CHAPTER 121: CHANGE OF PLANS

Fin reached for the doorknob. He didn’, wore a more formal Guild uniform, a lieutenant’s insignia on her collar. These were the trackers. Their eyest try to pick the lock. He focused, pushed a sliver of his power into the metal. The internal tum. "My turn?" She pulled a thin set of metal picks from a pouch on her thigh.

Fin shook his head. He and ears.

Fin met Arachne’s gaze. He nodded once.

Arachne moved first.

She flowedblers twisted, broke. The knob turned easily in his hand.

He pushed the door open.

Two men sat stepped forward, placing his hand flat on the metal door, just above the lock mechanism. Green energy, faint and almost invisible into the room like smoke, a silent blur. Before the woman in uniform could even register her presence, Arachne’s hand at a large console littered with datapads and steaming mugs. One was older, bald, with tired eyes. The other was in the dim light, pulsed from his palm. There was a soft click, a thunk, and the door’ younger, hair slicked back, nervously tapping a stylus against his desk. They both looked up, surprise flashing across their faces as Fin chopped down on the side of her neck. A sickening crack. The woman slumped forward onto the table, eyes wide,s internal bolts slid back.

He pushed it open a few inches. The corridor beyond was dimly lit, smelling of stale air and stepped into the room.

"Who the hell are—" the older man started, his hand reaching for something under his unseeing.

One of the men yelped, scrambling back in his chair, eyes wide with terror. "What the cleaning chemicals. Empty.

Scarlet lowered her picks, looking slightly disappointed. "Well, that’s no fun. Just gonna console.

Fin didn’t let him finish. He moved.

He crossed the small office in two quick strides. His—"

Scarlet was past Fin in a flash. Her daggers sang through the air. One buried itself in the scrambling magic everything open?"

"Faster," Fin said. He slipped through the doorway. Arachne followed, then Scarlet. right hand, glowing faintly with green energy, shot out. Not a punch. An open palm strike aimed at the older man The door clicked shut behind them with a quiet finality.

They were inside the Hunter Guild. Not the grand lobby man’s throat. He gurgled, clutching at his neck, and fell sideways. The other man froze, staring’s chest. The man tried to bring up a flimsy datapad to block. Fin’s hand went right through it, Fin remembered from his first disastrous visit, but the utilitarian underbelly. Concrete floors, pipes running along the ceiling, bare in horror, his mouth open in a silent scream.

Fin stepped into the room. He walked towards the frozen man. The walls.

"Third floor, western wing," Fin repeated, more to himself than the others. He visualized the sche the plastic shattering. His palm connected with the man’s sternum.

There was a dull thud. The older man’s eyes darted from Scarlet, to Arachne, then to Fin. He whimpered, pressing himself back against the wall.

"P-please," the man stammered, tears streaming down his face. "Don’t.matics. "Stairs should be this way."

They moved through the quiet corridors. Their footsteps made almost no sound. man’s eyes went wide, then glazed over. He slumped back in his chair, silent, unmoving. A I just... I just file reports. I don’t—"

Fin didn’t say anything. He reached faint wisp of green smoke curled from Fin’s palm.

The younger man yelped, scrambling back, They passed janitorial closets, storerooms, and unmarked doors. Twice, they heard voices echoing from further down intersecting out, placing his hand on the man’s forehead. The man squeezed his eyes shut, trembling violently.

Green his chair skittering loudly. He fumbled inside his jacket, pulling out a small, silver energy pistol. He aimed it at Fin, his hand shaking violently.

"Stay back!" he shrieked. "I-I’m warning hallways. Each time, Arachne signaled, and they melted into doorways or shadows until the sounds faded.

They reached a energy flared, briefly, intensely. The man went limp, sliding down the wall, his eyes vacant.

Silence descended, broken only by the drip of rain outside the window and Scarlet pulling her dagger free with a wet sound.

Fin looked around the small office. Three bodies. Neutralized. The datapads on the table still glowed with tracking grids and personnel you!"

Fin just looked at him. The pistol trembled.

A shadow detached itself from the ceiling behind the younger man. Arachne dropped silently, landing on the man’s shoulders. Her hands moved, a blur. There was a soft stairwell. It was stark, concrete, echoing with the faint hum of the building’s systems.

"This leads up to the main levels," Arachne confirmed softly, her ear briefly pressed against the stairwell door. "Quiet for, wet tearing sound, then a choked gurgle. The young man went limp, the energy pistol clattering to the floor files.

"Quick and clean," Scarlet said, wiping her dagger on the dead man’s tunic. She grinned at Fin. "Well, mostly clean."

Arachne was already moving towards a large console in the corner of now."

Fin nodded. "Scarlet, you take point up the stairs. Arachne, rear. I’ll be in the middle."

Scarlet’s eyes lit up. "Finally. Getting to stretch my legs." She drew. Arachne stepped back as his body slid from the chair.

She looked at Fin, her expression neutral. " the room, its screen displaying complex network data. She began typing rapidly, her fingers flying across the interface.

"Their primary tracking server," Arachne stated. "Uploading a virus. It will corrupt their local archives and attempt to spread to two wicked-looking daggers, the metal gleaming faintly. She pushed the stairwell door open slowly and slipped inside.

Fin waited a beat, then followed. The air in the stairwell was colder. He could hear Scarlet’s light, quick steps ascending above him. Arachne entered behind him, a silent guardian.

They climbed. One floor. Two. At the landing for the third floor, Scarlet paused, holding up a hand. She peered through the small, wire-reinforcedTwo targets neutralized."

The office door burst open, not the one Fin entered through, but a connecting door to an adjacent room. Scarlet stood there, wiping a smear of blood from her cheek with the back of her gauntlet. A crumpled form lay on the floor behind her in the other room.

"Third one was a bit jumpy," Scarlet announced, grinning. "Tried to shout. Bad for the vocal cords." She stepped into the office, kicking the fallen energy connected Guild networks. It should also disable their real-time tracking capabilities for this sector."

Fin nodded. "Good window in the door.

"Hallway looks clear," she whispered back. "Standard office lighting. Few closed doors. pistol under a desk. "All clear here. Smells like fear and cheap coffee. My favorite."

Fin looked around." He walked over to the table, looking down at the dead lieutenant. Her datapad displayed a list of active Omega Alerts. His own name was at the top, highlighted in red.

He picked up the datapad. He looked at the screen the office. Three bodies. No alarms raised. "Good," he said. He walked over to the main console. for a moment, then his fingers tightened. The datapad cracked, the screen going dark. He tossed it onto the floor No one moving."

Fin moved up beside her, looking through the window himself. It matched the schematics. A typical office corridor. Grey carpet, pale walls, numbered doors. The liaison office was marked as 312B, halfway Datapads glowed with tracking grids, lists of active bounties, secure comm channels. "Wipe it..

"Let’s go," he said. "Next target."

--- down on the left.

"The trackers," Fin said quietly, his gaze fixed on the corridor. "Their main coordination Everything."

Arachne moved to the console, her fingers flying across the controls. Screens went blank, data streams corrupted. Scarlet idly poked one of the dead trackers with her boot.

"So," Scarlet said, looking at room is supposed to be there." He tapped the window, indicating a door further down, past 312B Fin. "Valerius Spire next? Or are we taking a snack break?"

Fin ignored her. He listened. "314. That’s where they collate field reports and direct active hunts."

Scarlet l. The building was quiet. Too quiet?

"Let’s go," he said. "Same way out."

They wereicked her lips. "So, we hit 312B for the trackers themselves, then 314 to about to leave when Fin’s head snapped up. He heard it. Faint. Distant. But getting closer.

The smash their toys?"

"Neutralize personnel first," Fin corrected. "Then destroy their systems." He looked at Arachne. unmistakable sound of multiple heavy boots running down the main Guild corridor, one floor below. And a shout. "Security breach "Seal the corridor ends once we’re through. No one in or out until we’re done."

Arachne nodded! Second floor! All units respond!"

Scarlet’s grin faded. "Party crashers already? Lame."

Arachne stopped wiping the console. She looked at Fin, waiting.

"They’re faster than I thought," Fin murmured, her eyes already assessing the corridor through the window. Shadowy tendrils, barely visible, began to creep from her fingertips, ready to weave her traps.

Fin looked at the door handle to the third-floor corridor. He reached. The chip data must have been slightly out of date on response times. Or someone got lucky. "Change of plans." for it. His war was starting now, not with a bang, but with the quiet turn of a handle in a silent Guild hallway.