Chapter 16
943words
The faint sound of heels echoed through the empty corridor, each step purposeful.
Ash walked toward the lift. Two guards shifted their gaze to her as she approached, one of them raising a hand to block her path.
"Excuse me, ma'am," the guard said firmly. "You are not permitted to be here. Please, return to the party and enjoy."
Ash stopped. Tilting her head to the side. Her eyes narrowed, just slightly.
They blinked, confused, before either could move or speak.
A flash. A sharp slice across both their throats, clean and precise. The metallic shimmer of her mechanical tail retracted smoothly back beneath her clothes. The guards fell, choking on their blood, their bodies falling on the floor.
She stepped over them without mercy and entered the lift. One press of her finger, and the lift descended into the sublevel.
When the doors slid open, the vault chamber stretched before her. The scanners coming to life, pale lights scanning across the room.
"Vera Core Scanners." Her voice was flat, unimpressed. "Hmph, disappointing."
She flicked her wrist, and a holographic keyboard appeared into the air. Her fingers flew across the translucent keys, streams of data spilling into the hovering screens. The scanners fought back, firewalls snapping into place, protocols scrambling to hold her out.
They didn't last long.
Ash's expression didn't change as she typed the final sequence. Submit.
The scanners died in silence, their lights fading like candles snuffed out.
She moved forward, unfazed, until she reached the vault. No Fester ID card. No clearance. None needed.
Another device slipped into her hand. She pressed it against the vault's surface. A hiss. A glow. The metal dissolved cleanly, leaving a hole the exact size of her frame.
She stepped inside.
The room was still humming faintly with power. Rows of glass tubes lined the walls, organs suspended in liquid, machines whispering secrets in code.
Her eyes didn't linger. She already knew what she wanted.
She walked to the tube where the man floated. Long black hair drifting like seaweed, scars hidden beneath the purple suspension. His eyes were closed, his body curled into itself.
Ash pulled a device from her coat, pressed it against the glass, and keyed in coordinates. A soft vibration pulsed once, then the entire tube blinked out of existence. Gone.
She turned to the raised platform.
The cube pulsed there, slits glowing with a faint red light. A heartbeat in metal.
Ash picked it up, weighed it in her palm. Its glow flared faintly, but she didn't react.
Walking back to the vault's edge, she sealed the hole seamlessly with another press of her device. Not a trace left behind.
She tapped her earpiece.
"My red smoothie with extra cherry is done. I'll be home for dinner."
The line crackled, then a voice answered, warm, teasing: "Good job sweetie. Can't wait to see the smoothie... might even steal a taste."
"Don't or big father will mad." Ash said flatly.
She stepped into the lift. The doors slide shut. The lift rose, carrying her back to the desired floor.
Somewhere in the Red Light Sector District, Eris lounged on her couch while she typed away on the holographic keyboard and read the data streaming across the screen.
Her apartment was clean, but it's been cluttered in a way many hackers have in their apartments, tangled of cables, processors, and jury-rigged devices covered nearly every flat surface. Small drones lay disassembled on the counter, their metallic shells gleaming faintly under the red glow glowing in through the blinds. The constant light of neon signs outside painted the walls in shades of crimson. Monitors and holo-panels flickered along one wall, layering shifting code and ghosted city maps over the furniture. Despite the chaos in her apartment, everything seemed deliberately placed, as if Eris knew exactly where every cable, chip, and tool belonged.
But irritation grew within Eris.
She leaned forward, jaw tight, eyes flicking between streams of data. Hours she'd spent trying to unlock what shouldn't have been locked at all. A file tied to Slyvian Blackbird's father. A file that had erased itself before she could trace the trail.
She drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch.
Why would a corporate archive shred itself the moment she opened it?
What was hidden in Black Waves City that someone didn't want seen?
And why are the damn neighbors so loud?
Her screen chirped. New data spooled across it, vault signatures. A system she hadn't touched had just gone dark.
Eris frowned. "That's not random."
With a swipe, she isolated the feed. Symbols scrolled across the panel, time-stamped less than an hour ago. Someone had slipped inside the Prosperity Plaza vault from The LeCrane Industries. Someone skilled enough to ghost every scanner.
Her irritation melted into a cold, sharp focus. She leaned back, a faint smirk tugging at her lips. "So... who's playing in my city?"
Vera Core Scanners: Advanced full-body detection systems designed to identify powered individuals instantly. Using layered bio-frequency mapping and neural resonance scans, Vera Core can detect even the faintest trace of superhuman ability. If power is present, the system triggers an immediate alarm. "The eyes that see beyond flesh. No false positives, no mistakes, Vera Core sees everything."
MeltFrame: The MeltFrame is a compact, handheld infiltration tool designed for precision breaches. When activated, it emits a controlled stream of molecular destabilizers that dissolve solid surfaces cleanly, cutting out a section exactly to the user's specifications. Once the job is done, a secondary function restores the material, seamlessly resealing the breach as if it never existed. Silent, efficient, and untraceable. "In. Out. Gone without a trace."
