As rain poured down heavily, beating the roof made from rusted iron. Only the splashing of water could be heard in the slum as the first boot made from heavy metal touched the ground.
The slums went quiet and the sky kept on crying, tormenting the roofs with splashes of water heard at all sides , the sounds of people could be heard at the farthest part, fading slowly with the sounds of door shutting and people disappearing.
It always happened that way. Not in any way new. It had become too common that even their presence was not out of reach.
One moment, voices drifted through the narrow walkways—vendors arguing, children running, generators coughing smoke into the air. The next, silence crept in like a held breath. Doors slid shut. Curtains dropped. People turned their faces away and whispered prayers they no longer believed would be answered.
The boots of strong men could be heard matching
Men whose foot has forever filled the heart of every vendor with fear
Men who walked with bootsmade of iron.
Men whose heart had been sealed, knowing no fear.
The Shadow Hunter Task force ~
At the front of these hunters is a man whose word is left with no option but obedience, a man who commands this elite squad.
Max~
The squad adjusted around him without being told. Their movement was swift and disciplined, displaying the high level of training required to achieve that kind of coordination.
Suddenly, a voice from within broke through the silence, leaning in slightly before asking, "Commander," he said, voice low. "This doesn't look like a high-value zone."
Max didn't answer immediately; he maintained focus as he navigated his way through the heart of the slum.
Another soldier with red hair commented, "Yeah imagine sending the shadow hunter elite just for one person, a scientist with no escorts at that."
"Enough!" says Max..."If you want to survive longer in this field, you speak less and observe more. Every order is absolute. No questions asked."
The soldier stiffened. "Yes, Commander."
Max didn't look at him. "Keep your eyes forward. Move."
They moved, increasing their pace while reducing their sound… fading slightly into the storm.
A translucent HUD flickered across Max's vision.
TARGET CONFIRMED
LOCATION: SUBSTRUCTURE LAB – LEVEL 9
MISSION: CAPTURE DR. MAXWELL DEAD OR ALIVE. RETRIEVE ALL INFORMATION AND DEVICES FROM THE LAB.
YEAR: 3499
Four months till New Year.
As they approached the entrance of the lab, which was hidden beneath a collapsed transport platform, half-buried under scrap and concrete, their heat signatures spiked, and automatic weapons began to fire at them the moment they drew closer.
"Cover," Max shouted. "Destroy all robots and move in swiftly.
"He's running," one of the scouts said. "Target is wearing a white lab coat and is already on the move."
Max raised his right hand signifying they break formation and begin to chase. As they chased the scientist, he ran past many protective blocks and maintenance places moving like he hadn't seen the bright of day before. It was a hot chase as the scoutd with their Swift feets stayed on him ensuring the distance keeps reducing rather than increasing.
"Target cornered," the scout reported.
The scientist stumbled into an open platform ringed by exposed beams and dangling cables. Neon light flickered overhead. He turned slowly, chest heaving heavily with a smile not of panic or fear but recognition instantly flaring Max instincts
He knew more than to believe he was harmless, thanks to his years of experience in this field.
While Max was in the middle of his taught, the scientist suddenly brings out a device that looked like a pistol but wasn't one to begin with, just a dark cylinder humming faintly in his palm. A compact device causing the air around it to tremble.
"Drop it, Drop the freaking weapon," Max ordered.
The scientist looked straight at him. Then he fired.
There was a huge sonic boom. A sound that could rupture eardrums and burst blood vessels, if not for their armor.
The world slammed into Max like a wall.
He flew backward, smashed through a metal railing, and skidded across concrete hard enough to crater it. His vision went white, then fractured—light bending wrong, sound arriving late.
The device in the scientist's hand glowed once, then sagged, metal liquefying and dripping onto the floor.
"Commander down!" someone shouted.
The squad opened fire.
Rounds of bullet kept pouring into the scientist body piercing through his fabric to skin till he finally dropped dead with a smile that never left his face
Max remained at that spot till he finally exhales either of relief or anger or pain.
Pain registered late. His body felt… distant. Heavy, but intact. He pushed himself up on one arm.
"No fractures. No internal bleeding. All thanks to armor," he thought.
"Commander," a soldier said cautiously, stepping closer. "You should've ordered fire the moment he took out a weapon. Commander, this could have been prevented if you acted more cautiously."
Another snapped back immediately. "Shut up, Robert. We couldn't have just opened fire… what if the weapon exploded?"
Max stood his movements were irregular, slower than they should have been. His thoughts felt dragged through water, his head scattered. He shuddered slightly.
"I'm fine,"
His voice sounded steady. It didn't feel that way inside his head.
He walked past the arguing soldiers toward the melted device.
"Protocol says don't touch unstable tech," someone muttered. "It's already destroyed. Mission was a failure."
Max knelt anyway.
The heat bled through his glove. The device was half-dead, warped, and useless looking. He picked it up and placed it into the retrieval case himself.
"Exfil," he said.
No one questioned him.
"Mission complete. Move out," Max commanded as the soldiers marched toward the airship that came to pick them up.
After the mission, when all documents and the device he retrieved from the lab had been submitted as commanded:
"Hey Max, you okay?" Paul questioned, the second-in-command of the Shadow Hunter asked, "I could see you're a bit shakened, try going to the lab to get checked, we can't rule out the possibility of internal wounds or brain damage even if everything seem fine."
"I'm fine. Maybe I'm getting old and not as good as my previous self… I think it's high time I retire and start my own family. I'm already 46… I just need a break," Max said before leaving in his private airship.
The next day, the device and all information had finally arrived in the hands of the boss, a man who already controlled more than 70% of the world, having far more influence than anyone in history.
The Boss laughed when the case was placed before him. His face was filled with anticipation till. Finally having his hands on a device that could finally turn that 70% to absolute control, not until he opened the box and immediately fired the delivery man dead instantly pointing the gun at the other hunter he asked.
The device lay inside—melted, ruined.
The room went cold.
"You were supposed to bring it intact," the Boss said clearly annoyed. "Why is it melted?" He kicked the suitcase off the table.
A scientist beside him adjusted his glasses. "The discharge still occurred. The data was collected."
The Boss stared at the ruined device. After a long moment, he smiled again.
The scientist continued " the data still seems intact it could be repaired and even upgraded, with a little time.... It's could function far better than you anticipated.
Immediately the fury on the Boss transformed to a smile, a smile that sends chills down the spine of the DEVIL himself.
****
That night a dream hunted max as he found himself in a space he felt trapped with no walls, no floors, nothing... nothing to tell space not time. Then a voice breaking throught the silence.
"You were meant to die"
Instantly fire began to bleed through the space till he heard the voice he had always longed for
"Max! Max!! Run away..."
He woke to a system text scrolling across his vision:
[ERROR: NEURAL INTEGRITY UNKNOWN]
TBC~