Billy tapped the screen.
The hologram of the massive facility lit up the bunker.
"Alright," he said. "Here's what we're dealing with. Black Hallow Division."
James folded his arms.
"Oh boy. The people who think 'ethics' is a skin disease."
Billy ignored him and continued.
"They're a multi-layered criminal network," Billy explained. "Not street thugs. Not amateurs. A full corporate style structure with private armies, surveillance units, and enough money to buy three small countries if they felt bored."
Kris nodded.
"Basically a Fortune 500 company, but run by psychos."
Mira muttered, "So… Tuesday."
Rio choked on a laugh.
Billy pointed at the top layer of the hologram.
"They cover assassinations, illegal intel trading, blackmail, political manipulation, secure money laundering, and kidnapping for leverage."
Cecil added, "They keep their employees loyal by holding something over their heads. Family. Secrets. Weaknesses."
Charlie's jaw tightened.
Billy zoomed in on the underground portion.
"They steal identities. They wipe entire people off the grid. They swap evidence, rewrite digital footprints, and handle high-end clients who want their problems to disappear permanently."
James tilted his head.
"So like customer service, but demonic."
"Exactly," Billy said.
He tapped the map again.
"They have off-site servers, on-site intelligence storage, a private vault for hostage leverage, and a fully armed response unit. They're paranoid, disciplined, and violent. Which means…"
Rio grinned.
"We're gonna piss them off."
Billy sighed.
"Yes. But strategically."
Billy drummed his fingers on the table, letting the silence settle before he continued.
"Alright," he said. "Here's how we piss them off — step by step."
Rio leaned forward. "Finally."
Billy shot him a look. "Interrupt me again, and I'll make you be the distraction."
Rio sat back. "Continue."
FIRST MOVE — BLIND THEM
To start the heist, Cipher deploys a silent network worm into Black Hallow's communication grid. At the same time, Ghost infiltrates the abandoned maintenance tunnel and manually severs two key fiber lines.
This creates internal confusion:
– scrambled messages
– delayed alerts
– wrong alarm sectors
– patrol teams contradicting each other
Kris raised a hand. "Hold up. How bad we talking? Confusion like… 'oops wrong password,' or confusion like 'my boss ordered me to shoot my other boss'?"
Rio cracked a grin. "Closer to the second one."
Cecil blinked slowly. "That's concerning."
Billy nodded. "Good. Next."
SECOND MOVE — HIT THEIR MONEY & BURNT RECORDS
Once the communication web collapses, Cipher taps into Black Hallow's financial channels.
He activates a micro‑withdrawal siphon — small untraceable steals spread across hidden accounts.
While this happens, Prime inserts a physical drive directly into their server stack, triggering a timed auto‑erase program targeting their blackmail files, illegal projects, and classified archives.
James whistled. "So we're robbing them and exposing them at the same time?"
Billy shrugged. "Multitasking."
Mira raised a brow. "What if their server dogs catch Cipher's hack?"
Rio scoffed. "Please. me getting caught by the system, is as rare as an elephant giving birth to a lion,
Mira, "that doesn't even happen"
"My point exactly" rio said bragging
Billy pointed at them. "Suggestions?"
THIRD MOVE — TURN THEIR SECURITY AGAINST THEM
While the digital attack unfolds, Viper plants delayed shock traps along the guard pathways.
Non‑lethal, silent, and impossible to trace.
Meanwhile, Titan loops perimeter surveillance footage, making Black Hallow believe multiple identical vehicles are circling the base.
She also reroutes patrol patterns, forcing guards into each other's path and creating accidental clashes.
Mira snorted. "I get to mess with the perimeter and confuse the hell out of them? Perfect."
James folded his arms. "And you're sure these shock traps won't fry somebody's organs?"
"Relax," he said, shrugging. "Probably not."
Cecil leaned forward. "Define 'probably.'"
Billy groaned. "Anyone want to contribute something useful?"
Kris raised a hand. "Can I stab one of them?"
"No," Cecil said immediately.
Billy sighed. "We'll revisit it. Next step."
FOURTH MOVE — THE VAULT BREAK & EMPIRE SHATTER
At the heart of Black Hallow lies the vault — their pride. Their fortress.
Here's where the humiliation begins.
Ghost descends through the upper ventilation shaft and disables the manual lock systems.
Cipher then cracks the digital lock in a tight six‑second window.
Prime holds the passageway and covers their flank.
Once the vault door opens, Scope enters with high‑precision coverage, eliminating the two internal long‑range specialists and clearing the room.
Finally, Ghost plants EMP charges along the main data racks — silent, undetected, irreversible.
When activated later, these EMPs will fry everything Black Hallow has ever stored:
– blackmail files
– trafficking contracts
– identities
– bank keys
– operation logs
Charlie stared at the hologram. "This… will cripple them."
Billy nodded once. "It'll humiliate them."
James leaned forward. "And we get the kid in that stage or the next?"
"Next," Billy said. "When security collapses."
Mira raised a hand. "So… backup plan? If the vault fails?"
Billy exhaled. "Suggestions?"
FINAL MOVE — GLOBAL EXPOSURE
In the last stage, Pulse captures live footage of the illegal interior operations.
Cipher distributes the footage to global media outlets in real time.
And Prime schedules a timed broadcast bomb that airs the names and faces of Black Hallow leaders long after the team escapes.
Cecil tapped her pen. "That's… bold."
Rio smirked. "It's poetic."
Kris leaned back. "It's straight-up disrespectful. I love it."
Billy didn't sit down. He remained standing, shoulders squared, eyes burning with the kind of focus that made the room straighten subconsciously. The hologram shifted again, rotating to reveal a deeper layer of Black Hallow's base — one even the team hadn't seen before.
"Before we move on," Billy said, "there's something else you need to understand about these people."
The room quieted instantly.
He tapped a corner of the hologram. A cluster of red markers appeared on the lower levels.
"These aren't guards," Billy said. "They're handlers."
Cecil frowned. "Handlers for what?"
"For their leverage assets," Billy answered. "Not just hostages. People they brainwash, threaten, or program to work for them. Some of them… don't know they're prisoners."
Charlie's jaw flexed, hard. Mira noticed — she always noticed — but didn't say a word.
Billy continued, "The kid we're rescuing is held in one of these zones. They rotate the children and leverage assets weekly to avoid detection."
Kris frowned. "Why move a kid so often?"
"To keep them disoriented," Cecil murmured. "A moving target can't form routine. No routine, no rebellion."
Rio blew out a breath. "Damn. These people are allergic to peace."
Billy continued zooming through the map, revealing more overlapping layers.
"But this rotation is also our advantage. They shift security around the same time. Everyone's stretched, everyone's distracted. They hate unpredictability, and that's exactly what we're bringing."
James cracked his knuckles. "So we're going in during the shift?"
Billy nodded. "Exactly."
Mira raised a brow. "That gives us a window of what, twenty minutes?"
"Sixteen," Billy corrected.
Mira blinked. "…That's rude."
Billy shrugged. "If it were easy, we wouldn't be doing it."
Billy slid a data pad across the table. It contained rotating profiles of Black Hallow's key operators — lieutenants, wardens, analysts.
"These are the names connected to the kid's rotation schedule. They're not low level. They're trained. They've survived multiple purges."
Kris raised a brow. "Meaning they're paranoid."
"Meaning," Billy said, "they'll kill the child if they think they're losing control."
A thick silence fell.
Scope finally spoke, voice low and flat. "So we hit fast. No noise. No hesitation."
"Exactly," Billy said.
He pointed to the vault hologram again.
"Once the vault EMP triggers, their digital network collapses. Within sixty seconds, their cameras will reboot into blank screens. That's when Ghost and Pulse infiltrate the lower sector and retrieve the kid."
Pulse looked up. "And if they've moved her again?"
Billy tapped another layer.
"We track her signal manually. Cecil will handle overwatch. Titan will jam outgoing transmissions."
Cecil nodded slowly. "And if they attempt emergency relocation protocols?"
Billy didn't hesitate. "We intercept the transport and neutralize anyone involved."
Charlie's hands curled into fists.
Quiet. Controlled.
Kris raised a hand. "Hold on. This all sounds sexy and dangerous and chaotic — I love it — but we're glossing over one thing."
Billy clicked his tongue. "Which is?"
"We've done recon," Kris said. "And those response teams don't play. They shoot to erase. We make one mistake, and this becomes a rescue mission for all of us."
Rio scoffed. "Speak for yourself—"
"No, he's right," Cecil interrupted. "We need contingencies. Medical. Extraction routes. Disguise backups."
Billy nodded reluctantly. "We have three extraction routes."
He tapped the hologram, revealing green lines snaking away from the base.
"North exit — cleanest route, but closest to patrol reinforcements."
"East exit — longer, but safer. That's our primary."
"South exit — underground water system. Last resort only."
Mira wrinkled her nose. "The sewer route?"
"Last. Resort," Billy repeated.
James made a face. "I vote we don't smell like disappointment."
"Look," Billy said, lowering his voice, "Black Hallow isn't just another enemy. They know us. They've studied us. They have records, intel, patterns."
Rio raised a brow. "How much do they know?"
Billy hesitated. "… Enough."
Cecil leaned in. "Enough meaning?"
"Enough to identify three of us by real names," Billy said quietly.
A heavy silence dropped like a stone.
Charlie finally spoke, cold and razor-sharp. "They know me?"
Billy didn't answer immediately — which was the answer.
Charlie inhaled once, deeply. His eyes sharpened with a kind of fury only betrayal and loss could forge.
The kind of fury Black Hallow should fear.
"We're burning their empire," Charlie said.
A statement. Not a suggestion.
Billy didn't argue.
Billy zoomed the hologram out one final time.
"After the broadcast goes live, global agencies will descend on Black Hallow. They won't escape clean. Their money will freeze. Their leaders will scatter. Their reputation will collapse."
Kris grinned. "Delicious."
James smirked. "So we're basically throwing a grenade into their career goals."
"Pretty much," Billy said
He turned back to the team.
"This mission requires precision. No freelancing. No ego trips. We execute every step clean and in order."
Everyone nodded, except Rio, who nodded after Billy stared directly at him.
Billy stepped closer, voice dropping to a colder, sharper tone:
"We blind them.
We drain them.
We confuse them.
We break them.
We expose them.
And then we get that child out."
Charlie's eyes burned with quiet fire.
"We're ending them," he said.
Billy didn't disagree.