Chapter 33 - Kane
“Everyone in position?” Kane says into the commlink, guiding his bike between two abandoned warehouses. He kills the engine under the sagging roof of one and leans forward.
Below, six Natural Order enforcers trace slow circles around the old textile mill. They wear white robes and basic vests, clutching “pure” kinetic weapons that look like toys against his crew’s artillery.
A week ago, he might’ve called a meeting with Echo, talked to the civilian contacts, and discussed why the enemy was suddenly welcome on their streets.
That version of him is dead. The one who gave second chances.
“South team in place,” Viper reports, voice clipped.
Wren follows up quick. “Patrol’s ready, sir.”
“All civilians cleared from the borders,” Echo confirms. No quip or commentary.
Even Dr. Hayashi sounds distant when she checks in. “Standing by to deploy.”
Coda answers last. “Drones locked and—”
Kane cuts her off. “Move in.”
No more waiting. No more plans. If Athena wants to push into their territory, she can choke on the consequences.
“Now.”
Drones burst from between the buildings, driving for the front line. Their flight paths veer and cross erratically. Nothing like Coda’s usual patterns. But he ordered brute force. Leave no escape routes.
The Natural Order fighters glance up, bows and arrows drawn.
They’re too late.
The first strike lands with a crackle, stun-field jumping across their weapons. Their bows clatter to the ground. More drones join the swarm, paths crossing dangerously close. Several fighters drop before the rest realize the fight has started.
More reinforcements pour out of the mill. Right on schedule.
“Coda, third wave,” Kane commands. “Wren, back her up.”
HOV bikes flood in from the alleyways. The enforcers scatter in a flash of white, weapons forgotten as they scramble to avoid collision.
As instructed, Wren’s riders don’t give them room to breathe. They force the group into a circle while late arrivals slam into isolated stragglers without hesitation.
Bodies hit concrete as robes tear. Arrows and bows crack into pieces.
His HUD tags the casualties. Some from their crew, but far more of the enemy.
This blood isn’t on him. Destroying Athena’s cache was a warning. She pushed anyway.
Their surrender will come fast. He’s sure of it.
Before he can swoop in and offer terms, a scream echoes off the concrete.
Kane’s head whips around. A woman drags two kids from a cluster of makeshift dwellings he’d marked as empty. More residents spill out from neighboring shacks onto the street. A knot tightens in his chest.
Echo cleared the area. She only had a few hours, but it should’ve been enough.
“We’ve got civilians! Echo, get them contained!” Kane barks into the comm.
Down the side street, he spots her weaving on her HOV board, ushering families to cover.
“I’m trying, boss man. But it’s kind of—”
“I don’t care. No excuses. Get it done.” There’s no time for pushback.
Kane’s focus returns to the battlefield. Wren’s squad has the disarmed Natural Order fighters pinned.
A glint flashes from the mill’s rooftop.
>UNREG SIGS DETECTED >ROOFTOP: TEXTILE MILL
Enemy troops crawl across the rust. A hidden unit his recon never detected. Another failure of their mission.
He opens his mouth to warn the crew, but the troopers are already hooking into grapple descenders. They drop in perfect formation, hitting the street with bows raised.
Wren’s riders notice too late.
Pulse bows fly from enemy weapons, ripping through their HOVs. Metal detonates in bursts of flame as bikers are thrown clear.
Kane’s HUD floods red with spiked alerts of impact vitals, system failures, and collision warnings.
His stomach plummets. He held Viper’s team on standby, certain they wouldn’t be needed. Not anymore.
“Viper, move in!”
Static.
The thunder of boots pounds against the pavement as Viper’s unit storms from an alley. Natural Order scrambles to regroup, but they barely make a dent.
Viper’s enforcers split. One group drives the center. The other circles to cut off retreat. Kane tracks them from above. It’s an attack from his own playbook.
But watching from the sky twists something inside him. His crew is bleeding for territory that never should’ve slipped. It’s on him to end this.
He drops low, weaving over scattered bodies and rolling smoke. His HUD snaps to a target, a Natural Order fighter barking commands. No doubt a higher-ranking “brother” by his robes.
Kane rockets in, and their eyes meet. The man’s expression tightens. Kane’s lips curl, and he pushes the throttle harder.
The man lunges forward, snatching a stumbling civilian woman. Another one Echo missed. He yanks her tight, driving a blade against her throat. Kane’s fingers lock on the brake.
His bike screeches to a halt inches from her face.
“Call off your crew,” the man snarls, pressing the knife harder. “Or she dies right here.”
Kane’s muscles go rigid. Numbers rattle off in his mind. The distance, speed, angle of the knife.
His commlink crackles.
“Kane—” Echo is breathless in his ear. “There are stragglers! Parents are reporting—” Static swallows the rest, but the message hardly matters.
Athena manipulated their people, and now one wrong move means a civilian dies on his watch.
“I need to call my crew,” Kane declares. The Natural Order member nods.
He taps the side of his visor. “Everyone, stand down.”
“Yes, sir!” Wren answers immediately.
Coda follows with a sharp, “Understood.”
No response from Echo. He trusts she’s still out there, dragging citizens out of the line of fire.
Still nothing from Viper.
As bikes sputter off and drones fly away, the street should be calming. Instead, a burst of noise rises from near the mill. It’s Viper with his squad driving for the entrance like he never heard the order.
“Viper, report in. Hold position!” Kane snaps.
The lieutenant pushes ahead, his crew moving with him.
Kane’s jaw locks.
His gaze flicks to the hostage situation. A smirk tugs at the Natural Order leader’s lips while the woman gasps.
“Can’t control your people, Baron?” he taunts, jerking his chin. Three of his men slip into the alley. “Our leader warned me your authority was crumbling.”
Kane barely has time to register the jab. Those same enforcers return, hauling civilians at knifepoint.
A weight settles in his stomach. Kane’s hand flies to his visor despite the danger.
“Viper, I said fucking disengage.” The edge in his tone is almost desperate. “More people are at risk. If you don’t—”
Viper’s voice finally crackles in. “I will. After this…”
Before Kane can demand clarity, gasps erupt from the hostages. He follows their wide-eyed stares.
The hostage-takers are dead, a clean bullet through each skull. Their leader lies on his back with a hole between his eyes, blood staining his nose. Standing over him is the woman he held hostage, her hands shaking.
Kane freezes. This was Viper’s maneuver.
Effective. But it doesn’t erase the disobedience.
Echo’s signature flashes on his HUD from between the buildings. She waves the civilians toward her, and they bolt, stumbling past rubble and fallen robes.
With this, the battlefield is clear.
Kane shoots into the sky. “All units, push.”
Below him, the momentum shifts instantly. Coda’s drones hammer the Natural Order line until they buckle. Viper’s squad floods the gap, and the HOV riders sweep the remaining few, scattering them across the pavement.
When the rest of the enemy surrenders, Kane scans the ground.
In his HUD, the losses pulse in harsh red.
Viper’s top gunner slumped in a shattered window.
One of Wren’s riders pinned beneath her burning HOV.
And on the sidewalk, the twin recruits from last year lying side by side with arrows buried deep in their chests.
Weak vitals flicker across Kane’s display at the end of the block, where Dr. Hayashi and Jamal load the injured into the truck.
His fingers curl into his palms. All of this blood—all belongs to Athena.
Jamal’s voice comes through his commlink, listing critical injuries. Kane drops his bike onto the street, grounding it near the chaos. He moves to check the line personally as Echo rounds the corner.
She’s carrying a small boy with blood smeared across his shirt, dripping from a deep slice along his arm.
The sight is worse than any shrapnel he might’ve caught.
Natural Order didn’t just strike his crew. They hit his city.
The waiting ends today. Athena will learn the cost of pushing him.
Then he’ll find out why the neighborhood turned on him, why they opened the door to the enemy. But not today.
Today, there are no compromises.
Echo brushes past, rushing toward the medtruck without meeting his eyes. She’s probably just busy, but he can’t ignore the other changes around.
Wren’s patrol disperses without their usual victory chant, and Coda’s drones retreat in jagged, hesitant patterns.
Only Viper stands tall, emerging from the mill. His cold gaze locks with Kane’s. Then he turns away, shoulders set.
Kane bites back the command. Too many bodies watching or on the ground.
He’ll deal with Viper when the doors are closed.