[LOCATION: THE FORGE - AIRSTRIP]
[TIME: 15:15 HOURS]
The sky above the island screamed.
A Gulfstream G650 private jet tore through the low-hanging clouds. Smoke trailed from its left engine. It wasn't landing; it was falling with style.
"He's coming in hot!" Kain yelled over the wind, shielding his eyes.
The jet hit the cracked runway. Tires blew out instantly. The landing gear collapsed, sending a shower of sparks fifty feet into the air. The metal bird screeched, skidding sideways, carving a trench through the concrete before slamming into a rusted radar tower.
Silence.
Then, the emergency door popped open.
An inflatable slide deployed.
The Banker slid down. He looked like a ruin of a man. His golden suit was torn, his hair wild. He was clutching a silver briefcase to his chest like a life preserver.
In his other hand, he held the Remote Detonator for the San Francisco bio-bomb.
"Don't shoot!" The Banker screamed, holding the remote high. "One bullet, and the Golden Gate turns green!"
Lucas walked out to the tarmac. Tank and Elena flanked him. Julian stayed in the command center, jamming outgoing signals.
"You're trespassing, Dante," Lucas shouted. His ghost arm flickered at his side.
"I'm negotiating!" The Banker yelled, stumbling forward. "I have no money. I have no leverage. But I have him."
He pointed to the jet.
A second figure stepped out of the wreckage.
He didn't slide down the chute. He jumped. A twenty-foot drop, landing silently on the concrete.
He wore a pure white tactical bodysuit with no markings. His face was covered by a smooth, white ballistic mask. On his back was a long, curved blade made of a material that seemed to absorb light.
[TARGET IDENTIFIED: APOSTLE #5]
[CODENAME: "THE SILENCER"]
[THREAT LEVEL: OMEGA.]
"The Silencer," Alexander's voice whispered in Lucas's ear piece. "The Syndicate's grim reaper. He doesn't talk. He doesn't negotiate. And Lucas... he kills ghosts."
"Give me the prisoner!" The Banker demanded, sweating profusely. "I need The Heretic! The Architects are listening! If I give them the Eater, they will grant me sanctuary off-world!"
"You want to sell a monster to the aliens?" Lucas asked, incredulous. "That's your retirement plan?"
"Better to be a pet on their world than a pauper on this one!" The Banker shrieked. "Kill them, Five! Secure the package!"
The Silencer moved.
He didn't run. He vanished.
[WARNING: KINETIC SURGE.]
Lucas reacted on instinct.
[ABILITY: PHASE-SHIFT.]
He turned intangible just as The Silencer appeared in front of him.
SWISH.
The black blade passed through Lucas's ghostly chest.
It should have passed through harmlessly.
Instead, Lucas screamed.
[ERROR: DIMENSIONAL ANCHOR DETECTED.]
[PHASE STATUS: DISRUPTED.]
The sword didn't cut his flesh, but it cut his frequency. Pain exploded in Lucas's nervous system. He was ripped out of his ghost form and slammed back into solidity.
He fell to the concrete, clutching his chest. A thin line of blood appeared on his armor.
"He can hit the shift!" Lucas gasped. "His sword... it vibrates at a counter-frequency!"
"Tank!" Elena yelled. "Suppress him!"
Tank raised his arm. Grav-Piston: ACTIVATE.
He fired a wave of gravity at The Silencer.
The Assassin didn't dodge. He raised his sword and sliced the gravity wave.
The air distorted. The gravity pulse split in two, passing harmlessly on either side of the white-clad killer.
"He cut gravity?" Tank blinked, stunned. "That's cheating!"
The Silencer spun, dashing toward Tank. He moved like liquid mercury.
"Kain! Intercept!" Lucas ordered, scrambling to his feet.
Kain leaped from the top of the hangar, dual energy daggers glowing. "Sneak attack!"
The Silencer didn't even look up. He simply extended his hand. A wire—thin as a hair, sharp as a laser—shot from his wrist.
SNAP.
It wrapped around Kain's ankle in mid-air.
The Silencer yanked.
Kain slammed into the ground with bone-shattering force.
"Stay down," Lucas growled.
He charged The Silencer. He couldn't Phase-Shift, so he had to brawl.
[ABILITY: CRYSTAL SKIN (TIER 1).]
[OVERDRIVE.]
Lucas's skin hardened into diamond. He threw a punch.
The Silencer parried, his black sword sparking against Lucas's fist. They traded blows at blurring speed—sparks flying, sonic booms cracking the air.
But Lucas was losing. Every time the sword touched him, it bypassed his armor and cut his energy.
"The Detonator!" Elena shouted. "Lucas, he's making a run for it!"
While The Silencer kept the team busy, The Banker was sprinting toward the bunker entrance.
"I'm winning!" The Banker laughed, punching the door code (which he had memorized from the old files). "I'm going to live forever!"
The bunker door hissed open.
The Banker stepped inside... and froze.
Standing in the elevator shaft wasn't an empty hallway.
It was Julian.
The boy stood there, looking bored. He held his conductor's baton.
"You have terrible rhythm," Julian said.
The Banker raised the detonator. "Get out of my way, child! Or San Francisco burns!"
"You're holding a radio transmitter," Julian noted, tapping his baton against his palm. "433 Megahertz. Analog signal."
Julian flicked his wrist.
[ABILITY: TECHNOMANCY - SIGNAL JAMMING.]
A violet sphere of static erupted around The Banker.
The Banker pressed the button.
Click. Click. Click.
Nothing happened. The signal couldn't leave the violet bubble.
"No!" The Banker screamed, slamming the remote against the wall. "Work, you piece of junk!"
"Tank!" Lucas yelled, disengaging from The Silencer. "Fastball Special!"
Tank understood. He grabbed a piece of debris—a twisted steel beam from the crashed jet.
"Heads up!"
Tank hurled the beam like a javelin.
It flew across the tarmac, over Lucas's head, and slammed into the bunker entrance.
It didn't hit The Banker. It hit the door control.
CRUNCH.
The heavy blast door slammed down, sealing The Banker (and Julian) inside the safety of the bunker.
Outside, The Silencer paused.
His client was gone. His objective was sealed.
He looked at Lucas. Then at Tank (reloading his arm). Then at Elena (aiming a shotgun).
The Silencer sheathed his black sword.
He tapped his white mask.
zzzzt.
A holographic message projected from his wrist.
[CONTRACT VOID.]
[PAYMENT: INSUFFICIENT.]
The Silencer turned around. He walked to the edge of the cliff.
"You're just leaving?" Kain yelled, limping over. "After you tried to fillet us?"
The Silencer didn't answer. He stepped off the cliff.
Lucas ran to the edge.
A stealth glider deployed from The Silencer's back. He vanished into the clouds, a white ghost in the grey mist.
"He's a mercenary," Lucas panted, clutching his bleeding chest. "No money, no murder. He doesn't care about the ideology."
"Lucas," Elena said, pointing at the bunker door. "We have a problem."
[INSIDE THE BUNKER]
The Banker was trapped. Julian stood at the other end of the hallway, twirling his baton.
"You think you won?" The Banker spat. "I know this facility! There's a secondary exit in the ventilation!"
The Banker turned to run.
But the elevator doors behind him opened.
HISS.
A figure stepped out.
He wore a grey jumpsuit and a heavy black collar.
The Heretic.
"You..." The Banker whispered, backing up until he hit the cold steel wall. "Subject 001."
The Heretic smiled. His eyeless sockets seemed to stare right through the golden suit.
"The Ghost let me out," The Heretic rasped. "He said you have something that belongs to him."
"I... I have money!" The Banker stammered, holding up his briefcase. "Trillions! I can give it back!"
"I don't want money," The Heretic said, stepping closer. "I'm full. I ate your economy."
The Heretic sniffed the air.
"But I am still... thirsty."
He reached out a grey hand.
"You smell like fear, Dante. And fear... is my favorite flavor."
"No! Stay back!" The Banker screamed. He pulled a small pistol from his ankle holster and fired.
The bullet hit The Heretic's chest.
It didn't bleed. The skin simply absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullet. The Heretic grew an inch taller.
"Thank you," The Heretic whispered.
He grabbed The Banker by the face.
The Banker screamed—a sound that was cut short as The Heretic activated his drain.
[ENERGY SIPHON: LETHAL.]
The Banker's golden suit turned grey. His skin withered. His life force, his memories, his ambition—everything was sucked into the black crystal in The Heretic's chest.
In three seconds, The Banker was nothing but a pile of dust and empty clothes on the floor.
The Heretic stood up. He glowed with a terrifying new power. The black crystal was pulsing with a golden hue now.
He looked at Julian.
"Tell Lucas," The Heretic said, his voice stronger, echoing with The Banker's stolen authority. "That the debt is paid."
The Heretic walked back into the elevator and pressed the button for the sub-basement.
"I'm going back to my room," he said. "I need to digest."
[THE COMMAND CENTER - 1 HOUR LATER]
The bio-bomb threat was neutralized. The Banker was dead. The economy was in ruins, but the immediate danger was over.
Lucas sat in the chair, letting Elena stitch the sword wound on his chest.
"The Silencer will be back," Lucas said grimly. "Next time, he'll bring a bigger sword."
"We have bigger problems," Julian said, walking in. He tossed a golden micro-chip onto the table.
"I pulled this from The Banker's dust pile before the janitor bots swept him up."
"What is it?"
"It's an invite key," Julian said. "To a private server. The Banker wasn't just talking to the Architects. He was talking to The Board."
Julian plugged the chip in. A holographic map appeared.
It showed the locations of the remaining Apostles.
#1 Immortal (Status: Unknown)
#5 Silencer (Active)
#8 Alchemist (Active)
#10 Warden (Active)
And a new one.
#11 THE JUDGE.
"The Judge," Alexander Vane said, stepping out of the shadows. "The keeper of the Syndicate's laws. If the Banker is dead, the Judge will call for a Tribunal."
"A trial?" Tank laughed. "We're criminals. Why would they give us a trial?"
"Not a trial for us," Alexander said. "A trial for the leadership. The Judge determines who becomes the next Grandmaster."
Alexander looked at Lucas.
"The civil war has officially begun, my son. And if you want to win... you have to go to court."