The city never slept. But this alley?
It was dead quiet.
Too quiet.
Riven crouched on a fire escape, wrapped in the Hunter suit's cloak mesh. Even the rats didn't hear him move.
GhostNet drones circled above. One beeped softly.
[Target: Acquired]
Below—two of the synths. Standing at the mouth of a tunnel under Sector 12. Motionless. Guarding. Not searching.
"So they're not just tracking me...""They're protecting something."
Riven dropped silently to the ground.
No footsteps. No breath.
He closed in—twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.
Still no reaction.
He activated the gauntlet's pulse charge. Just enough to knock out a car engine. Or fry a synthetic's neural core.
Three seconds. Go.
He struck.
The charge lit the alley with a flicker of blue.
One synth staggered back, systems glitching. The other spun, moving in a blur—
Too fast. But not faster than him.
Riven ducked under the strike, drove his elbow into the unit's chest. It cracked. Sparks flew.
"Override initiated," Riven hissed. "Let's see what's in your head."
He slammed a data spike into the synth's neck.
Download in progress...[ERROR: PARTITION LOCKED][ENCRYPTED BY: Project Lazarus]
The unit self-destructed two seconds later.
Riven barely jumped back in time. Fire. Smoke. No evidence left behind.
But the words burned into his HUD:
PROJECT LAZARUSLOCATION: UNKNOWN
And now he had more questions than ever.
"You're not just after me.""You're hiding something huge."
He looked back at the tunnel.
Whatever was down there?
Wasn't meant to be found.