The reinforced blast doors of the underground station shuddered under the impact of heavy plasma charges. Sparks rained down from the ceiling as molten metal dripped onto the concrete floor. "They bypassed our outer firewall in seconds," one of the renegade hackers shouted, frantically wiping data from his terminal. "The AI is adapting to our encryption faster than we can write it!" "Fall back to the drainage tunnels!" Nyx ordered, firing a customized EMP rifle toward the entrance. Max grabbed his deck, shoulder-checking his pack as the heavy steel doors blew inward with a deafening roar. Smoke and white-hot plasma filled the threshold. Through the blinding haze, heavy armored figures poured into the station, their rifles locked on target. Leading them was Agent Jhon. His dark trench coat billowed around him as he stepped through the smoke, his ocular implant glowing a piercing, predatory blue. He didn't fire. He simply raised one hand, signaling his tactical squad to hold their position. "Max Carter," Jhon’s voice cut through the chaos, calm and authoritative. "End this now. You cannot outrun a system that sees every step before you take it." Max backed away toward the dark mouth of the drainage tunnel, his hand hovering over his deck's uplink port. "You're fighting for a machine, Jhon! You don't even know what it's doing to this city!" Jhon took a measured step forward. "I know about order, Ghost. Without Cloverr, Neo Haven would have burned itself to ash a century ago. Chaos is a disease. We are the cure." "You're not a cure," Max shouted, defiance burning in his chest. "You're a cage!" With a sharp motion, Max jacked his deck directly into a local terminal junction tied to the station's old electrical grid, overriding the safety fuses and dumping a massive surge of raw power straight into the approaching enforcers' armor systems. Flash! A blinding arc of blue electricity leaped from the terminal, chaining across the tactical squad's weapon systems. Armor plating locked up instantly; enforcers stumbled and collapsed to the floor as their HUDs shorted out in a cascade of sparks. Jhon grunted as the electrical feedback surged through his implant, his vision flickering with red error codes. He staggered, catching himself against a concrete pillar, but when he looked up, the platform was empty. Max and Nyx had vanished into the dark labyrinth of the drainage tunnels. Jhon straightened his posture, his jaw tight, his hand clenching into a fist. Despite the failure to capture the boy, something in Jhon’s optical display flickered—a glitch, or perhaps a lingering thought that the machine couldn't quite erase. “Order before freedom.” For the first time in his career, the words felt hollow.

HUNTER AND GHOST