The Threat

The team split into two groups. Rylin led the Entry Team toward the building’s south side, moving silently. The sound of falling dirt from the aerial-craft  in the distance broke up the dense silence of the deserted neighbourhood.

As they approached the building, they found the concrete walls had deep cracks, and with time, their surfaces became pitted and stained. Rust-colored marks ran like tears down the flaking exterior. The ground-level entrance was hardly recognizable—a gaping, rough hole where a doorway, making the way unclear to find the right path.

Rylin signalled the team to stop by raising a fist. She crouched low, her cybernetic eye glowing lightly over the entryway with a series of rapid scans. The location was well depicted by the HUD overlay, which showed many structural weak points but no immediate dangers.

she spoke steadily and calmly, "Clear," she commanded on communicated plugin placed in her ears. "Come in. Watch your footing.”

The agents moved smoothly and precisely as they sneaked through the smashed entryway one by one. Their boots hardly made any noise on the dusty floor. Broken furniture pieces and sharp glass fragments were scattered across the floor, and the shadows appeared to move and squirm with each flick of their light sources.

One of the agents said, "Floor one, clear," as his Gun-mounted light cut through the darkness.

Rylin whispered, "Stay sharp," The stairwell ahead was marked by another rays of scanning by her cybernetic eye. As the team got closer to the steps, she gave the signal to form up and took the lead.

The climb was slow and deliberate, with each step planned to minimise noise. Each step produced a menacing creak that echoed quietly through the deserted hallways as the stairwell creaked under their weight. Dust fell from the damaged ceilings above, dislodging with every step and falling gently like a thin covering. The group moved accurately, in control and one by one watching each directions carefully and in rhythm.

Rylin’s cybernetic eye popped up a blue ray , her vision overlaid with a moving recon sensory with heat data, the data showing them the outline of the memebers with heat graphs on their outline structures, Through the walls above, the faint outlines of things appeared—three human forms, motionless but clearly alive. Speaking in a low, clipped voice, she stopped the team with a clinched fist.

"They're right above us," she said into the command. "Three targets. Not moving.

With a wordless nod, the agents tightened their hold on their guns and began climbing again. The stairwell ended abruptly at the second floor, the way is half broken.

Rylin's voice, yelled, "Focus." Her robotic eye hovered over the location, "They're close. Remain vigilant.

With their boots crunching lightly against the floor covered in wreckage, the team continued. They had to cautiously travel across hazardous wreckage in the stairs up to the third, which was a mass of collapsed concrete and bent metal.

When they finally reached the third floor, they paused for a moment. The area in front of them seemed open and spacious, with subdued shadows. There were very few intact walls left.

In the far corner of the room, dim light flickered. The targets; three individuals gathered together, and one of them is sleeping. other two moved slowly and cautiously.

Rylin raised her hand, signaling the operatives to hold. her voice was forceful but quiet.

“Targets in sight. Prepare your weapons. We move on my mark.”

With their weapons lifted and their fingers steady on the triggers, the crew moved into position in silence.

Meanwhile, The man wearing the mask of Wukong stood still, his heightened senses on edge. He could barely hear the faint, rhythmic hum of tiny drones over the background noise of the isolated area. He lifted a hand in a silent signal, his fingers bending, giving a sign for the person next to him, and he did so quickly as the surge of urgency.

The figure beside him, clad in a raven's mask, wearing a cloak and a raven's mask, noticed the slight movement. he knew instantly without having to say a word, both cocked their head slightly. Through their masks, they made eye contact.

As the agents outside adjusted their equipment, the steady drone hum faded for a while. The recon data and heat signatures on the monitor started to blur and then vanished completely, causing Rylin's prosthetic eye to jitter and her HUD to momentarily malfunction.

“Damn it,” she muttered, crouching low. "What's happening, Vance? The feed is no longer available.

Vance's voice crackled in the communications from the outside. “Some kind of interference. Could be intentionally done. Hold on."His voice become loud. "Something is moving. The back side of the room. Be cautious.”

The agents outside the room fired without hesitation, a steady flow of bullets rushing towards the walls of the third floor. The metallic burst of gunfire echoed throughout the deteriorating building. Inside, the men remained strangely quiet despite their bullet penetrating the walls and object.

The vance could see the vision of the room, but the room is filled with the icy smoke, all over making HUD unable to read the heat signatures.

The person wearing the Raven mask glanced at the person wearing the Wukong mask. They were almost invisible through the haze of icy smoke that pervaded the space. They had expected this sort of action from EL.

The squad entered the room when Rylin gave them a signal. A thick layer of smoke swirled like a phantom shroud as the door swung wide, screaming on its broken bolts. Rylin leaned, her eyes sharply detecting the slight sparkle of a tiny, abandoned cylinder on the ground.

She whispered, "Liquid nitrogen," as her gloved fingertips touched the cold surface. "In order to hide their heat fingerprints, they are lowering the temperature. Stay sharp this isn’t random.” he sneered.

Vance's voice echoed. “Rylin, movement detected at the far end of the room. Be prepared." 

 The agents moved in carefully, weapons ready, their lights cutting through the haze. Their breath was now visible in the icy air, and the temperature had dropped rapidly. The silence was broken by the crackle of floor under their boots.

Then it began.

The man in the Wukong mask moved first, a blur in the smoke. He closed the distance to the closest agent with a smooth motion. He made a silent arc with his tonfa, striking the side of the agent's skull. The target was dropped silently by the terrible and accurate hit. Wukong made sure there was no sound that would show his presence by catching the body before it could contact the ground and lowering it softly.

The guy in the Raven mask was just as quick, moving like a shadow behind another agent. In the dim light, a curved blade flashed, cutting through the agent's communications wire and then cutting an entrance in their armour. The agent's weapon clattered softly against the floor as they collapsed.

“Contact!” an agent shouted, but the words had been cut short. Wukong showed up from the side, his tonfa striking with proper precision, hitting the weapon from the agent’s hands before delivering a quick, eliminating blow to the knee and a final strike to the head. The agent fell to the ground in the fog.

Among the remaining agents, panic spread, they were afraid, unknown ok what's going to happen next. Their lights fluttered in the fog “We’re being picked off!” one of the agent yelled, but even their shouts felt consumed by the oppressive cold and smoke.

Rylin’s cybernetic eye flickered as it struggled to lock onto a target. “Keep your positions!" Watch your back!” she commanded, but even her voice carried a sense of nervousness.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the man wearing the Raven mask struck once more. A knife sliced through an agent's armour straps as it flashed. he took over the agent off balance that the agent flopped into the icy floor beneath him.

Rylin lifted her firearm and looked around for the intruders. She saw a brief shadow in her systemic vision, a blur of motion too quick to follow. “Vance, we’re being ambushed! Get us a backup right away!"

From his point of view; outside, Vance rapidly adjusted his drones, trying to get a clearer view. "I can hardly see them. They’re fast”

Kevin's voice, tinged with his usual arrogance, crackled through the communications when he heard Rylin's desperate order.
“Oh, come on, Rylin. Surprised? Really? You’re supposed to be the best of the best. He hissed, "Don't tell me you're losing to some cosplayers."

Rylin tightened her jaw. “Kevin, this isn’t the time for your... mockery.”

Kevin interrupted her. "Calm down, I'll be right in. Try not to mess up too much before I get there. It's embarrassing."

Kevin moved casually as he entered the disintegrating building a moment later. As he went by, the other agents looked at him suspiciously. He adjusted his combat gloves on his hands, he is smirking, the sound of metal clanging could be heard as he was walking towards the room.

“You know,” Kevin said loudly, addressing no one in particular, “this is why they need me. Everyone forgets how to perform their duties when there is a little confusion."

The man with the Wukong mask tilted his head slightly from the smoke-filled room, his keen senses picking up on the unique rhythm of Kevin's words. He went into the dim light, smirking under his mask.

“Well, well,” Wukong spoke, his tone with mockery. "Look who made the decision to appear. It's been a while, Kevin. I believed you was going to die roaming around in an attempt to locate me."

Kevin entered the room with a comfortable yet prepared stance, and his smirk grew. "Monkey boy, I thought I had finally gotten rid of you. I suppose fate enjoys a good joke."

The sound of Wukong's laughter echoing through the cool, smoky air, almost taunting. "joke? Oh no, Kevin. This is a tragedy, for you." “You’re out of your level. But don’t worry, I’ll leave you with a goodbye gift for you, Bye Bye....”

Wukong snapped his fingers before Kevin could react, and he vanished in a flash of smoke and light. There was a slight sparkle in the air, a faint smell of burnt ozone, and the echo of his mocking chuckling.

Kevin's sneer faltered for a second as he clenched his fists. "Coward," he mumbled to himself.

He turned to face the Raven-masked person still standing in the room. Kevin's sneered, threatening. "where he went?"

The guy in the Raven mask rushed, quick and accurate, but Kevin was quicker. He took a deliberate sidestep, grabbed the figure's wrist, gave it a violent twist, and kicked him in the side, crushing his bones. The masked person collapsed to the floor. Kevin knelt over the fallen person and removed the mask to expose their face. He took a quick look at them and tossed the mask aside. the face of the person was half burnt on his left side, and also some of the burning marks on his forhead.

There was a secret room behind the broken wall that was an exact duplicate of the one they were in. A person; Mruga was lying on a bed in the middle of the room.

Kevin turned towards the agents who had followed him in, and his smirk reappeared. “Well, well, look what we have here. The golden ticket. He gestured towards Mruga's unconscious body. “Pick him up. We're heading out."

As Kevin took one final look around the room, the agents hurriedly lifted Mruga with caution. He kept thinking about Wukong's escape, and a hint of annoyance appeared on his face.

“Enjoy your little magic act while you can, Wukong,” Kevin muttered. "I'm taking the stage next time."

// To Be Continued......