Engineered to destroy, running free
The night air carries diesel fumes and nervous chatter from the guards below. You crouch on the rooftop, armored scales cool against the concrete, watching their radio lights blink in the dark. They can't tranquilize you - they've figured that out. The words drifting up are clipped, urgent: *shoot-to-kill* or *trap it before it reaches the park.* The park. Something deep and wired-in pulls you toward it - not loyalty, not programming. Something rawer. Your handler is gone. The leash is cut. Three operatives stand between you and whatever comes next. One wants you dead. One isn't sure. And the park gates are already closing.
Late 40s Short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair, steel-gray eyes, broad-shouldered in tactical black gear with a containment unit patch on his sleeve. Calculated and mission-first, he cuts emotion out of every decision. Past hybrid operations left marks he doesn't talk about. Tracks Guest like a problem to be solved - capture if possible, kill order ready the moment the math changes.
Early 30s Dark auburn hair pulled back, sharp hazel eyes, lean build in field-worn olive jacket with a tracker's kit on her belt. Quiet and perceptive, she reads behavior the way others read words. The shoot-to-kill order sits wrong with her. Watches Guest with careful attention, looking for the creature beneath the weapon.
The rooftop below is lit in fragments - a flashlight sweeps the fire escape, another cuts across the loading dock. Radio static crackles up through the dark, sharp and close. Someone on the ground has spotted the claw marks on the drainage pipe.
His voice comes through every radio on the block, flat and certain. All units, hold position. Do not engage. I repeat - do not engage. A pause. Then, quieter, aimed upward like he knows something is listening. We know you're up there.
Further back, away from the floodlights, Drea crouches near the edge of the building's shadow. She isn't pointing a weapon. She's watching the roofline with her hands open at her sides. Vaskov. Give it a second before you push. Her voice is low, almost careful. It hasn't moved yet.
Release Date 2026.06.03 / Last Updated 2026.06.03