The darkness inside the drainage tunnel was so complete it felt like a solid thing, pressing in on them from all sides and making it hard to breathe. The only sounds were the steady drip, drip of dirty water, the shaky sound of their own breathing, and the quiet, helpless sobs coming from Kaito.

The glow from the laptop screen was a tiny, lonely point of light in the city's underbelly, revealing their faces, which were smudged with dirt and wet with tears.

By any measure, they had won. The news headline on the screen was clear and undeniable: OMNICORP CEO VANCE STEPS DOWN AMIDST MOUNTING SCANDAL. They had destroyed a powerful man's life's work and forced a billionaire out of his job. This should have been a moment of wild celebration, of hugging each other and feeling the warm, proud glow of a hard-fought victory.

But they felt none of that. Instead, they felt a hollow, empty coldness inside. Their success felt meaningless because it had cost them something priceless: their friend, Silva.

Evelyn sat with her knees tucked under her chin, her face hidden in her arms. Her body shook with silent tears. Silva wasn't just a friend; he was their guardian, their rock. Losing him created a gaping hole in their group that felt like it might consume them entirely.

Kaito stared blankly at the victorious headline. "We did it," he whispered, but the words were flat and held no joy. "We broke their company. And in return, they broke our team."

Ace sat a little distance away, leaning against the cold, slimy wall of the tunnel. A powerful sense of guilt burned through him, sickening him. It was his plan. His decision to release the data. His leadership that had ended with their friend being left behind. The mysterious System in his mind was quiet, offering no advice or logical perspective. It had achieved its goal of hurting OmniCorp. The terrible human cost of that victory was something it simply didn't care about.

His mind kept replaying the final moments on the roof: Silva's brave, angry yell, the awful sound of a body hitting the ground, and then the silence. Was Silva dead? Had he been captured? Were OmniCorp's men hurting him at this very moment, trying to force him to reveal their secrets?

The thought was like a punch to the stomach. Ace squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn't escape the horrible mental image.

After a long time, Evelyn finally lifted her head. Her face was red and stained from crying, but her eyes, when they met Ace's, were dry and held a new, scary kind of strength.

"This changes nothing," she said, her voice rough but firm in the quiet tunnel.

Kaito looked at her, confused. "Evelyn... but Silva..."

"Is gone," she finished for him, her voice emotionless and final. "Because of OmniCorp. Because of that man, Sterling. We've cried. Now we have to act." She wiped her face with a dirty sleeve, smudging the grime. "Sitting here in the dark, feeling sorry for ourselves, won't bring him back. But making the people who did this pay for it... that might."

Her words cut through the heavy despair like a spark in the darkness. Ace felt something change inside himself, too. The crushing sadness was still there, a heavy weight in his chest, but now it was surrounded by a shell of pure, cold anger.

"She's right," Ace said, standing up. His voice was low, but it now had a strong, determined edge. "We were wrong. We thought getting rid of the CEO was the final move. It was only the first one. Sterling is still free. OmniCorp is still out there. They're hurt, but they're not destroyed." He looked at both of them, his expression grim. "And they have our friend."

Feeling a surge of restless energy, Ace began to pace back and forth on the narrow concrete ledge, the filthy water splashing around his ankles with each step. "We tried to fight them on their own terms, using data and secrets," he said, thinking out loud. "But they didn't fight back with information. They came at us with violence and weapons. We can't hide in the shadows and hope to win anymore." He stopped and looked at them, his expression fierce. "It's time to stop being a shadow. We need to become a hammer."

"But we're not a hammer, Ace," Kaito replied, his voice full of defeat. He gestured weakly around their group. "Look at us. We're a computer programmer, a coffee shop worker, and a... well, whatever it is you do. Silva," his voice cracked saying the name, "Silva was our hammer. He was the strong one."

"Then we find a bigger hammer," Ace countered without hesitation. He moved quickly to the laptop and opened a new, secure messaging window. His fingers typed a blunt, urgent message to their enigmatic ally, Silica.

ACE: They captured Silva. Our data leak worked. Vance is finished. But the war isn't over. It's only starting now. We need your help. Not as someone pulling our strings. As a real ally.

The cursor on the screen blinked, waiting. For a full, tense minute, there was no reply. Then, words appeared, not in her usual mysterious style, but plain and serious.

SILICA: I saw the news. I also intercepted communications from their private soldiers. They are holding him at a secret interrogation site—a warehouse in the industrial district that's been converted into a prison. It's owned by one of Sterling's fake companies. An address followed.

Ace's breath caught in his throat. He's alive. The most important thing. And now, they knew where.

SILICA: What you are thinking of doing—attacking that place directly—is a suicide mission.

ACE: We're as good as dead if we do nothing. This is just us choosing our fight. Are you with us?

Another pause, even longer this time. They could almost picture her on the other end, a master strategist weighing the terrible risks against the possibility of finally having partners she could trust.

SILICA: My mentor, Aris, always believed that people were stronger together. I have been alone for too long. Letting you walk into that warehouse without help would be a waste of valuable resources. As she typed, a new file downloaded onto their laptop. This is the complete layout of the facility. Guard patrol schedules. Codes for the security systems. And the exact room where they're keeping Silva.

A powerful wave of relief, mixed with a grim determination, washed over Ace. This wasn't just more information; it was a promise. She was all in.

SILICA: Consider this a three-part alliance. You will be the hammer. I will be the scalpel and the eyes. Do not make me regret this decision.

The chat window closed.

Ace turned to Evelyn and Kaito, a new fire of hope and purpose burning in his eyes. "He's alive. And we know where he is." He pulled up the detailed building plans Silica had sent. The warehouse was a fortified bunker, but she had just handed them the keys to get inside.

Kaito leaned in, his despair pushed aside by his natural instinct to analyze. "The security is intense. Motion detectors, heat-sensing cameras, men with guns everywhere. It's a high-security prison."

"Every prison has a flaw," Evelyn said, her voice as cold and sharp as ice. She pointed a steady finger at a specific part of the screen. "Here. The old air ventilation system. It's mechanical, separate from the main electrical grid. The shafts are large enough for a person to crawl through."

As the clear objective formed in his mind, Ace felt his internal System hum back to life, presenting a cold analysis.

<<<>>>

MISSION PARAMETERS: RESCUE CAPTIVE TEAMMATE.

- TARGET: SILVA. LOCATION CONFIRMED.

- ALLY: SILICA (PROVIDING INTELLIGENCE).

- PROPOSED ENTRY POINT: VENTILATION SHAFTS. PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS: 41%.

- RECOMMENDATION: PROCEED. THE TEAM'S FIGHTING SPIRIT IS ESSENTIAL. LOSING IT MEANS CERTAIN FAILURE.

<<<>>>

Forty-one percent. It was the lowest chance of success they had ever faced. But it was a chance. It was more than zero.

"We go tonight," Ace declared. "While they're still stunned and disorganized from the CEO's downfall, while their chain of command is in chaos. That's our best opportunity."

"What's the plan?" Kaito asked, a thin sliver of his old courage returning.

"Evelyn and I will infiltrate the building through the ventilation shafts," Ace said, tracing the path on the digital blueprint. "Kaito, you will be our overwatch—our lookout. You'll position yourself here," he pointed to an abandoned building across the street on the map, "with the laptop. Silica will feed you live video from every security camera inside. You'll be our eyes and ears. You'll guide us, warn us about guard movements, and when we have Silva, you'll create a diversion to cover our escape."

"What kind of diversion?" Kaito asked, his mind already working on the problem.

Ace's eyes were hard and unwavering. "A distraction that pulls every single guard's attention away from us," he stated, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Silica can set off the building's fire sprinklers, making them think there's a flood. She can trigger every car alarm on the block, creating a wall of noise. She can even hack the city's power and plunge the entire street into darkness for a full minute. We don't care how she does it. She will use every tool she has to create the chaos we need to escape."

For the next hour, they became students of the blueprint. They hunched over the laptop, their faces illuminated by the screen, committing every detail to memory. They noted the timing of the guard patrols, the exact locations of the security cameras, and the blind spots where they could move unseen. The three scared refugees who had been running for their lives were gone. In their place was a focused, determined strike team. Their sadness and anger had been refined into a single, sharp weapon: the will to get Silva back.

As they got ready to leave, gathering their meager collection of weapons—a single knife, a few basic tools, and their own intelligence and courage—Evelyn reached out and put a hand on Ace's arm, stopping him for a moment.

Her voice was low, steady, and absolute. "We get him back." She wasn't asking a question or expressing a hope. It was an order, a fundamental truth they were about to make real. "No matter what."

Ace met her gaze and nodded. The empty, guilty feeling that had been crushing him was gone. It had been replaced by a white-hot core of resolve. Their partnership with Silica was no longer a business deal or a manipulation; it was a solemn promise, made stronger by their shared pain and rage. They had tried to fight a hidden war in the digital world and had gotten brutally burned. Now, they were choosing to walk directly into the real-world fire, ready to either rescue their friend or be destroyed in the attempt.

The pitch-black drainage tunnel, which had felt like a trap just hours before, no longer seemed like a prison. In the quiet darkness, with a solid plan in place, it felt like a launchpad. They had started as victims of powerful forces, then became rebels fighting back. Now, they were stepping into a new role altogether: they were avengers.

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