"The escort mission wasn't the job," Leon said. "It was the cover. It was my ticket into West Line with a capable, deniable team that wouldn't raise any flags on a corporate watchlist." He paused, and they could hear the distant, echoing shriek of a monorail in the background. "My real purpose here is to extract a source. A high-level data analyst from Helix Vanta Media named Kaelen. He has everything—the original, uncorrupted data proving what HVM is really doing with their MemStreams."

Monica stared at the screen, her expression a mask of cold fury. "You used us."

"I hired the best for the situation I found myself in," Leon countered, his voice firm, not pleading. "My contacts insisted. They knew Kaelen was being hunted by HVM's internal security. Once they find his location, they'll zero him on sight and anyone associated with him. This mission requires precision and discretion, not a brute force assault." He paused. "That's why I needed you with me, Ray. A sharpshooter. Someone who knows how to be a ghost. Monica, your job is extraction. You get us out once we have the target."

Ray finally spoke, his voice even and devoid of emotion, cutting through the tension like a scalpel. "Where is the rendezvous?"

"Ghostlight Wharf. In the Shallows," Leon replied, a hint of approval in his tone. "The source chose it—too many ghosts in the system there for HVM to get a clean surveillance lock." A file transfer notification popped up. A set of coordinates and a tactical map of the district appeared on the car's display. "We have a two-hour window. After that, he's gone for good."

"And our compensation for this… mission extension?" Monica asked, her tone sharp as broken glass.

"Forty-two thousand credits each," Leon stated without hesitation. "I'm sending half now as a sign of good faith."

A lot of credits for an extraction. Ray though.

Another notification. 21,000 credits received. Monica's eyes flashed. Without a word, she forwarded the full amount to Ray. He sent back a simple, one-word acknowledgment: Received. It was their contract, signed in silence.

"You should know," Leon added, his voice turning grim, "from the moment you picked me up, your biometrics and this car's signature were tagged by HVM's security AI. You are my known associates. If I go down, they will assume you're part of my network."

He didn't need to say more. He had them trapped. The city, which had felt like a destination, now felt like a cage.

"I'm moving into position," Leon said. "Meet me at the coordinates."

The connection ended, plunging the car back into silence. Monica's hands were clenched so tightly on the wheel that Ray could see the strain in her forearms. She didn't look at him. She stared out at the fractured, hungry city.

"Well," she finally bit out, the single word dripping with venom. "Looks like we're working overtime."

She slammed her hand on the ignition panel, and the Kurai's engine roared to life, a low, predatory growl that promised violence.

The Kurai peeled away from the service street, its sleek, aggressive lines a stark contrast to the grime of the Undercroft. Monica drove with a focused fury, navigating the internal roadways of The Line with brutal efficiency. They descended, level by level, leaving the sterile air of the Crescent far behind, plunging into the damp, crowded arteries at the city's base. She didn't speak, but the tension in the car was like a physical presence.

They reached the edge of the habitable zone, where the polished ferroconcrete of The Line's foundation crumbled away into a waterlogged cargo depot. This was as far as the Kurai could go. Ahead, there were no roads, only a sprawling, chaotic network of walkways built over the sunken ruins of the old world. The car, with its predatory gleam, was already drawing too many eyes from the shadows.

"This is your stop," Monica said, her voice clipped. "Keep your comms open. I'll be circling. Ping me when you have the package or if things go south."

Ray nodded, his expression unreadable. He slipped out of the passenger door, the expensive hiss of the hydraulics sounding alien in this place. The door sealed shut behind him, and the Kurai, a black ghost in the gloom, reversed silently back into the labyrinth of The Line, leaving him alone at the precipice of the Shallows.

He took a moment, letting his senses adjust. The air hit him first. It was a thick, wet cocktail of smells: the sharp, briny tang of the sea, the underlying rot of decay, the sizzle of frying oil from a nearby food stall, and the bitter, metallic scent of ozone from sparking, jury-rigged electronics. It was the smell of life and death, packed tight together.

He pulled down his hood and raised up his neck gaiter, then stepped onto the first walkway, a patchwork of rusted steel mesh. It creaked under his weight, and he could feel the gentle, rhythmic sway of the entire structure, rising and falling with the unseen tide. Below his feet, through the mesh, the water was a murky, opaque green, its surface coated in a rainbow sheen of chemical runoff. A faint, ethereal glow pulsed from beneath—the bioluminescent algae that gave Ghostlight Wharf its name.

The Shallows unfolded before him, a chaotic, three-dimensional maze. Rickety walkways, some no wider than a single plank, connected repurposed shipping containers stacked three and four high, their faded corporate logos peeling away like sunburnt skin. Shanties made of scrap metal and translucent plastic sheeting clung to the sides of these containers, their interiors lit by the flickering glow of a screen or a single, naked bulb. Laundry lines, heavy with damp clothes, stretched between rusted railings, their bright colors a stark contrast to the muted rust and grey of the environment.

The people were like the place itself—weathered, resilient, and wary. A fisherman with a leathery face and a cybernetic arm cast a glowing lure into the murky depths. A group of kids, their laughter sharp and wild, chased each other along a dangerously narrow beam, their balance supernatural. A woman bartered with a street vendor over a skewer of glistening, unidentifiable meat, her argument punctuated by sharp, angry gestures. Their faces were a tapestry of humanity, etched with the hardships of this life, their eyes missing nothing. They watched Ray as he passed, their gazes lingering, cataloging him, assessing him as either a threat, a customer, or a fool. He was an outsider, his clean clothes and steady gait a clear signal that he did not belong.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The raw, unpredictable nature of the Shallows, a place that defied easy calculation, sparked that familiar, hollow nostalgia for the fear he could no longer feel.

He followed the coordinates from Leon, moving deeper into the labyrinth. He passed a black-market cybernetics clinic operating out of an old refrigeration container, the hum of its generator and the low moans from within making the air feel heavy. He saw a makeshift shrine built into an alcove, lit by flickering electric candles, surrounded by offerings of scavenged tech and polished shells. This was a city built on the bones of another, a place with its own gods and its own laws. He was an intruder here, a sterile instrument of violence walking through a world teeming with messy, desperate life. And somewhere ahead, in the heart of it all, his target was waiting.

Ghostlight Wharf was not a single place, but a cancerous growth of walkways, platforms, and makeshift structures built upon the concrete skeletons of a drowned world. The coordinates Leon had sent led Ray to a specific sector, but finding the actual rendezvous point was like trying to find a single, specific drop of rain in a hurricane. The three-dimensional maze defied all logic, with walkways crisscrossing above and below, leading to dead ends or spiraling down into the glowing, murky water. The entire district was a data black hole, with overlapping, unsecured networks and ghost signals that made his tactical overlay flicker and glitch.

He didn't rely purely on instinct. He relied on a piece of technology he'd absorbed from that fried robot he had bought from at the Tech Fair—a sophisticated combat and navigation computer. Data flooded his senses as the onboard system went to work. Micro-LIDAR sensors swept his surroundings, mapping the structural integrity of the walkways in real-time; his auditory sensors filtered the ambient chaos, isolating the tell-tale hum of active security systems. His optical feed was overlaid with probability vectors, calculating sight lines, potential cover, and defensible positions. It was this ghost of the defeated robot, now integrated into his own systems, that guided him. After ten minutes that felt like an hour of navigating through steam-filled alleys between shipping containers and ducking under low-hanging power cables that the system flagged as electrically charged, he found it. A barely visible symbol, a simple prophet's eye, was painted in faded, phosphorescent paint on the side of a large, rust-eaten ventilation unit.

As if summoned by his gaze, a shadow detached itself from a nearby doorway. It was Leon, his face grim, his eyes scanning the chaos of the Wharf with a professional's vigilance, his hand never straying far from the pistol holstered under his jacket. He gave Ray a curt, barely perceptible nod. "You made good time. This way. Stay sharp."

Leon led him through the doorway into the oppressive dark of a utility corridor. The air was thick and heavy, tasting of damp concrete, salt, and the faint, metallic tang of ozone from decaying power conduits. As they descended a flight of slick, metal stairs, Ray's auditory sensors filtered the ambient noise, picking up faint voices from behind the corridor's other doors—some docile and conversational, others rising into terrified screams that were abruptly cut off. A grim reminder of where they were.

Ray followed Leon to the last door on the right. Leon took out an old, rusted kinetic key and inserted it into the lock. The heavy tumblers clicked, and the door swung open. He glanced down the hallway one last time before waving for Ray to step inside.

The moment he entered, Ray's internal systems shifted. Threat environment uncertain. Reallocating resources. He felt a familiar, subtle reconfiguration as his nanites transformed his body from the neck down, the simulacrum of skin under his clothes shifting into the articulated endoskeleton of the robot he had consumed at the Tech Fair. His readiness for the worst-case scenario had paid off before. It was now standard protocol.

In the center of the room, illuminated by a single, battery-powered lantern and sitting in a worn-out car seat, was a man. He was pale, almost translucent, his eyes wide with a terror so profound it seemed to have hollowed him out from the inside.

A sheen of cold sweat glistened on his forehead. This had to be Kaelen.

"Time to move," Leon said, his voice low.

Kaelen nodded, his throat working but no sound coming out. He quickly rose from the seat…

And then the world exploded.

The metal door behind them buckled inwards, its lock vaporized by a shaped charge. Before the shrapnel had even stopped flying, a volley of caseless rounds shredded the air.

"Down!" Leon yelled, tackling Kaelen behind a big, rust-eaten generator.

Ray didn't need to be told. He had already dashed behind a thick metallic crate, his world slowing to a crawl. He peeked from cover. His OptiRange Mk-IV Scope Eye cut through the gloom, making everything clear as day. Three hostiles at the doorway, their weapons—a scuffed SMG and two pistols—looking more like street hardware than corporate issue. A fourth stood in the hallway, covering their flank. Locals, Ray's concluded. Mercenaries.

He drew Future. The first shot was a clean, precise double-tap that dropped the man in the middle. The second target fell a moment later. Two down in less than two seconds. Activating his Enhanced Legs, the world lurched as his myomers launched him impossibly fast. The remaining two mercs fired on his last position, riddling the empty air with bullets. But Ray was already on them, Future barking twice more. Four down.

The last goon in the hallway scrambled to run. No witnesses. Ray's logic was absolute. He dashed forward, crossing the room in a blur.

But as he burst through the doorway, his world tilted.

His Advanced Sensor Suite screamed a proximity warning, but it was already too late. Movement from his left—a black-clad shape moving with a speed that defied physics. His Combat Decision Assist (CDA) flooded his vision with red, but the fist that came out of the shadows was faster than his processors had anticipated.

He felt his metallic torso bend inwards as the armored fist slammed into his abdomen. The uppercut lifted him off his feet, propelling him upwards with sickening force. He crashed into the ceiling, the impact sending a shudder through his entire body before he dropped to the grated floor with a heavy, metallic clang. Damage report: Torso plating dented. Minor myomer displacement. His Stability Inertial Dampeners had absorbed the worst of the kinetic shock.

He pushed himself up, his head tilting as he analyzed the new threat. The man wasn't an HVM grunt. He was huge, encased in thick, black combat armor that seemed a grade above standard corporate issue. His lower face and neck were gone, replaced by a seamless mantle of matte-black carbon fiber that blended into his armor. This brutal modification extended his jawline, allowing his mouth to open wider than any human's. And as he grinned—a slow, predatory peeling back of synthetic lips—Ray's optics zoomed in. His mouth was not filled with simple fangs, but with multiple, interlocking rows of serrated, needle-sharp teeth, like a deep-sea predator designed for one purpose: to tear flesh from bone. A low, synthesized growl rumbled from deep within his chest, the sound of grinding metal and pure malice.

"I bet you have some good mods in you," the man growled. Probably a snap. Definitely an apex predator.

The world seemed to warp around the armored man as he activated his Z-Dragger, becoming a blur of afterimages. His Z-Dragger was far superior compared to Ray's, probably military-grade. He was on Ray in an instant, a flurry of armored fists and feet.

Ray went purely on the defensive, his Quickstep Kinetic Enhancers firing constantly, jerking him side to side in a desperate attempt to evade the onslaught. Each blow he failed to dodge landed with crushing force, the impacts resonating through his robotic frame. The snap was a seasoned brawler; every punch was aimed at a joint, every kick at a potential weak point in his armor. He was trying to dismantle Ray piece by piece.

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