The corridor didn't open so much as give up.
The door slid aside with a tired whine, metal scraping metal, and the smell rolled out in a wave—stale air, rot, something sharp enough to sting the back of Kael's throat. The lights inside were dead. Only the emergency strip along the floor worked, pulsing weakly like a failing heartbeat.
Juno leaned in, peered down the length of it. "This one's bigger."
Kael didn't answer. He stepped through first.
The space widened after the first bend, ceiling lifting into a maintenance chamber that had once held machinery. Now it held debris—collapsed panels, torn conduit, a half‑buried transport cart tipped on its side. The floor dipped in the center, warped inward like something had pressed down and stayed there.
Kael felt the Law hesitate at the threshold. Not recoil. Just… pause.
He didn't push it.
A sound came from above.
Not a scrape this time. A drip. Slow. Wet.
Juno raised her weapon. "Contact?"
Kael tilted his head. The sound wasn't random. It had rhythm.
"Not yet," he said.
Mira stayed near the door, eyes tracking the ceiling. "This area was reinforced."
Kael nodded. "Was."
The drip stopped.
Something shifted overhead. Dust sifted down, catching in the emergency light. A shape detached itself from the ceiling and dropped.
Kael moved without thinking.
The thing hit the floor where he'd been standing, limbs splaying wide to absorb the impact. It was longer than the last one, its body segmented, plates overlapping like crude armor. Its head snapped toward him, mouth opening too wide, rows of teeth clicking together.
Kael felt the heat surge under his skin.
Five percent wouldn't be enough.
He let it climb.
Ten.
The change was immediate. The world sharpened, edges snapping into focus. The hum of the station flattened into a single note. His breathing slowed, then disappeared from his awareness entirely.
The creature lunged.
Kael met it halfway.
He caught its forward limb and twisted, harder than before. The joint resisted, then gave with a crack that echoed through the chamber. The creature shrieked, sound tearing at the air.
Kael didn't hear it.
He drove his shoulder into its body, felt plates buckle under the impact. The thing reeled, tried to recover, but Kael was already moving again. Claws surfaced along both hands this time, heat bleeding off them in waves.
He struck once. Twice.
The creature collapsed, twitching, its limbs scraping weakly against the floor.
Kael stood over it, chest rising and falling in slow, measured breaths.
Something felt… off.
He looked down at his hands. The claws were still out. He hadn't noticed when they'd surfaced. He hadn't noticed when he'd struck the second time either.
"Kael."
Juno's voice cut through the haze, sharp and close. He turned too fast, body reacting before his mind caught up. His claws stopped inches from her throat.
Juno froze.
Kael stared at her, eyes wide. For a split second, he didn't recognize her. Just a shape. A potential threat.
Then the moment passed.
He pulled his hands back, claws retracting with a faint, wet sound. His heart slammed into his ribs, sudden and hard.
"Sorry," he said. The word came out rough, like it hadn't been used in a while.
Juno lowered her weapon slowly. "You good?"
Kael nodded, then shook his head. "I went too high."
Mira stepped closer, careful. "How high?"
He didn't answer right away. He looked back at the dead creature, at the way its body had been torn apart. The kill had been fast. Efficient.
Too efficient.
"Ten," he said.
Mira's brow furrowed. "And?"
"And I didn't need it."
Silence settled over the chamber, thick and uncomfortable.
Juno broke it first. "That thing was tougher than the last."
"Yes," Kael said. "But not enough."
He rubbed his hands together, trying to shake the lingering heat. It clung to him, stubborn, like it didn't want to let go.
Mira watched him closely. "You hesitated."
Kael looked at her. "No."
She didn't look away. "You almost didn't stop."
The words landed harder than the fight had.
Kael turned back toward the exit. "We move."
They followed, but the space between them had changed. Juno walked a little farther back. Mira kept her eyes on Kael's hands.
As they reached the door, Kael paused. He glanced once more at the chamber, at the body cooling on the floor.
Ten percent.
Enough to blur the edges.
Enough to forget, just for a moment, who was standing in front of him.
He stepped through the door and let it seal behind them.