Chapter 16 - Kane
The explosion leaves no room for debate. Rafael needs to go.
Kane tells himself it’s about safety. But the blast proved what he’s been ignoring for days, how he feels when Rafael looks at him.
At first, he wrote it off as curiosity, physical attraction at worst. But the more time they spent together, the harder that lie became to hold.
Rafael’s quiet strength, his calm under pressure, that ridiculous kindness he offers to people who don’t deserve it. It’s everything Kane thought had died out in the Outer Districts. Yet for all his Midtown innocence, Rafael doesn’t pity their world. Somehow, he respects it, respects him.
Then there’s the cooking. They share something so simple. It shouldn’t matter, but it does, at least to Kane. And lately, when Rafael’s gaze lingers too long, Kane can’t tell if it means something or if he’s just imagining things.
But this isn’t V-link, or the Veil.
His crew. His neighborhood. His uncle’s legacy. Everything rests on his shoulders. Getting close to anyone is a weakness waiting to be exploited.
Dust swirls through the air as Rafael brushes debris from his jacket, unaware Kane’s watching.
He deserves better than this. Better than someone like Kane.
The ache in Kane’s chest doesn’t fade, but he slips his visor back on.
His HUD switches online.
Near the holowall, Natural Order forces breach the stuttering bursts of light while his crew scrambles to hold the line.
Security drones weave between buildings, tagging invaders with non-lethal rounds.
Near the medtruck, Dr. Hayashi and her assistant load the wounded as fast as they can. Pulaski would be proud.
Focus sharpening, Kane scans the field—enemy positions, enforcer statuses—while panicked voices flood his commlink.
>ENEMY SIGNALS: 14
>ALLY STATUS: 7 / ENGAGED
>HOLOWALL 4: OFFLINE
Once a plan locks in his mind, he cuts through the noise on the shared channel. “Echo, status on the east perimeter. Jax, pull your team back two blocks.”
“Coda, locate the breach in the holowall and sever it—now! Get that barrier back online! Viper, lock down the perimeter! Cut off the head! Echo, work your contacts—”
His head spins mid-order. Static floods his display while his ears ring. With a shake of his head, Kane regains control. “I need intel. Find out where the hell they’re getting this firepower.”
The channel erupts again. Kane doesn’t let anyone finish. “Just follow my orders!”
A second blast rips through the street. The shockwave slams into him, and he grabs a streetlight to stay upright, eyes squeezing shut against the glare.
When his vision clears, the world is smoke and static. Enforcers rush past toward a crater splitting the pavement. He doesn’t need a second look. The pattern’s too clean. This was mortar fire.
Which means Natural Order’s moved past homemade weapons. Whoever’s leading them now is more organized—and far more dangerous—than Kane thought.
No time to dwell. Another shell could land any second.
He glances at Rafael, crouched beside a crumbling bench and coughing. Someone needs to get him out—now. He taps the side of his visor. “Wren!”
“Yes, sir!” Her voice comes in breaths.
“Escort duty. Rafael, back to Midtown.”
Gunfire erupts overhead before she can respond. Kane’s grip strengthens around the streetlight. “Split your team!” he shouts over the channel. “Half checking for civilians, half searching for straggling Natural Order members. If you catch any, bring them to me. I need answers.”
He ends the call and turns. Rafael’s watching him, face pale beneath the dust. “I guess this is goodbye, then?” he says, voice somehow steady.
Except that calm isn’t real. His pulse jumps sporadically in Kane’s HUD while his fingers twitch against his jacket. Rafael is barely holding together. That persistent strength again.
“Yes.” Kane’s voice comes out sharper than intended. His gaze flicks toward the medtruck where Dr. Hayashi and Pixie are stationed. He catches Pixie’s eye, signalling her over. “Pixie will stay with you until Wren gets back.”
Rafael gives a tight nod.
For a moment, an instinct surges in Kane to ask him what’s wrong—until an update blinks across his overlay.
>HOLOWALL 4: REPAIR 40%
He swallows hard, forcing everything down with it. This has to be done. For everyone’s sake.
“Take care.” The words sound flat even to him. Still, Kane turns away, already relaying new tactical positions via his wristlink.
“Goodbye, Kane.”
Rafael’s voice barely rises above the chaos. Kane doesn’t turn around. With the border down and Natural Order’s numbers climbing, this could spiral into a full-scale invasion any minute.
Fists clenched, Kane rushes ahead for the breached holowall, where white-robed enforcers clash against matte black armor. The clang of weapons and bursts of gunfire rattle in his skull, but it’s the surge of overlapping shouts in his ear that finally forces him to slow.
“Baron, we’ve spotted a pattern in their—” Viper starts.
Coda interjects. “The wall’s cycling shows—”
“Enough!” Kane snaps, ducking behind an abandoned HOV as debris sprays over the pavement. “One at a time. I can’t—”
“There’s been another breach,” Coda interrupts, the new coordinates flashing red across his HUD.
“They knew exactly where to hit,” Viper warns.
“Send your team in!” Kane barks, pivoting to the pulsing marker. “Tell them to hold position until I give the command!”
“But sir, Wren’s team is closer—”
“I said, wait for me,” Kane hisses.
Silence follows. His order stuck, at least for now.
He continues around the block, finally spotting Wren’s team zipping on HOV bikes overhead.
They have speed and positioning on their side, but not Viper’s level of discipline.
Or so he tells himself as more Natural Order enforcers slip through the gap, vanishing between the buildings.
Three of them dart past. Kane freezes, tracking their movements in his visor before ultimately forcing himself to stand down. Fixing the border takes priority. Instead, he dashes between buildings, barking new orders to Viper’s unit.
A horde of his best enforcers are there when Kane reaches the breach. Except it’s too late. The enemy outnumbers them two to one.
In a flash, metal clashes against carbon fiber as pulsefire slashes through smog. Enemy tags flare across Kane’s HUD as his commlink explodes with overlapping transmissions.
He stalks toward Viper, waiting for his team to disperse. Then, without breaking stride, Kane calls out, “Viper, call in reinforcements! I shouldn’t have to tell you that!”
Viper’s shoulders tense. He turns away, issuing an order for backup.
Kane raps against his visor. “Coda!”
“I know,” he chimes in. “We’re working on getting both walls back up. But with your assignment from yesterday, we’re stretched thin.”
His fingers curl to a fist. He expected Viper to make mistakes. But Coda doesn’t even miss a comma.
“Then switch assignments! I can’t believe—”
A blast cuts him off. The street ahead flares under pulsefire as Viper’s enforcers drop the remaining invaders with lethal rounds, their last resort. Kane slings the rifle into his arms, gritting his teeth. If he had a moment, maybe he could find another way. Only there’s no time.
“Sir?” Coda’s voice echoes in his ear.
“Get the wall backup.”
The line goes silent as Kane shifts back to the fight, barking orders between striking down enemies himself.
By the time reinforcements arrive, the street is quiet except for the hiss of cooling metal and the distant crackle of fires. The holowall is stable but barely. Their territory is secure, though at a cost. Half a dozen are wounded with the enemy’s blood on their hands.
If only the lieutenants had done their damn jobs. If security had been tighter—
Kane’s hand flexes at his side as he surveys the ruined street before turning away. He’ll oversee the new assignments himself, reinforce every checkpoint, strengthen their defenses.
“Baron.”
Viper stands at his side, armor spattered with blood and cyberoptic eye whirring. “Wren’s crew caught someone. A Natural Order ‘Brother’ trying to slip out during their retreat.”
An almost-smile tugs at Kane’s lips. Finally, some answers. “Take me to him.”
With a nod, Viper guides him around the rubble to what’s left of the crumbling old convenience store, a logo he doesn’t recognize faded above the door.
Inside the shop, a captured Natural Order zealot kneels between two enforcers, his robes torn and wrists bound together. Unlike the others they’ve taken, this one doesn’t thrash or scream. He kneels motionless on cracked tile, hair falling across his face.
“We were about to start the interrogation, but I know you prefer to handle these—” Viper begins.
Kane marches up to the prisoner, silencing him. “Who’s your new leader?”
The prisoner lifts his head with unnerving calm. “She said you’d come yourself…” His lips curl into a smirk. “The Chrome Baron—too proud to delegate, even for a simple interrogation.”
A chill shoots down Kane’s spine. Grabbing the prisoner by the collar, he hauls the man upright. “Who?” His voice drops lower. “Who’s your leader?”
The room falls silent until a cackle bubbles from the prisoner’s throat.
“Our leader is the Sovereign of Purity,” he declares. “The one who will cleanse this corrupted world!”
“Their. Full. Name.” Kane’s grip hardens with each word.
The man’s head tilts. “I believe you knew her as…” His eyes narrow. “…Athena.”
Kane releases him. The prisoner collapses to the floor with a thud.
Athena. His uncle’s former lieutenant. A traitor to the crew. The reason his uncle is dead.
With her knowledge of their tactics—and of him—
They’ll stop her. Kane will protect what’s his. Their people. The neighborhood. His uncle’s legacy.
He’ll do it the only way he knows how. Alone. Like always. And this time, there will be no brown eyes and soft voice to distract him.