They called it Dead Sector Zero.
A forgotten Arasaka black site sealed beneath the old Biotechnica fields where toxic storms howled through hollow husks of industry. Officially, the place never existed. No grid access. No comms.
But Ash knew the truth now.
It was a prison.
The Ghost Protocol guided him like instinct. Kira rode his optics, reading echoes from the past burned into rusted steel. The entrance was hidden under a fractured cooling tower, long since buried by ash and time.
Nova helped breach the gates her drones weaving EM suppression webs to keep Ash's armor stable. "You sure this thing's even alive down there?" she asked.
Ash nodded. "I can feel them. Like a signal across the bones of the city."
Inside, the tomb yawned wide hallways warped by heat damage, walls scorched with failed containment glyphs. Lights flickered like dying memories.
They found the chamber two levels down.
Suspended in a magnetic field, held in coils of failing tech and old god-code, was a figure: half man, half machine. Ancient armor fused with the wall. Tubes feeding decaying neurogel into exposed neural ports.
Ash stepped forward. "Forgeborn?"
The being stirred. Its eyes cybernetic, one cracked opened slowly.
"You… smell of the Ghost."
Ash nodded. "I came to wake you."
The Forgeborn laughed. It was like metal scraping over bone. "Then may the forge burn anew."
Kira screamed into comms. "Ash! We've triggered something Net signal spike! It's Erebus he's watching us!"
Suddenly, alarms wailed. The tomb sealed. Old Arasaka defense turrets whirred to life.
Ash turned to Nova. "Get to the surface."
"What about you?!"
"I brought fire."
He activated the Ghost Protocol.
The tomb became a crucible.
And Ash Forgeborn reborn became the flame.