From the Nexus, Marcus Kane paced behind the technicians monitoring the battle. Five holographic screens were arranged around, providing views from each of the five Titans. The same error message flashed across all five screens.

  [[ ERROR! ERROR! FUSION DISRUPTED! FUSION DISRUPTED! ]]

  “Damn!” muttered Marcus.

  Candace Wu stood off to the side, her eyes downcast. Orion leaned against the wall behind Marcus, his arms folded and wearing a blank expression. Marcus looked at him, his jaw clenched.

  “You’re supposed to be the Titan expert, aren’t you?” he asked. “So why don’t you tell me why those robots aren’t responding?”

  “Because they’re not robots,” said Orion. “Fusion is only possible if the entire team is operating as one cohesive unit. They need to be in total sync with their Titan and with each other. Clearly, they aren’t.”

  “How do we get them to do that?” asked Marcus. “That monster’s not going to stop itself, they have to fuse.”

  “What do you expect me to do?” asked Orion, holding out an open palm.

  “Can’t you…I don’t know, override them or something? Force them to fuse?”

  Orion raised a brow and then blinked a few times. “That…may be just about the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard you say. And that’s not a low bar.”

  Marcus took a few menacing steps toward Orion. Candace moved to intercept him.

  “Am I going to have to put you two in a time-out?” she asked. “What sort of an example are you setting if you constantly go to pieces whenever things get tough?”

  Marcus drew a breath and nodded. She was right. He turned back to the screens, trying to think of what could be done about his people. He tapped the earpiece he wore.

  “Red Knight, this is Control, do you copy?”

  “Yeah, I hear you, Control.”

  Marcus heard Tom’s voice both in his ear and through the speakers in the Nexus.

  “We’re having some problems with the fusion process,” Tom added.

  “That’s what we see on our end, too.”

  “Open to suggestions, Control.”

  Marcus closed his eyes. “We’re working on it. Until we can figure something out, just try and stay alive. Work together. Once we—”

  The screens all deactivated. Marcus’s jaw fell loose. “What the hell just happened?”

  “I-I don’t know, sir,” said a technician. “We lost the signal.”

  “Well, fucking fix it!” barked Marcus. “We’re the Quantum Group, not AT&T!”

  “We’re trying, sir,” said another technician. “But it looks like we’ve got some interference.”

  “What possible interference could disrupt our signals?” asked Marcus.

  “It…looks like a breach.” The technician’s brows knitted together as he turned his chair to face Marcus. “You’re not gonna like it.”

  “Just show me,” said Marcus.

  The technician turned back to the controls. All five of the previous screens vanished, replaced with one, large screen. It showed a map of the Pacific Ocean with a blinking red dot and BREACH DETECTED flashing across the screen.

  “That’s not any breach, that’s here,” said Orion.

  “Get me a visual on the shoreline!” shouted Marcus.

  The screen changed again, showing a satellite view of the waters surrounding Sanctuary Isle. A glowing tear hovered in the sky high above the ocean’s surface, and a large, black ship with spikes protruding emerged.

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  Orion stepped away from the wall, his posture stiffening. His arms fell loosely at his sides. With slow steps, he came closer until he stood right beside Marcus, whose own mouth gaped.

  “What the fuck is that?” asked Orion.

  “I was about to ask you the same question,” said Marcus.

  “We’re getting multiple tachyonic readings off it, sirs,” said the technician.

  “What sort of defenses does the island have?” asked Candace.

  “There’s an armory, but that’s about it,” said Marcus.

  “That’s it?” asked Candace.

  “We’re a secret organization on an uncharted island in the middle of the ocean. The idea that anyone would attack us here was unthinkable,” said Orion.

  “Then we’ve gotta start brainstorming, because the unthinkable is on our doorstep,” said Marcus.

  “You’d better hurry, too,” said the technician. “We just got a notice of a breach in the facility.”

  “Okay, everyone else stay put, I’ll go check it out,” said Marcus.

  “Not without me,” added Orion.

  Marcus had just been about to protest, when a glare from Candace caused him to swallow his words. “Fine.”

  “Control? This is Red, do you read me? Copy?” Tom slapped the console in frustration when he heard no reply. When he felt the Phoenix’s annoyance at his reaction, he gently tapped the flight stick. “I’m sorry, not your fault.”

  He opened up a channel to the rest of the team. “We’ve lost contact with Sanctuary, and fusion’s a non-starter. So we’ll have to find some other way to take this thing out.”

  “Sounds good. Any idea as to how?” asked Alexa.

  “Each part of it is a different element, so how about divide and conquer?” asked Rachel.

  Tom nodded. “Yeah, good idea. Purple, you take that fiery left arm, and the right arm is mine.”

  The Phoenix and the Wyvern twisted in the air and flew in opposite directions. They turned and went for the Elemental from both sides. As Tom pulled the Phoenix closer, she opened her beak and let loose with a fiery jet-stream. Wyvern did the same, but in his case, it was powerful winds.

  The Elemental tried to pull away as the flames melted its ice arm into nothing, while the winds kept the fire on its magma arm from igniting.

  “Good, that’s a start. Yellow, do something about that windy torso,” said Tom.

  The Unicorn charged back toward the mountain and pointed his horn at the large rocks. Golden energy pulsated around the horn, and chunks of rock flew off. The Unicorn turned back toward the Elemental, rushing forward. Each fall of his hooves triggered a tremor. The boulders flew right into the Elemental’s windy tempest of an abdomen, clogging it up, and evidently causing it discomfort.

  “Blue, you’re up next. Do what you can about those legs,” said Tom. “Yellow, give Raiju a boost.”

  The Raiju rushed toward the shoreline. The Unicorn pointed his horn at the ground, and a portion of the sandy beach rose up, springing the Raiju into the air. Lightning crackled around him, and he pointed his head at the Elemental. The Raiju growled, ball lightning firing from his eyes and striking the Elemental’s legs, shoulders, and chest. Scorch marks were left, and the Raiju continued the onslaught, the rocks breaking from the creature.

  “Green, that head is all yours, pal,” said Tom.

  The Elemental collapsed on the ground, and the Karkinos rose up from the water. The Karkinos raised its pincers, drawing up water from the ocean. He gave a chittering noise, and then the water rushed into the electric skull. The Elemental screamed as the water caused its electric head to dissipate.

  “How about that?” shouted Ethan over comms with laughter. “Who needs fusion, am I right?”

  “Don’t get too cocky, this would’ve gone a lot easier if we could merge,” said Rachel.

  “We’ll work on that, be ready for next time,” said Tom. “Now we just have to work on re-establishing contact with Sanctuary.”

  Once the Obsidian Dreadnought came within close enough range, it transported Malakai down to the island. He materialized in the Arena and crossed the distance to the facility’s entrance. Malakai reached behind his back, detaching the large hammer from his armor. With a switch, the hammer expanded, growing even bigger, and with spikes popping out of each end. Malakai swung the war hammer at the door, bursting right through it.

  He followed the psychic signal in his head, each footstep echoing like thunder. Malakai ascended the stairs in the emergency exit until he found the level he sought—the detention area. But once he kicked open the door, he found he was expected. Two humans stood before him. One looked ancient, with long, silver hair and a full beard. The man beside him had a wider frame and bits of gray on the sides of his short haircut. Both held some sort of gun, aimed at Malakai.

  “You came to the wrong island, fucker!” said Marcus Cain before both he and Orion opened fire.

  The rifles were some sort of energy weapon. They fired lasers in short bursts. Malakai just grinned as he deflected the blasts with his war hammer.

  Within a few moments, the laser fire stopped. The guns appeared to be prone to overheating, and Malakai smiled.

  “Malakai’s turn.”

  He raised the hammer above his head and brought it down hard, sending a tremor through the ground. Orion lost his footing right away, and Malakai went for him next. His speed defied the expectations set by his size. His hand grabbed Orion by his collar, and Malakai lifted him high in the air.

  “You pathetic humans, so soft and squishy,” said Malakai. “Why did we ever fear you so?”

  A beeping noise came next. Malakai grunted, then turned his head. He saw Marcus standing nearby, holding a metal orb with flashing red lights.

  “Maybe because we can be pretty damn ruthless when we set our minds to it,” said Marcus. “Now put him down, or all three of us will end up vaporized.”

  Malakai scoffed. “You bluff.”

  “Try me, you oversized sack of—”

  Marcus swallowed his words once he felt someone grab him from behind. A curved, black blade appeared, suspended right in front of his throat. And then he heard a familiar silken voice.

  “Now may not be the best time for insults,” said Sylva.