CHAPTER 36: OFF THE GRID
SCENE 1: THE GHOSTS OF PUNJAB
The CBI gunships were flying over the ruined fortress of Viraj. Their big searchlights were shining down on the rubble. The tactical agents were moving in their guns ready. They were taking control of the area around the king.
Agent Aditi got out of the lead helicopter. Her long coat was blowing in the wind. She did not look happy that the Red Zone was gone. She was staring at the destroyed data-log. It was a pile of glittering golden dust on the concrete.
Deep underground the squad was running away. They were moving through the tunnels. They were tired and hurt. They kept going. They had to get out of there.
Laksh was taking apart the comms relay from his vest. He threw the microchip on the ground. Crushed it. He was hacking into the system to erase their identities.
The System UI in their eyes was changing. It said they were no longer connected to the government. They were not being tracked. They were now enemies of the state.
Laksh stopped running. He was out of breath. "We are officially enemies of the state " he said.
Rudra did not stop. He kept moving. "That is good " he said. "The state was slowing us down."
SCENE 2: THE HELL
It had been 72 hours. The squad was now in the Himalayas. The mountains were tall and covered in snow. The wind was blowing hard. The squad was walking through the snow. They were wearing stolen CBI gear.
They were following the coordinates from Advaits data-log.. It did not lead them to a safe place. It led them to a wasteland. There was nothing but ice and snow.
Laksh pushed his glasses up. His True Sight UI was not working well. It was affected by the temperature.
The environment was very dangerous. The temperature was -30°C. The battery was draining fast.
SCENE 3: SYSTEM FREEZE
The sun was setting. The squad had to take shelter in an ice cave. They were huddled together in the dark. Rudras chest port was giving off a light. The Aegis Firewall was working hard to keep Rudra warm.
The environment was like an enemy. It was affecting their Mod 3 evolutions.
Dhruv was trying to make a fire.. The cold air was making it hard. The sap from his hands was freezing. It was like glass.
Maya was rubbing her arms. She was cold. "I cannot slow down time " she said. "If I use Chrono-Isolation my heart will stop."
Laksh was looking outside the cave. He realized that their old tactics would not work here. They had to come up with a plan.
SCENE 4: THE DESYNC
Laksh was using his scanner. He was trying to find the location of the Admins Vault.. Instead he found a strange signal. It was like a ghost.
The signal was not moving like a thing. It was jumping around.
Laksh said, "We have company."
Maya got ready. She took out her daggers. She went to the mouth of the cave. She looked outside.
The snowflakes were freezing in mid-air. Then they were moving upwards. It was, like the physics of the world was breaking.
A man appeared. He was wearing a suit. He was not affected by the cold. It was Kaal.
He did not take out a weapon. He just looked at his watch. Then he vanished.
Mayas optic interface was affected. It was giving her a warning. The server latency was critical. The timeline was desynced.