The city's neon glow flickered faintly through the rain-soaked streets as Selene led the team toward their temporary safe house. Each step echoed in the quiet night, but the silence was a fragile veil over the storm brewing within their ranks.
Cassandra Voss, the captured Harrow lieutenant, was secured in a reinforced holding cell deep underground. Her defiant glare hadn't softened since her capture, and Selene knew this wouldn't be an easy interrogation.
Down in the dim chamber, Cassandra sat calmly, fingers loosely crossed, eyes locked on Selene as she entered.
"So," Cassandra began, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "the mighty resistance finally got their hands on me. What now? You want to trade me? Extract secrets? Play good cop, bad cop?"
Selene folded her arms, eyes sharp. "We want answers. Your network, your plans—everything."
Cassandra smirked. "You think you can break me? You're more naive than I thought."
Outside, the rest of the team gathered. Calder checked his weapons while Marrow and Lina exchanged grim looks.
"We're walking a razor's edge," Lina muttered. "One wrong move, and this whole operation collapses."
Marrow nodded. "We need to be careful. Cassandra's no fool."
Back in the chamber, the interrogation began.
Selene's questions were direct, measured—probing for cracks.
Cassandra danced around the truth, revealing little but taunting the team with cryptic hints about a "greater plan" unfolding.
Frustration mounted.
Hours passed. The night deepened.
Suddenly, the monitors flickered, then died.
The safe house plunged into darkness.
Emergency lights bathed the corridors in a sickly red glow.
"Power outage," Lina said sharply over comms. "Could be a hack. Could be a trap."
Selene's heart tightened. Was Harrow already here?
The team scrambled to their stations, weapons drawn.
Then came the static on the radio—an ominous voice.
"Selene," it hissed. "Your victory is fleeting. The shadows you hide in will consume you."
Selene's blood ran cold.
Harrow had found them.
The safe house was compromised.
"Lock down all exits," Selene ordered. "Prepare for an assault."
As the team fortified their position, Cassandra's smile widened.
"Now you see," she said, "how deep the shadows go."
The hours stretched tense and unyielding.
Selene and her team fought not just for survival, but to keep the fragile hope alive.
In the shadows within, trust was tested, alliances strained, and the true battle began.