The tunnels beneath Havencrest had always been a myth—whispered about by smugglers, denied by the government, erased from every public record. But Sera knew better. Division Nine built them decades ago as escape routes and covert access points. When the city burned, the tunnels went silent.
Now, they hummed again.
Her tracker pulsed faintly in the dark, following the faint residue of Kael's signal. The air smelled of rust and damp metal, and every sound—dripping water, distant hums—echoed too loud. She moved with a flashlight clenched between her teeth, her hand on the grip of the pistol Aiden had secretly returned to her.
Half of her told her this was madness.
The other half whispered hope.
She reached a sealed maintenance hatch marked with faded yellow paint. It shouldn't have opened, but when she tried the lever, it clicked easily—as if someone had been there recently. She stepped inside.
The room beyond was a communications hub—long dead, except for one active console. A single screen flickered weakly, running a trace program she recognized. Kael's code. Her breath caught as she approached.
"You shouldn't be here."
The voice came from behind her.
Sera spun, flashlight blinding the figure in the doorway.
He raised a hand slowly, stepping into the light.
His face was shadowed by the hood, but the moment he looked up, she stopped breathing.
Kael.
Older, rougher, a scar slicing across his cheek—but unmistakably him. His eyes, once sharp and cold, now carried something heavier.
"You're alive," she whispered.
He didn't answer, just scanned her face as if confirming she was real. Then, finally:
"You should have stayed away."
She shook her head, stepping closer. "You sent a message. You knew I'd come."
"I didn't send it for you."
The words hit like a blade. Still, she moved closer. "You lied to the entire city. They think you're dead."
"That's the point," he said quietly. "Division Nine wasn't destroyed, Sera. It became something worse. The people running it now—they want total control of Havencrest. I stayed dead to stop them from finding me."
"Then why the signal?"
Kael hesitated. His voice dropped lower. "Because they already have. Someone's using my name. My codes. If I don't stop them, every system in this city goes dark."
She stepped beside him, eyes on the console. "Then you're not stopping them alone."
He turned toward her, the faintest flicker of something—fear, affection, exhaustion—crossing his face. "You always were impossible."
"And you always underestimated me."
Hours passed as they sifted through the data Kael had hidden deep within the Archive's mirror servers. Each fragment of code led to another false trail until finally, a single location appeared: Sector Twelve, beneath the old reactor line.
"That's the epicenter," Kael said, studying the map. "If the system goes live, it'll pulse through every power grid in the city."
Sera leaned forward. "Then that's where we start."
He looked at her then, really looked—like the years apart had compressed into that single moment. "You're risking everything again for a story that could kill you."
"This isn't about a story anymore," she said softly. "It's about the truth."
They moved at dawn.
The old reactor line stretched beneath the city like a graveyard—silent, dripping, full of ghosts. Their flashlights sliced through the dark, catching glints of abandoned tech and shattered glass.
Kael led the way, his movements cautious but sure. Sera followed close, recorder running in her pocket. She needed evidence—not for publication, not yet, but for survival.
At the heart of the tunnel, they found a circular chamber filled with dormant servers. The hum of static filled the air, growing louder as Kael approached a console. He wiped dust from the surface, revealing a familiar insignia burned into the metal: D9—Reclamation Unit.
"They rebuilt it," he murmured. "Dante's design… but refined."
Sera frowned. "Rebuilt for what?"
Before he could answer, the servers flared to life. Lines of code scrolled across every screen—black text on red.
SYSTEM REBOOT IN PROGRESS.
PRIMARY USER: D. ARDEN.
Kael froze. "No…"
Sera's eyes widened. "Dante? But—"
Kael slammed a fist against the console. "He's supposed to be dead. I saw—"
A distorted voice filled the chamber, broadcasting through every speaker.
"You should have stayed buried, brother."
The lights turned crimson. Drones dropped from the ceiling, eyes glowing blue.
Kael grabbed Sera's hand. "Run!"
They sprinted through the tunnels as gunfire echoed behind them. Sparks rained from the walls, and the ground shook with the force of detonations. Sera stumbled, Kael pulling her forward until they burst through a maintenance shaft into the open night.
Above them, the skyline of Havencrest burned with artificial light. Sirens screamed across the city.
Sera turned to Kael, chest heaving. "He's alive."
Kael's expression was grim. "No. He's something else now."
Hours later, as the city's alarms faded, Sera sat on the rooftop of an old apartment complex, recording the chaos below. Kael stood a few feet away, silent, staring into the distance.
"What now?" she asked quietly.
"We find Dante," he said. "And this time, we finish it."
She glanced at him, rain beading down his face like tears.
"Together?"
He met her eyes. "If you're willing."
She smiled faintly. "I didn't come this far to stop now."
The thunder rolled again, distant but steady. Havencrest shimmered under the storm—broken, haunted, but alive.
And somewhere deep beneath the city, a voice whispered through the static:
"Welcome back, Division Nine"