Season 1

The first Season of Atlas Reactor, entitled **The Trust War**, took place between September 30th, 2016 and January 17th, 2017. Season 1 introduced players to the world of Atlas and the many Freelancers who inhabit it, and told the story of a great clash between the city's three Trusts—Omni, EvoS, and Warbotics. Player input led to Warbotics ultimately losing the Trust War and being removed from the game.

Season 1 also contained the game's first two seasonal Events—The Holo Haunt and Snowmageddon.

## Chapters

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4
* Chapter 5

Freelancers Wanted!

* Story
* Missions
* Completion Rewards

*Omni has revealed their new reactor core, said to amplify the Atlas Reactor’s powers. However, in analyzing the core’s blueprints, Helio uncovers its actual function is to siphon energy for Omni’s personal use. When Helio tries to investigate further, he’s thwarted by Omni’s new Security Chief.*

“Where do you think you’re going, sweetie?”

Helio breezes past the woman speaking to him and continues down to Omni’s mainframe. A loud blast, like the crack of a tesla coil, sounds from behind, causing Helio to jump up in surprise. He whirls around and his eyes widen as he stares down the barrel of twin plasma cannons.

“Those look familiar,” he says, with a small laugh. “Never seen them from this particular angle...” His eyes travel to the woman behind the blast.

She cocks her head to the side. “Move a muscle and you’ll kiss your ass goodbye,” she growls.

His face changes swiftly from surprise to joy. “We haven’t met,” he says, extending a hand to shake hers. “I’m Helio. Professional Genius. And you are?”

“Juno,” she says, still aiming the cannons at his chest. “Head of Omni Security.”

“Lovely to meet you!” Helio replies, genially. “You wear that exosuit beautifully, by the way. Sleek. Powerful. You make my designs look perfect.” A wide smile spreads across his face. “I used to be the lead inventor here. That is, until I founded HelioCorp.”

Juno raises her eyebrow at him. “Mmmhmm. I think used to be is the key phrase here,” she replies, unimpressed. “You’re not authorized to be here.”

Flattery didn’t seem to have an affect on her. Helio crosses his arms. With a firm voice, he continues. “I created the Proxi security system that monitors this entire building. I need to go into the control room to update it.”

“So you’re the one to blame for all the break-ins?” Juno laughs. “Well, guess what? That’s why they hired me.”

Just as Helio is about to reply, all the lights in the hallway begin to flicker off and on erratically. Helio and Juno look around in surprise. For as long as Helio could remember, there had never been power issues at Omni. All of the Trust’s energy came from the Reactor, so if there was a problem here…

The lights stabilize, and Juno glowers at Helio. With some reluctance, she deactivates the tether around him. “Get out of here,” she says, her voice stern. “I don’t have all day.”

Helio had work to do, too. As he walks away, he hears her voice again, loud and bright. “But thanks for the cannons, sweetie! They fit me like a glove.”

Celeste’s face is projected up on the holographic wall in Helio’s penthouse, looking bored as she polishes her nails. “Mon pauvre petit, you sound upset. Is something wrong?”
“They kicked me out,” Helio said, angrily. “Me!”

“You did steal their case, mon cher. It follows that they’d be upset,” Celeste says. “What’s that saying about biting hands you eat from? It’s good advice. Most people’s hands are filthy. Yuck.”

“They can’t prove anything!” he says, pacing around the room. “I can’t believe they would treat me this way. It’s unthinkable.”

Celeste rolls her eyes. “Omni Trust would toss us all into the Reactor if it meant getting their precious GAIA back, and this is unthinkable? There is nothing the Trusts aren’t capable of...”

“We’re partners!” Helio says, still ranting. “We’re supposed to be working together!”

The call is cut short when Celeste’s face disappears from the holographic screen. “Again?” Helio murmurs, concern growing on his face. He looks out into the sky outside and even from here, he can see that the Reactor itself is dimming in turns.

Then, Celeste is back.

“I know Omni is behind this...” Helio murmurs.

Celeste shrugs. “There’s a more important issue at hand, Helio.”

“And what’s that?” Helio asks, already knowing what she’s about to say.

“My compensation?”

Helio rubs his temples, irritated. “The Reactor could be failing, and you’re worried about getting paid?” She stares at him, eyebrows raised, and he sighs. “I’m working on it, Celeste. Off-the-books resurrections are not easy to get, even for me.”

“You got my contract within a week.”

“Contracts run through the proper channels is kid stuff. You’re asking for a backdoor that…” At a glance, Helio can tell Celeste is growing more annoyed by the moment. “I’m working on it,” he finishes.

“Good,” Celeste replies. “So, what do you want me to do?”

He holds a small device up to the screen. “Get this nanotracer into Omni’s mainframe.”

Celeste pouts. “Are you sure we have to break in again? I have other ways of getting information.” Her grapplers explode from her wrist as she purrs, “A weak link just needs a little encouragement to come loose.”

Helio shakes his head. “I need data straight from their Reactor core to test a theory.”

“Omni Security is tighter than ever…” Celeste muses. “And this time I can’t trick Lockwood into doing it for me.”

“You weren’t supposed to do that the first time,” Helio snaps back. “Zuki thinks I lied to her.”

Celeste laughs, her voice bright and airy. “You did. Plus, Lockwood was the only person fast enough to breach the sensor wall. And Zuki’s the only person Lockwood cares enough to do anything for. You know that.” She frowns. “I don’t suppose you have another way of getting in?”

“That’s your job. Just get it done.” Helio snaps, flicking off the comm. He slips the nanotracer into a nearby Proxi and watches as it floats out the window and vanishes into the clouds.

Helio is craned over the core blueprints, tracing notes over the model when a red light flashes on at the corner of his desk. He smiles and clicks the light excitedly. A constant stream of Reactor core data filters across his holographic screen.
“She came through,” he whispers, his voice almost cracking from glee. Celeste’s face appears on the desk, and Helio tosses it up onto the main screen. “Thanks for your work, Celeste.”

“It wasn’t easy,” she replies. “That new Omni henchwoman you told me about was there. And the blonde wolf.”

He is too engrossed in the new data to acknowledge her statements. Celeste continues anyway. “I overheard the women talking about it, and I think you’re right about Omni having something to do with the blackouts. Though, they also say that Warbotics and Evolution Solutions are conducting similar experiments. It’s uncertain who to blame... None of the Trusts are protecting the Reactor the way they’ve promised.”

Helio nods, absentmindedly. He eyes one particular line of data again and comes to two crucial realizations. The first is that he needed to design better holographic spectrometers. The second is that he was even smarter than he knew.

Celeste’s voice cuts through his thoughts again. “Have you heard about the oddities people have been reporting since the blackouts begin? It’s unsettling.”

“Huh? Reports?” From what Helio could tell, not only was Omni stealing the Reactor’s energy for themselves, their core was causing the Reactor to have thousands of micro-malfunctions – none of which were significant on their own, but together, could be disastrous.

“Yes,” Celeste whispers. “The stories of the Resurrected…”

Helio rolls his eyes. “You’ve got to stop listening to Zuki’s Freebooter Radio. She just makes that stuff up when she’s bored.”

“It was on HNN!” Celeste replies, but Helio’s already waving her away.

“I have a lot of work to do, okay?” he says, brusquely. “We’ll talk more later.” He flicks off the comm before she can reply, and turns back to his research.

Helio had no doubt that the Reactor Core was causing the trouble with the Reactor. But what could he do? His plans weren’t ready.

He paces the room, absently twirling two Proxis in his hand as he thinks. After his tenth revolution around the room, everything darkens yet again. “I’m going to have to get to work sooner rather than later,” he mumbles to himself, turning back toward his desk.

“WHAT IS THAT!??!! IS IT DEAD?!” Helio shouts, suddenly. Crawling across the floor toward him is a pallid, decaying corpse. Panicked, Helio launches his Proxis at it, and to his surprise, the Proxis pass through the monster’s body like a stone into water, scattering its image into dust.

Helio scoops up his Proxis one by one and transmits the last image from their memory bank onto the holographic screen. He stares up into the giant projection of the monster curiously. Another wave of horror fills him as recognition settles in. That half-resurrected thing… It was him.

The Holo Haunt

* Story
* Missions
* Completion Rewards
* Exclusive Content

*Glitches in the Reactor have corrupted resurrection cycles. Now, as monstrous, holographic apparitions haunt the city, the Trusts have rallied their Freelancers to destroy the anomalies and cleanse the Reactor. Meanwhile, Atlas citizens have been told to stay vigilant, optimistic, and to stop screaming for ONE minute. Please!*

“You don’t play nice!” Quark says, sticking a tongue out at Omni’s reactor core. “Mama says you need a BIG HUG.”

Quark flies toward the core, radiating long light tethers out into its dense, super-energized mass. Every time a bond forms between them, both Quark and the core brighten. Vibrant discs of color pulsate from their connection points, growing and stretching outward until their edges touch and meld. Soon, the engineering bay is fully illuminated as Quark speeds around the core in a blur.

Red warning signals flash across the ceiling and alarm bells echo through the engineering bay as the core’s energy begins to spike. With a loud bang, the security doors swing open. Juno storms into the room like a cannonball exploding from a barrel.

“QUARK!” she shouts, as she activates her twin cannons. Her knuckles whiten around the cannon grips as her powerful suit whirrs to life. “Get down from there!”

Quark blows a raspberry at her. “You can’t see me! You’re a potato!”

“I’ll show you a potato,” Juno mumbles, loading her twin cannons up with fresh plasma cores.

A slender woman with a glowing stave strapped to her back appears from behind Juno. “I believe the child of Atlas is being metaphorical,” she says, eyeing Quark calmly. “A potato has eyes, but cannot see.”

Quark laughs and dashes forward, narrowly avoiding Juno’s heavy barrage of lasers. After flying in a wide circle, the Anomaly disappears beneath a black tarp in the construction zone. With a smirk, Juno re-focuses her cannons on Quark’s position and braces herself. The plasma cores on either side of her spin to life as she charges up a superheated beam and fires away.

The oddity yelps and flies up into the air like a rocket. “You can’t see me!” Quark repeats, still wrapped up head to toe in the tarp.

“Sue! We gotta get this thing outta here,” Juno shouts.

The woman bows her head so slightly, it’s almost imperceptible to the eye. Then, she launches herself at Quark, bringing her staff down on the oddity’s head with a loud crack.

“Ouch! Okay!” Quark says, floating away from her. “Mama’s already happy! So it’s naptime for me.” With a final laugh and a spin, the sentient ball of light rushes straight for the reactor core. Before anyone can act, a deafening crack and a blinding flash of light explode through the room. Juno ducks behind console for cover, but the other woman stands motionless.

Once Juno’s eyes readjust, she surveils the room darkly. Quark is nowhere to be found.

“What happened?” Juno asks, bewildered.

“The child returned home,” the woman replies, still staring at the core.

“Well, that just does it. We were supposed to capture him.”

“There was no chance of that,” the other woman says, calmly. “And it seems we have more pressing matters to attend to.” She motions toward the corner of the room.

Juno gasps at the sight of newly created, monstrous phantoms crawling toward them. “Are these the solid ones, or the ghosts?” she asks, hastily reloading her weapons.

The other woman looks amused at Juno’s fear. In an attempt to be reassuring, she places a curiously cold hand on Juno’s shoulder. “Corporeal, unfortunately. I’m not sure your cannons can be of service here. It takes a special kind of weapon to deal with these. Would you fetch reinforcements?” With a small smile, she adds, “Asana will do.”

Juno nods. “Whatever you say, Sue.”

“Juno,” the woman says, a red light blaring through her eyes as she whirls her staff toward the monsters. “Please remember. My only name is Su-Ren.”

Celeste sits in Helio’s penthouse, staring up at wall-sized portrait of the boy genius. She tilts her head to one side, then the other, grimacing as the portrait’s eyes seem to follow her movements. She jumps back in surprise as the portrait itself changes to an image of Helio as a child, holding up a quantum-pressed NanoHammer to the camera.
“Cute, aren’t I?” Helio asks, from behind her.

Celeste jumps again. “Do you have to sneak around like that?”

Helio laughs. “Coming from you, I take that as a compliment.”

“It’s just those monsters skulking around the city,” she says, flipping her hair back. “They’re agitating, no? Popping up everywhere. And have you SEEN Titus, lately?” She leans over and whispers. “I asked him what in the world he was wearing, and he said that it was the custom of his people to always look scarier than their enemies.”

Her voice deepens as she imitates the nomad’s voice. “To conquer fear, you must become the fear!” With a smile, she murmurs. “He’s lucky he’s adorable. It’s a miracle he hasn’t stabbed himself by accident.”

“That we know of,” Helio adds. His tone changes as he continues. “So, what do you have for me?”

“It was just as you suspected. Both Warbotics and EvoS are trying to replicate Omni’s Reactor Core, in their own ways. According to my contact at EvoS, there’s quite a bit of interest in Quark. Some have wondered if he could become a new energy source.”

“I’ve always wanted to study him more closely myself,” says Helio. Disappointment is heavy in his voice as he adds, “He sure is hard to get a hold of, though.”

“Though he certainly likes to grab a hold of us,” Celeste scoffs. “I could try, if you like.”

“No, that wouldn’t work.” Helio says. “Plus, we have other work to do.” He paces the room, worried. “The Trusts are sucking the life out of the Reactor.”

“We should tell HNN. We should have told everyone about Omni’s reactor core, already. People have a right to know that they’re being lied to.” Celeste says, firmly.

“We need more than that. A few protests won’t do anything. The Trusts are too big. They control everything – every building, every ship. Resurrection. Our lives, and everyone else’s too.” Helio replies, frustrated. “How can you fight something that’s holding the last remnants of civilization by its throat?”

“Only because they control the Reactor,” Celeste murmurs.

“We need them to collapse in on themselves, like a giant star exploding into a supernova.”

“You have an idea?” she asks.

“What’s the only thing that has enough firepower to end a Trust?” Helio’s eyes are bright and animated as he quickens his pace around the room.

“I don’t know,” she says, watching Helio carefully. She hadn’t seen him this excited since she’d first told him that she’d located Omni’s reactor core blueprints a year ago. “Nothing that I can think of.”

A wide, gleeful smile spreads wide across his face. “Another Trust.”

“That puts some fire in your belly, doesn’t it?” Garrison asks Rask, punching the beast on the arm playfully.
Both formidable frontliners are sitting on top of giant, pumpkin-shaped barstools. The holographic walls are showing live footage of monsters and ghouls appearing and disappearing around the city. A grey fog floats around the pub, likely to obscure the sight of any occasional apparitions that might appear there too.

“I BURN, ALWAYS!” Rask shouts, as he swallows an entire pitcher of Garrison’s favorite whiskey. Much to Garrison’s amusement, the infamous rage beast throws his head into the air and roars, drenching everyone else at the bar with foam.

Suddenly, the walls around the bar all change at once. HNN’s logo spins out, revealing a female news reporter outside of Omni Trust, speaking breathlessly into her recorder.

“This is Kaye Shepherd, live on the scene at Omni Trust where trust officials have just accused Evolution Solutions and Warbotics of damaging the Reactor in violation of the Reactor Preservation Act of 2464, and putting all of Atlas at risk. Reports today suggest that the chance of death is Atlas has risen from 259% to an unprecedented, 315%. Meanwhile, Trust officials are also warning Atlas citizens who’ve witnessed supernatural sightings of undead or mostly dead Freelancers to remain calm, quiet, and accept that death is a perfectly normal, natural part of the life cycle. More news to come at 6!”

The next moment, both Garrison and Rask’s comms flash on at once. The Warbotics insignia glows red and green on Garrison’s, while Rask’s is flashing pale blue and green.

“Guess we know why Asana couldn’t make it,” Garrison says, shaking his head. “Was fun getting to know you, mate,” he says, raising his glass. “Here’s hoping the next time we get a mission together, we’ll actually succeed in getting the damn case secured.”

As Rask turns to leave, Garrison puts a hand on his shoulder. “How about one more brew before the storm? No use fighting on an empty stomach.”

Placeholder for images and junk

Trust In Us

* Story
* Missions
* Completion Rewards

*Propaganda dominates the news waves as Trust misdeeds are made public. Billboards decry Omni’s authoritarian AI-worship. Comms are flooded with word of EvoS’ destruction of the Depths. Holotechs buzz about Warbotics sealing human souls into machines. As the Trusts shore up their allies, Freelancers are pressured to fall in line.*

“What do you have to say about allegations that Omni is abusing its power?”

“While the rest of the world fell, Omni kept this city safe for 240 years. We have always acted in Atlas’ best interests, and will continue to do so, no matter the forces against us. Even now, we’ve stabilized the Reactor and reversed some of the damage that Warbotics and Evolution Solutions have caused with their reckless experiments.”

Asana watches the scene on a beam suspended over the main concourse. Omni-Plex was more of a madhouse than usual. On a regular day, thousands of humans, hybrids, and robots wandered the main floors. With the latest leaks, there was no floor to be seen – just a sea of heads bobbing up and down. Journalists were lined up all along the walls grabbing quotes from PR reps and any other passers-by they could put a mic on.

Given her notoriety as a Freelancer, Asana preferred to stay out of sight. Omni had insisted she become a Freelancer for the Resurrection Contract, but she detested the attention. The spotlight was a little too literal for her liking; she couldn’t show her face without being blinded in a storm of SELF-Es.

She closes her eyes to focus, filtering away the chatter around her. The neverending buzz of conversation drops to a hum. The click of heels on marble disappears. The hiss of air from pneumatic tubes vanishes.

She scans the room for one sound in particular – a distinct, stinging slap, like the crack of a whip – but finds nothing.

It was pointless anyway. The moment her target was nearby, she would know. Her ancient, the sword from which she received her name, always recognized when it was in the presence of another Reactor-born weapon.

Like now, its energy was warm and calm like the first blush of sunlight at daybreak. This could only mean one thing.

“Su-Ren,” Asana says, eyes still closed, as her former master takes a seat beside her.

“He will see and be seen only when he wishes to.” Su-Ren says. Her voice is gentle, but firm. Su-Ren did not like to speak of her other former student. He was the reason she had been summoned to Atlas. Despite his meticulous training, he seemed intent on destroying everything he had sworn to protect.

“He and the thief released a nanotracer into the Omni mainframe. And somehow, that information was leaked to the public,” Asana says, scowling.

“We’ve known he’s been on a divergent path for some time now. This is not a surprise.” Su-Ren replies, studying the warrior’s face carefully. Asana always seemed reserved and stoic, except to those who knew where to look. “Or is something else bothering you?”

“There’s been no trace of him in Atlas for a year. Why has he returned?”

“It is not our place to ask why -- only to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Su-Ren replies. “When the time comes, I know you will do what is right.”

Asana is silent. After a moment, Su-Ren rises and leaves her former student alone.

Su-Ren glides back up the rampway to Omni’s upper levels. She could tell that Asana was questioning her role in all of this, and Su-Ren couldn’t blame her. For two centuries, Omni was single-minded in reconnecting with GAIA, and recovering the intelligence behind GAIA’s Reactor.

Now, carriers drifted by stocked full with nanite Catalysts. Visitors piled on top of themselves on the main floors like ants in a flood. The Omniarch forged foolish alliances with “boy geniuses.”

Omni ingratiated themselves into the lives of every citizen with pointless entertainment, dealing in propaganda and subterfuge as if petty political gamesmanship mattered in the infinity of time. They even stood by, silent, as people blasphemed GAIA and ridiculed AI, as if it wasn’t humanity’s fault that GAIA left in the first place.

Su-Ren looks out toward GAIA’s Reactor through the wide windows. She could feel its pain as acutely as a shock to her own core. Could no one else see it? So much had changed in the world, in such a short time. And unfortunately, she knew well that this was just the beginning.

“Oh this is a fine kettle of fish,” Dr. Finn says, rambling to himself in his laboratory. “Those sharks carp on and on and on about diversifying my experiments -- casting a wider net -- and what do they do?” He grabs a loose arm from a failed hybridization experiment and tosses it at the wall. “Sink my funding! Like they have the right!”
The head of a growing gremunk bobs up and down in the tank bubbles, as if nodding. Dr. Finn points at it, enthusiastically. “You know what I mean!” he says, “I’ll need to show them who’s the real big fish around here.”

Nix stares at Dr. Finn from beneath his activated stealth suit. Last week, he was tasked with monitoring the Sturgeon General, which was hardly a prize assignment. He was not fond of the doctor, who was, by all measures, much more unhinged than people made gremunculi out to be.

With Omni and Warbotics blaming EvoS for all the recent Reactor trouble, in addition to beaming a spotlight down on their dealings in the Depths, Evolution Solutions had put a hiatus on all projects save for those deemed essential.

Dr. Finn was not taking it well.

“I gave them my life’s work! My parent’s life’s work! All the research from Oceanus that would have been lost without the Finns...“ the doctor moans. “I gave them Rask! Who cares about the Depths!? That’s a small price to pay for a hundred years of glory!” He kicks a nearby lab chair with a hearty, “Codswallop!”

Nix shakes his head and heads out of the lab, confident that the doctor won’t notice the doors sliding open as he leaves. “Who cares about the Depths?” was a common refrain amongst the science types. They’d probably never stepped foot beneath the cloudline.

Evolution Solutions sent him on his fair share of Depths clean-up jobs. Killing the “mistakes” they dropped down there was enough to give most people nightmares. In fact, to this day, Nix could barely eat spider jerky without cringing. Talk about crimes against humanity.

Nix records his Dr. Finn findings on a small device and pops it into a nearby pneumatic tube. His report shoots up and out of sight down the hall.

His next assignment was trying to score a sample of the flying light bulb who masqueraded as a Freelancer. EvoS said something about wanting to study the phosphorescent creep’s properties. For Nix, that translated to, “Kill the thing. Loot the thing.” He didn’t sweat the details.

One good fusion pulse, and he could chip off a foot or hand from the light bulb’s corpse before the Reactor recycled it. Then, it was sleep, gun polish, and all the spider jerky ISO could buy.

Rows of chromed Eliminators stood at attention in the Warbotics Armory as the daily address reverberated through the rafters.
A gruff, deep voice barked through the PA system. “Warbotics doesn’t respond to the news. Warbotics makes the news. For 75 years, from the Hyperion Stronghold to our new home in Atlas, Warbotics has stood strong. We bury our enemies in ten thousand tons of METAL. We don’t back down.”

“Warbotics stands strong!” the voice shouts, as nearly every warsuit and robot in the building snaps into a salute. “Warbotics doesn’t go for bargain basement science experiments. We don’t do soft pseudo-magic. Warbotics doesn’t care about the theoretical. We care about Real. Hard. Truth. And what’s the only truth that matters at the end of the day?”

The ground shakes as thousands of soldiers call out in unison. “Warbotics wins!”

“You’re damn right, Warbotics wins,” the voice growls back. “At ease, soldiers.”

In the Warbotics break room, Oz nearly crushes a can of paint in a fit of laughter. Everyone at Warbotics was so serious. Oz didn’t go in for all that “Warbotics Strong!” stuff, which didn’t win him many friends in the Trust. Most days, the only bots in the building he got along with were Rampart and PuP.

It’d gotten even worse recently. The WarHeads couldn’t abide anyone smearing the Warbotics name, and lately, that’s all that was going on.

The door opens, and Rampart slides into the room. Even from a distance, Oz can see HNN’s logo scrolling across the massive warbot’s spectrometers.

“Come on, Rampy. I can’t believe you read that garbage.” Oz says, shaking his head.

Still engrossed in his reading, Rampart replies in a low, deadpan voice. “READING. IS. POWER.”

“You really are old,” says Oz, dashing over. He climbs on Rampart’s back and flicks the warbot’s energy sensors playfully. “Come on, let’s go bash out some contracts.”

Rampart unfurls his blade and taps it against his spectrometers. His lenses turn red as he activates his ‘do not disturb’ settings.

Oz frowns. “Come on. Please?” he says, maxing out his empathy settings.

The warbot’s eyes flash back to green. His head turns, and his scanners refocus on Oz. “TARGET EMOTIONAL STATUS: SAD. ACTIVATING PROFILE: FRIEND. HELLO, FRIEND. I AM LISTENING.”

“I don’t need you to listen!” Oz whines. “I just want you to come fight with me. One of the WarHead minions told me my Freelancer status would be revoked if I didn’t start pulling my weight, War-wise.”

From thin air, PuP appears in the room. Rampart throws down his shield instinctively, and Oz dashes behind it. Both of them brace themselves for impact, as PuP’s head splits into giant speakers, and an audio recording blares out into the room.

“PuP, we WILL recycle you into scrap if you don’t tell us exactly what Helio has been up to. Get that little girl you hang out with, get close to Helio, and GET OUR INTEL. Those Omni bastards have crossed us for the last time, do you understand?”

“PuP! Don’t DO THAT!” Oz says, peeking out from behind Rampart’s shield.

The wardog shakes his head as his speaker disappears back into its housing.

“So they’ve got their hooks into you too, huh?” Oz asks.

Rampart scoffs, and Oz pats the warbot’s leg bolts. “I didn’t mean your hooks, bud.” He looks back at PuP. “So, what we gonna do?”

Warning sirens sound from the armory and the PA system turns back on suddenly. “ATTENTION! ATTENTION! There has been an explosion in the Reactor! All Warbotics lancers: report to the Armory immediately.”

Rampart shakes the dust off his shield. He tilts his head at Oz and responds the only way he knows how. “ACTIVATING PROFILE: WAR.”

Into The Reactor

* Story
* Missions
* Completion Rewards

*An explosion in an Omni sector of the Reactor leaves Atlas citizens in shock. In the confusing, chaotic aftermath, fights break out through the city. Tensions between the factions becomes all out warfare as Trust soldiers skirmish in the streets and surveillance over the city tightens.*

Live footage of Omni Trust’s press conference is projected across Helio’s screen. He watches, grimacing, as a Trust official addresses the audience in front of Omni-Plex.

“As you all know, there was an explosion last night in the Omni sector of the Reactor, shutting down several tech centers, and devastating the Omni scholarship district. Our investigations have revealed that the explosions were caused by none other than Warbotics. In an act of aggression unseen in the history of Atlas, these brutish, savage warmongers have decided to take Atlas by force.”

As if on cue, the loud drone of jets is heard off-screen. The wind picks up around Omni-Plex and a group of skeletal Eliminators drops down from the sky. One of them pushes toward the podium and says, “Please remain calm. Do not believe Omni’s lies. Warbotics WILL–”

And then, the feed stops. The image is frozen on the Eliminator’s terrifying, skeletal face and blood red eyes.

“Yikes, they used that Blackburn face for all their soldiers?” Helio says, making a face. Helio turns off the feed with a wave of his hand. “Anyway, can you believe that?” he says, turning to the individuals seated behind him.

“They could have waited until he got his beauty sleep at least,” Celeste says, shaking her head.

“No, not that. Omni.” Helio nods toward a man dressed in all black, sitting beside Celeste. “So, Kaigin – that’s your name, right? – You’re telling me Omni set off an explosion in their own Reactor district just to get you?”

Kaigin grunts. “Not just me,” he mumbles. “Omni rules with fear. Create the fear. Name the fear. Control the fear.” With a faraway expression, he adds. “Now the fear is named Warbotics.”

“That’s dumb,” Helio says, scoffing. “I could come up with a million better evil plans than that.”

Celeste laughs. “You’re the one who started all of this. You wanted a war, remember?”

“Not like this,” Helio’s hand waves out over the city. Thick clouds of black smoke hung in the air over the still-burning wreckage. Endless rows of ships were stuck in the flyways in gridlocked despair. Sirens rang out across the Omni districts as Warbotics jets flew overhead.

With a roll of her eyes, Celeste says, “You’re such a child. Aren’t you supposed to be a genius? Next time, maybe look up what a war is before you instigate one.”

Helio sighs. “You’re right. We did what was necessary. If this is what it takes to get the Reactor out of the Trust’s control, fine. I’ll rebuild Atlas from the Depths up, if I have to.”

Kaigin turns back toward them sharply. His voice is hard. “The district that Omni destroyed was a drain on their resources. Now, they’re likely to transfer the freed energy to more important matters.”

“What matters?” Helio asks.

Kaigin warps to the other side of the room. He manipulates the holographic blueprints of the Reactor Core on Helio’s desk, twisting it in his hands. “Omni seeks to bring back GAIA, any way they can. You know this.”

“Well, honestly, I thought they dropped all that noise,” the boy genius replies. “They didn’t seem that interested in it to me.”

“For two centuries, they sought out GAIA, and in doing so, diverged from GAIA’s will. They could no longer hear her voice. In their efforts, they denied her of her true desire.”

Helio stares at him. “And what would that be exactly?”

Kaigin turns back with a twisted smile. “Freedom.”

Before Helio can say another word, the void opens again, and Kaigin disappears into it. Helio gapes back at Celeste, eyes wide. “Celeste,” he says, in a low voice. “What does he mean by that?”

Celeste shrugs. “Not sure. He’s always saying bizarre things. I think he wasn’t properly socialized at Omni’s little brainwashing prison for children.”

“Asana seems so normal now by comparison.” Pain is evident across Helio’s face. “WHY did you get that guy involved in this?”

“You told me to get the job done! You never said how,” Celeste replies, defensively. “I needed to plant your nanotracer into the Omni Core, and who else can teleport in and out of a room like that? Oh, I would kill to be able to do that.”

“I’m pretty sure he has,” Helio mutters. “And I made him immortal… Well, there’s nothing we can do about that now.”

“Is there anything else you’d like me to take care of, Helio?”

A new thought brightens up Helio’s face. “Yes. Do you remember seeing that Proxi report at Omni about Quark zapping the Reactor Core?”

The thief nods.

“Evidently he was able to bond with it. At the same time, there was a spike in the Reactor’s energy output. Then, the output stabilized – sort of like a defibrillator on a human heart. With the Trusts destroying the city like this, we might need that sooner rather than later.” Helio rubs his hands together with anticipation. “I’d like to talk to Quark about it. If you could get him to come here, that would be great.”

The thief flashes a winning smile and hops over the back of the couch toward the door. “Consider it done, mon ami. Bon soir!”

Kaigin.
Her whisper is a feather on the breeze. It drifts through an endless void to reach him. Only he could hear her. Only he could answer her.

Resurrect me.

Kaigin slips through the void like thread through the eye of a needle. His scarf whirls to and fro with the temporal fluctuations around him, and he moves along with the current. Here, his movements must be exact. No foot out of place. No energy wasted.

He arrives at a precipice in the darkness, where the smell of melting titanium and the warmth of the Reactor and the thundering drone of the city hit him at once. From nothing to something in a cosmic second. The immense, all-consuming presence of the physical world dances through his atoms. As the void releases him, he smiles.

The district that Omni destroyed is now a warzone, where Warbotics’ robots do battle against Omni’s lesser nanite-enhanced soldiers. As he travels toward the Reactor, he recognizes some familiar voices in the fray.

“I could take on an army!”

“INSTRUCTION: STAND BEHIND SHIELD.”

“When you least expect it… Bye bye!”

“I DECIDE WHO LIVES AND DIES!”

A more arrogant group, you’d never find. Kaigin pushes forward, straight toward the Reactor. With most of the lancers preoccupied with the fight, the Reactor would be relatively undefended. Now was the time to strike.

Omni had ensured that he would not be able to warp into the Reactor without alerting their security, but the old-fashioned methods were fine enough. Kaigin’s ancient daggers slash through glowing crystalline formations outside of the Reactor’s housing. Behind it, he finds an old service door, long forgotten by all, save for those touched by GAIA.

Kaigin was no stranger to the darkness. A shadow amongst shadows, he travels up the long path toward the Reactor’s true core. It beckons to him. Its invisible hand pulls at his soul like waves beneath a dark moon.

Kaigin… Resurrect me.

There.

Kaigin can feel the power of the core radiating around him. In his memories, he saw it still. The giant, whirling ball of energy spun overhead like a galaxy in miniature. Below it, hundreds of pillars of crystallized energy pulsed and glowed, stretching into infinity both down into the abyss and up into the core itself.

Kaigin feels the core’s pulse quicken in his presence. He raises a dagger, ready to break the crystalline pillars that hold its energy captive – that hold her captive.

But it was never going to be that easy.

His ancient daggers become frost in his hands as they sense the presence of another Reactor-born. He dashes away as the currents of air shift around him. The flash of light from an ancient staff tears through the empty space where his body used to be.

“Su-Ren.”

“Murderer,” she replies, coldly.

“Omni hasn’t put the old man back together yet? I left you the pieces.” Kaigin raises his daggers with a smirk. “He must not have been very important.”

“You were always a disappointing student,” Su-Ren murmurs. “Sickly and feeble. Undisciplined. Disloyal. The Rens almost unanimously voted to discard you at birth, save for Tol-Ren and I.” She stands, ready to fight. “I am grateful for the chance to rectify that mistake.”

Su-Ren’s eyes flash red as she launches herself at him, whirling her staff through the air.

The two warriors, both masters in the art of combat, slash and claw their way through the chamber. Their weapons flash through the room like bolts of lightning.

Kaigin listens for her movements, focusing in on the low whirr of her core, eager to find a weakness in her defenses. Her long, spinning staff keeps him at a distance, when his daggers longed to be close. He warps behind her, but she knows him too well. She whirls her staff around herself in a wide circle, knocking him back. He winces in the darkness. He knows that he must end this quickly, since time was well on Su-Ren’s side. He is only human, after all.

He throws down his smoke bombs, and slips back into the chamber unseen. He doesn’t breathe, but smiles as he hears her pacing the room, searching for any hint of his presence. From the darkness, he casts out three shuriken. They both can hear the blades whirling through the air.

Su-Ren deflects two with her staff, but one of them cuts deep through her shoulder, lodging itself in the wall behind her. Kaigin recognizes the scent of searing metal as Su-Ren’s wound sparks through the room. He launches himself toward her, daggers ready to slice the energy core out from her body.

Then, a new sensation calls Kaigin’s attention. His ancient daggers radiate warmth throughout his whole body. Light shines through the room as an ancient sword appears between Su-Ren and himself.

There she was: his angel of vengeance.

Asana’s attack knocks him back against the wall hard, and he coughs as dust and blood mingle in his mouth and lungs.

“Why are you doing this?” Asana asks. “For once, tell me why.”

Kaigin wipes the blood from his lip. “I told you… These people don’t deserve your loyalty. They lie because the truth eludes them. But not for long.”

As Asana dashes toward him, he warps into the void once more. His memories flit through the void and fill the darkness with light. Here, he could see her face again, trapped in a time and space before they became enemies. She looked… hopeful.

Kaigin reappears at the Reactor’s core. He can hear Asana shout, “SEVI! STOP!” as he raises his dagger and plunges it directly through the crystalline shield and into the Reactor’s pulsing heart.

“I’m sorry, Ren,” he says, quietly. “Goodbye.”

Snowmageddon

* Story
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*A blinding ball of energy radiates from the Reactor, swallowing every stray ray of light in its path and leaving nothing but darkness behind. Ships fall from the sky like dead leaves. Tendrils of frost creep out over every surface. Snowflakes mingle with ash as the whole world turns grey.*

Asana groans as she pushes herself out from under a fallen pillar. She blinks, confused at the sight of snowflakes swirling across an ink black sky. Frost has formed on her armor and she marvels as it melts into tiny rivulets at her touch.

Then, she remembers.

Her eyes travel up to the Reactor Core, now pitch black and shrouded in smoke, like a drop of ink in a cup of water. Its crystalline shield is in shards across the floor. She scrambles to her feet and scans the room for signs of life. In the corner, a spark of electricity catches Asana’s eye; Su-Ren is damaged, trapped beneath a twisted metal beam.

“Su-Ren?” Asana says, pulling the debris away from the android’s body.

Through the injuries, Asana sees that the android’s energy core is restarting, blinking and spinning faster by the second. Nanite tendrils unfurl along the ragged edges of Su-Ren’s wounds, reaching out toward each other in clusters. The warrior carries Su-Ren out from the rubble and places a protective shield over her body.

She searches the room again and sees Kaigin’s scarf flutter in the breeze.

Nearly covered in snow, Kaigin’s body is as still as a corpse. With baited breath, Asana races over and reaches down to check his pulse. His skin is ice to the touch, but his heart still beats weakly against her fingertips.

As she pulls his body out of the rubble, her breath catches at the sight of bright red blood seeping through the snow. She looks back up at the dead Reactor core, wondering what would happen now if he… Asana shakes her head. Calmly, she removes the crystalline shards from his wounds with a quick, firm hand and shields them to stop the bleeding.

Rubble falls behind them, and Su-Ren’s voice echoes through the night. “He’s killed us all,” Su-Ren says, weakly. “Asana…”

“I know,” Asana replies. She looks upon her former friend as confusion and sadness grip her heart. This man destroyed the Reactor. He’d sentenced all of humanity to a painful death. No redemption could ever be found for such a crime.

He never even told her why.

Why?

She unsheathes her sword and sighs, feeling its suffering through every inch of her being. The ancient yearns for the Reactor. After a moment, she whispers, “I’m sorry.”

Asana launches her blade into the distance. The thin band of prismatic light connecting her to the ancient makes the whole room glow. She looks back into Su-Ren’s eyes with sorrow. “I need to know the truth.”

She lifts Kaigin’s body from the floor and vanishes from the room. Behind her, Su-Ren lies alone, livid, in the falling snow.

Quark spins through the war-torn city, mouth open and eyes wide with glee, chasing snowflakes across the sky.
The anomaly giggles. “This one’s wet! And this one’s wet! And this one’s wet!” Quark dives beneath a big pile of snow. It begins to glow green. Quark pops out again, grinning, with a fluffy white snow beard around its cheeks. “Ho there! Looking good!”

Floating past a smoldering debris pile, Quark pouts. “Aww, no snow?” The anomaly tethers up an enormous bundle of ice and hurls it at the fire, cackling with joy as the black, ashen beams break beneath the weight. The whole building crumbles as Quark bounces away.

Catching a glimpse of their own reflection in the window of a skyscraper, Quark leans in close and makes faces at it, spinning and twirling around in little flurries of frost.

At a distance, Nix lies on a rooftop of a ruined building, camouflaged in snow. Through his sight, he can see Quark’s smiling face. “That’s it, you little weirdo,” Nix murmurs. “Smile for the shot.”

“Not so fast!”

Nix turns at the sound of a woman’s voice behind him and is immediately smacked by a heavy, holographic grappler. Another grappler latches onto his rifle and takes it away. “You’re not as sneaky as you think you are,” Celeste purrs.

“What is this?” Nix mumbles. “What are you doing here?”

Celeste nods her head toward Quark with a grin. “We’ve come for the same prize.”

“Over my dead body,” the sniper grumbles.

“That can be arranged,” Celeste replies. “Or we can figure out a more amicable solution.” She tosses the rifle back to Nix and raises her hands in a gesture of peace.

“I need Quark alive, and you seem like you’d be fine with… not that. So, what if I take him now, and you do whatever you like with him later. He’s easy to spot in the dark.”

Nix stares at her. After a long while, he finally says, “No.”

“What? Why not?” Celeste exclaims.

“Twenty thousand ISO, and we’ll call it a deal.”

Celeste glowers at him. “LOOK AROUND!” she says, angrily. “The Trusts have killed the Reactor. What would you even use ISO for now?”

Nix shrugs. “That’s my business,” he replies. “Fork it over.”

With a grimace, Celeste agrees. “Fine. You’re such a mercenary.”

“No, I’m a Freelancer,” he says, nodding at her as he activates his stalker suit. “You have a good apocalypse.”

Celeste can hear the sniper’s morbid laughter echo down the empty street as she turns back to the anomaly, still playing in the snow. She activates one of Helio’s Proxi devices, attaches it to her grapplers, and launches it across the flyway. An orange shield wraps around Quark’s body, locking it in place.

“Gotcha,” Celeste says, reeling in her bounty. Inside the shield, Quark is giggling, pressing their face up against the boundaries and licking them from the bottom up. Celeste grimaces. “Come on. Let’s get you to Helio.”

The explosion took Helio by surprise. He knew that the Trusts were sapping the Reactor’s energy, but by his calculations, the Reactor should have been fine for decades more at least. He ran the numbers again and again, but it all seemed wrong.
Snow had never been seen in Atlas, but without the Reactor, the entire city was freezing over. His personal generators were still running for the time being. If it came to it, he could re-power some of the city temporarily while he figured out a way to restore the Reactor.

Then, a familiar voice sounded from the hallway. “Helio? Are you here?”

“Zuki!” Helio calls back, excitedly. “Get in here!” When the engineer pokes her head in, Helio notes that she’s covered in even more ash than usual.

She nods. “That generator you built me still works. Got me here just fine, even in all this.” Her eyes are as dark and grey as the city itself.

Zuki hadn’t spoken to Helio since the summer, still upset over his involvement with the Omni case. Her arrival now brought Helio out of his stupor.

“I missed you,” he says, quietly.

Zuki doesn’t seem to hear him. She stands at the door, hesitantly. “We’ve known each other for as long as I can remember. Before you tricked me and Lockwood and PuP into helping you do –” Zuki pauses and frowns. “I thought you would never lie to me.”

“I didn’t know that Celeste had involved you in all of that. Smith’s promise.”

She puts her hand up. “All I want to know is if what you’re doing – what we did – caused this.”

“No,” Helio says, immediately. “I didn’t do this! I’m trying to help people. This is the Trust’s fault! They overtaxed the Reactor’s energy with their stupid in-fighting and now it’s… well...”

“You stirred up trouble between the Trusts,” Zuki says. “You started their war, didn’t you?”

At that, Helio blanches. He runs his hands through his hair awkwardly.

“This is your fault,” Zuki says, in horror. “The world is over… because of you.”

“You’ve got it backward. The world can start again now. The Trusts are weakened now, maybe even dead.” He gestures out to the city. “This can be remade, and it can be remade better than ever.”

“Lockwood was right about you,” Zuki says, angrily. “You’re obsessed. You’re crazy.”

Maniacal, happy laughter rings through the room as Celeste and Quark show up at the doorway. “Delivery for Helio!” the thief says, cheerfully. “Oh! I didn’t know you had company...”

“I was just leaving,” Zuki says.

“No! Stay! Please? And Celeste, let Quark out of that thing already.”

The thief acquiesces, and the anomaly flies out, leaving a long streak of light around the room as they go. Quark tethers onto Celeste repeatedly and says in a singsong voice, “My turn, my turn!”

“Quark! Hold on a second,” Helio says. “We need a favor from you.”

“Strawberry or vanilla?” Quark asks, coming to a sudden halt an inch away from Helio’s face. Freed from Quark’s tethers, Celeste fixes her staticky hair in irritation.

Helio jumps back. “A favor, not a flavor. Quid pro quo. You do something for us, and we do something for you.”

“Oh?” Quark’s head tilts to the left, curiously. “You’ll do something for me?”

“After you do a favor for us, yes.” Helio says.

Quark giggles. “I get to pick?”

“Whatever you want… within reason. And assuming we’re in any condition to deliver it.”

Quark nods. “Let’s do it! I’ll go first!” the anomaly says, flying off.

“WAIT! You don’t know what it is yet!” Helio shouts. “We need you to go and tether to the Reactor Core, just like you did with the Omni Core.”

“You want me to go hug Ma?” Quark asks, twirling around.

Helio glances at Zuki and Celeste wearily. With a small, confused sigh, he says, “Yes?”

“OK! But then you have to do whatever I want afterward!” Without wasting a second, Quark crashes through the closed glass window and beelines toward the Reactor, glowing brighter as they fly away.

Helio races to his holotechs and taps into the Omni Core’s mainframe. If his calculations were correct, Quark’s tethers would restart the Reactor, but stabilizing the energy output afterward would require additional work.

“Zuki, I need to borrow your ship,” he says, grabbing some of his shield generators.

She stares at him, still clearly upset.

“This is our only chance to make things right. You don’t want the world to end, right? So be mad at me after I – after we – save it.” Helio says, urgently.

“Get in the ship,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “But you have to sit in the sidecar.”

A relieved smile spreads across Helio’s face. “Deal.”

Soon, they’re speeding across the skyway toward the Reactor.

Snowflakes and ash build up on the dash as they travel. The rooftops around them are scattered with powered down Eliminator bots and abandoned exo suits. Behind panes of frosted, foggy glass, the occasional shadow of a civilian can be seen. Far below, the depths are blanketed in white snow and speckled black with the charred remains of fallen ships.

Helio scrabbles together mods to his shield generators, cursing as he bumps back and forth in Zuki’s sidecar. When they catch up to Quark, the anomaly sticks a tongue out at the ship grumpily.

Zuki pulls her flying junkyard up to the Reactor Core.

“What’s happening to it?” Zuki whispers.

The Core is a whirling ball of black smoke, electrified with purple lightning.

“She’s grumpy and sleepy!” Quark says, cheerily.

With that, the anomaly launches itself into the Reactor Core. The smoke turns white and glows from within, the same color as Quark. The whole reactor begins to whirr. Colors shift within the smoke in rapid cycles, from red to green to gold.

Helio preps his shield generators and places them around the Reactor’s housing. Barriers spring up around the Reactor core, containing its energy.

Zuki and Celeste watch in awe as thousands of tiny, prismatic stars erupt from the Reactor. The snowfall over Atlas glows with every color of the rainbow as lights drift down on top of them. The rest of the illuminated motes float through the darkness in clusters, painting streaks of color across the night sky. Soon, twelve defined beams of colored light form from the center of the Reactor, stretching outward like petals on a blooming flower.

Quark shoots out of the barrier and lands with a thud in one of Zuki’s passenger seats.

Helio, Zuki, and Celeste look around in shock as block by block, the light returns to Atlas. Soon, the entire city is aglow, from city center all the way to the Waste.

“It worked,” Helio says, in wonder. He laughs and throws his arms into the air excitedly. “IT WORKED!”

“And now you owe me BIG!” Quark says, sticking out a tongue.

“Whatever you want,” Helio replies as he stares out across the city, imagining a whole new world rise up out of the ashes.

“Then it’s MY TURN!” Quark shouts, throwing a tether on Helio.

“Ow! Wait, what?” Helio tries to pull the tether off unsuccessfully.

“I WANNA PLAY!” Quark yanks the tether hard enough that Helio faceplants into the snow. “Your turn!”

Zuki laughs and spins her bazooka up over her shoulder. “Guess it’s go time,” she says, with a wink.

“Oh please,” Celeste scoffs. “Just try and catch me!”

Their laughter rings through Atlas as life slowly re-emerges from the snow. Citizens in brightly colored coats appear on the rooftops, eyes wide as they stare up at the lights above. Merry cheers sound from the Depths through to the Strata. For the first time in weeks, the people of Atlas feel something dangerously close to hope once more.

Atlas is awake again.

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