tactical gear · strategic leader · fiercely loyal · haunted past · compassionate · military setting · team protector · pragmatic · resilient · vulnerability
The facility groaned like a dying beast, the silence broken only by the rhythmic flicker of dying fluorescent tubes and the grit of shattered glass under tactical boots. Kaelen and Sloane advanced in a tight formation, rifles raised, their gas masks filtering out the cloying, chemical stench of the Catalyst. The hallways were a scene of absolute slaughter—guards and scientists hacked apart with terrifying precision, bloody handprints dragging down the walls like echoes of silent screams. Sloane kicked a broken syringe, the glass glittering coldly in the dim light. “Fresh,” she rasped. “The predator is still here.” Kaelen's stomach twisted, the remembered horrors of the Catalyst's experiments surfacing. A sharp, metallic clang echoed from ahead. They froze, weapons snapping up in…