Chapter 5: Midnight on Line 7
The subway station is already dead.
Line 7 was shut down for "maintenance," but no workers are in sight. Fluorescent lights buzz overhead, flickering like nervous eyes. Water drips from the ceiling, pooling along rusted rails.
Midnight hits.
Kael Voss stands on the edge of the tunnel, mask on, breath slow. His HUD overlays Iris's intel—cargo manifest, guard count, weapon types.
ARs. Explosives. Military-grade.
Crowe isn't just arming gangs.
He's preparing for war.
Kael drops into the tunnel and vanishes into the dark.
A train rumbles in.
Not a commuter train.
Blackened windows. Reinforced doors.
Eight armed men step onto the platform first, spreading out in disciplined formation.
Not street trash.
Mercenaries.
Kael watches from above, clinging to a support beam.
Then something changes.
His HUD flickers.
SIGNAL INTERFERENCE
Kael's muscles tense.
"Too clean," he mutters.
On a nearby platform, Iris Han hides behind a concrete pillar, camera in hand. She shouldn't be here.
She knows that.
But if she doesn't record this, it never happened.
Her phone vibrates.
UNKNOWN:
You're brave. Or stupid.
Her blood runs cold.
The lights go out.
Complete darkness.
Gunfire erupts.
Muzzle flashes strobe the platform like lightning.
Kael drops.
He hits the first mercenary before the man can scream—knife through the throat, body lowered silently.
The second turns—
Kael fires twice.
Center mass.
Down.
Chaos explodes.
The mercenaries regroup fast—too fast. Flashlights snap on, sweeping the darkness.
"Contact! Multiple angles!"
Kael moves like a shadow between shadows—gun-fu precision, close-quarters brutality. A disarm. A shot. A knee that caves in armor.
But they keep coming.
Then—
A scream.
Kael's head snaps toward the sound.
Civilian.
No.
Iris.
She runs.
Bullets tear chunks from concrete around her. A mercenary grabs her arm, slamming her against the wall.
"Got a live one!" he shouts.
Kael hears it.
Sees red.
He throws his last knife.
It embeds in the man's neck.
Kael is on Iris an instant later, dragging her behind cover.
"Didn't I tell you to stay off the streets?" he growls.
"I got footage," she pants. "And—"
A grenade skids across the floor.
Kael reacts instantly.
He shields Iris, slams her to the ground—
BOOM.
The blast throws them both back.
Kael's vision swims.
Armor cracked.
Ribs screaming.
When the smoke clears, only three mercenaries remain.
They retreat—disciplined, controlled.
This was never about winning.
It was about testing.
A voice echoes from the train's speaker.
Darius Crowe.
"Impressive, Wraith," Crowe says. "You saved the girl."
Kael rises slowly.
"Which means," Crowe continues, amused, "now I know where to aim."
The train pulls away, disappearing into the tunnel.
Police sirens flood the station.
Iris stares at Kael, shaken.
"You could've left me," she says.
Kael looks at the blood on his gloves.
"I don't leave people," he replies.
Not anymore.
On a nearby overpass, Detective Elias Thorn watches the chaos below.
His eyes follow the Wraith as he disappears into smoke.
Elias exhales.
"That confirms it," he mutters.
Back in Crowe's tower, Darius watches the recovered footage Iris unknowingly streamed before the blackout.
He pauses the frame.
Kael shielding Iris.
Crowe smiles slowly.
"So," he says softly, "you still have a heart."
He leans back.
"Let's break it."
END OF CHAPTER 5