"Ok, guys let's gear up. We've got our work cut out for us," Sage said, pulling on her black gloves.
The girls were already dressed for business black clothes, nose masks, and bulletproof vests.
"We mean business," Eria said, eyeing the other two.
"Let's go through the plan," Alice said, spreading a blueprint across the table.
"Oh, and... we've got an addition," Sage added, stepping to the door.
"Come in."
Lena stepped inside.
"LENA?!" Eria blurted. "I thought we couldn't trust anybody!"
"Yes, but she's been tailing us for a while," Sage explained. "Yesterday, she came to me and said she wanted in."
"I noticed you three were keeping to yourselves," Lena said. "Besides... you could use the help."
Eria crossed her arms. "Fine. Let's just get through the plan."
Alice pointed to the blueprint. "The Taskforce is planning to escape through this tunnel under the tracks. To stop them, we need to be inside the building."
Lena frowned. "Heavily guarded entrances, right?"
"Yeah all but one," Alice said, tapping the map. "Here. Hole in the wall, east side. They left it unguarded."
"So, Eria and Lena infiltrate," Sage continued, "while Alice and I follow, cutting off communications. Once we reach the tunnel, Alice cuts the tracks and leaves a big wedge. Eria uses Ghost Step to grab important documents."
The girls nodded and headed out, the abandoned five-story Taskforce headquarters looming ahead, its oversized gate like a warning.
They crouched behind bushes, waiting for patrols to pass.
"Naomi said we should wait until we have a foolproof plan," Eria whispered. "But I didn't tell her they're fleeing tonight."
"My problem," Lena said, "is whether we can pull this off. This is the Taskforce the ones who attacked the guild."
"They're leaving partly because so many of their people got arrested," Sage reassured her. "Now... move."
Eria slipped through the wall crack and quietly opened the gate for the others. They crept along shadowed paths, dodging the sniper tower's light.
"I feel like we're in a spy movie," Alice chuckled.
They found the hole, slipped inside, and Sage signaled: Eria and Lena go forward.
Thirty Minutes Earlier The Boys' Approach
"Guards are gone. Back door's clear," Robert said into the comms.
"That's our entrance," James said.
"Long night ahead," Bruce muttered.
They moved through the compound and slipped inside.
"Phil, head to the tunnel," Robert ordered. "We'll spread out and dig for dirt."
Alice's voice came over comms from another wing: "Ugh, all I'm finding are boring Great Interplanetary War files."
Sage scanned a page. "The Taskforce's founder is unknown... but powerful enough to pull strings from the shadows."
"Take it," Lena advised. "It might be useful."
Mike and Robert stumbled across boxes of old documents.
"Hey this paper's dated October 13, 2009... Tyrone's birthday," Mike said.
Robert grabbed a matching newspaper. "Headline: 'Earth Sentient mysteriously dies at hospital.'"
James' voice crackled in: "That's Michael, the former Sentient... Tyrone's dad."
"Bag it all," Robert ordered.
At the tunnel, Phil froze the tracks were already cut, and a bomb sat near the end.
"Uh... guys, we have a situation," Phil called.
Eria and Lena appeared behind him.
"What is this place?" Phil asked weakly. "Found it while hiking."
"At night?" Lena shot back.
"And in tactical gear?" Eria added.
Before they could argue further, Phil tensed. "We need to get out of here I can't reach the girls."
Back in the archive room, Alice complained, "Hands are cramping from sorting all these files..."
Sage frowned. "We haven't heard from Eria in five minutes. Let's move."
Three guards appeared from nowhere. Sage reacted on instinct, hurling an azure firebolt that set off the fire alarm.
Alice took one guard down with a kick into an iron drum. The other aimed a pistol the bullet snapped back into his own leg as if yanked by invisible hands. Sage finished him with a kick to the face.
"Go!" Sage panted. "We need to get to that tunnel."
Meanwhile, Bruce, James, and Robert were already moving.
"Place is chaos," Robert said. "That fire alarm's thrown them into disarray."
They reached the tunnel entrance just as Sage and Alice arrived.
"What the hell? I thought you were leaving this to the authorities!" Sage barked.
"We came to find Phil," Bruce said.
A loud bang echoed from the tunnel the bomb.
"Why blow the tunnel if they haven't left?" Lena asked.
Then a voice cut through the air: "Phil! What the hell are you doing here?"
Phil turned with a forced smile. "Marcus! Long time no see..."
Darius' voice was cold. "Don't give us that crap. Where's the rest of your crew?"
Through the comms, Vanessa reported: "Marcus, we've got Sage and Tyrone's friends at the tunnel."
Marcus's voice was steady but sharp, carrying the authority of the eldest cousin.
"Naomi, get Sage and Tyrone's friends. Meet us at the junction. We can't afford to split any longer."
Naomi nodded and signaled Eria, Alice, Robert, Bruce, James, Mike, and Phil to follow. Their footsteps echoed through the dim tunnels until the group finally converged with Marcus and the others. The reunion was brief, relief flashing across tired faces before being replaced with resolve.
But before a word could be exchanged, Marcus's comms hissed with static.
"Marcus, this is Olan. The Taskforce heard the fight from the east wing. They're coming your way fast."
Marcus's jaw tightened. "Damn it. They'll box us in here. Everyone slip out the back and move to the safehouse. Naomi, Darius we'll handle this group. The rest of you regroup and prepare fallback positions."
The order rippled through the group. They knew what it meant distraction, sacrifice, survival.
As the strike team filtered toward the back route, the sound of synchronized boots filled the tunnel. From the shadows emerged the Taskforce: armored soldiers moving with machine-like precision, weapons raised and batons crackling with voltage.
At their head strode a tall figure clad in gleaming silver armor, his face hidden behind a reflective visor that caught the dim lights like a predator's gaze.
"Targets acquired," came his voice, distorted and metallic, calm in the chaos.
Sage's flames ignited with a snap, the azure glow painting her sharp features. "Silver Vidor… so he's real."
The visor man didn't acknowledge her. He raised a hand, and the Taskforce fanned out in formation, weapons ready.
The battle erupted like thunder.
Sage's fire roared, a blazing tide that split the tunnel in shimmering blue heat. Alice hurled steel debris into the soldiers with invisible precision, while Eria blurred through the fray, too fast to pin down, disarming enemies before they could fire. Bruce's fists detonated like cannons, shockwaves cracking the floor with every strike. James's illusory clones darted in opposite directions, drawing gunfire and confusion.
Robert slammed a hand forward, his force-field absorbing the storm of bullets before snapping back in a concussive wave that flattened half a squad. Phil blurred past, ripping through weapons' circuitry with a single touch, sparks raining in his wake. Mike's magnetic pulse ripped rifles out of soldier's hands, the weapons clattering to the ground in a storm of metal.
But the visor man advanced without pause. Azure fire curled around him without burning. Alice gritted her teeth, straining her power to tear his armor apart, but her telekinesis slid uselessly off its polished surface.
"He's… resistant," she gasped.
Finally, the visor man spoke, his voice calm, cutting through the roar of battle.
"You're wasting time. The one we want isn't here. But he will be."
Naomi stepped forward, her tactical projections shifting her allies' stances, coordinating them like chess pieces on a board. Her voice was ice.
"You're not laying a finger on my brothers."
The visor tilted slightly, almost amused, then gestured. His soldiers surged forward, the tunnel exploding in chaos once more.
Despite their ferocity, the truth became clear the Taskforce was trained, disciplined, and unrelenting. More soldiers pressed in from the flanks, pushing them to the brink.
"Fall back!" Marcus roared over the clash. "Everyone to the safehouse NOW!"
Cover fire, illusions, and barriers flared as one by one, Tyrone's siblings and friends withdrew. Sage's flames sealed the path behind them in a wall of sapphire heat.
The visor man didn't pursue. He stood motionless, silver mask reflecting the flames, and spoke one last time, his words carrying like a curse down the tunnel:
"The boy is the key. And no one not even family can hide him forever."
They stumbled into the safehouse, breath ragged, bodies bruised but unbroken. Smoke and adrenaline hung in the air.
Robert sank against the wall, his shield fading into sparks. "They know…" his voice was raw, heavy. "They know about Tyrone."