The underground facility's stark walls pulsed with embedded bio-monitors, their soft blue glow reflecting off the polished titanium floors. The air hummed with the constant thrum of the life support systems, a technological heartbeat that never ceased.

  An encrypted message flashed across their neural interfaces with urgent priority: "Enhanced human spotted in Callisto. Target confirmed as high-value asset. Extreme caution advised. Bounty: 10 million credits." Their mercenary network chatter confirmed they were now the hunted.

  Aria's quicksilver eyes met Krell's cybernetic gaze across their common room. The message wasn't just about Eden—it included detailed descriptions of both Aria and Krell, along with their known capabilities and last confirmed locations.

  "Well," Krell said, his mechanical hand flexing with nervous energy, "that's a substantial increase from our usual bounty."

  "Ten million credits," Aria mused, her voice carrying that familiar emotionless detachment. "Someone's getting desperate." She pulled up the bounty details, studying them with intense focus. "Look at the authorization codes—they're using the Architects encryption pattern."

  The facility's security systems hummed quietly as they processed this new development. From down the hall, they could hear Eden's muffled cursing—she'd been maintaining a steady stream of creative profanity for the past three hours.

  "We need to move," Krell said, already accessing their evacuation protocols. "This facility's good, but it won't hold against a serious assault. Especially not with her stored inside."

  Aria's fingers danced across holographic displays, analyzing potential escape routes. "The bounty's not just about capturing us," she noted, her quicksilver eyes narrowing. "They want her alive and unharmed, you preferably dead, and me alive, regardless of the condition. Which means..."

  "This whole delivery was a setup. They needed to flush you out, see if you'd take the bait."

  "And I did." Aria's smile was sharp enough to cut. "Though not quite the way they expected." Eden’s premature awakening had inadvertently spared her the trouble of engineering an escape.

  Their enhanced systems registered movement from Eden's chamber—she was testing the walls again, her skin's energy patterns seeking weaknesses in the security grid. The constant probing had become background noise, like the hum of the facility's life support systems.

  "We have three options," Aria said, her voice carrying the weight of tactical certainty. "One: we terminate her, dump the body, and run. Clean break, no loose ends." Aria paused. “This, however, offers no long-term solution to our current predicament.”

  Krell noticed she didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about that option.

  "Two," she continued, "we sell her to the highest bidder. The bounty's substantial, but private collectors might pay more for something this unique."

  "And three?" Krell asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

  "We keep her. Use her as bait to draw out The Architect." Aria's quicksilver eyes gleamed with dangerous intent. "Turn their trap against them."

  "That's suicide," Krell pointed out, but his tone lacked conviction. "The Architect's network is vast. They'll throw everything they have at us."

  "Good." Aria's smile was predatory. "Let them come. Every agent they send is another potential source of intelligence. Each attack brings me closer to finding Reyes."

  The facility's sensors registered another surge of energy from Eden's chamber—she'd found a new way to interface with their security systems. Aria had to admire her persistence.

  "You're not thinking strategically," Krell warned, his cybernetic eye flickering with calculations. "This isn't just about survival anymore. You're letting her affect your judgment."

  "Maybe," Aria admitted, surprising them both with her honesty. "But think about it—she's not just another enhanced human. She's something new, something that even Project Nexus didn't exactly achieve. Whatever The Architect is planning, she's crucial to it."

  Their neural interfaces pinged with another encrypted message: "Secondary bounty added. Target's genetic material required intact. Compensation doubled for successful extraction."

  "Twenty million credits," Krell whistled low. "That's enough to buy a small moon. Our families would sell us out for less… if we had any"

  "Or fund an army," Aria noted, her tactical mind already spinning possibilities. “That level of funding could significantly bolster our operations against The Architect’s network. Too bad the bounties are on our heads.”

  A sudden crash from Eden's chamber interrupted their planning. The security feeds showed she'd managed to short out one of the containment field generators—not enough to escape, but impressive nonetheless.

  "She's going to be trouble," Krell said, but there was a hint of admiration in his voice.

  As Krell spoke, the servos in his jaw whirred almost imperceptibly, a symphony of microscopic adjustments that Aria had long since learned to read like a second language. When he was tense, they moved in sharp, precise patterns. When he was amused, as he was now, they created a softer, almost musical hum beneath his words.

  "She already is." Aria's smile carried an edge of something almost like affection.

  The decision solidified between them with unspoken certainty. They weren't just fighting silently for revenge and profit—they were declaring war loud and clear on The Architect's entire network. And Eden, their brilliant, furious prisoner, was the key to it all.

  "We'll need to move fast," Krell said, already accessing their weapons cache. "The bounty hunters will be here within days."

  "Let them come," Aria replied, her quicksilver eyes reflecting cascading data streams. "We'll show them why Project Nexus considered me too dangerous to keep alive."

  In her chamber, Eden's skin patterns pulsed with renewed energy as she sensed the shift in the facility's security protocols. She had no way of knowing she'd just become the centerpiece of a war that would reshape the solar system.

  But she was about to find out.

  The chamber door hissed open with deliberate slowness, casting harsh light across the sterile corridor. Eden pressed herself against the wall beside the entrance, her heart thundering in her chest as she waited. Her iridescent skin dimmed to near darkness as she controlled her energy output, determined to get the drop on her captors.

  As soon as a shadow crossed the threshold, Eden launched herself forward with lethal intent. But Aria's enhanced reflexes were impossibly fast. Before Eden could process what was happening, she found herself pinned to the cold floor, Aria's body pressed firmly against hers.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Nice try," Aria purred, her eyes gleaming with amusement. Her face hovered inches from Eden's, close enough that their breaths intertwined.

  Eden's skin betrayed her, flaring with brilliant patterns that had nothing to do with anger. A deep blush crept across her cheeks as she became acutely aware of every point of contact between their bodies.

  "Get off me, you dominatrix freak!" Eden snarled, trying to mask her reaction with hostility. But her voice cracked slightly, undermining her attempt at fierce defiance.

  The ghost of a smile touched Aria's lips as she noted Eden's physiological responses. "Make me," she challenged softly, maintaining her iron grip.

  Aria done teasing Eden, swiftly moves away from her and leans against the wall of the chamber. She studies Eden with obvious interest, watching how the other woman's iridescent skin continues to pulse with barely contained energy - though whether from anger or something else entirely remains deliberately ambiguous.

  "Your enhanced biology is fascinating," Aria observes, though there's an undercurrent of something darker in her tone. "The way your energy output spikes under... certain stimuli." Her lips curve into a knowing smile as Eden's skin patterns flare in response to her words.

  "Go to hell," Eden snarls, but the brilliant patterns rippling across her skin betray her attempted show of pure hostility. She pushes herself up from the floor, movements deliberately casual despite the tension crackling between them. "You think you can just play with people like they're your personal science experiments?"

  "You're not people," Aria responds coolly, though her quicksilver eyes track Eden's every movement with intense focus. "You're something new." She pauses, head tilting slightly. "Though I have to admit, your responses are proving far more... human than expected."

  The air between them feels charged, heavy with unspoken possibilities and barely contained violence. Neither woman is willing to back down, both beings caught in a dangerous dance of dominance and defiance.

  Krell's heavy footsteps echoed behind Aria as he entered the room, each stride precisely measured by his military-grade cybernetics. His human eye held a warmth that contradicted his imposing frame, while his artificial one whirred softly, scanning Eden's energy patterns. Despite fifteen years of wetware integration, he still occasionally reached up to adjust the neural port at his temple—a human gesture that survived his transformation.

  "Well, if it isn't my second favorite psycho," Eden's voice dripped sarcasm. "Come to run more tests? Or just enjoying your daily dose of torture porn?"

  "Actually, we're here to offer you a choice." Aria casually replies.

  "Oh, goodie." Eden's skin flared with barely contained energy. "Let me guess—death by spacing or death by dismemberment? You're so generous."

  "The Architect wants you back," Krell cut in, his deep voice filling the sterile space. "Badly enough to put twenty million credits on your head."

  That got Eden's attention. Her azure eyes narrowed, the glow of her skin dimming slightly. "The who wants what now?"

  "The organization that engineered you, and hired me to deliver you." Aria explained, her voice carrying that familiar clinical detachment. "They're willing to pay quite handsomely for your return. Dead or alive, though they prefer intact."

  Eden's laugh was sharp enough to cut. "And you're telling me this why? Planning to gift wrap me for delivery?"

  "No," Aria's response was simple, direct. "We're offering you a partnership."

  The word hung in the air between them, electric with potential. Eden's skin patterns shifted, creating dancing shadows on the sterile walls as she processed this unexpected development.

  "A partnership," she repeated slowly, testing the word like it might bite. "With my captors. How wonderfully Stockholm syndrome of you."

  "The Architect isn't just after you," Krell explained, his mechanical hand flexing. "They want all of us. Dead, preferably, except for Aria. They want her alive... regardless of condition."

  "Still not seeing why I should care about your problems," Eden shot back, but there was a calculating edge to her voice now.

  Aria pushed off from the wall, moving closer to the bed. "Because The Architect didn't just engineer you—they're planning something bigger. Something that involves digitizing human consciousness on a massive scale. Erasing humanity as we know it."

  "And you know this how?"

  "Because we've been systematically eliminating everyone involved in their projects," Aria's smile was lethal. "Including the people who helped create you. They used you, to capture me."

  Eden's skin flared brilliant white for a moment, her anger manifesting as pure energy. "So what exactly are you proposing? I help you hunt down the people who made me, or you turn me over for a payday?"

  "Those are options," Aria agreed, her eyes locked on Eden's. "But there's a third choice. You join us. Help us dismantle their entire operation. Find out who you really are and why they made you. And in return..."

  "In return what?" Eden's voice carried equal parts suspicion and curiosity.

  "In return, you get to decide what happens to them when we find them." Aria's smile was sharp enough to draw blood. "Consider it payback for playing god with your existence."

  Eden's azure eyes darted between them, her brilliant mind clearly working through the angles. "And if I refuse? If I'd rather take my chances alone?"

  "Then we let you go," Krell said simply. "Though I wouldn't recommend it. The bounty hunters will be here within days."

  "Just like that?" Eden's laugh was bitter. "After all the tests and containment protocols, you'd just set me free?"

  "Freedom's just another kind of cage when you're being hunted," Aria replied, her voice carrying the weight of experience. "Trust me, I know. I've been where you are."

  A subtle shift in Eden's expression hinted at dawning comprehension. The pulsating patterns on her skin slowed as she weighed the proposition.

  "So those are my options," she said finally. "Help you tear down an organization I don't remember, probably die in the process... or try to survive alone with every bounty hunter in the system on my ass... and still probably die in the process"

  "Pretty much," Aria confirmed, her eyes reflecting the glow of Eden's skin.

  Eden's smile was suddenly fierce, almost feral. "Well then," she said, her skin blazing with renewed energy, "Well then let’s get started… right after you meet my terms," Eden replied, her skin still crackling with energy. She rose from the bed, standing tall despite her recent captivity. "If we're going to be partners, things need to change."

  Aria's eyes narrowed slightly. "Such as?"

  "First, both you and the cyborg wonder over there apologize for treating me like a lab rat." Eden's eyes blazed as she looked between them. "I'm not your science experiment anymore."

  Krell's mechanical hand twitched, but Aria held up a hand to silence his protest. "Continue."

  "Second, I want better accommodations. No more prison cell with a bed bolted to the floor. I want a real room." Eden's skin patterns shifted, creating mesmerizing displays of light across the sterile walls. "With a proper bed, actual furniture, and my own bathroom."

  "Reasonable," Aria conceded, though her tone remained carefully neutral. "What else?"

  "Decent food. Not whatever processed crap you've been feeding me." Eden's lips curved into a sharp smile. "And new clothes. Tactical gear, like yours. If I'm going to help you hunt down the people who made me, I want to look the part."

  She took a step closer to Aria, close enough that the energy emanating from her skin made the air crackle between them. "Those are my terms. Take them or leave them."

  Aria studied her for a long moment, staring intently at Eden, as if sizing her up. Finally, she nodded. "Your terms are acceptable," Aria said, extending her hand. "Though I should warn you—partnership with us isn't exactly a guarantee of survival."

  Eden clasped Aria's hand, ignoring the electric spark that jumped between them when their skin made contact. "Honey, I stopped expecting guarantees the moment I woke up in your torture chamber. I just want to make whoever made me regret it."

  "Now that," Krell rumbled, "is something we can definitely help with."

  Aria's smile carried a hint of genuine amusement. "Though I have to admit, I expected more demands from someone who's spent the last week cursing my existence in increasingly creative ways."

  Eden's grin was positively wicked. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure I'll think of more."

  Krell looked at Aria, his cybernetic eye whirring softly as he processed Eden's bold demands. "She might be just as fucked up in the head as you," he observed dryly. "Guess that means she'll fit right in."

  "I heard that, tin man," Eden shot back, but there was less venom in her voice now. She watched as Krell's cybernetic components shifted and recalibrated—a nervous tick she'd noticed during her captivity. Despite his imposing presence, there was something almost endearing about the way his human eye crinkled when he was amused.

  Krell shrugged his massive shoulders, the metal plates sliding smoothly. "Just stating facts. Besides, someone needs to keep both of you in check. The facility's insurance doesn't cover enhanced-human catfights."

  A warning alarm blared somewhere deep in the facility—another bounty hunter probe trying to breach their perimeter. Eden's skin flickered in response to the alarm, unconsciously synchronizing with the facility's defense patterns. The walls themselves seemed to pulse in harmony with her energy signature, creating a cascading light show that reflected off the polished surfaces.

  "Those probes are getting closer," Eden said, her voice steady despite the mounting pressure. Her skin rippled with complex patterns that matched the facility's security grid.

  Aria's eyes met Krell's cybernetic gaze. "Time to see if our new partnership can survive its first test." She pulled up a holographic display, her fingers dancing through combat scenarios. "Think you can handle some real action, Eden?"

  Eden's answering smile was all predator. "Honey, I've been waiting all week to show you what I can really do."