Chapter 27
1811words
He could end this easily. A flash of fire, one strike to their mouths, and they'll be burning from the inside out. But something about the way they talked, "the boss" made his gut tell him to not kill them. If they were working for whoever Rift was investigating, then following them might be the smarter move.
He peeked around the corner. Two figures in black coats, their faces hidden behind masks that can change expressions. The masks weren't V.E.I.L's, too far advanced, Corporate? Maybe. Or worse, private enforcement, like the special armed forces.
One of them kicked a table. "Nothing. The recorder's gone."
"Fuck." The other cursed softly. "Then some bastard must've- wait. Hold on"
The guy scanned the table where the recording was and footsteps that the scanning picked up. "Someone was definitely here."
Sun's muscles tensed.
The first figure stepped closer to the shattered window, the one Sun had jumped through just minutes ago. His boots stopped inches from the edge.
"Maybe they're still here."
Then a sound cracked through the air, a distant alarm somewhere deeper in the district. Both men looked up. Their masks pulsed faintly with blue light.
"Let's move. Drones say there's an energy spike near the lower blocks. They might've gone that way."
Their boots splashed as they moved off into the rain.
Sun waited another ten seconds before moving. His instincts screamed to get out, but something in the way those two talked, that mention of energy surge and the Rift incident, meant they knew far a lot, this could be the lead he's looking for.
He slipped into the alleys, keeping low beneath leaking awnings. Cameras blinked red in corners. Drones hummed past, scanning each figure they have not yet recognize, none stopped on him. Rift's words echoed in his mind.
"I programmed them to recognize you."
He moved froward, then he passed what looked like an old train platform, now overgrown with cables and fungus. People huddled in the shadows, workers, exiles, maybe those who couldn't afford to live under the city's surveillance. They glanced up as he passed, frowned at him.
He wasn't welcome here.
He ducked under a collapsed walkway and crouched behind a flickering vending unit. Pulling out the recording device.
The device pulsed faintly, waiting.
He debated turning it back on but stopped himself. Too risky. If those masked men could track energy surges, then even activating it might give him away. He tucked it back into his coat and moved again.
A faint hum filled the air.
Then, movement. A small drone drifted down the alley ahead of him, different from the standard city ones. Sleeker. Silent. No markings. Its single lens rotated toward him and scanned.
"Shit," he muttered, ducking behind the vending unit again.
The drone hovered, then projected a faint cone of blue light, scanning the entire alleyway, the it stopped on the vending machine. It spotted him
[IDENTITY KNOWN: BLINDING SUN]
[DIRECTIVE: KILL.]
The drone's eye flared red.
A split second later, a beam of plasma hissed through the air, carving a molten line across the vending unit. Sun threw himself sideways as the machine exploded in a shower of sparks and twisted metal. Heat bit at his cheek, and the smell of burning plastic filled the alley.
He hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up on one knee.
The drone swiveled midair, targeting him again.
Sun's hands clenched, light crackling between his fingers. He could blast it, end it in one shot. But if he ends it here, it risked alerting more of them, or worse, whoever was running this city.
The drone fired again.
Sun sprinted forward, his boots splashing through the puddles. He ducked low, weaving between the narrow walls. The beam tore past him, scalding the air.
Sun floated in midair and flew pass with speed. But he immediately halted when more of them arrived. 50 more of them.
Sun froze midair, scanning the swarm. "You've got to be kidding me."
They spread out in formation, each one locking onto him with mechanical precision. The air filled with the high-pitched whine of charging weapons.
He shot upward, light streaking behind him, but they followed instantly, moving in perfect sync. Plasma fire cut through the downpour, scorching the night in flashes of red and white.
Sun banked hard around a tower, the wind tearing at his soaked hood. Every second, his instincts screamed to unleash his powers, to burn them all down. But his gut is telling him not to and he always listens to his gut.
A blast grazed his shoulder, spinning him. Sparks burst across his jacket. He gritted his teeth, twisted midair, and dove between two skyscrapers.
The drones followed, fifty lines of red light chasing him through the storm.
He angled downward, wings of golden flame flickering faintly behind him. "Alright. This is getting annoying."
He slammed into the side of a building, boots skidding along the slick surface, then kicked off, flipping upside down and firing a burst of condensed light. The explosion tore through three drones, scattering molten debris.
The others adapted instantly, splitting into two groups. Ten pursued directly; the rest fanned out, surrounding the entire block.
He couldn't outfly them.
He ducked into an alley, tearing through a holographic billboard that exploded into static around him. He landed on a narrow bridge between rooftops, crouched low, breath hissing in the cold air.
For a moment, silence, only the rain and the faint hum of machines.
Then the red dots returned. Fifty became forty-seven. Forty-seven became thirty.
"Keep coming," he muttered.
He drew in a slow breath. Light flickered under his skin again, brighter this time. A single bead of sweat ran down his temple, hissing as it touched the energy radiating from his body.
The first drone came into view.
He released it, a controlled detonation of heatless fire that burst out like a solar flare. The nearest drones melted midair, their metal frames dripping as they fell. But the flash caught the others' attention, and the sky filled with red eyes once more.
Sun staggered, clutching his chest. The flare drained him faster than he expected. His powers didn't respond well in this city, the atmosphere is, dampened due to the rain and the dark clouds.
Then his comm crackled.
Then... a deep voice:"You have something of mine."
Sun's heart slammed so hard. Time narrowed to that single sentence. He tasted iron in his mouth.
"Who the hell-?"
A figure appeared.
Tall. Wide-brimmed black hat, face hidden beneath its shadow. Matte-black gloves. Tactical trench coat. Underneath, sleek black formal wear that cost more than any hovercar.
Sun hadn't felt him arrive. Not a trace, not even a step in a puddle.
This man was dangerous.
And Sun's gut, is yelling at him: Run.
Blinding Sun never ran. Not from the planet-eater worm. Not from the emperor from some other planet, whose name was too long to remember.
But this man...
He was something else entirely.
The man didn't move. Didn't breathe, even if he did, Sin can't hear it. The rain seemed to bend around him, sliding off his coat.
Behind Sun, thirty drones hovered in the rain, weapons ready but none attacked. As if waiting.
The man lifted his chin a fraction. Sun still couldn't see his face. Only a faint glimmer of the man's chin.
"Hand it over," the stranger said, voice low and calm.
"If you mean the recorder, then you're gonna have to explain why your tin cans just tried to-"
The man appeared in front of him.
Not moved.
Not teleported.Appeared.
Sun stumbled back, instincts exploding. His hands lit up, white hot.
The man raised a single gloved finger.
Sun froze.
Every nerve in his body seized, not from paint, but... command. Like his nervous system had been overwritten. He couldn't move, not even to breath deeply.
His chest tightened.
"What... did you just-"
"You're interfering with operations that do not concern you." The man's voice was soft, but the drones behind him shifted in unison. "The device you carry will put this operation in jeopardy. You will give it to me."
Sun forced air into his lungs. "Like Hell. Rift died for this. I'm not handing it over."
The man tilted his head, studying him.
"Rift's death was unfortunate. But expected."
Sun's stomach dropped.
"Expected?"
"You killed him."
"No," the man said simply.
That's it? No explanation? "Who the hell are you?" Sun growled.
The man reached up and touched the brim of his hat.
The rain around them evaporated.
Not steam. Not heat.Erased.
A ripple of static spread across the rooftop, distorting the air.
Sun's breath hitched.
"I," the man said, "am the one who decides what this city do and does not do."
Sun felt the device in his coat vibrate, like it recognized the man.
"You have three seconds to hand it to me."
The drones aimed.
Sun's pulse hammered.
Three seconds.
No way out.
No clean escape.
Unless he stopped listening to his gut.
So, Sun didn't wait for the count.
His right leg blazed to life, fire roaring up from ankle to thigh. He spun, driving a kick straight for the man's chest. But, the stranger wasn't there.
Sun's foot smashed through empty air, the flames trailing behind.
Then the drones reacted.
Thirty red eyes flared at once. They opened fire.
Sun shot upward in a burst of light, plasma beams tearing through the space he'd been standing. The rooftop shattered behind him. He banked hard, twisting through the storm as lasers sliced the rain into steam.
"Ugh! I hate these damn drones!"
He dove into the swarm.
Solar charge wrapped his arms, heatless but blinding. He fired a blast that cut down five drones instantly. Another cluster closed in, he flipped, kicked off one, sent it spiraling into two more.
Red beams converged.
Sun dodged, weaving through the dark sky, his body a streak of gold flashing between shots. Each time a drone locked onto him, he answered with a burst of fire, a punch, a sweep of his heel, metal shells popping like firecrackers in the rain.
The last one lunged.
Sun caught it, crushed the chassis with a single glowing hand, and hurled the remains into the street below.
Then silence.
Smoke drifted around him. Rain cooled the heat from his skin.
He hovered for a moment, chest heaving, then dropped back to the rooftop where the stranger had been.
It was empty.
Sun's heat spiked. He shoved past debris, scanning every shadow around him.
He immediately reached into his coat. His fingers closed around an empty pocket.
"The recorder... Fuck." He whispered
Taken without a sound, without any trance.
