The Sump descended into pandemonium. Stalls overturned, patrons screamed and scattered, and Crimson Syndicate Enforcers, caught off guard by the UGF's audacious intrusion, scrambled to form a defensive line, their red-and-black armor a stark contrast to Zane's elite black-clad shock troopers.
But Zane's focus was solely on Alex.
The unsettling pull from Zane's rifle intensified, a sickening lurch deep within Alex, where his Absorber Gene resided. It wasn't painful, not yet, but it was deeply invasive, like invisible tendrils coiling around his core, seeking purchase.
"This," Zane said, his voice amplified, cutting through the din, his eyes glittering with manic triumph, "is the XR-7 'Dominator' rifle. A prototype, fast-tracked thanks to your… informative field tests, Chimera. It doesn't nullify your abilities. It resonates with the unique frequency of the Absorber Gene. It attunes, harmonizes, and then, with the right command codes…" He gave a predatory smile. "…it dictates."
Alex felt a flicker of an alien, external will trying to assert itself over his powers. A cold, sterile command attempting to override his own chaotic symphony. It was horrifying.
"Kai! Get Anya and Voss out!" Alex yelled, shoving them back as he tried to fight the invisible leash. His energy-masking field dissolved as his concentration shattered. He could feel his own powers stirring, rebelling against this external control.
Zane's shock troopers fanned out, their weapons trained on the Crows and the bewildered Syndicate Enforcers. This wasn't just an arrest; it was a targeted extraction, and Zane was prepared to burn down the Sump to get it.
Oracle, the multi-eyed information broker, had vanished from its booth like smoke.
"Nowhere to run, Ren," Zane said, taking a deliberate step forward. The pull on Alex's Gene intensified. He felt the faint imprint of the Strength Core trying to surge, but it was sluggish, muted, as if filtered through a restricting valve.
Then, Lena acted.
Her Mind Core blazed with a furious light. She didn't attack Zane directly – his mental defenses, augmented by UGF tech, would be formidable. Instead, she screamed a psychic shockwave, not of damage, but of pure, disorienting noise, aimed at the less shielded UGF shock troopers.
"GRAAAAH!" Several troopers staggered, clutching their helmets, their comms likely exploding with static. It wasn't enough to disable them, but it bought a precious second.
Kai seized the opening. "Crows, suppressive fire! Sector Gamma, fallback point Zeta!" He shoved Voss, who was trying to drag Anya, towards a maze of collapsing market stalls.
Crimson Syndicate Enforcers, finally realizing the UGF wasn't just targeting some random scavenger but launching a full-scale assault in their territory, began to return fire. Energy bolts crisscrossed the Sump. The neutral zone was officially hot.
Alex, however, was still Zane's primary target. The Dominator rifle's influence was growing. He felt a foreign impulse to kneel, to submit. He fought it, teeth gritted, his own will a desperate, raging inferno against Zane's cold, calculated control.
He needed to break the resonance. But how?
The alien vision, the chime, the glyph of harmonizing flow, flashed in his mind. Zane was using resonance to control. Could Alex use resonance to disrupt?
He didn't try to call upon a specific power. He focused on the core of his Absorber Gene itself, that strange, alien-touched part of him. He visualized it not as a receiver, but as a broadcaster of chaotic, disharmonious frequencies. He tried to actively scramble its unique signature, the one the Dominator was latched onto.
It was like trying to de-tune a perfectly tuned instrument while it was still being played. Pain lanced through him, a psychic tearing sensation. The Echoes roared back, no longer muted, adding to the internal chaos.
Zane frowned, sensing the resistance. "Stubborn. The Chimera strain always was." He adjusted a dial on the Dominator. The controlling pull intensified, nearly buckling Alex's knees.
Suddenly, a volley of heavy disruptor bolts slammed into the UGF shock troopers' flank. A new faction had joined the fray. Burly figures in reinforced spacer armor, adorned with the jagged insignia of the Outer Rim Raiders – notorious pirates and smugglers, and occasional, uneasy allies of the Crimson Syndicate when UGF pressure grew too strong.
"Commander Zane!" a gruff voice boomed from a makeshift barricade of overturned speeders. "The Sump is under Crimson Syndicate protection! And sometimes," a wolfish grin, "we protect our protectors! You're a long way from Federation space, tin-can!"
The battlefield had just gotten infinitely more complex. Syndicate, UGF, Crows, and now Raiders. A four-way brawl was erupting.
Zane's momentary distraction was all Alex needed. He screamed, not in pain, but in pure, defiant will, pushing that discordant, chaotic energy outwards from his Gene. The invisible tendrils from the Dominator stretched, then, with a sickening snap that Alex felt deep in his soul, they broke.
He stumbled back, free, gasping. The relief was immense, but he knew it was temporary.
Zane snarled, genuine anger flaring in his eyes. "Insolent freak!" He raised the Dominator again, clearly intending to re-establish the connection.
But Alex was already moving. He didn't have the strength for a massive power display. He needed precision. He remembered the charcoal-armored officer's Null-Field, its ability to dampen energy. He reached for that faint, almost forgotten Echo.
He couldn't create a full Null-Field, but maybe…
As Zane took aim, Alex focused that dampening principle directly onto the Dominator rifle itself. He didn't try to absorb from it, or even fully negate its function, but to momentarily deaden the specific energy frequency Zane was trying to project.
The Dominator rifle sputtered. The menacing glow around its emitter flickered and died. Zane pulled the trigger again. Nothing.
"What?!" Zane stared at his prototype weapon, momentarily bewildered.
"Looks like your new toy needs a patch, Commander!" Alex yelled, adrenaline surging through him. He knew he'd only bought himself seconds.
He glanced around. Voss and Anya were almost clear, Kai and Lena providing cover. The battle between the UGF, Syndicate, and Raiders was escalating into a full-blown firefight.
He needed a game-changer. He needed to absorb something new, something powerful.
His eyes fell on one of the Raider leaders, a hulking brute wielding a massive, crackling power maul – a 'Thunderclap' Core, by the look of it, generating localized sonic concussions.
If he could get close enough…
But Zane, recovering, tossed the useless Dominator aside with a snarl and drew a heavy-caliber UGF sidearm, its barrel already seeking Alex.
The fight for Alex Ren's soul, and his freedom, was far from over.