11:40 PM – Manhattan training complex.
Pain pulsed behind Riven's eyes.
He woke to cold steel beneath him, wrists and ankles strapped to a surgical table. Overhead, flickering lights buzzed with static, casting harsh shadows across the grimy room. Around him, four other Executioners were chained to the walls—faces masked, limbs slack. All of them wore the same black uniform, dirtied and torn.
Same day before Riven Got kidnapped.
9:27 AM – Death Protocol Headquarters.
Cigar stared from behind his desk, the skyline of New York stretching behind him like a broken code.
Riven stood at attention, flanked by Lucy, Klaus, and Rita.
" leveling up," Cigar said. "Unlocked a new skill.
Cigar didn't even blink.
The team looked up.
He took a slow drag from the cigar clenched between his fingers, exhaling a trail of smoke like a sigh.
"I'll look into it," he said. "For now… rest. Go home. Wait for the next execution."
1:13 PM – Astoria, Queens – Eclipse Bar
The four sat in a quiet corner of a neon-lit bar. Riven stirred his drink absently, lost in thought.
Lucy leaned over. "You okay?"
"I keep thinking… only I can level up.
"lucky" Klaus muttered into his glass.
Suddenly, all four Execution Code systems flared crimson.
A message appeared in the air before them.
TARGET UPDATE – PRIORITY ALPHA
Location: Manhattan Training Complex
Rogue Executioners Detected: 3
Lucy stood, her chair scraping against the floor. "Let's go."
2:08 PM – Abandoned Subway Station.
The building looked like nothing from the outside. Concrete, steel, broken windows. But inside—chaos.
Not three.
Fifteen.
Fifteen rogue Executioners.
And they were waiting.
The ambush hit fast.
Blades of code screamed through the air. Guns fired binary rounds. Klaus dropped a magnetic pulse that wiped out six in a burst of light. Rita tore through bodies with savage, elegant speed.
Lucy's blade danced, slicing code from flesh.
Riven activated Flash, appearing behind two and striking true—only for three more to swarm him.
"They're trying to trap us!" he shouted.
Then it happened.
Four men in black, moving unlike the others. Silent. Surgical.
They struck Riven from behind.
His system flared, trying to fight—but a net of digital suppression wrapped around him.
Lucy turned too late.
"RIVEN!"
The four men vanished, taking Riven and four rogue Executioners with them.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Lucy stepped over the corpse of the last rogue, panting.
Rita wiped blood from her claws.
"He's gone."
"I know," Lucy growled.
let's find him," Klaus said.
They looked around—then scattered, hunting for clues.
11:40 PM – Manhattan Training Complex (Abandoned)
Pain pulsed behind Riven's eyes.
He woke to cold steel beneath him, wrists and ankles strapped to a surgical table. Overhead, flickering lights buzzed with static, casting harsh shadows across the grimy room. Around him, four other Executioners were chained to the walls—faces masked, limbs slack. All of them wore the same black uniform, dirtied and torn.
Rogue Executioners.
He tried to move.
Nothing.
Around the table stood four men in white coats. Not doctors. Butchers.
One of them lifted a scalpel glowing with red binary light.
"Almost time," the man muttered. "We'll start with the extracting the central chip."
That's when the door exploded inward.
Boom!
Digital shards erupted as Lucy stormed through, her sword already cleaving through the first man's torso. Rita followed, claws blazing, eviscerating the second. Klaus flung twin magnetic discs that shattered the third's skull in an instant.
Only one remained.
He dropped his scalpel and raised his hands, trembling.
"Don't kill me!"
Lucy grabbed him by the collar, shoving him against the bloodied table. "Start talking."
"Wh-why did you kidnap them?" Rita snarled. "Why Riven?"
The man swallowed hard. "We… we were going to remove it."
"Remove what?"
"The system chip!" he screamed.
Lucy's brow furrowed. "The Execution Code, how?"
"Yes!" he gasped. ". It's a physical implant. Buried in the head. You can cut it out—transfer it—study it!"
All three stared.
That… wasn't supposed to be possible.
Lucy's jaw clenched. " Are you saying the system was implanted in us?"
"Exactly," the man whispered. "You were given that power.
"Just tell me, when you are done, will he be dead?" Lucy asked.
The man said " yes"
"Who paid you to do this?" Lisa continued " who made the system?"
" I don't know" he said shaking.
Then Lucy plunged her sword into his chest.
Silence.
Rita turned to the masked rogue Executioners still chained to the wall. She tore off the hood from one—beneath it, a young man barely older than Riven, eyes closed, a number tattooed beneath his left eye: 42.
He flinched as his face was revealed, as if shame itself burned through his skin.
Rita stepped back, fingers glowing.
Digital flames erupted from her hands—binary fire that spread across the room, turning walls into pixelated ash. She watched coldly as the rogue Executioners were engulfed.
"They were already gone," she murmured.
As the facility burned behind them, the team disappeared into the shadows of the city.
Meanwhile – Deep Below Death Protocol HQ
The chamber was dark.
Cold.
Eight chairs surrounded a table of shifting code. Each figure cloaked in shadows, faces hidden.
Cigar stood before them.
"He escaped," he said.
A heavy silence followed.
Then one voice, venomous, echoed across the chamber.
"We haven't seen someone with this potential in years. You let the Execution Code slip through your fingers."
"We'll retrieve him," Cigar replied.
The voice hissed.
"We don't want him back. We want the system out of that body."