The sun had barely begun to bleed its pale, artificial light over the jagged horizon of Sector 9 when the Hotel Azure became a hive of tactical precision. There was no room for error; the 10th and 9th Divisions were no longer soldiers—they were ghosts in a machine designed to eat them alive.
Dr. d adjusted his glasses, his face illuminated by the flickering green code on cipher's monitors. "The window is open," he said, his voice cold and clinical. "Let the plan begin."
"I'm already in the back door," Cipher replied, his fingers dancing across his keyboard with a speed that blurred the air. "I'm always ready, but first plugged this flash drive into the system in TƎll control room."
The underground
While the teams moved into position, a different kind of war was being waged in the shifting shadows of the reconstructed Underground.
BANG!
The muzzle flash of a silver pistol lit up the dark hallway of the Golden Palace. Two guards crumpled to the floor,armor useless against the high-velocity rounds.
Gold sat on his throne, a sharp, amused smirk playing on his lips as the man in the white suit and porcelain mask stepped over the bodies.
"Silver Mask," Gold drawled, his eyes shimmering with a dangerous light. "Or should I say... Baldwin."
Baldwin didn't lower his weapon. "I have questions."
Gold laughed, the sound echoing off the obsidian walls. "Ask on. But first, let me ask—how did you find this place, it's nearly impossible to find it "
" You really think you can hide the underground, "
Baldwin countered, his voice muffled but steady. "I understand Malice's powers better than you think. You're slipping, Gold."
Gold's eyes fixed on the silver mask. "I see. So you know the truth."
In a blur of motion, Baldwin closed the distance. He grabbed Gold by the collar of his silk robes, shoving the barrel of his silver pistol into the space beneath Gold's jaw. "It was you. You set up Skull. You leaked his location to the Xenocides so they would do your dirty work."
Gold didn't flinch. He leaned into the gun, his smile widening. "What proof do you have?"
"Don't play games with me, or I'll shoot!" Baldwin hissed. "Answer me!"
"And you," Gold countered, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Answer me. Do you have actual proof, or is this just based on your... emotions?"
"Cut that crap," Baldwin growled, releasing him with a violent shove. "Emotions are nothing. They only get you killed. If I find out skull death is related to you , I'll kill you next." He paused, his mask tilting. "But do you know a boy named Elias? He's the one who killed skull ."
Gold faked a gasp, putting a hand to his chest in a mockery of shock. "No... not at all, how did he..
"I'll get my own information," Baldwin snapped, turning to leave.
Gold watched him go, his eyes turning cold. "Wrong move, Baldwin," he thought. "You just told me exactly who you're afraid of.", Elias walker, looks like you are the queen in this game."
Inside TƎll:
Back at the tower, the atmosphere was suffocatingly corporate. Elias, Rook, and Renji stood in the grand lobby, clad in the sleek, black-and-grey uniforms of TƎll Security. Their faces were stoic, their eyes scanning the crowds of employees.
Lyra moved past them, dressed as a high-level corporate attendant, carrying a tray of encrypted data-pads. "Bugs are live on floors 40 through 60," she whispered into her hidden comms.
"Copy that,"rook muttered, his hand on his belt. "I've got eyes on the elevator bank. Renji, stop looking at the receptionist. You're supposed to be a professional."
"I am being professional!" Renji snapped back through the earpiece. "I'm checking her security clearance... with my eyes. Besides, Elias is the one looking like a statue. Hey, Elias, you still breathing?"
Elias snapped back to reality
"Yeah , Just nervous... this feels wired ," Elias replied,
Deep in the bowels of the building, Dr. D was dressed in a grimy engineer's jumpsuit. He had dismantled a primary junction box, his fingers expertly bypassing the biometric locks. "Security system is bypassed," he grunted, planting a series of physical bugs into the building, then the flash drive into TƎll system.
From the shadows of the ceiling rafters, Nyx looked down at the lobby.
sora and Mikasa were perched beside her, invisible to the cameras.
"See anything, Nyx?" Sora whispered.
"Just a bunch of suits and bad coffee," Nyx replied, her eyes tracking every movement. "Baldwin hasn't returned yet. It's like the head of the snake is missing."
Hours bled into a full day of standing, watching, and waiting. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, the teams filtered back into the Hotel Azure one by one.
The executive lounge was thick with the smell of sweat and frustration. Jaxen slammed his helmet onto the table. "Nothing! We spent twelve hours on the streets talking to every dealers ,we could find.
No one has heard a word about anything about smuggled crates ."
"Same here," kaelen said, sliding into a chair, his face pale from the mental strain.
"It's like Baldwin wiped everyone's memory. The streets are clean. Too clean."
Sloane sighed, rubbing her temples. "We planted the bugs, we got the security codes, and we scanned the TƎll labs... but there was no trace of the serum signatures.
Elias stood by the window, still in his security uniform. He looked at the TƎll tower in the distance, glowing like a dark needle. "He's hiding it in plain sight," Elias murmured. "We checked the labs, we checked the streets... but we didn't check the man himself."
"We found nothing," Lyra added, her voice tired . "An entire day of work, and the trail is cold."
The 10th and 9th Divisions sat in silence, the weight of the failure pressing down on them. They were inside the fortress, but the secrets were still buried deep beneath the porcelain mask of a man who wasn't even there.