Location: Bellini Bros. Pasta Warehouse — 12:32 AM
Ryan barely had time to curse the Glitch Wolf when the ONYX CORE watch short-circuited with a fzzzt!
"Did it just fry itself?" Emily asked.
"Looks like our hacker friend upgraded from creepy messages to full-blown sabotage."
Suddenly—BOOM!
The van's back tires exploded. Stokes shouted as the whole vehicle jerked sideways. A pickup truck rammed them from behind, forcing them off the alley road.
"Stokes, GO!" Ryan yelled, dragging Emily behind a pallet of pasta boxes as bullets ricocheted around them. The warehouse erupted in chaos—thugs pouring out like ants from a stomped nest.
12:34 AM – Improvised Mayhem
Ryan grabbed a metal pasta strainer off a rack and pinged it off a thug's head. The guy stumbled backward, tripped over a linguini barrel, and landed face-first in a tub of garlic butter.
Another one lunged. Ryan ducked, flipped over a table, grabbed a sausage link like a pair of nunchucks, and whirled it into two attackers' faces before using the swinging momentum to vault up onto a conveyor belt.
Emily hurled a pizza peel like a frisbee, smacking another goon clean across the forehead. Then she slid beneath a rolling cart, kicked it forward, and sent it crashing into two more guys like a bowling strike.
"Why is everything in here either sharp, slippery, or edible?" she gasped, blocking a punch with a sack of flour.
"Welcome to pasta warfare," Ryan replied.
12:38 AM – Seafood Section Showdown
Alarms blared. Emergency lights flashed red over a side door marked: Live Seafood – Employees Only.
"Should we?" Ryan asked.
Emily kicked the door open.
Inside: tanks of lobsters, crabs, and—why not—a giant, sloshing octopus enclosure.
Ryan slipped on a puddle, fell backward, and accidentally kicked a goon into a tank. Lobsters pinched the man's sleeves while another thug screamed, "I HATE SEAFOOD!" just before being smacked by Emily with a frozen salmon.
"You're welcome," she quipped.
Ryan vaulted onto a table, grabbed a mop handle, and—using it like a pole—flipped himself over a gang of attackers. He dropped into a low stance just in time to duck a flying ice tray.
Then, behind them—CRUNCH.
A forklift burst through the wall, being driven by a thug with more tattoos than teeth.
"Emily, duck!"
Too late. The forks rammed into a seafood shelf, causing it to collapse and release—
THE OCTOPUS.
It squelched across the floor in a flailing, wet panic, wrapping around one of the goons and slapping another with a tentacle like it owed him money.
Ryan blinked. "Did… did we just weaponize an octopus?"
Emily picked up a chef's knife and cracked her neck. "Guess it's time to start slicing calamari."
12:45 AM – Don Castini Arrives
"ENOUGH!"
Don Castini stepped into the room, flanked by two giant men with breadstick-sized arms. He wore his signature velvet suit and held a chrome-plated pistol shaped like a wine cork opener.
"You broke my operation. My warehouse. My lobster tanks!"
Ryan pointed. "Pretty sure the octopus did most of that."
Castini sneered. "You'll pay for this in blood and béchamel."
More goons poured in.
Ryan took a deep breath, bracing for round three. "This is turning into the world's angriest cooking show."
Emily kissed his cheek. "Let's stir the pot, darling."
1:00 AM – Rooftop Signal
High above, Bella Castini stood with the hacker. He adjusted his gloves and muttered, "Time to shut down their toys."
With a tap of the keyboard, all of ONYX CORE's backup comms went dark. Power flickered inside the building.
In the chaos, Ryan's wristwatch glitched once more. This time the Glitch Wolf stared straight at him—its digital eyes blinking.
Then the message scrawled across the screen:
I'M ALREADY INSIDE.
Ryan froze.
Emily noticed. "What is it?"
Ryan clenched his jaw. "We've got bigger problems than pasta smugglers."
[TO BE CONTINUED...]