The safehouse was a crumbling relic in Neon City's underbelly, its walls trembling with the distant rumble of the blackout's chaos, sirens wailing, fires crackling, the neon skyline flickering like a dying star. Brick slouched against a rusted table, his shotgun propped beside him, blood crusting his knuckles from Ruiz's ambush. Raven paced nearby, her boots grinding the concrete, her knife flipping in a restless dance. Her dark hair stuck to her sweat-damp face, her hazel eyes blazing with fury. Stitch's betrayal had gutted them, and the air was thick with distrust.
Eddie's voice rasped through a scavenged comm, taut with urgency. "Nix and I pinned the signal. Sub-level three, old bunker network. Syndicate's got a damn hive down there, servers, guards, drones."
Brick's jaw clenched, his voice a low growl. "We hit it tonight. End this."
Raven's knife froze mid-twirl, her gaze piercing him. "We're ragged, Brick. Stitch flipped, Tara's twitching like a live wire, and something's off with Jax. We're fraying."
Brick's eyes slid to Tara, who lingered by the door, her submachine gun loose in her grip, her cheek spasming with that incessant tic. She'd been jittery since the tower, her silences too heavy. Jax, meanwhile, sat hunched over his pipe wrench, his bandaged shoulder seeping red, his usual bravado dulled. "We push through," Brick said, his tone unyielding. "Stitch knows the bunker. He's our way in."
Stitch cowered against the wall, his wiry frame quaking, his cracked glasses fogged with sweat. "I didn't want this," he croaked, clutching a crumpled map. "They've got my sister, Brick, Lila. In that bunker. I had to."
Raven's knife angled toward him, her voice dripping venom. "You had to sell us out? Cry me a river."
Brick loomed between them, his bulk a shield. "He's ours until this is over. Then we square up."
Tara's tic jumped, her voice slicing the tension. "What if he's not the only rat? I caught a burner comm signal, someone's still whispering to the syndicate."
The room stilled, suspicion coiling like a noose. Jax's wrench tapped the floor, his eyes narrowing. "You pointing fingers, Tara?"
Her gaze darted, her tic relentless. "I'm saying we're leaking, and it's killing us."
Brick's stare bore into her, cold and hard. "Proof. Now."
Tara's lips thinned, her voice cracking. "Not yet. But I'll find it."
Trust unraveled, the group splintering under the weight. Brick's command cut through. "Eddie, Nix, keep the grid scrambled. Raven, Stitch, with me. Tara, Jax, Rico, hold this hole. Anyone blinks wrong, bury them."
Raven's nod was sharp, her knife sheathing with a click. "Let's burn it down."
The tunnels beneath Neon City were a rotting maze, their walls slick with slime, the air rancid with decay. Brick's flashlight slashed through the gloom, his boots splashing in fetid water, his wounded thigh screaming with each step. Raven glided beside him, her breath steady, her senses razor-sharp. Stitch trailed, his map trembling, his mutters about Lila a broken refrain.
"How deep?" Brick growled, pain lacing his voice.
"Sub-level three," Stitch wheezed, pointing. "Past the filtration ruins."
The tunnel opened into a cavern strewn with ghosts, shattered pipes, dead screens, graffiti glowing faintly. A scrawl read "Neon falls, truth rises," and beside it, a faded holo-panel flickered, showing a crowd in revolt, banners blazing "Free Neon." Brick's gut tightened, the city's forgotten rebellion staring back.
Raven's whisper was hushed. "This was before the syndicate. Before us."
Brick's light lingered on a rusted symbol, a clenched fist circled in red. "They fought too. Lost. We don't."
A distant whirr snapped them alert, a syndicate drone, its lenses glinting, rotors slicing the air. Raven's knife flew, sparking off its hull, but Brick's shotgun roared, shredding it into scrap. The noise drew shouts, enforcers, closing fast.
"Move!" Brick barked, shoving Stitch forward.
They reached a steel door, its keypad pulsing red. Stitch fumbled the code, panic choking him. "Changed."
A crack split the air, and Brick whirled, his shotgun blasting an enforcer's chest open. More surged from the shadows, rifles spitting fire. Raven's pistol barked, blood spraying, her knife slashing another throat. Brick took a graze to the arm, his snarl masking the sting, and clubbed an enforcer down with brutal force.
"Stitch, now!" Raven yelled, pinned behind a pipe, bullets ricocheting.
The keypad chirped, and the door groaned open. They spilled into a stairwell, the whirr of another drone echoing above. Halfway down, a voice, not syndicate, hissed from a side vent. "Brick. Raven. Wait."
A figure emerged, lean and scarred, clad in patchwork armor. "Name's Kade. Iron Claws. We've been tracking the same signal."
Brick's shotgun leveled, distrust thick. "Why show now?"
Kade's grin was grim. "Architect's purge hits us too. Syndicate's not the only ones bleeding tonight. Truce?"
Raven's eyes narrowed, but Brick grunted. "Till the bunker. Then we see."
The corridor below thrummed with tech, the bunker door glowing ahead. Stitch cracked it, and they stormed in, Kade's twin blades flashing as he cut down a straggler guard. Inside, servers buzzed, screens streamed data, and Captain Elena Ruiz waited, pistol ready, her smirk icy.
"Persistent bastards," she sneered, her wounded shoulder stiff.
Brick's shotgun rose. "Should've stayed dead."
Ruiz's gaze flicked to Stitch. "Your pet's loyal, to us."
Stitch crumpled, sobbing. "Lila, they've got her."
A woman stepped forward, tall and cold, her suit immaculate. "Enough, Ruiz." Her voice was silk over steel. Ruiz retreated, enforcers dragging Stitch aside.
Brick faced her, his blood icing. "Architect?"
"Selene," she said, her smile faint. "It's emissary. Neon City's chaos was our forge, your resistance, a test."
Raven's knife trembled, her voice raw. "You're a monster."
"A sculptor," Selene countered. "Phase three: the purge. A clean slate."
Screens flared, System Purge Imminent: 00:05:00. Eddie's comm crackled. "Brick, grid's frying, get out!"
Selene's pistol lifted, calm. "Leave, or die."
Raven lunged, her knife slashing Selene's arm. Brick's fist crashed into her jaw, dropping her. Kade darted to a terminal, blades sheathed, fingers flying. "Got a backdoor, signal's splitting. Old council chamber's the hub."
A scream cut through. Lila, Stitch's sister, hauled in by enforcers, her face bruised, a gag muffling her. Stitch broke, clawing toward her. "Lila!"
Raven froze, her knife slipping, her whisper ragged. "That's… my sister's jacket."
Brick's head snapped to her. "What?"
"Her jacket," Raven choked, staring at Lila. "She's been gone three years, since the raids."
Selene's laugh rasped, bloodied. " Variables align. Beautiful."
Brick hauled Stitch to the console. "Stop the purge. Now."
Stitch's hands shook, tracing the signal instead. "Council chamber, it's there. Purge is locked."
The comm buzzed, Tara, frantic. "Brick, syndicate's here, Jax is dead! I, I had no choice,"
Brick's voice was death. "You did. Eddie, cut her off."
Kade's eyes flicked to Brick. "Iron Claws can hit the chamber. You in?"
Brick nodded, dragging Raven and Stitch toward the exit, Lila's muffled cries echoing.
The bunker quaked, and the countdown was at 00:03:00. Selene's voice trailed them, broken but smug. "The Architect sees all."
They ran, Raven clutching Lila's jacket clue, the alliance with Kade a fragile thread, and Tara's betrayal a fresh wound. The Architect's shadow loomed, its purge ticking closer.