Frost-bound

The extraction point turned out to be an abandoned subway platform, its ancient tiles covered in sheets of ice that reflected our suit lights in fractured patterns. Zhang led me to what looked like a maintenance door, its surface scarred by decades of frost damage.

"Where are the others?" I asked, scanning the platform for signs of Ash or Marcus.

"They'll come if they can." Zhang's tone was clipped as she worked on the door's control panel. "Right now, focus on—"

A pulse of energy hit her in the back, sending her sprawling. I spun to see three Queen's Guard emerging from the tunnel we'd just left, their white armor gleaming. The one in the lead had a cracked chest plate – the same one I'd fought earlier.

"Target acquired," the lead Guard announced. "Terminate the secondary."

I moved before they could fire again, grabbing Zhang and diving behind a fallen support column. Energy pulses impacted the concrete, turning it to ice on contact.

"Suit's... damaged," Zhang gasped. "Neural interface offline. Can't... move properly." She pressed something into my hand – a small data chip. "Take it. Get through that door. The route... will lead you to another safe house. Coordinates... encoded..."

"I'm not leaving you!"

More energy pulses hit our cover, the temperature dropping dangerously. Warning indicators flashed across my suit's display – even its advanced environmental systems were struggling to compensate.

"Not... your choice." Zhang pulled her weapon with obvious effort. "They want you alive... but they'll kill me anyway. Make it... worth something."

Before I could argue further, she rolled out from behind the column, firing rapidly. Her shots forced the Guards to take cover, but I could see her movements were jerky, uncoordinated without the suit's neural enhancement.

I scrambled to the door, Zhang's covering fire buying me precious seconds. The control panel was already partially bypassed from her earlier work. Just a few more connections...

A scream made me look back. Zhang was down, ice crawling across her suit from multiple hits. The Guards were advancing, their movements precise and inevitable.

The door clicked open just as the lead Guard reached me. I dove through the opening, but not fast enough – an armored hand caught my ankle in a grip like steel.

"Surrender," the Guard commanded. "The queen requires your presence."

In answer, I kicked out with my free leg, enhanced strength targeting the damaged section of their armor. The crack widened with a satisfying crunch, and their grip loosened just enough for me to pull free.

I slammed the door control as I rolled through, hearing it hiss shut behind me. It wouldn't hold them long, but maybe long enough.

The passage beyond sloped sharply downward, its surface slick with ice. I heard the Guards beginning to breach the door and did the only thing I could – I ran.

The route twisted and turned, taking me deeper underground. My suit's navigation system worked to map the tunnel network, but much of it seemed to be off any existing charts. The rebels had clearly spent years developing these escape routes.

Behind me, the sounds of pursuit grew fainter. The Guards were fast, but the narrow, icy passages seemed to slow them down. Maybe their advanced armor wasn't as well-suited to—

I rounded a corner and skidded to a stop. The passage ahead was blocked by a figure in elaborate black armor, far more sophisticated than the Guards' white suits. Frost seemed to swirl around them like a living thing, and my suit's temperature sensors went haywire just from their presence.

"Hello, Seraphina," a woman's voice emerged from the armor, cultured and cold. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

My suit's combat protocols kicked in automatically, highlighting potential weaknesses in the black armor. There weren't many.

"Queen Isolde, I presume?" I shifted into a defensive stance, remembering Zhang's words. They want you alive. Use that.

"Very good." The queen moved forward with liquid grace. "I see Eleanor's daughter has her sharp mind."

"Stepdaughter," I corrected automatically, then immediately felt foolish for doing so.

"Ah, yes. The distinction is important, isn't it? Especially given your rather unique genetic profile." She tilted her head. "Did you never wonder why Eleanor chose you specifically for the cryogenic program? Why MIRRA was programmed to watch over you so carefully?"

I faltered. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father's research – the work he did before partnering with Eleanor. Surely you've wondered why you adapted so quickly to the neural interface technology? Why your body accepted the cryogenic process so easily?"

The Guards were catching up now – I could hear them approaching. But the queen's words had me frozen in place.

"Your father experimented with human enhancement," Isolde continued. "Subtle changes to make the body more adaptable, more resilient. You, my dear, are one of his successes. Perhaps his greatest."

"You're lying." But even as I said it, I remembered how naturally the suit's systems had integrated with my nervous system, how quickly I'd recovered from cryogenic suspension.

"Am I? Ask yourself – why would Eleanor put her precious stepdaughter into suspended animation unless she knew you were uniquely suited to survive it? Unless she was protecting something valuable?"

The Guards had reached us, taking up positions behind their queen. Through the ice-covered walls, I heard distant explosions.

The queen sighed. "Ah, that would be your rebel friends, creating a diversion. Brave, but ultimately futile." She held out a hand. "Come with me willingly, Seraphina. Let me show you what you really are – what you could become. Together, we could unlock the secrets your father embedded in your very DNA."

I backed away, my mind racing. The explosions were getting closer. "And if I refuse?"

"Then I take you anyway, and your friends die for nothing." Frost gathered around her outstretched hand. "I've spent too long searching for you to be gentle now."

Another explosion, much closer this time. The tunnel shook, ice cracking along the walls. The queen's head snapped up.

"That pattern... they wouldn't dare—"

The ceiling exploded.

I threw myself backward as tons of ice and debris crashed down. Through the chaos, I caught a glimpse of familiar figures rappelling down on cables – Ash and Marcus, their suits modified with heavy demolition gear.

"Move!" Ash's voice cut through my suit's comms. "The whole tunnel network is coming down!"

I ran, ducking under Marcus's covering fire. Behind us, I heard the queen shouting orders, her words lost in the sound of collapsing infrastructure.

"Did you find what you needed?" Ash asked as we climbed.

I clutched the data chip Zhang had given me. "Yes. But Zhang..."

"We know. We'll mourn later. Right now, we need to get clear before—"

The world went white. Cold like I'd never felt before, even in cryo-sleep, blasted through the tunnel. My suit's systems screamed warnings as frost began forming on its inner surfaces.

"Move faster!" Marcus yelled. "She's using Frostbane tech at full power!"

We emerged into open air – or what passed for it in this frozen world. A rebel transport waited, its engines already spinning up. We dove inside just as another wave of killing cold reached for us.

As the transport lifted off, I looked back through its viewport. Through the swirling snow, I saw the queen emerge onto the surface. Even at this distance, I could feel her rage.

"We need to talk," I said to Ash as we gained altitude. "About my father. About why the queen really wants me."

Ash nodded grimly. "Yes, we do. But first, we need to get somewhere safe. That attack... something's changed. The queen's never committed her personal forces so openly before."

I thought about Isolde's words about my father's research, about the modifications allegedly encoded in my DNA. "Maybe she finally found something worth the risk."

The transport banked hard, heading toward the endless fields of ice that had once been countryside. Behind us, more explosions lit up the night as the tunnel network collapsed, taking our safe house and too many secrets with it.

I touched my suit where the queen's frost had nearly penetrated. The cold lingered, like a promise – or a threat. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

Somewhere in this frozen hell, answers waited. About my father, about Eleanor's true motives, about what I really was. And I was going to find them, no matter what it took.

The queen wanted to show me what I could become?

Fine. But she might not like the result.