The air in Antipolo was thin and bitingly cold, a sharp contrast to the humid chaos of the lowlands. Chano stood on a ridge, the Kawasaki's engine ticking as it cooled. Below him, the brutalist mansion sat like a concrete tomb. No guards, no lights—just the low, predatory hum of a high-end security grid.
"Master, you're on the edge," Elijah's voice crackled, devoid of its usual snark. "I've bypassed the outer shell, but this place has a 'Dead Man's Switch.' Force the gate, and the whole ridge locks down."
"I'm not using the gate," Chano muttered, pulling a pair of thermal goggles over his eyes. The world turned into a map of heat and shadows.
"Copy. But Master... I'm picking up two signatures in the penthouse. One is L. The other... it's Bella. They must have snatched her while we were fighting in Binondo."
Chano's jaw tightened. He didn't say a word. He didn't have to.
The Infiltration
Chano became a shadow. He scaled the western wall, landing on the manicured grass without a sound.
"Get down!" Elijah hissed.
Chano flattened himself. A fraction of a second later, a silent ultraviolet laser swept the space where his head had been.
"Nice catch, Phenphen."
"Thirty seconds until the camera loop resets, Master. Move!"
He sprinted, a black blur against the mahogany trees. He reached the service entrance, slapped a transparent hacking patch over the keypad, and waited.
"I'm in," Elijah whispered. "Door's soft."
The interior was a meat locker. The air was chilled to protect the massive server racks that lined the halls. This wasn't a home; it was a brain. Chano moved through the corridors, his Glock 17 held low, his breathing rhythmic and shallow.
The Confrontation
He reached the penthouse. He didn't kick the door; he let it glide open on silent hinges.
The room was a cathedral of flickering blue light. Bella was center-stage, tied to a chair, her mouth taped. Around her neck was a sleek metallic collar with a pulsing red light.
Standing behind her was L. He looked like a younger, sharper, and much more broken version of Chano. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Finally," L said, his voice smooth as silk. "The legend returns. I thought you were busy fixing motherboards in the province, Kuya."
Chano stepped into the light, pulling back his hood. "Let her go, L. This is a family dispute. Don't bring her into it."
"Family?" L laughed, pacing behind Bella. "You left us to rot in Singapore! We thought you were ash! And then I find you hiding in Laguna? What a waste of the best mind in the game!"
"Life is quiet there. It's a concept you've clearly forgotten," Chano replied, his eyes never leaving the blinking light on Bella's neck.
"Quiet is for the dead!" L screamed. "With her codes and your 'X' key, we could rewrite this country's DNA. No debt, no history. We'd be ghosts in the machine, Chano. Gods!"
"Master, don't move!" Elijah's voice was frantic in his ear. "That collar... it's a Biometric Sync. It's slaved to L's pulse. If his heart stops—or even slows down too much—it triggers."
L held up a tablet, his thumb hovering over a slider. "You heard the kid. You can't shoot me. You can't even knock me out. Now, upload the 'X' signature to my server, or I'll just manually spike my heart rate until she's gone."
Bella's eyes were wide, wet with tears, pleading with Chano to just walk away. Chano looked at her, then at the boy he had once mentored.
"L, you know me," Chano said, his voice eerily calm. "I don't negotiate."
"Then she dies!"
"Elijah," Chano whispered. "You ready?"
"Master... this is suicide! If the timing is off—"
"Do it. Protocol: Zero-Gravity."