next to the door, then stood in front of it. Behind her, the Stormer pilot was still screaming.

“Okay, open!” Darya said.

Nothing happened.

“It’s not opening!” Renata said.

“Damn it…let me check…what about now?”

The doors remained stubbornly closed.

“Nothing!” Renata said, feeling panic rising in her throat.

“Then someone’s blocking my commands…grab that rifle, try to shoot it open,” Darya said briskly.

Renata stepped over the Stormer, still writhing, and reached down to pick up its rifle. After fumbling with the grip, she clumsily braced it against the Imp’s shoulder and pulled the trigger.

The rifle roared to life, emptying its entire magazine in four seconds. The fusillade rocked the door and slammed the butt of the rifle against the Imp’s shoulder, causing Renata to almost drop it. When the smoke cleared, the center of the door was shredded, but enough of it still stood in the frame to obstruct her path. Renata looked up and saw the light blinking and stuttering over the doorway. Its case was shattered by a ricochet.

“The door’s still standing!” Renata shouted.

“Fire another burst!” Darya yelled. “Quick, quick, quick—they heard you.”

Tessari pressed the barrel against the door and pulled the trigger, but it only clicked.

“I think it’s empty!” she said.

“Two Stormers around the corner, coming your way. What’s your camouflage profile?”

Renata glanced down. “Radar 3%, Thermal 22%, Visual…”

Visual Profile: 74%

Her eyes moved to the flickering shadows on the walls, then the damaged light fixture.

“They can see me…” she whispered. “They can see me!”

Renata slammed the Imp’s fist against the door, but it didn’t budge.

“Is the EWAR module still running?” Darya asked quickly.

Renata checked. The module still had a minute left before it had to shut down and recharge.

“Yes!” she said.

“Turn around and run—if you can get to the corner before they come around it, they’ll be—”

“In range,” Renata finished.

She spun around and began sprinting down the hallway, the Imp’s synthetic-flesh feet slapping against the floor. She could hear distorted voices echoing down the hall.

Come on…come on…she pleaded.

Suddenly, she heard a harsh cracking and popping. Her instincts immediately thought gunfire. Renata’s stomach churned as she braced herself for the pain, but a second later, she realized the sound had come from her headset—it was static.

Darya!

At that moment, she reached the corner.

‍

###

‍

Darya didn’t hear the door to the security office slide open. He didn’t see the blinking red dot on his real-time map. His eyes were glued to the camera feeds as Tessari sprinted toward the intersection, where two fully armed Stormers were headed. 

Both zeos had CQB Brutus Quad-Shots shouldered, each able to shear a loader zeo in half in a single shot, and they were stalking forward single-file. He watched the lead Stormer stop at the corner and prepare to circle around it; Darya had to admire how smooth its movements were, like a tiger finding the right angle to lunge. 

He tore his eyes away and looked to a blurry shape running toward the same corner—Tessari in the Imp, looking like a translucent ghoul covered in wires and hoses. She was sprinting full-tilt, and Darya mentally calculated the distance.

5 meters left…4 meters…3…2…

He glanced at the monitor feed for the hallway outside the office, and his eyes widened as he saw a Stormer zeo standing inert at the edge of the feed. The suit was open.

Where’s the pilo—

In his peripheral vision, he caught a shadow moving across the wall, silhouetted by light from the open doorway. By instinct, he jammed the emergency release on the chair, causing its gel interior to push him to his feet. He reached for the pistol at his side, but found a combat knife already pressed against his throat.

He felt a hand pull the earpiece from his left ear, then slide the pistol from his holster. The knife didn’t waver.

“Azir Darya,” a woman’s voice said from behind him. “Where’s Dr. Tessari?”

He set his jaw. “I know how this goes. Just kill me.”

“You’re going to help me, but I’m not going to kill you,” the voice said.

Darya narrowed his eyes. “How’s that going to work?”

‍

Part 3 coming November 19th, 2026!

‍Christopher Mahon is a writer and worldbuilder based in Brooklyn, New York. He is also the Producer for Best Hobby. Some of his career highlights include speaking on panels at New York Comic-Con and Columbia University on the topics of science and speculative fiction and delivering a presentation about ARGs at Glasgow International Fantasy Convention. You can learn more about his projects and stories at occulttrianglelab.com.

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