The wind whipped against Ethan's face as he stood at the open hatch of the VTOL, the lights of the city far below twinkling like stars. This time, they weren't running. They were going on the offensive.
"Are you sure about this, Ethan?" Mariam's voice crackled over the comms, filled with concern. She was piloting the VTOL, ready to pull out at a moment's notice.
Ethan tightened the straps of his harness, his eyes locked on the towering skyscraper ahead. It was one of Viktor Stein's primary facilities, heavily guarded and nearly impenetrable. But "nearly" was all the opening Ethan needed.
"We don't have a choice," he replied, adjusting his headset. "If we don't cut off Stein's resources, we'll be overrun. This ends tonight."
Without waiting for her response, Ethan leaped from the VTOL, diving into the night. The city lights blurred beneath him as he free-fell, the adrenaline sharpening his focus. Just before hitting the ground, he activated his stealth parachute, landing silently on a rooftop across from Stein's building.
"Touchdown," he whispered into the comm, unhooking himself from the parachute. "Wolf, you're up. Disable their perimeter defenses."
"Already on it," Wolf's voice came through, laced with confidence. "Just give me ten seconds."
Ethan watched as the exterior lights of the building flickered before going dark. The cameras and automated turrets guarding the entrance fell silent.
"Good work. I'm going in," Ethan muttered, pulling a sleek grappling gun from his belt.
He aimed, fired, and swung across to the building, landing on a narrow ledge outside a high-level window. The glass in front of him was reinforced, but Ethan had come prepared. He pressed a small device against it, and a soft hiss was followed by a dull thud as the window shattered silently.
Ethan slipped inside, entering a pristine corridor lined with security checkpoints. He moved with the practiced ease of someone who had done this a thousand times before, his movements fluid and silent. He was in enemy territory now every step, every breath had to be calculated.
"Alright, I'm in," Ethan whispered. "Sophia, I need the blueprint of this floor."
A holographic map flashed onto his contact lens display. The server room he was targeting was two levels down, in the heart of the building. According to their intel, it housed the central hub that controlled Stein's operations. If Ethan could cripple it, he would deal a devastating blow to the Syndicate's capabilities.
As he moved deeper into the facility, he could hear faint voices and footsteps echoing down the hall. Security was on high alert. Ethan ducked into a shadowed alcove, watching as a squad of heavily armed guards passed by.
"Time to move," he muttered to himself, slipping out the moment they were gone.
Meanwhile, Mariam and Alex "Wolf" Harris were stationed in a nearby safehouse, monitoring Ethan's progress. The tension in the room was palpable. Mariam's eyes never left the screen displaying Ethan's vitals and the live feed from his body cam.
"Is it just me, or is this place too quiet?" Wolf muttered, leaning back in his chair, his fingers idly drumming against the keyboard. "Stein's facilities are usually crawling with goons."
"Stein's smart," Mariam responded, her tone clipped. "He knows Ethan is coming. He's probably set a trap."
Wolf frowned, staring at the screen. "Then why let him get this far?"
"Maybe he's not the one Ethan should be worried about," Mariam replied, her mind racing. "Wolf, can you check for any unusual network activity? I've got a bad feeling."
As Wolf started typing, a new window popped up on the screen. It was an encrypted message, one that was bypassing their security systems effortlessly. The masked hacker's symbol appeared, followed by a single line of text:
"You're too late."
Ethan reached the server room door, swiping a stolen keycard to gain access. The moment he stepped inside, his instincts screamed that something was wrong. The room was dark, the only light coming from the blinking servers lining the walls.
"Wolf, I'm in," Ethan whispered. "Something feels off."
"Yeah, about that…" Wolf's voice crackled with urgency. "We just intercepted a message from the masked hacker. It looks like this whole setup was a diversion."
Before Ethan could respond, the lights in the room flickered on, revealing a figure standing at the far end. The masked hacker, their digital mask swirling with shifting patterns, stood before him.
"I must admit, Ethan," the synthesized voice echoed through the room. "I didn't think you'd make it this far. But you're not going any further."
Ethan's heart pounded as he faced his elusive adversary. "Who are you?" he demanded, his fingers twitching toward the concealed weapon at his side.
The masked figure tilted their head. "You really want to know? Or are you just buying time?"
Ethan's eyes narrowed. He had already sent a silent signal to Mariam, alerting her that he was compromised. Now, he just had to keep this hacker talking.
"Why work for Stein?" Ethan asked, trying to buy time. "What's he promised you that's worth all this?"
The masked hacker let out a distorted laugh. "Stein? He's nothing more than a pawn. The Syndicate, Langford, even your precious SHIELD—they're all playing a game they don't understand. But me?" The hacker's voice dropped, turning almost gleeful. "I'm here to break the board."
As the hacker spoke, Ethan's HUD flashed with a warning: a second signal had activated in the building. The server room wasn't just a central hub—it was also rigged to explode.
"Ethan, get out of there!" Mariam's voice screamed in his ear, her tone panicked. "They're trying to take you down with the whole building!"
But it was too late. The masked hacker raised a hand, and the servers began to glow with an ominous red light. Ethan's eyes widened as he realized what was happening—a cascade overload that would wipe out everything in a five-block radius.
Without hesitation, Ethan turned and sprinted for the exit, the floor beneath him trembling as explosions began to ripple through the building.
Ethan burst through a side door just as the server room erupted in a fireball behind him. The shockwave sent him sprawling, but he managed to roll to his feet, sprinting toward the VTOL that Mariam had swung back to pick him up.
As he leaped into the open hatch, Mariam pulled up hard, lifting them away from the collapsing building. Below, the once-imposing structure crumbled in on itself, a plume of smoke rising into the night sky.
"Did you get anything?" Mariam asked breathlessly, glancing at him.
Ethan shook his head, his expression grim. "Nothing. The masked hacker was one step ahead the entire time. But at least we know one thing now…"
Mariam raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
"This isn't about Stein," Ethan said, his eyes dark with determination. "Whoever's behind this wants something far bigger. And they're willing to burn the whole world down to get it."
Mariam nodded slowly. "So, what's the next move?"
Ethan leaned back in his seat, staring out at the city below. "We find this hacker. And we make them talk. Because if we don't..."
He let the implication hang in the air.
"...there might not be a world left to save."