A pitch-black night blanketed Tokyo, but over the sky—too high and too silent for the human eye—six obsidian-colored drones zipped through the cloud cover, invisible to every radar.Lucia's voice echoed softly in Ren's earpiece:
"Stealth fleet engaged. All units cloaked. Visual overlay and heat signatures are active."
Inside the secure AI command room, Ren stood motionless, hands in his pockets as he watched the monitor display a satellite feed. Each drone fed live images into the lab's control center, tagging faces, decoding security codes, and scanning conversations from blocks away. He zoomed in on Naruse's office window.
There he was—talking to someone. Someone new. A foreigner, judging by the biometric analysis. Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Translate their conversation," he ordered.
"Translating: 'The girl is the key. If we get her, we get him. Capture is priority.'"
Ren's eyes went cold. His fingers curled into fists.
Meanwhile, at Aoi's Office — 9:04 PM
The office was almost empty. Just Aoi, some late-night coders, and the sound of printers humming in the background. She rubbed her temple, exhausted, thinking of Ren. A message pinged on her work monitor.
[Anonymous]: DO NOT GO TO THE EVENT TOMORROW. YOU ARE BEING HUNTED.[Anonymous]: TRUST NO ONE EXCEPT YOUR HUSBAND.[Anonymous]: THEY KNOW.
Aoi's eyes widened. Her heart skipped a beat.
"What the hell…"
She quickly unplugged the LAN cable, shut off the monitor, and reached for her phone.
Aoi:Ren… call me. Right now. Something's wrong.
But just before she could hit send—
Lucia's soft voice chimed through her necklace.
"Miss Aoi. I suggest you leave the building immediately. Drones have detected three unregistered individuals entering the basement stairwell. All are armed."
Back at the Lab — 9:09 PM
Lucia's AI voice synced through Ren's comms.
"Warning: Miss Aoi is in danger. Evacuation sequence required."
Ren didn't hesitate. He pulled off his lab coat, revealing a sleek compression suit underneath.
"Open the nano-vault," he ordered.
The metallic walls of the lab hissed open, revealing a hollow vertical shell—glowing with raw, unstable nanotech.
Ren muttered under his breath as he stepped toward it:"I have no choice left."
He looked up at the incomplete shell of what he had called Project: Hunter Armor—a hybrid of nanotech, smart materials, and Lucia's AI core.
A suit not meant for war… but to protect everything he loved.
"Let's bring Mark LXXXV to life," he whispered. "And end this."