The Abraham Guild's response to their evidence was swift and decisive. Within six hours of receiving the data, they'd mobilized a full extraction team. Now, an hour before dawn, Warrick watched Guild vehicles take up concealed positions around the auxiliary research center.
"Radio check," came the encrypted transmission through his earpiece. "All units confirm positions."
"They're bringing in heavy hardware," Carlo observed from their vantage point. "Sonic dampeners, Tag suppression gear. The Guild's not taking chances."
"They shouldn't." Warrick studied the facility's security feeds they'd tapped into. "I count twenty-four armed guards, at least three enhanced with experimental Ascendrix. And that's just what they want us to see."
The Guild's extraction coordinator, a stern-faced woman named Reynolds, had been clear: this wasn't just about rescuing children anymore. The evidence they'd gathered implicated high-ranking members of both the Jerusalem and Bambino Families. This was now a full-scale operation to expose corruption at the highest levels.
"Movement in the lower levels," Carlo reported, his enhanced senses penetrating the facility's walls. "They're moving the children. Six distinct heartbeats, young, elevated but steady. Sara's among them – her cardiac pattern matches her mother's."
Warrick checked the time. Twenty minutes until the facility's shift change – their best window for insertion. "The neural containment systems?"
"Active, but operating at minimal power. They're preparing for transport." Carlo's clouded eyes narrowed. "There's something else. A familiar presence… a neural pattern I haven't sensed since the Tag Riot."
Before Warrick could respond, their comms crackled with urgent activity. "Multiple vehicles approaching from the north," a Guild spotter reported. "Jerusalem Family tactical units. They're moving ahead of schedule."
"Vale must have warned them," Warrick realized. "She's forcing our hand." He keyed his comm. "Reynolds, we need to move now. They're going to evacuate the facility."
"Understood." Reynolds' voice was tight with controlled tension. "All units, execute Operation Sunbreak. Primary team, breach on my mark."
The Guild's assault began with precise coordination. Sonic dampeners activated, disrupting the facility's security systems while Tag suppression fields prevented enhanced guards from accessing their full abilities. Under normal circumstances, it would have been enough to secure the building.
These weren't normal circumstances.
"Warrick." Carlo's voice carried a warning. "That presence I sensed? It's moving. Fast. The neural pattern… it's fully evolved. Natural progression, not artificial enhancement."
A massive explosion rocked the facility's main entrance as a figure burst through security barriers like they were paper. Guild operators scattered as Helena Vale emerged, her eyes blazing with the tell-tale luminescence of pure military-grade Ascendrix.
"She's not enhanced," Carlo realized. "She's an Original. One of the first wave who took Ascendrix directly."
Vale's voice carried across the chaos, amplified by her enhanced abilities. "You really thought we wouldn't be prepared? That we wouldn't have contingencies?" She smiled, the expression terrifying in its calm. "The world needs what we're creating here. The next generation of defenders, properly controlled from the start."
"Control through torture?" Warrick's hands clenched. "Breaking children to make weapons?"
Breaking?" Vale laughed. "We're making them stronger. Like your father understood, Warrick. Why do you think we used his protocols? He knew the price of progress."
The mention of his father hit Warrick like a physical blow. "Carlo…"
"Go," his partner said, already moving to engage Vale. "Find the children. I'll handle this."
The clash between Carlo and Vale was like watching forces of nature collide. Both were at the peak of their abilities – Carlo's naturally evolved powers against Vale's Original enhancement. Their movements were almost too fast to follow, the very air seeming to distort around them.
Warrick forced himself to focus on the mission, slipping into the facility through the chaos of the Guild's assault. His father's protocols gave him access to maintenance routes that even Vale might not know about. The children would be in the secure containment level, ready for transport.
He found them exactly where Carlo had sensed them – six children in neural suppression pods, prepared for movement. Sara Torres was among them, unconscious but alive. The other five matched the descriptions of recently missing children from the fallen districts.
"This area's supposed to be secure," a cold voice noted from the shadows. A man in a Bambino Family military uniform emerged, his insignia marking him as high command. "Though I suppose a Gamaliel would know all the back routes."
"Commander Chen." Warrick recognized him from military broadcasts. "Bit far from your usual jurisdiction."
"The future of Krynosia's security isn't bound by jurisdiction." Chen's hand rested on his sidearm. "You've seen the data, Warrick. The success rates we're achieving. Controlled activation from childhood, properly conditioned loyalty… we could restore order to the fallen districts. Prevent another Tag Riot."
"Through child soldiers?" Warrick's voice was heavy with disgust. "That's not order. That's tyranny."
"It's necessity." Chen drew his weapon. "Your father understood that. Why can't you?"
The fight was brief but vicious. Chen was military-trained, but Warrick had grown up studying Tag combat. He knew how to fight enhanced opponents, how to use their strength against them. When it was over, Chen lay unconscious and Warrick's knuckles were bloody.
Above, the sounds of battle had changed. Carlo and Vale's conflict had moved to the upper levels, their powers threatening to tear the building apart. The Guild's extraction teams were engaging security forces throughout the facility, but they needed time to reach the containment level.
Warrick turned to the neural suppression pods, his fingers flying over familiar controls. His father had made him memorize these systems, never dreaming his son would use that knowledge to undo his work. One by one, the pods began their shutdown sequence.
"Warning," the facility's systems announced. "Containment protocols disengaging. Neural suppression field collapse imminent."
"That's right," Warrick muttered, initiating the final sequence. "Wake up. All of you. It's time to go home."
The children began to stir as the suppression fields failed. Sara Torres opened her eyes first, confusion giving way as she saw Warrick. The others followed, each bearing the fresh marks of neural interface attempts on their necks.
"Can you walk?" Warrick asked them. When they nodded, he gestured to the maintenance tunnel he'd used. "This way. Guild medics are waiting topside. Just follow the route I show you."
A massive impact shook the building. Through his earpiece, Warrick heard Carlo's voice, strained but determined. "Vale's contained. The Guild's Tag suppression fields finally overwhelmed her Original enhancement. But we need to move. The facility's structural integrity is failing."
They emerged into pre-dawn darkness to find the facility beginning to collapse. Vale was secured in a Guild containment vehicle, her enhanced powers suppressed but her expression still defiant. Commander Chen and his surviving security forces were being loaded into separate transports. Guild medics were also tending to the young Tag they'd encountered earlier, the one Carlo had fought in the facility. Now sedated and monitored, they would be taken to a Guild rehabilitation center - another victim of the Families' experiments who might, with time and proper care, have a chance at recovery. Carlo had been adamant about that - no one, not even their opponents, should be abandoned to the Families' cruel conditioning. "The evidence has already been transmitted to multiple sources," Reynolds informed them as medical teams attended to the children. Carlo appeared at Warrick's side, his butler's attire somewhat the worse for wear but his composure intact. "The fallen districts are watching," he noted. "Their networks are spreading the word. The children are safe. The Families' corruption is exposed." "Not all of it," Warrick said quietly. "Vale and Chen are high-ranking, but they're not the top. Someone authorized this operation, gave them resources and protection." "True." Carlo's clouded eyes turned toward the rising sun. "But we've struck a blow. Made them vulnerable. And now…" "Now everyone knows they're still hunting children," Warrick finished. "No one in the fallen districts will trust their 'free clinics' again." Sara Torres was reunited with her mother as Guild medical teams examined the other children. Maria's tears of joy were echoed by other parents arriving under Guild escort. But as Warrick watched the reunion, he couldn't shake his father's shadow. Vale's words echoed in his mind: "He knew the price of progress." How many other hidden facilities might exist? How many of his father's protocols remained, waiting to be misused? "We'll find them," Carlo said quietly, reading his partner's tension. "All of them. This was just the beginning." "The Families will retaliate," Warrick noted. "We'll need to relocate the repair shop, establish new routes." "Already planned." Carlo's slight smile held grim determination. "The Guild's offered resources, protection. Our repair business gives us perfect cover to investigate other sectors." Warrick nodded, watching Guild vehicles disappear into the dawn carrying their prisoners and evidence. The fallen districts were stirring to life around them, the night's events already becoming whispered legend. A corrupt operation exposed, children rescued, Family authority challenged. "Come on," he told Carlo. "We have repair jobs scheduled for today. Need to maintain our cover."