Midnight at the docks was a symphony of gray. The fog from the channel didn't just roll in; it seemed to rise from the water itself, thick, oily, and smelling of salt, diesel, and dead fish. It muffled the sounds of the city, turning the distant clang of buoys into ghostly bells.
Eiden stood in the deep shadow of a rusted shipping container at Pier 3, checking his watch. 11:55 PM. Before Coming here, Eiden could sense something was wrong. There has been no sign of the Syndicate. So, He sent a letter to the den discussing about the syndicate.
Behind him, huddled against the biting wind, was his Pack. They looked small against the backdrop of the industrial cranes, but their eyes were hard.
"This feels wrong," Hazel whispered, shivering but focused. "It feels too easy. Akuma locks down the school, and then suddenly his daughter can just... walk out? With you? It defies every logical pattern."
"She knows the blind spots," Eiden said, adjusting his collar. "She's lived in that fortress her whole life."
"Or she's leading you into a cage," Hazel countered. "Eiden, you're compromising. You're walking into a kill box."
"My feelings are the mission," Eiden said firmly. "If I don't get her out, Akuma turns her into a monster. He wins. I can't let that happen."
He looked at them. The Nerd, the Analyst, the Gossip. "Now go," Eiden ordered. "Get back to the dorms before the perimeter check. If I'm not back in three days... you know what might have happend." He turned to leave. "No," Harry said. Eiden stopped. He turned back. Harry, who usually flinched at loud noises, was standing straight. He was clutching his bag of radio parts. "We're not going back," Harry said, his voice trembling but stubborn. "Harry, this isn't a field trip. It's an extraction. It's dangerous." "We know," Margot stepped forward, her chin high. "But you said it yourself. We're a Pack. Wolves don't leave their own behind." Hazel adjusted her glasses, looking bored, though her hand was gripping her bag tight. "Statistically, your chances of survival drop by 64% if you go alone. I'm not letting you ruin my data, Eiden. We're coming."
Eiden looked at them. He wanted to scream at them to run. To be safe. But he looked at their faces. They weren't students anymore. He had made them into soldiers.
"If you come," Eiden said softly, "there is no going back. You might never see this school again."
"Good," Margot said. "I hate uniforms."
Eiden sighed, a small smile touching his lips. "Fine. Stay close. And stay quiet."
They walked out of the shadows together, moving as a unit onto Pier 4.
The fog swallowed them. At the end of the pier, under a flickering halogen light, stood a single figure.
Emily.
She wore a heavy trench coat and looked incredibly small against the vast darkness.
When she saw Eiden emerge from the fog, relief washed over her face. But then she saw the three figures behind him.
Her eyes widened. "You brought... them?"
"They're with me," Eiden said simply. "They're my family."
Emily looked at Harry, Hazel, and Margot. She saw the loyalty in their eyes. A pang of jealousy—sharp and hot—cut through her. She had "friends" too, but she knew, deep down, they were just guards. These people... they were choosing to follow him into hell.
"Fine," Emily whispered, pushing the feeling down. "The more... the safer. I guess."
"Where's the supply boat?" Eiden asked.
"Change of plans," Emily said, pulling him toward the end of the pier. "The supply boat was guarded. I... I had to improvise."
She pointed into the fog.
Looming out of the mist was not a rusty trawler. It was a white mountain.
A sleek, massive mega-yacht sat in the water, its hull gleaming. It was a floating palace, bristling with radar domes. It looked like a spaceship.
On the bow, in gold letters: LEVIATHAN.
"That's your father's ship," Eiden said, stopping dead. The Pack gasped behind him.
"It's the only thing faster than his patrol boats," Emily said quickly. "I stole the clearance codes. The crew thinks it's a surprise inspection. Please, Eiden. It's our only way out."
Eiden looked at the ship. It was a fortress on water. A sovereign territory of Akuma Cronus.
Every instinct screamed TRAP.
But he looked at Emily's desperate eyes. And he looked at his friends, shivering in the cold. They needed shelter. They needed an escape.
"We board," Eiden commanded.
As soon as their feet hit the teak deck, the gangway retracted with a mechanical whine.
The engines of the Leviathan rumbled to life, a vibration that shook the deck plates.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Cronus," a crewman in a pristine white uniform said. He didn't blink at the ragtag group of students. He didn't ask for tickets.
"Head North," Emily commanded, channeling her father's authority. "Full speed. And do not disturb us. We will be in the observation lounge."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The ship began to move, cutting through the black water with terrifying power.
Eiden stood at the railing with his Pack. They watched the lights of the harbor recede, swallowed by the fog.
"We're really doing this," Harry whispered, clutching the railing. "We're running away on a super-yacht."
"It's tactical," Hazel corrected, though she looked pale. "It's a mobile command center."
Emily stood a little apart from them. She wasn't looking at the ocean. She was looking up at the bridge of the ship. Standing behind the tinted, bulletproof glass, looking down at the group like gods in an aquarium, were two figures. Sasha and Luna. They weren't wearing school uniforms. They were wearing tactical black gear, headsets, and sidearms. Luna raised a radio to her lips. Akuma answers from the other end. The Wolf brought the pups. The cage is full.