VEILBREAKERS
Episode 13: Ghost Signal
[OPENING SCENE – BUNKER WAR ROOM]
The room was lit by a cold, bluish glow from the cracked monitors. Smoke from overheated circuits coiled through the air, mixing with the iron tang of blood still lingering from the fight. Kael stood at the center table, hands on the steel surface, eyes scanning the holographic map flickering in broken pulses.
Signal markers were crawling toward their location.
"They know where we are," Jett muttered, pacing with his rifle slung over his shoulder. "And they'll bring more next time. Heavily armed. That wasn't a scout team—it was an opener."
Ran leaned back against the wall, blade resting across his lap, eyes closed like none of this fazed him. "Then we move."
Kael didn't look up. "Not yet."
Ran opened one eye, studying Kael. "You want to stay here and die? Fine by me. But don't drag us with you."
Kael's fingers tapped the table, slow and deliberate. His voice was calm—too calm."We're not leaving without clearing the signal first. If we run now, they'll trace us wherever we go. We need to wipe their lock."
Jett froze mid-step. "And how do you plan on doing that? Because last time I checked, you're not exactly a cyber-god."
Kael raised his head slightly, eyes cold as steel. "We have one chance. Ghost their system before they ghost us."
Ran tilted his head, a faint grin cutting his face. "Sounds fun."
[CUT TO: BUNKER SERVER ROOM]
The room was alive with hums of old tech, red lights flashing like a dying heartbeat. Kael stood before a console, his fingers flying across the holographic keys while data storms cascaded down. Lines of code scrolled like falling rain.
"You can hack now?" Jett asked from the doorway, baffled.
Kael didn't answer. His focus was razor-sharp, sweat beading on his temple—not from effort, but from the ticking clock on the upper corner of the screen:TIME TO FULL LOCK: 06:12
Ran paced slowly, blade dragging sparks along the steel floor. "What happens if you fail?"
Kael: "They won't just erase us. They'll erase everything connected to us. Every trace. Every memory in their system. Ghost protocol."
Ran smirked. "So basically... we disappear without dying. Cute."
Jett slammed a mag into his rifle. "You sound way too calm about that."
[ALERT – EXTERNAL BREACH DETECTED]TIME TO CONTACT: 02:31
The walls shook with the sound of explosions echoing through the tunnels. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Jett cursed. "They're early!"
Kael's voice didn't break its rhythm. "Buy me three minutes."
Ran's grin widened as he rose, blade gleaming under the emergency lights. "Thought you'd never ask."
[CUT TO: TUNNEL COMBAT – CINEMATIC SEQUENCE]
The north tunnel roared alive with gunfire and smoke. Shadows moved like demons under crimson alarms. Ran was a blur—steel flashing in arcs of death, cutting through armored soldiers like silk. Sparks danced as bullets met his blade.
"You really missed this, didn't you?" Jett yelled over the chaos, blasting two soldiers with pinpoint bursts.
Ran laughed—a low, feral sound—as he decapitated another operative mid-spin. "You have no idea."
But the enemy wasn't ordinary this time.One of them moved wrong. Too fast. Too precise.
A towering figure stepped into the tunnel. Clad in matte-black armor that rippled like liquid metal, its helmet bore a single red slit for an eye. It raised its weapon—a pulse cannon that hummed with an unnatural resonance.
Ran froze for a half-second. "That… is new."
The blast tore through the tunnel like a meteor, vaporizing debris and leaving the air thick with static.
[CUT BACK TO SERVER ROOM]
Kael's hands blurred over the console. The lock counter hit:00:47
Sparks exploded from the terminal."Come on," he muttered.
For a moment, the screen flashed white. Then—SYSTEM BREACH REDIRECTED – SIGNAL GHOST ACTIVE
Kael ripped the connector free and turned toward the door just as it burst open with smoke and dust. Ran and Jett stumbled back in, both breathing hard.
Ran's blade dripped crimson. His coat was shredded. He spat blood on the floor and grinned. "We're not staying here, right?"
Kael walked past him, tossing a small black drive into his hand. "Not unless you like being buried alive."
The bunker shook violently—the shockwave of another pulse cannon blast tearing through the tunnels.
Kael looked back, eyes glinting like cold steel under the flashing red lights. "Time to vanish."
FADE OUT.
To be continued...