An Unseen Enemy
The courier came precisely when Dahlia’s device predicted—an unmarked delivery drone humming along the overhead rails, carrying secrets nobody was meant to reach. As Dahlia sliced through its securi-cloud defenses with precision swipes, Casey glanced anxiously at the cross-section of alleys connected by a single bustling corridor.
“Seven seconds,” Dahlia muttered under her breath. Her dark-lined eyes flitted between her tablet and the drone’s path. “Five seconds. Three. And… done.” Her triumphant grin was fleeting. Casey caught it as she turned back, her instincts already sensing something amiss.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, but Dahlia’s response was a sharp intake of breath.
The night air seemed to shift then, a metallic tremor rippling through the noise of the city. It wasn’t the government AI ghost that Dahlia feared most—it was them, the Nighthawks. Unofficial mercenaries hired by Algovyn, their presence meant one thing: death.
“We’ve been flagged,” Dahlia muttered, voice a strained whisper. “Run.”
The Escape
Casey didn’t wait for further instruction, her body already moving on instinct. The world blurred around her, a kaleidoscope of lights smeared by her quick movements. She darted down a backstreet, heart pounding against her ribcage as boots thudded hard and fast behind her. From the corner of her eye, she caught Dahlia charging in another direction, leading the pursuers away.
Their operation was over—but Casey couldn’t shake the feeling that something bigger was bubbling under the glossed surface of New Metron’s streets. Someone, somewhere, had been notified of their intrusion.
She turned a corner and found herself face-to-face with one of the Nighthawks, his breath steaming in the cold. “You’re just a kid,” he muttered, raising his taser-like weapon.
“Yeah,” Casey said slyly, baring her own teeth. From her pocket, a small EMP pulse grenade—a little unfinished tech borrowed from Dahlia—buzzed to life. “But I’m not stupid.” She threw it.
The explosion was silent, but the flash was blinding. Casey leapt over the dazed body as chaos erupted behind her. Sirens chorused in the distance, shouting voices intertwining. And somehow—despite everything—she smiled. No matter how tightly Algovyn gripped her city, she and Dahlia were proof that it wasn’t infallible. They had disrupted the system, even if only for one moment.
The night was far from over, but perhaps, for just this fleeting second, freedom had a pulse in the heart of New Metron.
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