The moon was a pale crescent over the industrial outskirts of Sector Vanta, where the smoke never cleared. Beneath that choking veil stood Facility 19-A, one of many hidden labs managed by the Descovinio line. But this one bore a particular stench.
Drago Descovinio.
Enzo stood at the edge of the freight canyon, cloak drawn tight against the wind. Through the lens in his right eye, he watched heat signatures flicker in and out of the smog. They were moving civilians—another batch of undesirables for experimentation.
"I count thirty-two," Vega whispered from his flank. "At least two enforcers per section. The vault is buried three levels down. Typical fortress design."
Lyra exhaled. "How many can we save?"
"All of them," Enzo said.
They looked at him.
He didn't flinch.
"We hit the generator first. Blackout window gives us ten minutes. Vega leads the tech bypass, Lyra shadows left for overwatch. I'll go down the center."
"And if it gets loud?" Lyra asked.
"Make it louder."
---
Facility 19-A was a maze of white walls, surveillance nodes, and silent screams. AGILA moved through it like ghosts. When the blackout hit, the lights died with a thunderclap. Sirens chirped—briefly—then stuttered into silence. Vega's EMP burst bought them an extra sixty seconds.
Enzo tore through a locked corridor using Cain—not ignited, just pulsing. The door crumpled like paper. Lyra watched, again, noting the glimmer of energy but keeping her thoughts silent.
They reached the central holding cell: glass cages stacked three high. Emaciated civilians blinked against the sudden dark.
"AGILA," Enzo called softly. "We're getting you out."
A few stumbled forward. Others just cried.
Vega started unlocking cages. Lyra watched the halls, her pulse synced to the rhythm of footfalls that hadn't yet arrived.
Then a whisper:
"Help..."
It came from behind a sealed cryo-chamber marked with a red glyph: "EXCEPTION – AR-07".
Enzo stepped inside.
A pale figure, no older than nineteen, sat bound at the wrists. Around one arm floated a faint silver ring—like liquid mercury suspended in air. The captive looked up, eyes trembling.
"I'm Mira," she whispered. "You're not from here, are you?"
"No," Enzo said. "We're here to get you out."
"Why?"
"Because what they did to you is wrong."
Mira nodded faintly. "ARGYROS told me someone would come. It sees things I don't. Sometimes."
The silver ring sparked briefly, casting blue runes into the air. A map. Real-time movement. Enzo blinked.
"You can see their patrols?"
"Yes. But if I use it too long, I feel what they feel. Panic. Anger. Sometimes it crushes me."
"We'll get you out before it does."
---
Outside, reinforcements arrived.
Drago's command squad—heavy enforcers in obsidian armor—descended into the lab just as AGILA escorted the freed prisoners through the rear corridor. Mira walked beside Enzo, steps uneven but determined.
"Exit blocked!" Vega called out. "We're boxed in!"
"Let me," Mira said.
Enzo hesitated.
Then nodded.
Mira stepped forward, ARGYROS humming louder. Ghosts spilled from the walls—decoy images of AGILA members sprinting in false directions. The enforcers opened fire on illusions while the real team slipped through a collapsing side hallway.
The way wasn't clean. Two civilians tripped. Lyra doubled back and pulled them up. Vega covered the exit.
Enzo carried Mira over rubble.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm always afraid," Mira whispered. "But right now... less."
Cain pulsed at his side.
"Let's keep moving."
---
They emerged into the forest underbrush half a klick from the facility just as the generator roared back to life. Behind them, Facility 19-A returned to darkness.
They had done it.
Thirty-two civilians.
One relic weapon holder.
A victory.
And a message.
AGILA was real.
---
Later, as Enzo patched his shoulder and Vega reviewed Mira's data overlays, Lyra sat quietly, watching him.
She didn't say it.
But she thought it:
Zero would've done this. Fought like this. Chosen this.
And the way Enzo moved through smoke and fire... it was like the stories.
But she wasn't ready to know yet.
And Enzo wasn't ready to tell her.
---
In the forest beyond, Mira sat alone, ARGYROS rotating above her palm. In the reflections of its projections, flickers of her trauma played back in symbols and fractured light.
"You came back," she whispered to no one. "Someone finally came back."
She turned to the fire AGILA had built behind her and pulled her knees close.
The ring dimmed.
But her hope didn't.
For the first time in years, she wasn't just a tool in someone else's lab.
She was part of something.
Something real.
And the smoke that rose behind her carried not the scent of ruin—but revolution.