The morning after Sophie's confession came heavy with a kind of fragile hope.
The headquarters buzzed in hushed voices and creaking footsteps. No loud jokes. No playful shoving.
Only quiet preparation.
Jayden stood at the table with a grim map spread out in front of him.
Across the table, Aria leaned against the wall, arms crossed, chewing on a toothpick. Her expression said she was ready to kill a thousand people if she had to.
Elias sat at the computer bank, pulling up schematics and muttering darkly under his breath about "suicidal plans drawn by idiots."
And Sophie?
Sophie sat beside Jayden.
Head down.
Silent.
Broken.
But alive.
He hadn't pushed her for more.
Not yet.
Trust was a delicate thing — rebuildable, but slow, like healing after a gunshot wound.
First, they had to get her sister back.
Then... they'd figure out everything else.
---
> "They're keeping her here," Elias said, tapping the screen.
A rundown chemical plant, abandoned after a fire five years ago.
Private property.
Owned — indirectly — by one of the Syndicate's dummy corporations.
> "Security's tight.
Multiple shifts.
Infrared, motion detectors, guard dogs.
Maybe some auto-turrets if they're feeling paranoid."
Jayden nodded grimly.
> "They're feeling paranoid."
Aria cracked her knuckles.
> "Good.
Makes it fun."
Jayden managed a ghost of a smile.
> "Fun" wasn't the word he'd use.
More like "suicidal."
But what other choice did they have?
Leave Sophie's sister to rot?
No.
They weren't monsters.
Not yet.
---
They geared up quietly.
Black tactical suits.
Kevlar vests.
Comms wired to bone mics.
Jayden tightened the straps on his boots, checking every weapon twice.
Then once more.
His hands were steady.
Good.
Because if they weren't... they were all dead.
Across from him, Aria pulled her hair into a tight braid, smirking at him.
> "Ready to ruin someone's day?"
Jayden grinned.
A real grin this time.
Sharp.
Hungry.
> "Always."
Elias tossed Jayden a grenade.
> "Just in case you get sentimental."
Jayden caught it, pocketed it with a nod.
Sentiment was a luxury they couldn't afford tonight.
---
They approached under cover of darkness, slipping through the trees like ghosts.
Rain had started again — a soft, cold drizzle that blurred the world into smears of gray and black.
Perfect.
Jayden crouched by the fence, slicing through it with silent shears.
One by one, they slipped inside.
The chemical plant loomed ahead, a broken skeleton against the night sky.
Guards patrolled lazily, smoking, chatting, unaware that death was already breathing down their necks.
Jayden signaled.
Three taps on the comm.
Move.
Aria took the left.
Elias the right.
Jayden and Sophie pushed through the middle.
The plan was simple.
Get in.
Get her sister.
Get out.
Easy.
Right?
Jayden almost laughed.
It was never easy.
--
The first guard never saw him coming.
Jayden's arm wrapped around the man's throat, cutting off the scream before it could even start.
A soft crack.
A body slumping silently to the mud.
Jayden dragged him behind a rusted barrel and moved on without hesitation.
Across the lot, Aria dismantled two more — fast, surgical, efficient.
Elias sniped a watchtower guard, the body tumbling over the rail in a graceless heap.
Sophie stayed close to Jayden, her face pale but determined.
> "You okay?" he whispered once.
She nodded sharply.
Lying.
But he let it go.
They didn't have time for therapy sessions.
---
They made it into the main building without alarms.
Inside, the air stank of mildew, rust, and something sweeter.
Rot.
Jayden crept down the corridor, counting heartbeats.
Every shadow was a threat.
Every creak a gunshot waiting to happen.
They found her in a basement cell.
Sophie's sister.
Tied to a chair.
Bloodied.
Barely conscious.
Sophie gasped softly, rushing forward — and Jayden grabbed her just in time.
A tripwire.
Strung invisibly across the doorway.
Sophie paled, stepping back.
Jayden disarmed it with trembling fingers.
They were getting smarter.
More brutal.
More careful.
The Syndicate wasn't just flexing muscle anymore.
They were sending a message.
You aren't safe anywhere.
Jayden cut the ropes carefully.
Sophie caught her sister as she slumped forward.
> "I've got you," she whispered fiercely.
Jayden's throat tightened.
Family.
It made you weak.
It made you strong.
It made you stupid.
And it made you dangerous.
---
The alarm triggered the second they crossed the threshold.
Sophie must've tripped a hidden sensor.
Or maybe it was inevitable.
Maybe the Syndicate wanted them to find her.
Jayden didn't have time to wonder.
The plant exploded into chaos.
Bullets rained down like a thunderstorm.
Jayden shielded Sophie and her sister with his body, firing back in controlled bursts.
Aria whooped somewhere nearby, loving the madness.
Elias swore loudly, picking off guards with lethal precision.
> "MOVE!" Jayden barked.
They sprinted across the lot, dodging behind burned-out tanks and crumbling walls.
Sophie stumbled, clutching her sister.
Jayden grabbed her waist, hauling her upright.
A bullet grazed his arm.
Hot, searing pain.
Ignored.
Another guard charged — Jayden dropped him with two shots to the chest, one to the head for good measure.
No mercy.
No second chances.
Not tonight.
---
By the time they reached the extraction point, they were bloodied, battered, and barely holding together.
Elias peeled out in the getaway truck, tires screaming against wet pavement.
Jayden collapsed in the backseat, heart hammering against his ribs.
Sophie cradled her sister, sobbing quietly.
Aria grinned wildly, bruised and beautiful, like a goddess of war.
> "That went better than expected!" she laughed.
Jayden wheezed out a laugh of his own.
Half relief.
Half hysteria.
They were alive.
They had her.
It was a miracle.
Or maybe just sheer stubbornness.
---
Back at headquarters, they worked quickly.
Medical kits.
Bandages.
Antiseptics.
Sophie's sister — Anna, they learned — was dehydrated, beaten, but alive.
Sophie refused to leave her side.
Jayden didn't blame her.
Elias stitched Jayden's arm with gruff competence, grumbling the entire time.
> "Idiot.
Could've gotten yourself killed.
Then who would I yell at?"
Jayden chuckled hoarsely.
> "You'd find someone."
Elias snorted.
> "Doubt it.
You're uniquely frustrating."
Aria crashed onto the couch, boots still on, and declared she was sleeping for a week.
Jayden believed her.
Tonight had been a victory.
But victories had a price.
He saw it in Sophie's hollow eyes.
In the blood still staining Anna's clothes.
In the bruises turning his ribs purple.
Freedom wasn't free.
It cost sweat.
It cost blood.
It cost pieces of your soul.
And Jayden knew deep down...
The bill hadn't even come due yet.
---
In the dark corners of the city, the Syndicate leaders gathered.
Pale faces.
Cold eyes.
Hatred simmering under tailored suits.
Jayden's raid hadn't just rescued a hostage.
It had declared war.
And wars weren't won with single battles.
They were won — or lost — in rivers of blood and oceans of fire.
> "Make him bleed," the woman at the head of the table hissed.
> "Break his spirit."
The others nodded.
Silent.
Deadly.
Unforgiving.
They would not underestimate Jayden again.
No.
Next time... they would come for everything he loved.
And they would not fail.
---