Joseph's jaw almost hit the concrete.
Jamie's orders had been clear as daylight:
Kazunai must not know.
Kazunai must not show up.
Kazunai must not be involved.
Yet there he was. Young boss of the Sharks. Barefoot. Bandaged. Pale. A chilling aura bleeding off him like cold smoke. Rage seeped out of his pores, a thick, suffocating pressure that made seasoned killers shift back on instinct. And behind him were the three idiots responsible for letting the cat out of the bag, standing like schoolboys who'd burned down the principal's office.
"This is not good," one of the lieutenants muttered beside Joseph. His voice trembled, though he tried to hide it.
"We—we're here," Pips stammered, scratching the back of his head so hard it looked painful. He knew Joseph would be furious, but the real question was whether Joseph would risk acting out with Kaz standing there.
Ray and Haze were sweating bullets behind him. They felt the stares, the contempt, the promise of pain from every other Shark lieutenant present. They looked like they wanted to melt into the floor.
Joseph smirked, the tension cutting across his face like a blade. "Glad you could make it… and I see you brought us a surprise."
Laughter erupted through the warehouse—sharp, mocking—but it died instantly when Kaz cleared his throat.
It wasn't even loud. Just a low rumble.
But every man in that room felt the temperature drop.
Joseph's smirk faltered. "Well, little boss," he said, turning fully toward him, "I guess you already know what's going on, so I won't need to brief you."
Kaz's eyes were molten pits of fury. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I know. We move now."
He turned toward the door without waiting for permission.
"Well, you heard the man!" Joseph bellowed. "Move out!"
The warehouse exploded into motion. Sharks scrambled, suiting up, grabbing weapons, checking magazines, fitting masks, activating their radie gear. Boots thundered against concrete. Radios crackled. The tension was electric.
The trio—Pips, Ray, Haze—clung behind Kaz like baby ducks, trying to use his presence as a shield against the lieutenants' wrath.
"Does he even know where we're going?" Haze whispered shakily.
"Nope," Ray whispered.
Kaz didn't stop walking. "Oh, dumbass? So if I didn't hear that dumbass question, how exactly was I supposed to ask?"
They froze. Ray swallowed hard. "S-sorry boss."
Kaz didn't respond. He just pushed the large warehouse door open and walked out into the night.
The Sharks poured into the motorpool behind him, engines roaring to life, headlights cutting through the dark. Joseph jogged up beside Kaz.
"You ridin' with me, little boss?"
"No," Kaz said without looking. "I'm driving."
Joseph shot a look at the trio. They shrugged helplessly.
Kaz climbed into one of the armored SUVs like he'd done it a thousand times. His cracked ribs screamed, his bandages soaked faintly with fresh blood, but the pain was nothing compared to the inferno ripping through his chest.
Amy.
Kimara.
Grigorovich.
He gripped the steering wheel so tight the leather creaked.
I'm going to split your fucking skull open, asshole.
The convoy rolled out, black beasts on wheels tearing into the pitch black asphalt, headed toward the White Tiger compound.
And in the darkness behind them, the city seemed to hold its breath.
The Lab – Team Three Moves
Jamie crouched behind a rusted pipeline, rain pouring down his hood, eyes fixed on the towering laboratory compound ahead. Floodlights swept the surrounding perimeter. Razor-wire glinted like silver fangs. White Tiger guards patrolled with radie rifles that hummed softly in the storm.
Riko crouched beside him, obsidian armor crawling subtly along his arms like living stone. He cracked his neck, expression dead serious.
"The signal's coming from inside that big structure there," Jamie said quietly. "Second floor. Bio wing."
Riko nodded. "You wanna go loud or quiet?"
Jamie smirked. "We start quiet. If that fails… well."
Riko returned the smirk with one of his own. "Loud works too."
They moved.
Silent. Shadows in the rain. Two guards at the back gate didn't even notice them before Riko flicked his wrist, sending a needle-sharp obsidian shard into one men's throat. Jamie was already behind the second guard, arm locked under his jaw, snapping his neck with one clean twist.
The bodies fell into the mud.
Jamie dragged them behind a stack of crates while Riko placed obsidian spikes along the wall to jam camera rotations.
They climbed the wall, dropped down inside the compound, and slipped through the shadows toward the bio wing.
Inside, the hall smelled like chemicals and fear. The hum of machines echoed through the sterile corridor. Jamie's skin crawled.
"Kids," he murmured under his breath. "They're experimenting on kids."
Riko's jaw clenched. "Let's get them."
Two more guards rounded the corner.
Jamie surged forward, low and fast, striking the first guard's wrist to disarm him before spinning behind him and driving a knee into his spine. Riko tackled the second, his obsidian claws tearing through armor like cloth.
Alarms hadn't gone off yet.
But they both knew that wouldn't last long.
They pushed deeper into the wing, approaching a steel door marked Sub-Level Containment. Jamie tapped the electronic lockpad and nodded to Riko.
"Break it."
Riko placed his palm on the door. Obsidian flowed over his fingers, creeping along the metal like a fungus. With a grunt, he twisted—and the door cracked inward.
They entered a dim room lined with observation tanks.
And in those tanks—children.
Floating.
Sedated.
With wires in their skulls and radie conduits running through their arms.
Jamie's breath left him in a shaky exhale.
"We're ending this today," he whispered.
Riko nodded once.
Then the lights snapped red.
And alarms screamed to life.
Team Two – Vali and Zaria
Vali kicked open a service door on the opposite side of the compound, slipping into a hallway thick with the scent of disinfectant. Zaria followed behind him, her flash light flickering faintly as it illuminate path ahead.
"Tracker's pointing down this corridor," she whispered.
"Good," Vali muttered. "Stay close."
They moved quickly, passing empty labs and sealed doors. A muffled scream echoed in the distance.
They froze.
"That's them," Vali breathed.
His feet moved before he even realized, sprinting down the hall until he reached a reinforced steel containment door. Amy's tracker pinged repeatedly behind it.
Vali turned to Zaria. "Cover me."
He inhaled deeply, Dark Mist swirling around his arms like living smoke.
Then he rammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
He stepped back. His pupils shrank, and the mist exploded off him in a violent burst. He slammed into the door again, black tendrils punching into the hinges.
The metal groaned as he pulled with all his might.
Zaria joined him, her strings piercing into the door and anchoring onto the other side.
Together, they pulled the door off its hinges with a thunderous Boom.
Inside, Amy lay slumped in a chair, wrists bound, head bleeding.
Kimara lay unconscious on the floor, blood dried on her cheek.
Zaria rushed to them immediately, slicing through restraints with her razor sharp strings. Vali checked their pulses—steady, but weak.
"We found them," he whispered.
Then a slow, deliberate clap echoed through the chamber.
Vali froze.
Zaria turned.
And Alexandrov Grigorovich stepped out of the shadows.
He wore a pristine white suit despite the chaos around him, half-moon glasses glinting, and a beastlike smile stretching across his wrinkled face.
"Well done," he said, voice smooth and venomous. "Very well done. I must admit… I was hoping Kazunai would come. But I suppose the second son will do."
Vali's mist flared violently. "You bastard. You're dead."
Alexandrov chuckled. "Oh, child… no. You are."
Dozens of White Tiger enforcers emerged behind him, guns raised, abilities crackling in the air.
Zaria stepped forward, a whirlwind of strings erupting around her arms. "Vali… stay focused. We protect them."
Vali nodded, dark mist consuming his fists. "Right."
Alexandrov raised a hand.
"Kill them."
The room exploded into chaos.
Back to Team Three: The Alarm
Jamie's knife plunged into a guard's throat. Riko hurled another obsidian spike, taking down a second one.
More guards were pouring into the hall. They were outnumbered ten to one.
Jamie's radio crackled.
"Team Two has engaged," Joseph's voice snapped. "Grigorovich is with them. Reinforcements inbound. Little boss is en route."
Jamie grimaced. "Damn it—Kaz should not be here."
Riko slammed a guard into the wall and grab another by the throat squeezing it until the guard fell unconscious. "We don't have a choice. We finish this. Fast."
Jamie nodded, wiping blood from his jaw. "Move. We get the kids out."
He kicked open another door, and his stomach dropped.
There were cages.
Dozens.
Metal cages.
With trembling kids inside, eyes wide with terror.
Some had injections strapped to their arms.
Some had strange unnatural growths forming under their skin.
One little boy had faint glowing cracks along his arms—like unstable radie reactions.
Zaria's voice echoed faintly over the radio, screaming in battle.
Jamie clenched his fists.
"Riko. Break the doors."
Riko didn't hesitate. Obsidian axes formed along his arms as he smashed cage locks one by one.
Kids flooded out, crying, shaking.
Jamie knelt down. "Listen to me. We're getting you out. Follow the trail of unconscious guards, we have some friends outside—they'll protect you."
A little girl looked up at him with hollow eyes. "Are you gonna stop these bad men?"
Jamie's throat tightened.
He nodded. "Yeah. We are kid."
Behind him, the concrete floor shook violently.
Jamie and Riko whipped around—
A massive Tiger enforcer burst into the hall, covered in red hot metal plating, eyes glowing.
"You're not leaving," he roared.
Riko stepped forward, obsidian armor growing thicker across his shoulders.
Jamie drew two knives from his belt.
"Riko," he said, voice low, steady.
"Yeah Jamie?" Riko mouths with a smug grin
"Lets Break him."
Back to Team Two: Battle with Grigorovich
Vali ducked under a burst of gunfire, rolling across the floor and slamming a fist into the nearest enforcer's knee. Bone cracked. Mist surged from Vali's hands, wrapping around the man's face and choking him unconscious.
Zaria leapt into the air, spinning, her strings carving through incoming attackers like jagged arcs of light. Her anger fed her power, her strikes fierce, fluid, deadly.
Grigorovich watched with an almost bored expression. "Children fighting children… amusing."Vali charged him, mist surging.
Grigorovich lifted two fingers.
A telekinetic blast caught Vali mid-dash and flung him across the room like a ragdoll. He hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
"VALI!" Zaria screamed sprinting towards Alexandrov.
He got up, coughing blood, vision spinning.
Alexandrov grinned. "You thought I survived the old days without power? No, little shark. I was killing men long before your father even had the thought of making you brats."
Vali wiped blood from his lip. "I don't care about the past, and as far as my dad told me you were a nobody, some scrawny coward how only enjoyed taking advantage of the weak."
He swung his arm, mist spiraling violently.
"I'm here for my family."
The mist condensed into a spear, launching straight at Alexandrov.
Grigorovich flicked his wrist—deflecting it effortlessly.
"Pathetic."
He raised his hand, telekinetic energy crackling— "I didn't see anything like this in Grigorovich's file, what is this ability" Zaria thinks leaping towards their target
—and then BAM Zaria kicks him square in the jaw.
Alexandrov staggers, more shocked than hurt, wiping some blood from his cheek.
"You dumb fucking brat."
He snapped his fingers.
Every goon in the room converged at once.
Vali and Zaria stood back-to-back, surrounded, bloodied but unbroken.
"Vali," Zaria whispered.
"Yeah?" Vali huffed, breath ragged
"We're probably gonna die here."
He smirked. "Probably."
Her strings flared with a bright blue hue.
His mist grew darker.
One last stand.
For Amy.
For Kimara.
For Kazunai.
And somewhere outside the compound…
Kazunai's SUV roared through the night, the windshield reflecting the blazing compound ahead.
His horned reflection glared back at him in the glass.
And inside his chest, the rune Kharzun burned—
—and his rage burned hotter.
He pressed the accelerator until the pedal nearly snapped.
"I'm coming," he whispered.
"To burn that old bastard alive."