The boiler room was filled with the loud, rhythmic thumping of steam pipes, but beyond the metal doors lay the service corridors of the Taj.
Vikram stepped out first, his shadow-fold active. He was a silent, invisible pocket of cold air moving through the carpeted hallway.
Ahead, three Malhotra enforcers stood near the staff elevator, talking in low voices.
"Patil is setting up the perimeter at the Gateway," one of them said. "The boss wants the Core fully online before the eclipse begins tomorrow."
"What about the old man they brought in?" another asked.
"He's in the sub-vault. Javed is questioning him. They say he knows how to synchronize the energy."
Vikram signaled Rohan with a soft tap on the metal wall.
Vikram moved behind the guards. He materialized in a flash of bio-electricity. Before they could turn, he grabbed the first guard's head, slamming it into the wall. He spun, driving a Prana-loaded punch into the second guard's chest, while Rohan fired a silent Aetheric dart into the third guard's neck.
In three seconds, all three guards were down.
"We need to get to the elevator," Vikram said, dragging the bodies into a laundry closet. "The sub-vault is below us."