We moved fast. There was no time for a plan, no time to think. There was only the primal, driving need to escape. We left the shooting range and plunged back into the labyrinth of the Undercroft. The feeling of being watched was no longer paranoia; it was a physical weight on my shoulders. I saw movement in the shadows, a flicker of light from another player's HUD disappearing around a corner ahead of us. They weren't just following. They were anticipating. They were cutting us off. The Exiles were stalking us, patient hyenas waiting for the Ghost Enforcer—the lion—to strike first so they could pick at the scraps.
"We can't outrun them," I said, my breath coming in ragged gasps. We were running without a destination, a fatal mistake in this world. "They're everywhere. This entire level is a kill box."
"We don't need to outrun them," Anya replied, her voice steady and sharp. Her eyes scanned every intersection, every dark alcove. She was thinking tactically, even in a panic. "We need a better place to hide. A place they can't get to. A private server." She looked at me, her face grim in the dim light. "There's only one person who has places like that. We have to call Seraph."
My heart sank. Seraph. The last time we spoke, she had all but called me useless. She was a leader, not a charity. She managed risks and assets. Right now, I was her biggest risk and a broken asset. She would see my bounty not as a problem to solve, but as a dangerous complication for her own plans. But Anya was right. We had no other choice. We were out of options.
We found a small, defensible dead-end tunnel. It was a terrible place to get trapped, but it was the only spot where we could watch our backs for a few precious seconds. I stood guard at the entrance, my basic pistol feeling like a child's toy in my hand, while Anya knelt behind a rusted metal crate and opened a secure comms channel to the Ouroboros leader.
Seraph's voice came through instantly, as if she had been waiting for the call. It was as calm and melodic as ever, but there was a new edge to it, a sharpness like chipped crystal. "I see the System has made your situation more… public. I am looking at your bounty right now. The rewards are significant. You have become a very popular man, Leo."
"We need help, Seraph," Anya said, cutting straight to the point. There was no time for pleasantries. "We need a sanctuary. One of your faction's secure servers. A place where the System can't track us. The Exiles are closing in."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. It was a calculated silence. I could imagine Seraph in her command center, surrounded by holographic maps, weighing her options. Helping us would mean taking a huge risk. Protecting the game's most wanted player would draw the unwanted attention of the System itself. It would paint a target on her entire faction.
"Protecting you is a costly proposition," Seraph said finally. Her voice was pure business, stripped of all warmth. "It would expose my hidden networks. It would endanger my people. My primary duty is to them, not to a compromised ally."
"Our deal is still valid," I interjected, my voice tight with desperation. I had to remind her of my value. "The Exile's Key. We have it. We can still help you get what you want."
"A key is useless if the person holding it is dead," she retorted coldly. "And right now, Leo, you are the most likely person in this entire game to die in the next hour."
This was it. The moment she cut us loose. The moment she left us here to be torn apart by the wolves. I felt a pit of despair open in my stomach.
"However," she continued, her tone shifting slightly. A sliver of hope returned, thin and sharp. "A crisis can also be an opportunity. Your… predicament presents a unique tactical situation."
I didn't like the sound of that. "Opportunity" and "tactical situation" were words that leaders used when they were about to send soldiers on a suicide mission.
"The Dominion faction also wants your bounty," Seraph explained, her voice now quick and efficient. She was a general outlining a battle plan. "Their leadership is gone, but their best hunters remain. They are mobilizing as we speak. At the same time, my agents have located a valuable asset. There is a System Backdoor, a glitch in a service terminal in the old 'Titan's Cross' industrial zone. It can be used to temporarily scrub a player's signature from the network. It could hide you from the bounty hunters. For a while."
"What's the catch?" Anya asked, her voice laced with suspicion. She knew, just as I did, that a gift from Seraph always came with a price.
"The Dominion wants it too," Seraph said. "They know its location. We are about to be in a race to secure it. This is where you come in."
She laid out her plan. It wasn't a rescue. It was a gambit. A devil's bargain, signed in blood.
"I cannot send my forces to protect you in the Undercroft. It would be an open declaration of war on my own territory. But I can offer you a deal. I will send you the coordinates for Titan's Cross. You will proceed there immediately. Your bounty signal is the perfect bait. The Dominion hunters will ignore the terminal. They will ignore all other objectives. They will come directly for you."
"You want to use me as bait," I said. The words tasted like poison.
"I want to use a valuable asset in the most effective way possible," she corrected me, her voice unyielding. "You will lead the Dominion's elite hunters into an ambush. My best fire team will be waiting. We will eliminate their hunter squads while they are focused on you. If you survive the initial engagement, we will secure the terminal and scrub your signature. You get your temporary safety. I get to remove a significant portion of my enemy's forces from the board."
It was a suicide mission. She was asking me to walk into the open, a walking target with a broken primary skill, and let a pack of elite killers hunt me down. All of it rested on the hope that her team could save me before I was killed. What if they were late? What if they missed a shot?
Anya was furious. Her voice was a low growl. "He'll be slaughtered before your team even fires a shot! He can't fight them, Seraph!"
"He won't be alone," Seraph said calmly. "You will be with him, Anya. And I will have my best team in position. It is a high-risk plan. But it is the only plan. The alternative is to wait in that tunnel until the Enforcer, or a dozen Exiles with nothing to lose, find you. This is your choice."
She was right. It was a horrible, insane choice. But it was a choice. It was a single, narrow path out of a room with collapsing walls. It was a chance. It was better than cowering in the dark, waiting for the end.
This was how I could be useful again. Not as a sniper. Not as a fighter. But as a target. My weakness was now my only asset.
I looked at Anya. She shook her head, her eyes pleading with me not to agree. She would rather fight our way out, back-to-back, than trust my life to Seraph's cold calculations.
But she didn't see the full picture. The fear I felt was not just of the Dominion, or the Exiles. It was the fear of the Ghost Enforcer. That was a personal battle. And I couldn't fight it while looking over my shoulder every second. We had to thin the herd.
"We'll do it," I said into the comms. My voice was steady. For the first time since I lost my skill, I felt a flicker of purpose return. It was a grim, dark purpose. But it was better than the hollow emptiness.
I was the bait. The hunt was on.