Part 4: Burn It Down
Riven stood still as the fire devoured the last Hydra outpost of the night.
Three sites. Three brutal entries. Twenty-four dead in the first. Fifteen in the second. Seventeen in the third. Each one went the same: silent approach, overwhelming force, and no survivors left to regroup. The last man in the final site had tried to surrender, hands trembling, begging. Riven had crushed his ribs with a thought before he could finish the plea.
A single child had been found locked inside a reinforced bunker beneath the second site. Two others were discovered already lifeless—cold, pale, discarded like failed prototypes. Riven had carried all three out, holding the dead like porcelain.
Now he stood outside the burning ruins, the night wind brushing ash across his face. The child he'd rescued was resting safely in the temporary safehouse he'd arranged nearby, sedated and calm.
He activated the burner phone and dialed Tony. When the call connected, he didn't waste time.
"I found a kid. The other two didn't make it. I need someone to take him. And... return the bodies."
Tony didn't ask questions. "Where?"
Riven gave him the coordinates. Tony promised a team would be there within the hour.
When he ended the call, Riven walked to a nearby wall and began wiping blood from the blades he had used. Telekinetic control gave him precision, but it was still his rage and muscle that had done most of the work.
He returned to the safehouse just before dawn. The child was already gone—Tony's team had moved fast. In the center of the planning room, Riven stood before the board covered in red pins and circles. The map of Hydra's rot.
Three crossed out.
Twenty-six left.
He stared at the next mark for a long time, then reached up and dragged his blade across it, leaving a thin scar.
He didn't smile.
He just turned and walked back into the dark.
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