Virexis City was chaos wrapped in chrome.
Neon lights flickered across glass towers, and the streets below buzzed with speed bikes, food carts, and whispers of war. Somewhere between the chaos and silence, a boy named Aarav moved like a ghost.
He was seventeen. Sharp eyes. Fast hands. A mind trained not in classrooms—but in alleys, fights, and secrets.
At exactly 11:38 p.m., Aarav stood on the rooftop of a ten-story building, holding a backpack and wearing a red digital watch that wasn't ticking.
Because it wasn't a watch.
It was a detonator.
"Target locked," came a voice through his earpiece. "Package is five floors down, Room 512. You're green to go."
"Copy," Aarav replied.
He took a breath, ran three steps, and leapt across the gap between buildings. His boots skidded as he landed, but he didn't stop. One fluid motion and he was scaling a rusted pipe, crawling through a broken window, and entering the target building.
Inside, silence.
No alarms. No guards. No lights.
Too easy.
He crept through the dark hallway. Every muscle in his body was tense. The red light on his "watch" blinked once—then again. The motion sensor had picked something up.
Behind him.
Aarav spun just in time to duck a punch. A masked figure lunged from the shadows, swinging a baton. Aarav blocked with his arm, twisted, and drove his knee into the attacker's chest.
One down.
Another came from the left. Bigger. Faster. Aarav ducked the first hit but took a graze to the shoulder on the second. He stumbled, rolled, and flung a smoke pellet to blind him. The room filled with mist. When the enemy rushed, Aarav was already behind him, slamming him into the wall.
"Two guards. Not in the intel," he muttered.
He kicked open Room 512.
A girl was inside—strapped to a chair, gagged, and unconscious. Maybe fifteen. Blonde hair. Bruised wrists. But very much alive.
Not a package.
A person.
"This wasn't the deal," Aarav whispered.
His earpiece crackled. "Change of mission. Extraction only. Bring her in."
Aarav stared at the girl. Something in her face flickered. Recognition? Memory?
She opened her eyes. Just barely.
And said one word:
"Run."
Before Aarav could react, the entire floor exploded.