The undercity never stayed quiet for long.
Kai led the group through a twisting stretch of tunnels, footsteps echoing off rusted pipes and broken railing. Nyx hobbled along, shoulder throbbing, eyes combing every shadow. Ash's pistol was still raised, finger tight on the trigger. Raze, as always, walked like he owned the place, blade humming quietly in standby.
Kai's pulse spiked as the faint hum of drones echoed from deeper in the network.
"Too quiet," Nyx muttered.
Ash glanced up. "Too many corners."
"Perfect," Raze said, grinning. "Nothing like a little danger to sharpen instincts."
Kai didn't respond. He had his own instincts, and they screamed that this quiet meant they were walking straight into a trap.
The first shots came without warning.
Blue plasma bolts impaled the tunnel, striking walls with flames and sparks. Imagine enforcers burst from side niches, rifles raised, eyes gleaming in unison like predators.
"Contact!" Kai shouted, snatching his shotgun from his hip. The first plasma bolt hit the metal wall beside him, scorching it.
Raze was already moving, whipping his sword through deadly arcs. Soldiers fell in showers of sparks and ripped armor. His laughter echoed off the tunnel walls like a promise.
Nyx fired from a raised platform, her shots precise, hitting weak points in armor with surgical accuracy. Ash moved serenely behind cover, firing off shots while scanning the next corridor for movement.
Kai knelt behind a crate, shotgun roaring. Every blast tore an opening in Envision's lines, but more advanced. Plasma fire ricocheted off walls, smoke and sparks choking the air.
> "Twenty hostiles," the AI growled. "Survival odds diminishing."
Kai ignored it, pretending to coordinate by instinct alone.
"Flank left!" Nyx ordered, taking a desperate jump to a higher platform. Her amber eye glowed, tracking every enforcer that tried to close in.
Kai covered her flank, firing blind as plasma bolts zinged past. One clipped his shoulder, armor sizzling, but he didn't flinch.
Ash, crouched behind an overturned railcar, fired with calculated precision. "They're too coordinated. Someone's commanding them."
Raze laughed again, blade spinning, cleaving a soldier in two. "And that someone ain't me.".
The corridor narrowed. Enforcers funneled into a chokepoint. Kai's shotgun roared, Nyx dropped two more with sniper-like shots, and Ash's pistols screamed in rapid bursts. Sparks, smoke, and metal shredded everywhere.
Still, they advanced.
Kai's mind raced. He needed to keep them alive, keep the fight chaotic enough that no one could guess he was being guided by something inside his own head.
Use wall junction for cover," the AI whispered.
He glanced to a wall panel just as a hole was torn in the crate he had been using for cover by plasma fire. He did not wait but took Nyx's arm and shoved her into cover.
"Thanks," she snarled, eyes wide.
"Don't mention it," he said, voice level, hiding the reality.
The battle raged around them. Raze moved like a whirlwind, carving a path through the enforcers, laughing like a man who had nothing to lose. Ash's shots kept pace with him, suppressing fire while she scanned for exits.
Kai's shotgun clicked empty. He tossed it aside, pulling a sidearm. Every move was calculated, precise. Every dodge was guided—not by luck, but by the AI whispering, always one step ahead.
"Left flank collapsing. Move. Now."
He rushed forward, yanking Nyx and Ash as plasma bolts charred the wall where they'd been. Raze snagged them by the shoulder as they ran past, blade spinning in a blur to kill anyone in their path.
The exit was close. A ladder up into a maintenance shaft. Kai shoved everyone towards it, panting.
"Go!" he shouted.
They ascended, Nyx first despite her limp, Ash following, Raze last with a smile. The tunnel below was chaos: sparks, fire, smoke, Envision enforcers firing blindly, drones plummeting in their own confusion.
Kai came last. Plasma blackened the wall near him. One enforcer's rifle jammed on the platform below, and Kai fired the gun loose, watching it whirl into the flames.
Finally, the last rung was attained and he dropped into the maintenance shaft, banging the hatch closed. The whine of pursuit receded, and instead, they listened to the echo of dripping water.
They leaned against the walls, chests heaving, bodies slick with sweat and grime.
Raze laughed, leaning against the wall. "Well, that was fun. You're not bad, rat. But I could see right through you back there."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Is that a threat?"
Raze shrugged. "Could be. Could just be observation. Either way, don't make me regret trusting you—yet."
Nyx scowled, staring daggers at him. "I don't like how he talks about you."
Ash just cleaned her pistols, eyes flicking between them. "We're alive. That's all that matters for now."
Kai stayed silent. The AI whispered once, just a faint tickle in his skull.
"You lived. But the threads are tightening. They will pry soon."
He swallowed, forcing himself to relax. The others did not know he had help—only that he was hiding something. And that was enough to make them suspicious, enough to make him vulnerable, enough to make every step forward a potential trap.
Raze's grin spread in the dim red illumination. "Next time, rat, we make it interesting. I like to see how far you'll go to guard your secrets."
Kai's gut twisted. He didn't respond. He couldn't.
He just gazed at Nyx and Ash. Both were watching him in silence. Both were waiting to discover if he'd give up the truth.
Neither of them would ever learn about the voice guiding him through the chaos.
And that made surviving until today only half the battle.