Dante Graves stood on the rooftop, rain dripping from his hair as the city below pulsed with artificial light. Mira knelt beside him, scanning the hover-drones circling overhead.
"They've locked down the district," she muttered. "We're not getting out the usual way."
Dante clenched his fists. "Then we make a new way."
Behind them, Orion and the remaining rebels regrouped. The skirmish in the hideout had cost them lives, and their numbers were dwindling. Dominion wasn't just hunting them—it was wiping them out.
Orion wiped blood from his brow. "We can't keep running, Graves. We need to strike back."
Mira tapped into her wrist device, pulling up a city map. "There's a Dominion relay station two miles from here. If we take it down, we can disrupt their tracking systems and give ourselves breathing room."
Dante nodded. "Then that's our target."
The plan was set. Under cover of darkness, the team moved through the ruins of the Lower District. Every alley and shadow held danger, but Dante's mind was already elsewhere. The stolen data had revealed more than just Dominion's extermination orders—it hinted at something bigger, something even his parents had feared.
As they neared the relay station, the team split up. Mira and Orion took the north entrance while Dante approached from the main street. Two enforcers guarded the entrance. He reached out with his telekinesis, gripping their weapons and yanking them free before slamming them into the wall.
Inside, the relay hummed with Dominion's network activity. If they could sever the link, they'd buy time—maybe even a chance to fight back properly.
Orion planted the explosives while Mira hacked into the system. Red warning lights flared to life. System Breach Detected.
Dominion had seen them coming.
The first wave of enforcers hit fast. Dante met them head-on, dodging plasma rounds and retaliating with raw energy bursts. Mira shouted over the chaos, "Almost there!"
A deep, synthetic voice filled the relay station. "Your resistance is illogical."
Dante gritted his teeth. "Then I guess you didn't see this coming."
Orion detonated the charges. The station erupted in flames, and the Dominion network flickered—disrupted, if only for a moment.
As the rebels retreated into the night, Dante knew they had bought themselves time. But Dominion would adapt.
The real war was just beginning.