Chapter 38 - Kane
The timestamp flashes across Kane’s HUD.
A sweep follows, appearing over the street in his periphery as the visor populates its tags.
>STOREFRONT: ABANDONED
>PARKING DECK: COMPROMISED
>SEC DRONES (CODA): 4 ONLINE
Nothing out of the ordinary. Kane keeps moving, eyes on the road ahead.
This isn’t his usual patrol. District Four belonged to Wren’s squad. He took the route after last week, when her bikers were nearly overrun by Natural Order operatives.
Drones survey the residential blocks while Viper’s team secures the perimeters. But the main drag is too central, too exposed to hand off to anyone else.
And Kane refuses to rush, no matter what he told Rafael about being home by six. The man will be waiting in their quarters at this hour without fail. Unless the sun is out, and Pixie’s glued to his side.
He exhales as he crosses the street. Pixie’s been running herself ragged, anyway. In the forty-eight hours since Rafael’s return, Kane hasn’t had a moment to draft a schedule to give her a break.
She and Echo covered for him last night, too, escorting Rafael to Midtown to pick up his things, while Kane was stuck interrogating a Natural Order captive with Viper. A complete waste in the end.
As he rounds the corner past a closed Terra’s Hyper Food, an alert flashes across his overlay.
[CODA: PACKAGED MISSED SITE. DID NOT LAND.]
He stops mid-step, reading the message once, then again. It still doesn’t add up.
Synth runs don’t slip. Not when the whole neighborhood depends on the stuff. A splash in their synthohol keeps people functional, and the stronger hits help those trying to quit the harder poisons.
Either way, a missed run puts them all at risk—and blows a hole in his crew’s funding.
No one knows that better than Echo, a former addict before Kane’s aunt helped get her clean. She’s usually managing these drops.
And she would’ve handled this, too, if Kane hadn’t taken over every run in and out of Shreveport lately. Supply lines are too important to leave to chance.
Like Tuesday’s breach in this very district.
Natural Order got through the holowall. Again. Viper’s team managed to hold the line, retake lost ground, and shut the incursion down.
Because Kane stepped in.
Yet the cost still weighs on him. Three rookies paid with their lives, two residents were caught in the crossfire, and an entire drone squad was destroyed.
All from an attack that could’ve been avoided if Viper had listened and sent the new recruits to the border for extra defense.
He pushes the images out of his mind. Dwelling won’t bring anyone back. Kane taps the side of his visor and connects to Echo.
“Yo, boss man—”
“Where’s the delivery from Malik’s team?” Kane cuts her off.
Static hisses in the commlink. The HUD pulls his focus.
>CALL: ECHO
>LINK: STRONG
Echo answers finally. “I don’t know. It was scheduled to arrive…” A pause follows, tapping faintly on her end.
“Today, around two. But I haven’t checked the spot yet. I’ve been working on that civilian contact list you asked for. You said it was a priority earlier.”
Kane grits his teeth. “This involves outside movement. It takes precedence.”
“Listen, I—”
“Lucky for you, I’m in the area,” he interrupts her mid-protest. “I’ll handle what you can’t. Like everything else.”
Patrol will have to wait. Like Rafael.
By the time Kane reaches Main Street, he’s already angling toward a warehouse wedged between the former post office and a shuttered HOV station.
Inside is just as rotten as he remembers, with cracked concrete, exposed wiring, and a buckling printing press half-buried beneath decades-old paper.
At the end of the hall, an old elevator sits dead. But with the tap of his wristlink, red indicator lights above flick on, metal doors grinding open. He steps inside and taps a code into the antique access panel.
The second floor greets him with broken office furniture and dusty cubicles, relics from before the corps.
His overlay paints a different picture.
>HEAT SIG: 25 BODIES
Viper, no doubt, padded the place with extra muscle. Why can’t he ever simply follow orders?
Rolling his eyes, Kane opens a concealed panel beside the elevator and presses his palm to the controls, this time from this century.
Light washes over the room.
Cracked tile smooths into composite flooring. Reinforced steel slides into place along the walls, storage racks emerging from concealment. At the center, a terminal glows below ten holo displays streaming live cargo logs and inventory queues.
Standard layout for their hold. Designed by him personally.
Then he sees them.
A ring of enforcers encircle the room. Some are familiar; others are completely new. None offer a salute or even a nod.
Kane counts over fifteen. This goes beyond added security.
“What’s going on here?”
No one answers. A few shift their stance, shoulders squaring. At a glance from the highest-ranking member, their weapons rise in unison.
Kane doesn’t flinch. “Lower your weapons.”
They don’t move.
His fingers curl into a fist. “I’m talking to you. Where’s your squad leader?”
“Here,” calls a familiar voice.
Viper steps through the parted line of enforcers, rifle in hand, barrel leveled at Kane’s chest.
He clenches his jaw. “What is this?”
“It’s called a tactical reassessment.” Viper shares a look with his team. “Your leadership is a liability, one we’re no longer willing to risk.”
In an instant, everything clicks.
The missing drop, Viper ignoring his orders, challenging him in meetings, and all these extra guards.
This is a mutiny.
Kane’s stomach sinks. The weapons expert was among the first he recruited after his uncle died. The others he knows less well. His HUD tags a few names, but none of them should be standing here like this.
While his mind racks for what could’ve triggered the shift, Viper reaches up.
The green bandana—crew colors Kane’s never seen him without—slips free and falls to the floor.
For a split second, relief washes over him. This is a gesture, maybe. Some twisted reminder of loyalty before they continue with business.
Until he sees what’s underneath.
White with black veins.
Natural Order.
Kane’s breath leaves his lungs.
“We’re done with you,” Viper declares. The others around him nod. “Natural Order offered us a way out of this mess…while you dig a hole for Shreveport playing king.”
Old arguments flash through Kane’s mind, of training standards, defensive routes, territory calls. Is that really why Viper’s taking Athena’s side, why he’s leaving them?
He shoves the doubt aside. Regret won’t help here. Anger won’t either.
But logic might.
“You’re being played,” Kane hisses. “Athena isn’t offering you freedom. She’s using you—to get to me, to fracture our control of Shreveport.” He meets Viper’s stare. “I know her. She doesn’t negotiate. She manipulates. And you’re exactly where she wants you. No better off than you are with me.”
Viper adjusts his stance. His rifle drops slightly.
Maybe Kane’s getting through to him.
“Think about it.” He sweeps his gaze across the others.
“How many times have we clashed with Natural Order this past month? They used to be background noise. Annoying, sure—but they kept to themselves.” He folds his arms. “Since Athena took over, they’ve hit harder.
Turned people against us. Cost us solid ground.
You really think that’s who you want to kneel to? ”
“At least Athena has direction.” Viper’s cyberoptic whirs as he meets Kane’s stare. “And she listens. When she disagrees, she hears us out.” His jaw tightens. “You’ve got us spinning in circles, paranoid, second-guessing every move. Bleeding for plans we’re not allowed to question.”
Kane inhales sharply.
Has he really led them that poorly? Made them this afraid? Enough to jump ship for Athena?
No. He’s doing what has to be done.
“You didn’t join us because you wanted direction,” he scoffs. “You joined because you wanted a better purpose, and you’re never getting that with Natural Order. What you’re getting are more rules, more restrictions.”
He gestures to an enforcer with gleaming prosthetic legs.
“You’ll have to rip out your chrome. Your cyberware.
” Kane singles out another, half his head plated in tech.
“Whatever they decide is impure.” His attention flicks back to Viper.
“And you can say goodbye to those modded weapons and your favorite shiny glocks. You ready for that?”
Something flickers across Viper’s face. The emotion’s gone with a shrug before Kane can pin it down.
“I don’t agree with all of it,” Viper admits. “But at least they don’t lie about what it costs. They admit it’s control. They believe in it—their cause. You just dressed yours up as loyalty.”
A bitter laugh slips from Kane. “This is ridiculous. What you call control is discipline—and it’s the only reason this crew’s lasted as long as it has.”
Viper doesn’t even flinch.
That tells Kane everything. Athena’s grip is too strong. Reason won’t help here.
“Without it, we’d end up like the Butchers. And you know how fast my uncle ended them.” As he speaks, his finger drifts toward his wristlink. A single, precise tap will trigger Coda’s emergency protocol.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Viper nods to the middle screen above the terminal.
Kane stills.
The display flickers on as an enforcer waves over the controls.
A video plays of Rafael eating food at a stall in the marketplace in real time. Kane can barely breathe. The angle shifts to his escort, a woman he vaguely remembers approving after Viper vouched for them. In their hand is a glock, trained at Rafael’s spine, where he can’t see.
Blood rushes to Kane’s ears.
A coup was one thing. Using Rafael…
“Don’t you dare,” he hisses.
“Or what?” Viper cocks his gun. Kane’s heart thunders.
“But I won’t hurt him. Rafael’s been nothing but nice to me. As long as you play by my rules.”
Hearing his name in Viper’s mouth makes Kane’s fingers twitch.
Yet the crew is watching. And Rafael’s life is in their hands.
“Fine. What do you want? My surrender?”
“No.” Viper shakes his head. “We want you—and everyone not in this room—out of this district.” His hand sweeps out in front of him. “This territory. This site. The people. It all belongs to us. To Athena. To the Natural Order.”
Every instinct in Kane screams to fight. But the projection still shows Rafael laughing with the traitor escort, unaware of the gun inches from his spine.
For the first time in this war with Athena, Kane has no move left.
“This changes nothing,” he grits out. “You and Natural Order—Athena—you’ll never take Shreveport.”
Viper’s chin lifts. “We’re already halfway there. Stop stalling and make the order.”
“I need a window to arrange our exit. Twenty-four hours,” Kane barters.
“No. You’ll do it now.”
Something small and dense sails toward him. Kane snatches the object out of the air and peers down. He recognizes the casing immediately. Tracker tech. The same kind they’ve used on recon teams and synth drops.
“And put that on first,” Viper orders. “I want to know you won’t run.”
Kane grunts and clips the tracker onto his wristlink. The device chirps once, syncing with the terminal in the room.
“Call your crew. Tell them to evacuate the district. Every last one of them. And don’t bother with any codes or clever tricks. We’ll be listening and watching.”
Defiance isn’t an option here. Kane taps his visor to activate his commlink and connects to every member in District 4.
“This is Baron.” His tone stays level despite the fury burning in his chest. “All units to evacuate District Four immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat—full withdrawal. No exceptions. Further instructions will follow.”
The channel closes.
He turns to Viper. “Do you understand what you’re doing? It’s not just you and your enforcers who’ll end up under Athena’s thumb. The civilians will too. Did that ever cross your mind?”
“You have ten minutes,” Viper says. “One wrong move or any attempt to counter—” He nods at the holo display streaming Rafael.
A chill runs down Kane’s spine. “This isn’t over,” he warns, then turns and strides for the elevator.
The doors slide shut.
Only then does he sag against the wall, eyes shutting tight.
First, civilians. Now Viper?
Those people trusted him. Kane trusted him.
Would his uncle have seen this coming?
He exhales. There’s no point asking questions only a dead man could answer.
Soon, Natural Order will have District Four. All the supplies in their hold. And whatever intel Viper’s already given up. That’s where Kane’s focus belongs.
His commlink buzzes as he steps onto the street.
“Boss?” Echo’s voice crackles in. “What the hell just happened? District Four’s going dark and—”
“Not now!” Kane snaps.
“Baron,” Coda interrupts. “We’re receiving reports of Natural Order flags going up all over Four—”
Kane kills the channel.
Everything else can wait.
His priority is the crew and getting to Rafael.
And Viper had better pray there isn’t a mark on him when Kane does.