Time: 03:14 A.M.The safehouse walls hummed like they were holding their breath.
Phineas was the first to freeze. His tablet light flickered once — then hard-locked.That never happened.
"Kayden…" he whispered.Not loud.Not panicked.Just a tone that meant run.
APEX flared in Kayden's vision, a violent burst of teal static.
"WARNING: Local grid distortion detected.Field teams approaching.Perimeter breach in—"
A single beat of silence.
"—12 seconds."
Alex's breath caught. "Twelve? TWELVE?! How did they—"
Kayden didn't let him finish.
"Move."
No hesitation. No doubt. A leader's instinct.
He grabbed Alex's arm and pushed him toward the back stairwell. Phineas bolted to the corner window and cracked the blinds just enough to see—
A black SRD transport sliding into the alley with its lights off.
He swore under his breath."They're doing a dead-channel approach. That means no sensors—just bodies. They're coming in silent."
APEX flickered again, projecting a shaky overlay of the building.
Red silhouettes climbing the exterior walls.Two more taking rooftop positions.One breaching the side door.
Kayden clenched his jaw.They weren't scanning anymore.They were hunting.
"Phineas," Kayden said, voice flat. "Exit route?"
Phineas didn't blink. "Stairwell down, cut through the laundry chute, jump to the adjacent balcony. It's a twenty-foot drop. If Alex lands wrong, he snaps a leg."
Alex went pale. "Sorry—WHAT?!"
Kayden's hand landed on his shoulder.
"Alex. Look at me."
Alex did.
"You won't fall. I'm right behind you."
Something in Alex's chest steadied — not calm, exactly, but belief.
APEX pulsed urgently.
"Commander—breach imminent."
The door shook once.Twice.
A metallic thud.A breacher charge being magnetized to the lock.
Kayden spun. "Go!"
The three of them sprinted for the stairwell.
The breacher detonated behind them.
BOOM.
The sound punched through the hallway, dust exploding into the air like shrapnel. Alex flinched so hard he nearly face-planted — but Kayden grabbed his jacket and yanked him upright without breaking stride.
SRD boots flooded the room they'd just been in.
Voices:
"Team 1 inside!""Thermals negative, they moved!""Block south exit—compress the grid!"
Phineas hit the stair rail in a tight arc, sliding down the metal with practiced efficiency.Alex followed, arms pinwheeling.
Kayden vaulted the last five steps like gravity owed him respect.
They hit the basement.
Phineas shoved open a rusted maintenance panel.
"This way!"
Alex stared in horror."That is NOT a way. That is a hole!"
"It's a laundry chute," Phineas snapped.
"It's a DEATH chute!"
Kayden didn't argue.He grabbed Alex by the collar.
"You trust me?"
Alex swallowed. His voice cracked.
"Always."
"Then go."
Kayden pushed.
Alex vanished down the chute with a panicked yelp that echoed like a terrified bird falling down a well.
Phineas went next, muttering something about friendship contracts and bad life choices.
Kayden slid in last.
APEX flared again mid-descent.
"Commander—roof breach. Additional units inbound."
Kayden landed in a pile of old sheets, rolled to his feet, and hauled Alex upright. Phineas was already at the broken window, assessing the jump.
He pointed to a balcony across the alley."Twenty feet. You jump out and grab the rail. No hesitation."
Alex stared."No hesitation?! I hesitate professionally!"
Kayden grabbed the front of his hoodie.
"Alex."A breath.A grounding look.
"I won't let you fall."
Alex's heartbeat stuttered.Then steadied.
"...Okay. Okay. Fine. If I die, I'm haunting you."
Phineas rolled his eyes. "Just jump on three—"
A bullet tore through the wall inches from his head.
Alex screamed.Phineas flinched.Kayden reacted.
"NO counting. GO!"
Alex leapt.
For a split second he was suspended above the alley — a terrified silhouette in dirty moonlight — then his fingers hooked the balcony rail.
He slipped.
"NO— no no no— Kayden!"
Kayden dove.
His hand shot out and caught Alex's wrist with a grip so tight it felt welded.Alex dangled three stories above the ground, legs kicking, breath gone.
"Got you," Kayden said, voice calm in a way that should've been impossible."I told you. I'm right here."
Phineas jumped next, grabbed the railing, and hauled himself over.Together he and Kayden dragged Alex up to safety.
SRD agents stormed into the alley below them.
Kayden didn't wait.
"Move. Roof three buildings east."
Phineas nodded and took point, sprinting across the narrow balcony and vaulting the divider like a trained operator.
Alex followed more awkwardly, still shaking.
Kayden brought up the rear, APEX flickering beside him like a failing guardian angel.
They reached the rooftop.
APEX's tone turned sharp.
"Commander… new signal detected.Origin: unidentified.Layered above SRD channels."
Phineas checked his tablet — even its damaged screen pulsed with interference.
"That's not SRD," he breathed. "That's… higher."
Alex swallowed hard."Higher than SRD? Who the hell is higher than—"
APEX answered for them.
"Ascendant Citadel relay established.Observation: active."
Kayden stopped dead on the rooftop.
Wind whipped at his hair.Distant sirens echoed like a slow heartbeat.The city felt suddenly small beneath him.
The Citadel wasn't watching the chase.
They were watching him.
A single line of text bled across APEX's static, written in a cold, unfamiliar font:
OPERATOR INITIATION: STAGE ONE COMPLETE.PROCEED.
Alex read it and went ghost-pale.Phineas's throat tightened.
Kayden exhaled once, steady.
"We keep moving."
He didn't look afraid.He didn't look overwhelmed.
He looked like someone who finally understood the scale of the battlefield waiting for him.