City-73 pulsed under the noon haze. Heat rose from metal streets, mixing with exhaust, market smoke, and the distant hum of power towers. People crowded the grand central plaza—vendors shouting, trams screeching, holograms flickering advertisements into the smog-filled sky.
Zen kept his hood up and his head low.
He felt the first drone before he heard it.A soft shift in the air—like the city inhaling.
Then, the mechanical whir cut through the noise.
Zen's pulse snapped into a sprint.
He didn't look up. Didn't need to. Every cell in his body recognized the sound.
Avalon surveillance-class DR-17.They never patrol alone.
He pushed deeper into the plaza, weaving between bodies, passing food stalls and neon-lit kiosks. Sweat slid down his back despite the cool air.
They shouldn't be here… Not for me…Yet they were.
A second drone drifted into view through the reflection of a glass panel.Then a third.
Zen's breath tightened.
They had found the fossil signal.They had traced it to him.
And now Avalon wanted him—the son of Aydren—the one they failed to control week ago.
The First Move
Zen pulled out his cracked communicator, thumb trembling.
He dialed the only number that could save Rey and his mother.
"Pick up… pick up…"
Static. Voices. Then—
"Zen?" The familiar voice snapped awake. Joren, the right hand of the mafia family. Loyal. Brutal. A brother in everything except blood.
Zen pushed into the crowd, letting bodies swallow him. The drones scanned from above, red beams slicing the area.
"Joren," Zen whispered, "listen. Avalon is on me. Three drones already."
"What?" Joren's voice exploded. "Why would Avalon hunt you? You work under them!"
"They came a week ago," Zen hissed, turning sharply and ducking under a hanging tarp. "Wanted me for some… experiment. Something related to my father."
"That old ghost again? Zen, you should've told me!"
"I refused, of course. But now—"
The nearest drone dropped lower. People screamed as the red scanning light burned across the plaza.
Zen held back a curse. "—now they're tracking me like an animal."
"You need extraction," Joren growled. "Hold somewhere safe. I'll send—"
"No," Zen cut him. "Secure my family first. Rey. Mom. Get them out of the district."
Joren's breath caught.
"You think Avalon would go after kids?"
"They want me," Zen said, slipping between two armored officers. "They'll use anyone around me. Especially Rey."
Joren spat a curse. "Alright. I'm on it. I'm calling the boys now."
"Avalon moves fast," Zen warned. "Don't underestimate—"
And then Zen froze.
The enormous plaza hologram flickered—and for one second, the city map appeared with a red blinking marker.
His home address. Highlighted.
Someone in Avalon was already accessing the grid.
Already moving.
"Joren…" Zen whispered.
"What now?"
"Too late."
Avalon Closes In
Zen turned sharply into an alley between two megastructures. The world narrowed—concrete walls, dripping pipes, the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his skull.
A drone descended behind him.Two more glided overhead.
He broke into a sprint.
Trash cans toppled, rats scattered, flickering bulbs swung above. Zen vaulted a broken fence, skidded over a metal grate, ducked between the backdoors of abandoned shops.
A spotlight flashed.
They're marking my route.
Zen whipped left and nearly collided with a wandering worker.
"Watch it!" the man shouted.
Zen didn't answer.He was already gone.
The drones thundered after him, building speed.
The Call That Shatters Everything
The communicator buzzed in his pocket.
Zen answered immediately.
"Joren? Did you get them?"
A silence.A long, heavy silence.
Zen's stomach dropped.
Then Joren's voice came—breathless, shaking, angry.
"Zen… Avalon was already there."
Zen slammed into a wall, hands trembling. "WHAT?!"
"We got to your building—doors were blown open, surveillance poles deactivated. They took your mother and Rey before we even arrived."
Zen's vision blurred. His breath vanished.
"No… no, no, NO—"
People in the alley looked at him in confusion, but Zen barely saw them.
"Zen," Joren said, trying to steady himself, "this isn't normal kidnapping. They deployed elite units. This was planned. They didn't want ransom. They wanted you."
Zen clenched his jaw, eyes burning.
"Where are they taking them?"
"To Avalon Sector-1. The Research Spire," Joren answered. "The place they send… test subjects."
Zen slammed his fist into the wall until skin tore.
"Joren, I'm going there—"
"Zen, WAIT!" Joren yelled. "This is suicide! They're not killing your family—they're using them to force you in!"
Zen's voice dropped to a whisper of pure rage.
"If Avalon touches Rey… I will burn City-73 to the ground."
The Trap Tightens
Alarms rang overhead.
Zen looked up.Six drones now.A full capture squad.
The alley lit with red beams.
"Subject located."A mechanical voice boomed through the speakers."Aydren-line target confirmed. Surrender immediately."
People in the plaza gasped and ran.
Zen pulled his hood lower and stepped back as the nearest drone activated its stun-hooks.
Avalon thinks they cornered me.
But they forgot something.
Zen wasn't just a street dog.
He was the Devil of City-73.
Fight or Fall
Zen dashed forward before the stun-hooks fired. He grabbed a metal pole, leapt upward, and smashed it into the drone's sensor core.
Sparks exploded.The drone spiraled and crashed.
The others locked onto him instantly.
The alley erupted with red beams, tearing through trash bins and pipes. Zen sprinted, using walls to vault higher, slipping through gaps only locals knew.
A drone fired a net-shot—Zen rolled just as it slammed into the ground behind him.
"Subject resisting.""Engage lethal protocol?""Negative. Asset must remain alive."
Zen cursed. "Good. Means I can hit back."
He jumped onto a fire escape ladder, climbed three steps, then kicked off the wall and rammed another drone with both feet. It tumbled sideways into a neon sign.
Screams echoed from afar as people watched the chase move across rooftops.
Zen ran, breathing hard, but something colder than fear gnawed inside him.
They had Rey.They had his mother.
They were baiting him.
And he would walk into the trap.No hesitation.
The Last Escape Before War Begins
As Zen landed on the next roof, the communicator buzzed again.
"Zen," Joren said, voice grim, "the family is mobilizing. We're with you. Avalon will NOT take you without a fight."
Zen swallowed hard.Just the sound of loyalty made his chest tighten.
"Thank you, brother," Zen whispered.
"Where are you now?"
Zen looked at the sky.
More drones were approaching—dozens.
"This is no longer surveillance," he said. "They're launching a full capture operation."
"Zen—"
Zen cut him off.
"Protect Rey if you can. I'm heading straight toward Avalon. They want me? They will get me."
"Zen—DON'T—"
The line cut.
Zen lowered his hood, letting the drones get a perfect view of his face.
He stared directly into the nearest scanner.
"Avalon…" he whispered.
"…you started a war."
Then he ran—not to escape—but toward the enemy who stole everything from him.