Hide stood alone on the pristine plaza, his hands deeply buried inside the pockets of his jacket as he stared up at the massive structure in front of him.
It was a colossal dome constructed from dark glass panels and titanium reinforcement beams and surrounded by a dozen of advanced monitoring drones. Looking at the wide structural arcs and the digital banners flickering lazily along the rim, he recognized it immediately.
It was a state-of-the-art game stadium—an indoor playground specifically engineered for high-tier Exterminators to play games without shattering the infrastructure.
The morning air carried a sharp, filtered chill, entirely cleared of the dense industrial grease he was accustomed to breathing back in Area 17. It was still incredibly early, the horizon barely breaking into a pale grey dawn.
