The hum of the substation's machinery was a constant, low vibration in the background, a sound that only emphasized the silence between Elliot and Nina. She sat on the edge of a rusted metal console, her hands gripping the edges so tightly her knuckles were white. Her breathing was shallow, uneven, as if her body was already bracing for the pain to come.
Elliot paced the small space, scanning the room for anything that could serve as a surgical tool. His mind raced, a whirlwind of calculations and possibilities. He wasn't a doctor. He wasn't even remotely qualified to attempt something like this. But the logic was unyielding—if he didn't remove Nina's implant, the Syndicate would find them, and they wouldn't get another chance to escape.
His eyes fell on a maintenance kit lying discarded near the wall. He crouched and opened it, pulling out a soldering iron, wire cutters, and a small blade meant for stripping insulation from cables. They weren't ideal, but they'd have to do.
"This is insane," Nina muttered, her voice shaking. "I can't believe I'm letting you do this."
Elliot glanced at her, his expression grim. "You think I want to do this? Trust me, this is not how I pictured my night going."
"You could've just left me," she said, her voice low.
"I could've," Elliot agreed, setting the tools on the console beside her. "But I didn't. So here we are."
Nina swallowed hard, her eyes darting to the blade. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"
Elliot hesitated, then shook his head. "No."
"Great," Nina muttered, leaning her head back against the wall.
Elliot's lips pressed into a thin line. "I've studied neural schematics. I know how implants are installed, and I know how to safely disconnect one. This isn't as complicated as it sounds."
"You're not exactly filling me with confidence."
"You want confidence, or do you want to survive?" Elliot snapped, his voice sharper than he intended.
Nina flinched, and guilt immediately twisted in his gut. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I'm not going to lie to you. This is going to hurt. A lot. But it's the only way to stop them from finding you."
She stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay," she said quietly. "Do it."
Elliot worked quickly, disinfecting the blade with a small bottle of industrial alcohol he'd found in the maintenance kit. He handed Nina a piece of cloth.
"Bite down on this," he said. "You're going to want to scream, and we can't risk them hearing us."
Nina took the cloth with trembling hands, staring at it like it was a lifeline. She placed it in her mouth, her jaw tightening as she nodded for him to proceed.
Elliot took a deep breath, steadying his hands. He could feel his own pulse pounding in his ears, a constant reminder of how high the stakes were.
"Alright," he said, his voice low and steady. "Let's get this over with."
He reached for her left arm, where the implant's small, circular housing was embedded just below the surface of her skin, near her wrist. The implant pulsed faintly, a soft blue glow emanating from its center.
Using the blade, Elliot made a small incision around the implant. Nina's muffled cry of pain cut through the air, her body jerking involuntarily.
"Stay still," Elliot said firmly, his voice louder than he intended.
Nina's breathing quickened, her chest heaving as she bit down harder on the cloth. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't move again.
Elliot worked quickly, using the wire cutters to carefully sever the small connections between the implant and her neural pathways. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he concentrated, his hands moving with a precision he didn't know he had.
"There's a small feedback loop," he muttered to himself, his brow furrowing. "I need to disable it before I pull it out, or it'll send a burst signal."
He reached for the soldering iron, adjusting its temperature to a low setting. The tool buzzed softly in his hand as he applied it to the implant's outer casing, disabling the loop.
Nina let out another muffled cry, her body trembling violently.
"Almost there," Elliot said, his voice tight.
Finally, with one last tug, the implant came free. Elliot held it up, the small device glinting faintly in the dim light.
"It's out," he said, exhaling sharply.
Nina sagged against the console, her body limp with exhaustion. The cloth fell from her mouth, and she gasped for air, her voice raw and broken.
"Did it... work?" she managed, her words barely audible.
Elliot glanced at the implant, then at his handheld device. The tracking signal was gone.
"It worked," he said.
A Moment of Calm
For a while, neither of them said anything. Elliot cleaned the wound on Nina's arm as best he could, wrapping it tightly with a strip of fabric he tore from his hoodie.
Nina leaned back against the wall, her eyes half-closed. She looked drained, her skin pale and slick with sweat, but the tension in her body had eased.
"You're a terrible doctor," she said weakly.
Elliot smirked faintly. "Good thing I'm not one, then."
Nina let out a soft, breathy laugh, though it quickly turned into a wince of pain.
"Try not to move too much," Elliot said, sitting down beside her. "You'll need time to heal."
"And what about you?" she asked, turning her head to look at him. "You look like you're about to collapse."
Elliot shrugged, his shoulders slumping. "I've had worse nights."
"Really?" Nina arched an eyebrow.
"No," Elliot admitted, letting out a dry chuckle.
The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable. For the first time in what felt like hours, the tension in the air seemed to ease, if only slightly.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the tunnels, Kael and Dren regrouped. The trail had gone cold, the decoy signals leading them in circles.
"They're getting smarter," Kael said, his tone devoid of emotion.
Dren slammed his fist against the wall, leaving a dent in the metal. "Smarter doesn't mean they're going to win. We'll find them."
Kael's glowing red eye narrowed as he scanned the tunnel ahead. "The tracker is offline."
"What?" Dren's voice was sharp.
"They removed it," Kael said, his voice calm but laced with menace. "They're adapting."
Dren grinned, his cybernetic jaw clenching. "Then we'll just have to adapt faster."
Kael didn't respond. Instead, he tapped his wrist implant, activating a direct line to HQ.
"This is Kael," he said. "The tracker is offline, but the targets are still in the grid. Deploy additional units to the northern quadrant. Begin a wide sweep. We'll flush them out."
The voice on the other end crackled faintly. "Understood. Reinforcements are en route."
Kael ended the transmission, his expression unreadable.
"We'll corner them soon enough," he said. "And when we do..."
Dren grinned. "This'll be fun."
Planning the Next Move
Back at the substation, Elliot sat cross-legged on the floor, his back against the wall. His handheld device buzzed softly in his lap as he reviewed the map of the tunnel system.
"They'll send more," he said quietly, glancing at Nina. "Removing the tracker won't stop them for long."
Nina nodded, her eyes heavy with fatigue. "So what do we do?"
Elliot sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "We need to get out of the tunnels. Staying down here is suicide. But if we go topside..."
"The Syndicate will find us," Nina finished.
"Exactly."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The weight of their situation pressed down on them, heavy and suffocating.
"There's one option," Elliot said finally, his voice hesitant.
Nina looked at him, her expression wary. "What?"
Elliot hesitated, his jaw tightening. "I know someone. Someone who might be able to help. But it's... complicated."
"Complicated how?"
"She doesn't exactly like me," Elliot admitted.
Nina frowned. "And you think she'll help?"
"She doesn't have to like me to want to screw over the Syndicate," Elliot said. "If anyone knows how to get them off our backs, it's her."
Nina considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," she said. "Let's do it."
Elliot gave her a faint smile, though the unease in his eyes didn't fade. "Let's hope this works."