Chapter 42 - Kane
Kane stands beneath the towering Lux Systems building, its blue neon logo buzzing above the entrance.
For now, the future office sits vacant, set to open in a few days.
Perfect neutral ground for a meet, if Echo’s press rat came through.
Inside, security is minimal, with a scatter of sensors and skeleton enforcers patrolling the upper floors.
Outside, a few corpo drones hum nearby. Nothing worth raising an alarm.
Midtown rush hour murmurs in the distance, but here, traffic is thin. A few HOVs drift overhead, pedestrians funneling toward the nearest stop at ground level. No one gives Kane or any of them a second look. This close to Shreveport, they barely register—even with weapons and armor.
He glances at the crew. Coda’s fingers fly over a keyboard only he can see. Kane doesn’t ask for updates.
At his side, Echo checks her wristlink. Wren mutters into her comm while Pixie tightens the straps on her harness.
All their life signs are steady in Kane’s HUD, a testament to their days of planning.
Still, tension coils in his hands.
Everyone’s future rests on tonight. Especially his.
Coda cuts in. “All clear.” He peers at Kane through his goggles, expression blank.
Kane nods. “Let’s move.” Adjusting his vest, he marches toward the building with his lieutenants behind.
At the front door, a robotic voice crackles from the corpo security panel. “Scanning in progress.”
He stiffens.
Blue light washes over them, followed by a series of beeps. The lock disengages with a click.
“My contact delivered, as usual,” Echo mutters. Kane’s already moving through the opened door.
A spotless corporate lobby stretches out before them, walls flashing with Lux Systems ads and hologram AIs looping canned greetings.
Kane’s attention snaps to what doesn’t belong: two armed mercenaries beside a collection of lock boxes. Beyond them, seven Natural Order members wait by the elevators in their signature robes, unarmed.
The male mercenary levels his rifle at Kane and his crew. “Weapons.”
His lieutenants freeze. Kane starts to disarm, and the others slowly follow suit. This was the agreement, their only face-to-face access with Athena.
The female mercenary collects their weapons while her partner maintains his aim. Once the last rifle is locked away, she runs an EMP scanner over each of them. When the device reaches Kane, he forces a normal breath as it glides over his chest.
“Clear,” she announces.
With a nod, the mercenaries step aside, opening a path toward the enemy line. Kane moves forward, and the elevator at their side hisses open.
A familiar figure steps out. His stomach drops.
Viper enters the lobby in Natural Order robes, white and flowing to the floor. His usual heap of weapons is gone. So is his cyberware—replaced by surgical scars carving pale lines across his skin.
Kane stares. Standing here, facing him in white, something cold presses in his ribs.
“You actually showed,” Viper says, expression unreadable. His gaze slides past his former leader, landing on the others.
Wren and Pixie glare in unison. Echo shakes her head, and Coda simply crosses his arms and stares.
An emotion flickers across Viper’s face, too fast to clock. Kane pushes it aside.
“Where’s Athena?” he grits out.
Viper’s jaw ticks. He nods down the hall by the elevator. “We’ve secured a room. This way.”
Without a word, he follows Viper, his lieutenants at his heels, while the remaining robed members wait in the lobby.
Their steps echo against ceramic tile, the sharp scent of paint and glue lingering in the air. With each stride, floor-level lights flick on.
The silence breaks when Viper stops at a door labeled “Conference Room 1.” He waves a hand over the security panel.
A single beep, and the doors slide open.
Kane draws a slow breath.
At the head of a long table sits Athena, her name pulsing in HUD despite all the years.
Her blue eyes lock onto his, mouth curving into a grin. Like the rest of Natural Order, she wears a robe. Only hers gleams with intricate gold-lit piping. Her hair is still blond, tied into a ponytail to reveal faint markings at her temples where her former implants once rested.
Four robed members flank her. Kane’s HUD tags each face: Giselle, Titus, Nora, and Charles, all matching the intel Coda pulled from the Veil.
“Hello, Kane,” Athena drawls. “Or should I call you Baron now that we’re on opposite sides?”
His fingers curl to a fist.
“And Echo, still in the game? Really?”
Echo’s pulse flares in his overlay, though she says nothing.
“We’re here to negotiate.” Kane steps forward. “Not reminisce.”
Laughter bursts from Athena. “Negotiate? In what world does the Chrome Baron negotiate?” She leans in. “Come on, Kane. What’s the real reason you dragged us here?”
He shrugs. “Times change. People change.”
“Do they? Or is this just a ploy?” She tilts her head. “We trained under the same man, remember? I know everything Duke taught you, and he mastered the long game.”
The urge to strip his uncle’s name from Athena’s mouth burns inside Kane. Thankfully, his self-control wins out.
“We came here to talk. That’s it,” he explains.
Athena tsks. “I always knew that bleeding heart of yours would be your downfall, Kane. But fine then. Let’s carve out the terms of your surrender.”
“No one said anything about surrender.” Kane’s eyes narrow.
“What else is this but ‘surrender?’” Athena gestures around her. “You don’t actually think you have a leg up on us, do you?”
Kane says nothing.
“Sure, you clawed back District Three. A few deadweights came crawling home. Congratulations.” Athena’s hands come together in a slow, mock clap. “But you’re bleeding territory, members, contacts…”
He holds her stare. A faint shimmer ghosts across her face. His brow lifts.
Was that a trick of light? A hiccup in his feed?
Whatever it is, Athena doesn’t seem concerned. She shares a smile with her team before turning to face him.
“You know what, Kane? We’ll hear you out. For old time’s sake.” She winks.
Ignoring her jab, Kane shifts his focus to his crew. He motions for them to take their seats. As he settles into his own, Coda catches his eye briefly. A message that might mean nothing, or something.
Once everyone’s in a chair, Athena turns to Echo. “You informed my order you’re sitting on access to valuable resources, some of which you’re prepared to hand over.”
Echo gives a stiff nod. “Connections, ones even the best fixers in Nova City can’t reach.”
“We’d be willing to accept that intel in exchange for the very generous offer of District Four,” Athena explains.
Kane raises a brow. “Really? You’d just give up a key piece of Shreveport for some names?” That doesn’t sound like her.
“Sorry,” Athena adopts a faux sweetness. “We’re offering only District Four. Your people vacate everywhere else.”
He straightens in his seat. “That’s your offer?”
“It’s our best offer. In fact, it’s our only offer.” She smirks. “Because, as I said, you’re in no position to demand anything. While your numbers are shrinking, we’re growing…Last night, we took a third of Euclid.”
Her lieutenants nod with confidence.
“Practically no resistance.”
Wren shifts in her seat. “Euclid’s been Howl territory since—”
“Not anymore,” Athena interrupts. “And that’s just the beginning. Just this week, we brought in over a hundred new orderlings—people who believe in our cause.”
Pixie’s heart rate spikes on Kane’s display.
Athena’s palms settle over the table. “And right now? We’re finalizing an alliance with Ulvepack.”
Kane’s stomach knots.
No pulse spike. No flicker. None of his readings suggests she’s bluffing.
However, for the second time, his interface falters at her outline. Only the glitch vanishes before he can investigate.
Maybe there’s interference from the building’s shielded walls.
Next to him, Echo’s expression tightens.
Not ideal, but they’ll adjust.
Their eyes meet. Kane gives a slight shake of his head. Stick to the plan.
“So, unless you want Shreveport soaked in blood—your hometown carved up—you’ll turn over all your intel. Freely,” Athena says smugly. “Then you’ll surrender everything else. Every street. Every alley. Every warehouse. Until your uncle’s former empire is ours.”
“For the Order!” Giselle shouts.
“The purification has begun!” Titus echoes.
Charles and Nora join them in applause as Athena’s grin never fades.
Kane doesn’t move, doesn’t blink. When the room falls silent, he says evenly, “You’ve been busy…”
“Excuse me?” Athena blinks.
“All this new growth, expansion, alliances—with Ulvepack especially. Not exactly known for mercy. Your order must trust you completely.”
Her smile sharpens. “A crew is only as good as its leader, Kane.” She gestures broadly to her side. “You can see the difference yourself.”
He nods. “True. But did your people agree to all the choices you made to get here?”
In his overlay, Athena’s pulse quickens, her mouth twitching.
Charles clears his throat. “Our leader’s actions speak for themselves.”
Nora lifts her chin, adding, “Whatever happened before the Order doesn’t matter now.”
“No, no—let him speak.” Athena leans back. “I’m curious what Kane thinks he actually has on me.”
Unfazed by her comment, Kane angles his seat to the fixer at his side. “Echo, you served with Athena the longest.”
Echo kicks her boots up on the table, drawing a grimace from Nora.
“Didn’t you have something you wanted to share?” Kane prompts.
“Yes, boss man.” She points at him. “First, let me introduce myself. I’m Echo, the fixer, dealer, broker for the crew. Been in this game since—”
“Get to the point, Echo.” Athena’s fingers drum once against her chair’s arm.
Echo’s voice flattens. “Fine. Back in the day, Kane’s uncle, our former leader, his wife got sick. Cyber-resistant leukemia. Hit fast and hard.”
A familiar ache stirs in Kane’s chest.
“Duke stepped aside to care for her. Left the lieutenants in charge. That included Athena.” Echo jerks a thumb at her.
“Around that time, word came in that the NCPD was planning a major bust. We needed to stock up on synth, quick. I set up a deal with the Reds—reliable, but expensive. Duke wasn’t thrilled about the timing, but he trusted us. ”
She raps her knuckles against her chrome prosthetic under her pants. “Right before it went through, I got sidelined. Athena took over.”
“And? Plenty of deals break down.” Nora raises a hand. “I fail to see the issue here.”
Titus scoffs, muttering, “Beyond this fixer here making herself more impure…”
“The issue is that Athena switched dealers last minute,” Echo asserts. “From the Reds…to Neo Nostra.”
The Natural Order members eye each other with wariness. Kane adds, “Even by our standards, Nostra was a risk.”
Echo nods. “Athena claimed it was the smarter move. Faster payout. More territory access. What she didn’t tell us”—her brows draw together—“was that Neo Nostra wanted Dragan. For revenge. Something personal. And she knew it.”
Athena bristles. “That’s not—”
“The deal went bad.” Echo’s tone sharpens. “Nostra ambushed us. Duke tried to warn us and caught a bullet in the crossfire.” She frowns. “And Athena? She grabbed the credits and ran. Left everyone else behind to die.”
“That’s who you’re following.” Kane meets Athena’s scowl, though his words are for her followers. “Someone who abandons others the moment things go sideways.”
Charles shifts in his seat, sharing a worried look with Nora. Giselle’s features harden, but Titus doesn’t move.
After a breath, Giselle scoffs. “That’s it? This is what you wanted to say?”
Titus shrugs. “Sounds more like bad luck than betrayal.” He spins to face Echo. “Do you have proof Athena knew what Nostra wanted?”
“Cipher,” Kane hisses. “They were there.”
Charles looks between them. “Who is this Cipher? One of you?”
Echo frowns. “No, they’re—”
“Then how do we know they exist? And if they do, why hide?” Giselle questions.
A snort escapes Titus. “Yeah, why not show up and speak for themselves?”
“City records can confirm Cipher’s identity. Employment logs, prior contracts…” Coda reaches for holotable controls.
“Do those records prove what Echo’s saying happened that night?” Charles interrupts, quieter than the others.
Coda’s hand slowly retreats. Athena sits up with a smile, tugging her sleeve down with care.
Kane’s gaze never leaves hers. “Cipher exists. They were there. They remember everything.”
Athena’s followers exchange uneasy glances. Giselle locks her arms across her chest. Even Titus frowns.
Athena sends a sharp look at Kane, then pivots to her crew. “I’ll acknowledge the switch happened, yes. But I didn’t do it for profit. I did it to keep us afloat when everything was falling apart.”
She lowers her head before lifting it. “Nostra had their own agenda—one I didn’t know about. No matter what Kane or the old hag claim.”
Echo scoffs. “Bullshit…”
“I’ve seen groups crumble under leaders too sentimental to make hard calls,” Athena goes on, tone sharper. “I wasn’t going to be a victim again. Not for Duke. Not for anyone. That’s why I left that night. And when I returned, I learned from my mistakes.”
Her hand sweeps across the table. “And look at where I have taken this group. Meanwhile, Kane and his team try to punish me for my past while failing to do what he never could—succeed.”
Titus and Giselle murmur their agreement. Athena flashes a proud smile as she gestures to them. “They follow me because they believe in my vision—not my past.”
Kane squares his shoulders.
Same posture. Same need for an audience. Cipher was right.
Except Charles wrings his hands. Nora avoids his gaze.
The cracks are still there.
“So”—Athena casually adjusts the robe around her neck—“if we’re finished with ghost stories and—”
“You’re correct about one thing, Athena,” Kane cuts her off. “The past is behind us. But your betrayals? They’re still happening. Right now.”