"Who the hell was that?!" Rony asked, still staring at the live drone feed.
DJ didn't slow down.
"I don't know—"
A thunderous crack split the air behind him.
He instinctively ducked as a shockwave rolled down the ruined street, Concrete and old walls collapsed. Dj watched it happened, he felt that, he saw dust rolling, and than another boom followed.
DJ sprinted harder.
"He seems familiar," DJ said between breaths as he recalled the memory of that blurry night.
"Remember when i first found Pullwater? I told you I saw a blue-suit guy falling from the sky."
Rony pulled up archived footage in a side window.
"You said you thought it was a hallucination."
Another explosion in the distance.
The drone camera shook violently as Rony saw two figures collided mid-air, his eyes very focused.
He leaned closer to the screen. "He's strong. Not Krish-level durable, but strong."
DJ didn't respond, he was focused on speed.
Within minutes he reached the industrial
perimeter — the cube-shaped structure hiding the underground Pull-water mine.
He slowed only once he was under shadows behind ruined buildings.
His cracked helmet, now partially stabilized by the spider drones, slid back into place over his face.
Systems rebooted.
HUD flickered, then stabilized to 63% functionality. Many function and equipment are damaged and gladly nothing important was damaged.
He activated a wide-spectrum scan.
A holographic 3D model of the building bloomed in his visor, and it immediately marked Guards position and pinpointed them.
His HUD showed several more details, it showed
Thermal signatures sensors on rooftops, Air vents that has been sealed, it marked several Motion sensors in grid formation. Red alerted the Automated turret mounts along the inner corridors. The security was way above then they expected. Even Rony had to say that
He let out a low whistle and wondered. "How did you even get in last time?" He asked.
DJ zoomed into the ventilation network. "Do you think it was always this many guarded?"
Rony noded, it make sense.
Roy had fortified it after the whole incident.
"Can't change that now," DJ said.
He checked the timer.
00:18:07
"Eighteen minutes."
Rony's voice steadied. "Direct assault?"
DJ scanned the perimeter again. Calculating.
"…Let's begin."
He twisted his wrist.
Two compact guided missiles slid out and launched silently upward.
The moment they crossed the outer grid, alarms triggered.
Automated guns pivoted instantly and opened fire.
Rounds shredded the air.
But the missiles split paths at the last second — adjusting trajectory with micro-corrections.
Neither was hit.
They curved toward the upper ventilation shafts, and tore through the layer of blockade, and the missiles Instead of exploding, the warheads cracked open and released dense grey vapor.
"Anesthetic gas deployed," Rony confirmed.
Inside the control corridor, guards looked up at the motion alert panels.
"Movement in vent sector B—"
The grey gas poured downward through the filtration lines.
One guard coughed.
Another turned to shout—
"Seal the—"
He collapsed mid-sentence.
One by one they dropped.
The sector supervisor grabbed his radio.
"Command, we have anesthe—"
He fell before finishing.
On DJ's HUD, thermal signatures in Sector B began blinking out.
Rony exhaled slowly. "First layer down."
The DJ didn't celebrate.
Rony nodded at the feed. "inside most of the guards are down. Automated turrets are still active on the main corridor grid." He paused, fingers moving fast. "I can shut down the ones directly in your path before the entrance. Once inside you are in your own, the suit will protect you but it's Integrity it already low, you should be careful, try dodging them as much as possible."
Dj understood and noded.
" Anything I can do to stop them?" Rony immediately checked some data and said.
" You need to get in the security room to kill it, and once you killed it, only the backup system of the building will be online"
"I'll connect you to the mainframe," DJ said.
He stood up from cover.
Timer: 00:14:18
No more waiting.
He stepped out into the open and walked straight toward the entrance.
Motion sensors immediately flared red.
Turrets rotated ready to fire, but they went dead mid-pivot.
Rony had cut them milliseconds before firing.
A few conscious guards outside saw him and raised their rifles, Rony dropped before they finished aiming as well. His drones hit them with micro-darts hit clean and fast.
"Entry clear," Rony said.
DJ pushed through the main gate.
Inside, the factory floor was dim, industrial, metallic. Bodies lay unconscious across the concrete. Just as he entered two automated rifles locked onto him and fired. Dj ducked behind a wall and looked a the machine guns for a moment.
"I can hear the gunshots slightly," DJ said as rounds ricocheted off walls nearby. "Noise cancellation's not working properly."
A slight pause from Rony. "Is that a problem?"
DJ shook his head as he moved. "No, not now."
He changed his path, but encountered automated riffles again, Bullets pinged off weakened armor plates. The suit absorbed most of it, though each impact sent a dull vibration through his ribs.
He dodged most of them, and after avoiding them.
He reached the security control room.
He shattered under one precise strike.
He stepped in, moved to the central console, and planted a black data chip into the core port.
"Connected," DJ said.
Rony's interface flooded with schematics, command layers, encrypted partitions.
"Give me a second."
On DJ's HUD, a new movement alert appeared.
Lower levels.
The elevator shaft.
Multiple signatures.
He switched to internal cam, they watched twenty oddly armoured man, different from other,
There armour where heavy that looked different, they seemed Reinforced with exoskeletons . Modified gauntlets, Shoulder rigs emitting faint blue glow, a very familiar blue glow.
"Rony," DJ said quietly. "What are they?"
Rony zoomed in on their equipment.
"…They're using Pull-water."
DJ understood immediately.
Pull-water amplification tech.
Just like his.
"Shut down the base," DJ said.
"Working—"
Rony bypassed primary circuits.
"Power down in three… two… one."
The entire facility went dark.
A deep mechanical hum died out.
Emergency lights snapped on—red, rotating beams sweeping across corridors.
Alarms began blaring through hidden speakers.
"Primary grid offline," Rony said. "I'm deactivating the EMP layer and scanning for the emergency backup generator."
DJ watched the elevator shaft feed.
"They're still coming," he said.
"Backup systems are giving them just enough power for the lift mechanisms," Rony replied. "Not full grid—but enough."
"Cut them off."
"I can't," Rony said. "They're linked to an independent. Separate from the main grid."
DJ didn't respond and Rony kept talking.
"You have twenty percent energy left. Multiple suit functions compromised. HUD damage at forty percent. And twenty Pullwater-enhanced operators are climbing toward you with unknown weapons." His voice become lowered as he continued. "We don't even know if Roy is here. And we still haven't found the trap."
Red light swept across DJ's cracked visor.
The timer ticked down.
00:09:56
DJ flexed his fingers.
"Then let's find out," he said and stepped out of the security room.
The corridor was drenched in rotating red emergency light.
Two spider drones repositioned themselves at his shoulders one left, one right, their optic lenses narrowing. His cracked helmet sealed fully this time.
The red LED eyes glowed steady.
Across the facility—
The lift doors opened.
They came out in formation all twenty of them, there configuration varied according ro there formation.
Six in front: heavy exo-frames bolted over thick armor plating, Dual machine gun barrels mounted along both arms. Slow, Deliberate, Walking tanks.
Behind them, six more: flamethrower units mounted to reinforced gauntlets, fuel tanks reinforced along the spine. Mid-weight, Controlled stride.
Next six: lean builds, sleeker armor, Small nozzles protruding through forearm housings energy emitters, the Fast movers.
And the final two.
No bulky frames, No exposed weapons,
Full-body fitted suits, Light plating, Minimal silhouette. Gadgets embedded at joints and collar. Built for speed, Built for killing.
They walked in sync.
At a hand signal, the formation split into two strike teams and moved down separate corridors flanking patterns.
They know where their pray was.