#### **Chapter 14: Brother's Brain Stops Asking Permission**
Kyro entered the warehouse through a high window, a black specter descending into the darkness. The moment his feet touched a catwalk, the world erupted.
Lights strobed violently. A high-pitched shriek tore through the air. The sensory assault was immediate and overwhelming. His ICC flickered, trying to find patterns in the chaos but finding only noise. For the first time in years, he felt disoriented. Lost.
"They're trying to overload you," Kuro's voice crackled in his ear, filtered to cancel out the screeching frequency. "The light pattern is pseudo-random, but the emitters have a power cycle. I'm marking them on your HUD. Move on my mark."
A wave of W.A.O. soldiers emerged from the shadows. Kyro's body wanted to react, but his mind was fighting the sensory war.
"Now!" Kuro yelled.
Kyro moved. He leaped from the catwalk, his mind focused only on Kuro's instructions. He ignored the flashes, trusted his brother's voice, and let his body do the rest. The ICC roared to life, feeding on the pure adrenaline. He flowed through the soldiers like a phantom, a whirlwind of precise, disabling strikes.
Then, from the center of the room, The Warden emerged. He was older, but he moved with the brutal economy of a lifelong killer. He held a simple combat knife. No tricks. No games.
Their fight was a clash of philosophies. The Warden was all power and relentless pressure. Kyro was fluid, evasive, redirecting, and waiting. The strobe lights flashed, the noise screamed, and the two men became a blur of motion. Kyro felt the strain. His head throbbed. The ICC was costing him. He was burning out. He needed an opening.