Chapter 5: Relay Station

The relay tower was hidden beneath a housing block in Sector Six—just one of the many forgotten places littered throughout LUX Metropolis. The city above gleamed with perfection: hovering transports slid along quiet streets, and digital billboards sang promises of a harmonious future. But below, where Ryo, Elena, and Aya crouched in the dark, harmony felt like a distant dream.

Aya pointed toward the cracked concrete steps leading down into the basement beneath the housing block. "The first relay point is down there. If we shut it down, the rest of the test zones will fall offline within hours."

Elena tightened the straps of her tactical gloves, her movements fluid and sharp. "Why do I feel like this is going to end with us being chased through more collapsing tunnels?"

Aya smirked without looking at her. "Because it probably will."

Ryo exhaled slowly, adjusting the Tear in Time device clipped to his belt. It glowed faintly, an ominous reminder of the risks they carried with them. "We need to be quick. If The Continuum suspects what we’re doing, they’ll lock the entire sector down."

Aya pressed her hand against the access panel by the door. The biometric scanner sputtered with static before it turned green, and the heavy metal door hissed open. She turned to the others with a grim smile. "Welcome to the underbelly of utopia."

The stairs creaked beneath their boots as they made their way into the dimly lit corridor. Exposed cables snaked along the walls like veins, their pulse flickering faintly with electric life. The deeper they descended, the heavier the air became, carrying the metallic scent of old circuitry and coolant.

Ryo’s gaze flicked over the machinery as they passed. "This tech is ancient—older than I thought. It looks like they kept the original infrastructure from the first network."

Aya nodded, her voice low. "They did. Easier to hide something when it’s buried in plain sight."

Elena ran a hand along the wall, her expression unreadable. "Feels more like a graveyard than a relay station."

"Not far off," Aya murmured. "These systems kept millions of people numb for decades. Most of them never even realized what they’d lost."

Ryo paused at the bottom of the stairs, his hand hovering over a junction box brimming with fiber cables. He glanced at Aya. "Once we cut the power, what happens to the people in the test zones? Will they notice the difference?"

Aya’s expression was hard to read. "They’ll feel something. It won’t be subtle, but it won’t be immediate either. Like waking up from a dream you didn’t know you were having."

Elena gave Ryo a sideways glance. "And what if they don’t like what they wake up to?"

"That’s the risk," Aya replied quietly. "Some will fight it. Some won’t."

Ryo clenched his jaw, the weight of the decision settling on him. "We have to try."

They moved swiftly through the corridor, passing rusted server cabinets and flickering consoles. At the heart of the relay station, a central control terminal pulsed with soft blue light. Aya approached it, pulling a data drive from her pack.

"This should inject a loop into their system," she explained, inserting the drive into the console. "It’ll break the signal relay and scramble any attempts to reboot it remotely."

Ryo hovered by the door, scanning the narrow hallway for any signs of movement. "How long will it take?"

Aya’s hands flew over the terminal, inputting commands with practiced ease. "Just a few minutes."

Elena, ever restless, paced near the terminal, her sharp eyes flicking between the old tech and the shadows beyond the room. "I still don’t get it—if this network is so critical, why isn’t it guarded?"

Aya didn’t look up from her work. "Because they think no one knows it’s here. They’ve kept it hidden for so long, they forgot to defend it."

Ryo frowned, a nagging unease creeping into his mind. "Or maybe they want us to find it."

Elena stiffened. "What do you mean?"

Before Ryo could answer, the lights above flickered, and the low hum of power cut out entirely. A wave of silence settled over the relay station, thick and unnatural.

Then, in the distance, came the sound of metal footsteps—steady and deliberate, like the march of soldiers who knew exactly where they were going.

Aya swore under her breath. "They found us."

Ryo yanked Aya away from the terminal just as the first blast rang out—a high-pitched whine of plasma discharges tearing through the corridor walls. Sparks erupted around them, and the air filled with the acrid stench of burning metal.

"Move!" Ryo shouted, pulling Elena with him as they sprinted down the corridor.

The sound of pursuit echoed behind them—mechanized enforcers, sleek combat units designed for urban suppression. They moved with terrifying precision, their red targeting lasers slicing through the darkness like blades.

Aya shot a glance over her shoulder. "How many?"

Elena grimaced, drawing her sidearm. "Enough to ruin our day."

Ryo skidded around a corner, his mind racing. "We need to get back to the main stairwell. If we can seal the door—"

"No good," Aya cut in. "They’ll override the system in seconds."

Elena fired a few shots behind her, the blasts lighting up the corridor in brief flashes. "Then we make it harder for them."

They reached a junction where the corridor split into two paths. Without hesitation, Ryo pulled the Tear in Time from his belt and activated it, the glowing orb humming to life.

Elena grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Buying us some time," Ryo answered, his eyes locked on the shimmering vortex forming in the air.

The swirling light pulsed, and for a brief moment, the corridor bent around them—a ripple in reality, pulling fragments of time into the present.

"Go!" Ryo shouted, shoving Aya and Elena through the vortex.

The three of them stumbled out the other side, emerging into a different section of the relay station—one that hadn’t been touched by the enforcers yet. Ryo sealed the door behind them, his heart pounding.

Elena caught her breath, glaring at him. "You really like playing with fire, don’t you?"

Ryo managed a strained smile. "Only when I have to."

Aya scanned the new section of the station, quickly orienting herself. "There’s an access ladder just ahead. It’ll take us to the surface."

They sprinted toward the ladder, the sound of distant footsteps still echoing in the background. As they climbed, Ryo glanced down at the Tear in Time, its glow dimming slowly.

He knew they couldn’t keep relying on it. Each use brought them closer to the unknown—and to the dangers that came with it.

They reached the surface just as the first rays of dawn touched the city’s horizon. The streets were quiet, the hum of LUX Metropolis slowly awakening from its slumber.

Elena dusted off her hands, breathing heavily. "Well, that was fun."

Aya gave her a tired grin. "You have a strange definition of fun."

Ryo looked down at the Tear in Time, his expression unreadable. "This is only the beginning."

Aya clapped him on the back. "Then we’d better be ready."