Chapter 42 — Under the Second Rain
Darkness filled the ruins of the tower.
The air beneath the collapsed building was thick with dust, broken concrete, and the metallic smell of blood. Small cracks between the debris allowed thin lines of moonlight to fall into the buried chamber where the Knights were trapped.
John forced his eyes open again.
His vision was blurred, and every breath felt like knives pushing into his ribs. Something heavy pinned his left leg, while twisted elevator metal pressed against his shoulder.
But he was alive.
Barely.
A faint groan came from the darkness.
"Nyra…?" he called weakly.
"I'm here," she whispered.
Her voice sounded strained. A massive steel beam had pinned her arm and part of her torso. Blood ran down her sleeve, disappearing into the rubble beneath her.
Jack coughed somewhere behind them.
"Anyone else feel like they got hit by a truck?"
Hawk answered with a low groan.
"More like the truck… and the building."
Bishop shifted slightly, but pain forced him to stop.
"Don't move," he muttered. "Everything is broken."
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Above them, the ruins of the tower stood silent.
Then John heard it.
A distant sound in the sky.
A deep mechanical roar.
His eyes narrowed.
"That… doesn't sound right."
Nyra listened carefully.
Then her eyes widened.
"Missiles."
Jack froze.
"You've got to be kidding."
The sound grew louder.
Outside the rubble, somewhere beyond the destroyed building, the roar of engines echoed across the night sky.
John understood immediately.
Scar.
He wasn't finished.
A distant explosion shook the ruins.
The ground trembled again.
Chunks of concrete shifted above them.
Dust rained down from the cracks in the rubble.
Jack cursed.
"He's bombing the building again?!"
Another missile struck.
The explosion wasn't directly above them, but it was close enough to shake the entire mountain of debris.
Concrete slabs shifted dangerously.
Steel beams groaned under pressure.
Nyra's voice tightened.
"He's making sure we're dead."
John clenched his jaw.
Scar had already destroyed the tower.
But now he was destroying the ruins.
Making sure no one crawled out alive.
Another explosion rocked the ground.
The rubble shifted again.
A massive concrete slab slid downward a few inches, crushing part of the broken elevator cage.
Hawk groaned in pain.
"John… we can't survive another collapse."
John tried to push the metal off his arm.
It didn't move.
His body was too injured.
Blood soaked through his shirt, and his breathing had become shallow.
For the first time since the tower collapsed—
He realized something.
They might actually die here.
Not in a battle.
Not facing Scar.
But buried under the remains of his trap.
Above them, the sky roared again.
Another missile screamed toward the ruins.
BOOM.
The explosion hit the upper rubble pile.
The shockwave rolled downward.
The debris around them shifted violently.
Dust filled their lungs.
Nyra cried out as the steel beam pressing her arm shifted painfully.
Jack coughed, blood spilling onto the concrete.
"Scar really hates us."
John forced himself to stay conscious.
But his vision was fading.
Darkness crept slowly into the edges of his sight.
Then something unexpected happened.
Through the narrow crack of moonlight above them—
A new light appeared.
Not an explosion.
A bright white beam.
A searchlight.
The rumble of engines followed.
Not missiles.
Vehicles.
Heavy ones.
Nyra squinted upward.
"John… do you see that?"
He did.
Shadows moved above the rubble.
Several figures.
They moved quickly, climbing across the broken concrete like professionals.
Voices echoed faintly.
"Here!"
"Thermal scan shows survivors!"
"Move the slab!"
Power tools roared to life.
Metal cutters.
Hydraulic lifters.
Jack blinked in confusion.
"Rescue team?"
John wasn't convinced.
The voices didn't sound like emergency workers.
They sounded… organized.
Too organized.
A powerful floodlight shone directly into the gap above them.
One of the figures leaned over the crack in the rubble.
A masked man wearing black tactical gear.
Behind him were several others.
Armed.
Professional.
The man spoke into a radio.
"I found them."
Another voice answered through the radio.
"Alive?"
The masked man looked down at John and the others trapped in the debris.
"Barely."
More men began clearing debris with fast precision.
Concrete slabs were lifted.
Metal was cut away.
Within minutes, the space around the Knights opened enough to pull them out.
Two men carefully lifted Nyra from beneath the steel beam.
Another dragged Hawk out from the broken elevator cage.
Jack was pulled free next.
He groaned as they carried him away.
John was the last one.
Strong arms grabbed him and lifted him carefully from the rubble.
His body screamed in pain the moment the pressure of the debris disappeared.
The masked man looked directly into John's eyes.
For a moment, neither spoke.
John tried to focus, but his vision blurred again.
"Who… are you…" he managed to whisper.
The man didn't answer.
Instead, he nodded to the others.
"Take them."
More vehicles waited beyond the rubble.
Black armored trucks.
Engines already running.
The Knights were loaded into the back quickly.
John's consciousness was fading fast now.
The last thing he saw before darkness closed in—
Was the masked man speaking quietly into his radio.
"Targets secured."
A voice answered from the other end.
"Good."
"Bring them to me."
John tried to stay awake.
But the pain was too much.
The darkness finally took him.
And the last thought that passed through his mind was simple.
Someone had saved them.
But he didn't know if they had just been rescued…
Or captured.