It was abnormally silent when the four arrived in the lower part of the city. The atmosphere here was not the same, but stale, metallic, like the walls were the ones that were breathing. The street lights were neon lights that were leaking through the cracks of the old buildings and giving the streets a fractured red and blue color.
They were before a closed service door. Kaiser swiped the rusted keypad with a hand held device which he had previously stolen in the chamber. The small screen fluttered, and then fluted green.
Click.
The door hissed open.
There was a passageway in front of him, very narrow, with pipes dripping condensation. Each step was reverberated, whistling against the walls. His mind whirled wildly; and the eyes of Comet shot this way and that on the shadows.
There was a disgruntled buzzing of the communicator of Comet and everyone came to attention. It has been a coded message: Sector compromised. Extraction needed. Priority Omega."
Comet's jaw tightened. They are quite aware of our position. We need an exit plan, now."
There were three exits in the warehouse. The main street was in sight, and perilous, through the front door. The side door tipped into an alley where there was a sporadic streetlight. The rear door was the crawlspace, which went under the next building, and thus probably remained undetected.
"Back exit," Comet decided. We have a tight one, but it is the best we have. Everyone move."
Slipping through the crawlspace, they were tunneled in by the walls. There was dust and cobwebs in the air and every breath hurt. The low electrical buzz followed along pipes overhead, a reminder that even the most deserted areas in the city were still within the web of Raze.
Halfway through, Comet froze. There was a faint metallic clicking somewhere at the end of the tunnel. He signaled the group to stop. Taj's eyes narrowed. "Tripwire?"
"Worse," Wasif said, voice tense. They have put in place automated surveillance systems. They feed into their system of surveillance through these tunnels.
Kaiser clenched his fists. "So what? We break it and move. Nothing fancy."
A hand held detector was scanned by Comet over the device. There were small wires running along the walls which fed a small sensor blinking red. When we play about with it without accuracy it sets up a silent alarm according to him. They will be fully aware of our whereabouts.
Taj sighed. "Then let me." He was on his knees, cutting wires that he had to reroute, handling it all with experienced hands. The sensor flashed more, but then lastly faded.
"Clear," Taj whispered.
The sound of some distant footsteps made them stop as they came out of an ancient subway service tunnel. The operatives in black suits operated in pairs, with a systematic search. Tactical masks had concealed their faces, but there was too much precision in their movements to have been of an elite training.
Comet looked hastily around. We are unable to overtake them in a direct pursuit. We need misdirection."
Kaiser smirked. "I've got ideas."
He picked a discarded pipe of metal, and threw it down one lateral tunnel. It bumped the concrete wall and it sounded like a rifle shot. Two of the operatives fastened their bolts and ran away at that direction, leaving a small gap through which the group made way.
They went noiselessly, in the shadows. In every direction lay a possible ambuscade; at every twitch might have been a discovery. The slightest sound of footfall caused them to start.
At last they came to a part of the subway that curved off to tracks which had been abandoned. Comet tapped the hand held map screen. These are tracks which pass beneath the east district. Where they lead, there is a hatch which opens on to a street which is not supervised. From there… we can disappear."
As they passed through the tracks there was a slight trembling of the ground that alerted them that a train was coming. Comet stopped, and indicated all to the side. The underway was by, deserted and fatal. Its rails clanked the sound of its wheels all seconds, and concealed any motion they made along its path.
Once the tracks had cleared, they moved to the hatch of the maintenance. Taj pushed it aside, and night came in. The city was enormous and cold and the lights were sparkling as far off stars. However, in the case of Comet and his crew, any street with the light on might conceal a dozen or more eyes-cameras, agents, drones, all of which belong to the network of Raze.
Wasif drew a small EMP and discharged it. Streetlights in the immediate block flickered and became dark. Temporary window, he said. "We move fast."
Out they scrambled in a small alley and disappeared into the darkness, becoming a part of the shadows of the sleeping city. Comet's mind raced. They possessed the data and now they were high-profile targets. The organisation of Raze would not give them away so easily.
Kaiser looked round, fists still tight, eyes blazing with determination. "They'll come for us. But let them. We have already ripped the very heart of their operations.
Taj's jaw tightened. Next thing--we get a safe place. Analyze the data. Plan the strike. One mistake, and it's over. No do-overs with these people."
The neon lights were glistening on the puddles of the asphalt, and Comet looked up to the skyline. "We've opened a door. But going through it, that is when the actual war starts.
The low buzzing of drones told them they were being followed even at the shadows. The metropolis itself now was a fighting field, and they were in the middle of it, with knowledge that could ruin a hidden empire--or cost them their lives in the attempt.
The squad was going fast, stealthily, conscious of the fact that each inch they advanced brought them nearer to the unknown. However, they were not running to survive as they had never run before but to retaliate.
And in the far background, the low light of a surveillance tower flashed--a sign that Raze could see everywhere, and the battle of who controlled the city had just begun.
"Where the hell are we?" Taj muttered, voice low.
Wasif stood crouching by a half-broken console, by the entrance, rubbing dust out of the surface. It is not on any school plan, this, he said to himself. they are old military circuits, these circuits.
Kaiser nodded once and his face could not be read. "Raze wasn't a gang. It was a project."
The term project was floating in the air like smoke.
They moved deeper in. The hallway led to a huge underground space and inactive monitors, cables running like veins over the floor and a wall-sized map glowing dimly with cords. The label in the corner read:
Urban Containment Division R.I.S. Urban Containment Division, 03 Subsector.
Comet came forward, looking at the map. "Containment? Of what?"
Kaiser did not reply immediately. He wiped down a sheet over an obsolete terminal, and the screen was blinking with electricity. Code flashed, and a log-in prompt was shown.
ACCESS LEVEL: RESTRICTED.
ENTER CLEARANCE CODE.
Taj whistled inwardly. You see you cannot get through that, can you?
Kaiser glanced at Wasif. "He can."
Wasif scowled, popped his fingers, and poked out a little drive in his pocket. Never take the nerd seriously. He connected it to the electricity, and code was being run like rain. In a few seconds, the prompt disappeared.
The display changed to an assortment of old documents, reports, surveillance photographs and the dim ID tags.
Comet leaned in. "Play one."
Wasif hesitated. "You sure?"
The tone of Kaiser was low and stern. "Do it."
A video flickered to life. Scattered, weathered -almost fifteen years old. The view depicted a company of uniformed men in a white sterile lab. In the middle was one great room cylindrical in form, and filled with fluid. Inside floated a small shape. Human.
Comet's chest tightened. "What… is that?"
The speakers were filled with the voice of a man. Cold, clinical.
Subject batch C-9: integration of patterns successful among adolescents. Memory template pending. Behavior synchronization with primary unit, incomplete.
then-- a deeper voice, and authoritative:
"Proceed anyway. The council desires outcome, but not justifications.
The screen glitched. The photograph stopped on a face--vaguely, yet frighteningly recognisable. The angle had caught the dim form of some one who was like Kaiser.
Taj's eyes widened. "Wait. Is that—"
Kaiser turned away. "Don't."
Silence fell. The only sound was the droning of machinery.
Wasif spoke softly. And this, this is larger than R.I.S. High. They were testing on children.
"Not just kids," Kaiser said. His voice was cool, but his fists were clenched. "Students. Every year, they select a few. Name it performance tracking. As a matter of fact, they are data entries - output of a program that began many decades earlier.
Comet's heartbeat quickened. You are talking... the school has got anything to do with this?
Kaiser nodded slowly. "R.I.S. City itself is part of it. The gangs, the groups, even the teachers they are all variables in a controlled system. The aim of the project was to model chaos and experiment with the adaptation of humans who are in an environment of unceasing conflict.
Taj swore under his breath. "That's insane."
No, Wasif replied, clearing files. "It's genius. Twisted, but genius. They are learning violence, devotion, power. They bring a balance through the formation of war.
Kaiser watched the ancient footage one more time. And when it breaks; they reset it.
Another file was displayed on the screen Raze Protocol: Stage 4 Termination.
When the environment is above sustainable levels of violence, then purge cycle. Preminence of data preservation: Level A subjects.
Comet's stomach dropped. "Purge?"
Kaiser nodded grimly. "They clean the slate."
Taj was looking around the big room. So, everything, Black Fang, all the bouts, all of it, it is some kind of experiment?
"Exactly," Kaiser said. "And the worst part? We're still inside it."
The light was flicking and flicking. The monitors flashed red.
UNAUTHORized Access Has Been Determined.
Security Protocols were activated.
Wasif swore and tugged the drive out. "We need to move. Now."
Kaiser picked up the nearest folder on a desk. "Take what you can."
The alarms started going off and they bolted down the corridor. The strobing red emergency lights were used, and the walls were painted in bloody shadows.
Comet's breath came fast. Everything he had just seen turned his head round the chambers and the children and the word Raze.
The metal doors closed one after another, behind them.
Wasif yelled, "Left tunnel!"
They swiveled around and entered yet another hall - this one fitted with storage crates and warnings. Taj kicked one of them open; inside were piles of files, old photographs, queer mechanical machines.
Comet took a handful without considering. "We can sort it later—"
After which, behind them, a heavy door swung open.
Footsteps.
Kaiser froze. His eyes narrowed. "We're not alone."
Out of the gloom came a figure, wearing black of the tactical outfit, with the red light hitting off his visor. No insignia. No voice. Nothing more than slow, gradual movement.
Wasif whispered, "Security."
Taj gripped a metal rod. "One of them?"
Kaiser's voice dropped. "Not human-level."
The figure lifted an arm - a robotic hiss was heard - a dart was sizzling in the wall beside the head of Comet.
"Go!" Kaiser shouted.
They ran, and ran in the labyrinth of tunnels. The figure moved silently, by his step by step, exact. Once Comet looked behind him - the visor was blue. It wasn't chasing to kill. It was tracking.
Wasif had stopped at a crossroad. "Dead end!"
Kaiser took a loose cable and pushed it inside one of the control panels. Electric spurts darted along, and then one door was forced open--just enough to squeeze through.
They crashed into a smaller room, round, darkly lit. In the middle of it was a smashed console, with the screen on. Reels of spoilt information rolled without end.
Wasif leaned over it. It is a running background code, it is.
Comet stepped closer. "What kind of code?"
He typed an instruction and the screen flashed to a picture - a document header:
Raze Directive: Oversight Committee -R.I.S. Containment Zone.
Subject Status: ACTIVE.
Next Reset: Pending Approval.
Taj blinked. "Reset?"
Kaiser exhaled slowly. Another purge they are planning.
Wasif rolled further and his hands shook slightly. Confirmation of date- made- oh, hell, next month.
Comet's chest tightened. "That means—"
Everything they will wipe, Kaiser finished in a kind of a murmur. "Every record. Every group. Any man who is aware of the truth.
The room fell silent.
The thin mechanical noises were audible outside - the tracker approaching.
Kaiser turned to the others. "We have what we need. The evidence, the records - it suffices to burn them up.
Taj looked uneasy. "Expose to who? The cops? They're part of this."
"Not everyone," Kaiser said. One man there is, a former member of Raze. He disappeared many years back but left cursorys. In case we encounter him, we will be able to prevent the reset.
Wasif nodded grimly. "Then we move fast."
Comet clenched his fists. "Where do we start?"
The eyes of Kaiser were sparkling in the darkness. "With the past. The first batch."
There was a metallic crash on the outside--the crash of steel against concrete.
The figure had found them.
Kaiser met Comet's gaze. "You wanted to understand? This is the cost."
He wheeled and threw the emergency lever and the floor beneath them moved-- a secret passage opening in the downward direction.
"Jump!"
They sprang when the mechanical punitive shot through the door. The door leading to the outside was closed by a passage that cut off the light.
A moment of darkness and the rushing of air was all that followed the beat of a heart.
Then — impact.
They landed in cold water. They trickled into a river that ran underground in the city as a result of the tunnel. Their speed was dragged along by current, the walls hurling themselves past them like lines of metal and rock.
Comet surfaced, gasping. "Where are we—?"
Grabbing a pipe along the wall Kaiser heaved himself up. "Under the city grid. It's an escape route. They constructed it to ensure that in case of containment failure.
Taj spat water, coughing. Guess we did not containment.
Wasif gave a shaky laugh. "Better than being erased."
They made their way up a slim ledge, wet, worn out. Humming overhead, the city was ignorant, easygoing.
Comet leaned back, and looked through a grate at the far lights. His voice was low, and nearly hollow. They constructed this entire city to learn us. And we have been fooling right into it.
Kaiser was gazing at the skyline as it was glowing. Well, now it is time to rewrite their experiment. Warehouse was quiet now, except the ragged breathing of the four as they were cowering behind crates, the stolen information in the backpack of Comet on the stolen data. The external city appeared undisturbed, but unconcerned with the disturbance that they had just caused. But there was more to it, below that quietness was the secret web of the organization of Raze, a web that went over the streets, houses, and even respectable institutions.
Comet looked through one of the broken windows into the dark streets. It might be any place that reinforcements were. "We have minutes, maybe less."
Taj rubbed his arm with a minor cut of blood; it grimaced. "They won't stop at a few guards. When they find out that their server room was broken into: they will send all the operatives they have available to them.
Kaiser was resting against the wall and his knuckles were still raw after the fight. "Let them come. We're ready." Bravado was sound in him, but he could not conceal the tension with which he looked.
Wasif bent down, tapping on a small portable device to study the stolen data. It is not files and surveillance, he said, low. These drives have blueprints of operations, lists of agents, even bank accounts and hiding places. Raze has literally traced the city as a war strategy. And we hold the king's move now."