Chapter 154: Urban Jungle

The blueprint was complete.

Seraph shifted her position, her eyes looking over the dark streets below. “A solid plan, Jonah,” she said, her voice a low murmur. “But we have a problem. The essences. They’re miles away, locked in the most secure building in the country.”

“We can’t go back,” Draven grunted. “The Bureau will be watching the Academy. They’d know something was up the second we set foot on campus.”

For a moment, the perfect plan suddenly faced a big problem.

Vanessa, however, just smiled. She pulled a datapad from her pack, its screen glowing to life with complex, shifting symbols. “Who said anything about going back?”

She looked at Seraph. “As Senior Research Fellow and Head of his own department, Jonah’s clearance is Omega-level. As his lead engineer, so is mine. We don’t have to physically go to the Archive. We can have the Archive come to us.”

Her fingers moved quickly on the screen. She was breaking through many security layers, her connection to the Academy’s network was a hidden, coded message. A digital list of the library filled the screen.

“Accessing remote requisition,” Vanessa announced. “Placing a priority order.” She quickly found the files for the Stone-Lurker Gecko and the Observer Wasp. “I’m sending the request to a secure dead drop. A military owned P.O. box three blocks from here. An automated courier drone will make the delivery. No human interaction. No paper trail.”

She hit the final command, and the order was sent. “It’s done. The Department of Ecological Restoration is officially requesting materials for field research.”

Under an hour later, Seraph moved silently back onto the roof. She put a small metal case on the concrete. Inside, resting in black foam, were two bright vials. One pulsed with the deep green of the earth. The other sparkled with the sharp, buzzing silver of many eyes.

The ingredients had arrived.

“My turn,” Jonah said, taking the vials. He sat with his legs crossed in the middle of the roof.

Vanessa knelt close by, putting her hands flat on the ground. A blue web of glowing symbols spread out from her hands, making a shimmering energy dome over them. It was a Runic Scrambler field, a magic cover to hide the energy of his creation.

Jonah closed his eyes and entered his Workshop.

The synthesis began. His will acted with the precision of a master watchmaker. He gently took the green Gecko essence and began to weave its properties. its stickiness, its silence into the blank Genesis Core. He shaped the flat body and its eight multi-jointed legs. The core buzzed, accepting the design.

Next came the Wasp essence. When his mind entered the silver light, it was like a massive flood of information. He saw in many directions at the same time, the world a messy rush of heat and shining magic. He pushed through the dizzying feeling, searching for one particular piece: its special eyes. He separated the complex, glowing strand of seeing different kinds of light and carefully took it out.

Now, he needed to combine two very different types of life. He placed the silver thread into the head of the creature he was making. At first, the green and silver energies flashed and made hissing sounds, battling each other.

Jonah didn’t force them. He acted as a bridge, showing the Gecko how the Wasp’s sight could help it hide, and showing the buzzing Wasp how the Gecko’s silence would help it observe. He found how they could work together. The pushing back stopped, and the energies mixed.

When Jonah opened his eyes, a flawless creature rested in his palm. It had the flat body of a gecko, but with six legs, each having a glowing sticky foot. Its head was mostly a big eye with many lenses that pulsed with faint inner light.

He stood up, the synthesis complete. “It’s ready.”

Jonah walked to the edge of the roof. He held Trace out on his palm. “Go.”

The tiny Progeny launched from his hand. It landed on the massive steel wall of the warehouse without making a sound.

Jonah closed his eyes. The rooftop, the rain, and his friends all vanished.

He was now sticking to the side of the metal wall. What he saw was amazing and had many layers. He could see the normal world in gray colors. On top of that, he saw the world of heat. The faint orange glow of electric wires running inside the blue wall. And over that, he saw a glowing purple net of magic symbols all over the surface.

“I’m on the wall,” Jonah’s voice said, sounding distant to the others. “I can see their defenses. This place is an absolute death trap.”

He began to move up. His thoughts guided Trace very precisely. He saw the shining lines of laser alarms and carefully went around them. He saw the faint magical glow of life-sensing pressure plates and found the safe way between them.

The security was on another level. This was the Bureau’s A-game.

He finally made it to the roof. His sight checked the area, spotting more traps and sensors. But then he saw it. A small opening for repairs on the side of an air vent. A spot they couldn’t see. A tiny fault in their perfect protection.

He quickly moved across the roof. He used Trace’s two front legs like small tools. Slowly and carefully, he turned the screws on the vent cover. He stopped still, listening as hard as he could. The only sound was the distant city. No alarms.

He finished his work, pushed the cover aside, and slipped Trace into the pitch-black darkness within.

“I’m in,” Jonah reported, his voice a quiet whisper. “Inside the ventilation system.”

He had made it past the strong walls. He had built the key and unlocked the door. But as he crawled deeper into the darkness, he felt a cold feeling inside.

This was just the beginning. The real jungle was inside.

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