"I envy you guys," came Ghostwire's whiny voice across the comm line. "I wanted to see the boy genius. He'll be working with me, I found him, and yet, I'm the one stuck behind."
"You're right" chimed in Viper, his keen eyes still scouting the perimeter. "It's not fair you get stuck at base. Next time we will have you accompany Aegis."
"I say, you really are evil" shuddered Ghostwire. Partnering with Aegis made one feel so inadequate, it was always a blow to the ego. The last time he had shadowed Aegis, he saw how little help he actually was.
Missions with Aegis wasn't for the faint of heart. Missions with him were high risk, zero safety net. You didn't assist Aegis—you survived him.
Right now, Aegis was away reaching out to his contacts to get geared up for the mission. This was a mission that Command didn't know about - obviously they couldn't use military equipment. Good thing too. We are moving out tomorrow! thought Ghostwire. They could be bait. But without the gear to protect themselves, they would be worse than sitting ducks.
"He's here" cut in Viper sharply. His tone sharpened.
Lumina had arrived.
Rhino and Falcon saw a dainty 17 year old emo boy, walk languidly into the cafe. He carried a backpack and had a cap pulled low over his face. He tipped the lady boss and walked towards their booth.
"How long do you think he's been watching us?" murmured Rhino.
"He didn't look around, didn't hesitate," observed Falcon. "He knew exactly where we were."
"And he avoided our perimeter sensors," Viper added grimly. "That's… impressive."
They were all thinking the same thing. Is this kid for real? As seasoned experts in the field, they knew skills when they saw it..
"Are you sure we can trust him?" asked Viper - the question that was still on everyone's mind. An underage teenage boy with extraordinary counter intelligence and hacking skills seemed a bit fishy.
"Whether we trust him or not, we need his hacking skills" said ghostwire seriously. "And, let's face it, maybe you old farts are becoming rusty - even a teenage kid can run circles around you" continued Lin Ke cheerfully, not realising the 'rusty old farts' would make him pay for his words in future sparring sessions.
Lumina casually walked up to their table and pulled out a chair. He simply nodded his head at them as he sat down.
"Lumina? Thank you for coming" said Rhino
"Before we proceed," Li Jian added, voice measured, "we'll need to verify your identity."
Lumina didn't speak. He simply opened his console, fingers gliding like silk over the keys. Within seconds, each man's device pinged—a message from his authenticated dark-web account.
"I got it," said Ghostwire, astonished. "The IP's clean. No spoofing, no mirrored VPN. It's really him."
Rhino nodded, satisfied. "Thank you for understanding. I'm Rhino. This is Falcon. We're part of a private security unit. We need your help for a classified extraction."
"The work will be dangerous," Li Jian said. "We'd prefer if you came to our secure base. You'll be protected. If you wish to decline, we won't hold it against you."
Li Jian laid out all their cards on the table. As Aegis had instructed them, they would make sure the kid has all the information he needed to make a choice.
"I will withdraw if this project is against the rights of humans or our Nation" finally spoke up Lumina. His voice was low and even a bit husky. "Before we proceed, I need verification from you too - how can I be sure you will recommend me for the project admission quota?".
"We are alumni from the National Defense Academy. You have our word we will…"
Beep Beep Beep
Lin Ke's systems started screaming. Every screen flared crimson. He hurriedly tapped away and sorted through the data. "Systems breach" he reported, his tone calm, despite the gravity of the situation. "Code Red. Code Red. Safe House 3 has been located."
Falcon and Rhino sprang up from their seats.
"Ghostwire evacuate. Now" barked Falcon.
"Negative, sir." Ghostwire's tone was flat, disciplined. Gone was the joking tech prodigy; in his place stood the soldier, a comrade who would not let his brothers fall. He would gladly be the last line of defense, no matter the cost
"I'm wiping the archive. I won't leave evidence behind. Ghostwire's voice carried no hint of emotion - only a sense of certainty and duty.
"Move out. Now. That's an order." growled Falcon. "Viper, Rhino, with me" and Falcon motioned to leave.
"Wait." called a sharp voice - Lumian's voice had changed. "Patch me in. I accept…"
"No kid - things have changed. Our base is compromised. We can no longer assure our own safety - let alone yours. We need to go. Will be in touch soon." Falcon left without looking back.
For the second time in the evening, Falcon's order were not listened to. Lumina shoved the table against Falcon's shin, catching him off guard. When he stumbled, she moved like lightning, grabbing the wire from him.
"Patch me in' she spoke into the system, her eyes flashing, her fingers moving with amazing speed they almost seemed life afterimages. "I am Lumina. I can help."
"Boss?" asked Ghostwire.
"Now he pretends to listen" grumbled Viper.
Li Jian was torn. He really wanted to get to the Safehouse and make sure Lin Ke was safe. But…This kid… was a liability.
"Hostiles identified," Ghostwire reported. "Thirty minutes out. Multiple signatures—heavy-grade interference. They're tracking our location via satellite bleed."
Regardless of the information, his fingers didn't stop moving. Neither did he move from his spot.
Li Jian made the call. "Buy us time. Delete as much as you can. Stay safe right here." Li Jian commanded Lumina. "Ghostwire, give him access. And LEAVE" he spoke into Rhino's mike. "Viper and Rhino, we move out for extraction."
Not wasting any more time, the team rushed out, the sound of motorcycles roaring in the night.
By tacit understanding, not one of them mentioned Aegis. If they were compromised, it was all the more reason to keep Aegis' name and identity under wraps.
Inside the café, Lu Mian's fingers blurred across the keyboard. "I'm in," she announced. "Routing through seven mirrors. Ghostwire, hand me your root shell.I will finish in 20 mins and can run the encryptions myself. Focus on getting out." she directed him.
Lin Ke opened his mouth to protest - and he froze. He saw the codes come alive, her command executing seamlessly. Lin Ke's screen began to flash—entire data clusters vanishing one by one.
"Holy…" he whispered. "You're turning our drives into self-consuming sand."
"Not sand," said Lumina. "Fire."
Code rippled across his screen, blooming like wildfire, it devoured data pathways and re-encrypted them in real time. Each line mutated into a self-propagating virus, consuming any traceable metadata.
"You made them self-destruct?" Ghostwire breathed.
"And self-mutate," she replied calmly. "Anything left behind will corrupt whatever touches it. You're clean now. Leave."
"Still twenty minutes till contact—"
"Then you have nineteen left," Lumina cut him off. "North exit. There's an unguarded drainage line leading to the old cemetery. Move now."
Ghostwire hesitated "But.. kid.."
"Trust me. Trust the code. You saw what it can do. I am building a backdoor recon program - you can activate it in a couple of hours to check the status and see if files any files have been compromised." urged Lumina.
Ghostwire chose to trust her voice. "Copy that." and moved to leave.
"Boss, I need to borrow two more systems" called Lumina to the Ladyboss at the counter. One of the reasons Lu mian loved this place was because their hardware and tech was genuinely top-notch.
Within seconds she was booted up. Two additional systems came online. She linked them with her laptop as the main node, the others as auxiliary processors.
One screen tracked Ghostwire's exit, another monitored field movement, the third continued the data purge.
Lu Mian blazed through the amount of information, parsing data and location seamlessly as though she wasn't doing the work of 3 people at least.
"Falcon, Rhino," she said steadily, "your route is green. Traffic signals will sync for the next ten minutes. Go straight, take the last east gate exit—you'll flank from higher ground."
"How the hell is he rerouting city traffic?" Falcon muttered, half in awe.
"Kid's a damn control tower," Rhino breathed.
"Ghostwire, reaching out to nearby businesses - soon your base will get a lot of attention. It will partially cover your exit. You still need to move. Are you equipped to engage?" she asked calmly as her mind mapped out the perfect extraction strategy.
"No." admitted Ghostwire grimly "They really did pick the worst time"
"We'll see about that " smiled Lu Mian darkly. She noticed that there was a fire station nearby that was having a drill.
Her fingers whizzed around clacking and paused briefly as she recognized a place - a ship yard? What a coincidence. This is where she had dumped the truck. Ignoring the fleeting and useless thought, Lu Mian continued to work her magic. At this point, Lu Mian still hadn't recognized Safehouse 3 was "the base" her comrades were talking about. Even if she did, she would've probably thought the soldier she saved was Ghostwire.
Her hands moved effortlessly, reconfiguring security feeds, overriding street cameras and creating phantom echoes of movement to mislead the pursuers. On one of her screens, red dots began blinking off one by one enemy signals vanishing.
"Falcon, you have a window," she reported. "Five minutes. Engage extraction."
"Copy that," Falcon replied, twisting the throttle. His bike roared down the narrow service road, tires biting into asphalt. Rhino followed close behind, keeping a staggered formation that would let them peel off if ambushed.
Overhead, streetlights flickered in timed succession green, yellow, green again exactly as Lumina had promised.
"He's controlling the grid," Rhino muttered, awe lacing his voice.
"Focus," said Falcon. "We hit in ninety seconds."
"Hold on Ghostwire" he told Lin Ke. "We're almost there."
Lumina had planned the perfect extraction strategy. Their role was currently to engage and distract - while Ghostwire left the premises.
As they approached closer, the team saw a white van idling by the side. "Confirming armed entities" Lu Mian spoke through the comms. Her hacked satellite feed showed atleast 4 humans inside - holding guns. Definitely not civillians."
"Not one of ours - we have no backup" confirmed Falcon, as Rhino flicked a grenade at them.
Boom
White light tore through the night, lighting up their location and directing attention on them.
"Ghostwire, do not engage. Your team is distracting the pursuants. You meet viper 2 blocks from the exit. You have 5 mins."
Lu Mian continued to guide Lin Ke out of the conflict, while helping Rhino and Falcon engage the assassins at the front.
As they cut a swath through the assassins, Rhino felt a sharp pain on his left shoulder.
"Spotted snipers on the roof. Location unclear" he called through the mike, teeth gritted in pain.
"Copy that" confirmed Lu Mian. "Take cover and get ready to retreat"
"Viper confirm when you have visual on Ghostwire.'" she continued and hit the final code. As one, the fire alarm for all the buildings nearby went off. The fire protection team that was conducting fire drills nearby moved in, with sirens blazing. It was immediately followed by dozens of civilians spilling into the streets.
In a single move, the anonymity of the night was lost. No matter how brazen the assassins, they wouldn't make a move when the exposure risk was so high.
While the hostile team struggled to regroup, Falcon and Rhino slipped through the crowd, abandoning their bikes.
"Retreat to the shipyard on the left. You can hotwire any truck" called LuMian.
"Extraction complete" came in Viper's voice - he had spotted Ghostwire and had swooped in to pull him out.
Behind them, the safehouse detonated in a cascade of controlled explosions each drive burning to ash. The orange blaze lit the night sky like dawn breaking early.
Lin Ke paused for a second to look back at the flames. For a second, a few visions flashed in his mind - of him successfully wiping all the data but falling to enemy fire. Of his team, trying their best to reach him but managing to get only his lifeless body out.
A vague chill settled on his back and he shivered. "Don't be silly, we are all fine" he murmured and the scene vanished from his mind like the remnants of a forgotten dream.