The city was dying — not with fire and noise, but with silence.
No power. No internet. No lights.Just the low, eerie hum of survival.
Alex walked through the dark streets like a ghost. His footsteps echoed louder than they should have. The moonlight bathed the abandoned roads in cold silver, casting long, twitching shadows. Burned-out cars lined the sidewalks. ATMs hung open, screens dead. People screamed into useless phones, banging on shop doors that wouldn't open.
He pulled his hoodie tighter. The USB drive in his pocket — Gaurav's — pressed against his thigh like a weapon.
As he neared the pier, he passed a billboard. It flickered once, showing an OMNI ad before going completely black.
He muttered, "They always knew…"
The Warehouse – Earlier That Evening
Lyra installed the solar backup panel Gaurav salvaged from an old drone lab. The lights in the warehouse flickered back on, weak but alive.
"This won't last more than a day," she said grimly.
Gaurav was hunched over the last functioning laptop. "The data from Project S.O.L. is encrypted under four layers. But from what I've seen, this solar event wasn't just predicted — it was scheduled."
"Scheduled?" Brad asked.
"Yeah," Gaurav said, glancing at the others. "They let it hit us. Let it wipe out open networks. Now the only working systems are isolated — theirs."
Brad growled. "They shut down the world to lock us in their rules."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "And now they'll rebuild. On their terms."
She turned to Alex. "You still going?"
He nodded. "If Raven has answers, I'll hear them."
Gaurav tossed him a small, old-school earpiece. "Won't work over distance, but if you're in range of our shortwave loop — we'll be listening."
Alex gave them a nod and walked out.
Midnight – At the Pier
The ocean was silent, waves lapping against the cracked concrete of the forgotten pier. The sky above shimmered with auroras — a rare sight this far south, but caused by the massive geomagnetic storm still echoing through the atmosphere.
She stood near the edge.
Tall. Striking. Wrapped in a black trench coat that flared like wings in the wind. Her long, dark hair was pinned back, revealing high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. Eyes like molten amber stared out at the sea — glowing faintly in the dark.
Raven.
Alex approached cautiously. "You're real."
She smirked. "Flatter me again, and I might let you live."
He stopped a few feet away. "You asked to meet."
"I asked you to come alone," she said, turning her gaze to him fully now. "And yet… you're carrying a signal loop in your coat. Shortwave frequency. Clever."
Alex hesitated. "You knew we'd be paranoid."
"I expected it. But I'm still here, aren't I?"
She stepped closer, her boots clicking softly on the pier.
"The Syndicate has already begun Phase Two," she said. "They needed the flare to shut down resistance, erase decentralized systems, and force everyone into their power grid. Their new OS is already deploying to the bunkered zones."
"Verma?" Alex asked.
"Just a puppet. The real minds run deeper — old money, ghost corporations, and black-budget AI."
Alex looked stunned. "AI?"
Raven nodded. "OMNI was the beta. What's coming is worse. It's not about ruling the world. It's about replacing it."
She handed Alex a data chip. "Blueprints of what's coming. I risked everything getting this out."
"What do you want in return?"
Her eyes gleamed. "I want them to suffer."
They stood in silence, waves crashing behind them.
Then:A red laser dot flickered on Raven's coat.
Sniper.
"Down!" she shouted, tackling Alex off the pier as the bullet cracked through the air.
They hit the water, cold and black. As they surfaced behind a boat hull, Raven pulled a pistol from her waistband and fired three quick shots toward the warehouse cranes — one cry, then silence.
"We're burned," she hissed. "They're tracking movement near the safe zones. Your team is compromised too."
Alex gasped for breath. "We need to warn them!"
Raven grabbed his collar. "There's no time. If they move now, they die. We disappear — now — or the game ends here."
Alex looked into her eyes, seeing both fury and calculation.
"Then we disappear," he said.
Elsewhere – The Syndicate's War Room
In an underground bunker humming with electricity, Minister Verma watched satellite feeds blink back to life.
"They've made contact," a man in a gray suit said.
Verma didn't look away from the screen. "Let them run. The walls are already closing in."
A new figure entered the room — face hidden under a hood, voice modulated.
"Activate the Wraith Protocol," the figure ordered.
Verma smiled thinly. "So the hunt begins."
TO BE CONTINUED…