The coordinates arrived in the middle of the night.
No signature.
No encryption.
Just a string of numbers.
Echo stared at the message for a long time before handing me the note.
Latitude. Longitude. Time.
No explanation.
No message attached.
But we didn't need one.
We all knew what it meant.
An invitation.
"They're baiting us," Delryn said.
"We knew they would," Echo replied.
Reese studied the map. "Water treatment ruins. Three stories. Lots of choke points. No way in without being seen."
"No way out either," someone added.
I kept my eyes on the coordinates.
"Anyone close to the location?"
"We had a scout three blocks out. Haven't heard from him in hours," Echo said.
Silence followed.
Riven might've cracked a joke once. But he wasn't with us anymore.
We gathered in the operations room—if you could call it that. It was just a half-lit train platform and a couple of folding tables.
But it felt like something more now.
Like war planning.
"They want us to come," I said, breaking the silence.
"They want to kill us," Delryn shot back.
I nodded. "Probably."
"Then why go?" Reese asked,"
"Because if we don't, they'll keep sending messages like the one at the tram yard. Burned bodies. Wiped rooms."
"You want to walk into a trap?"
"I want to spring it."
We planned for hours.
Everyone had ideas.
Most were bad.
A few were desperate.
But one stuck.
Split team. Controlled entry. Send a decoy drone in first. Echo and I move in behind a scout line. Delryn leads backup from above. Reese manages extraction.
The others form two patrol squads—one outside and one two blocks out, in case it gets loud.
No one argued.
Because deep down, they knew what I did.
If we didn't answer the Hollow's call, they'd just escalate.
And the city couldn't afford that.
We moved at dawn.
No words.
Just quiet gear checks and nods.
My power hummed low in my blood, alert but calm. It was strange—feeling ready. For once, I didn't flinch at the glow in my hands. Didn't question the pulse in my fingertips.
It felt like it belonged to me now.
Like I was no longer borrowing it.
The ruins of the old water plant stood like a skeleton on the city's edge.
Twisted metal. Torn fences. Stained walls.
Every window shattered. Every pipe cracked.
No birds.
No noise.
Just silence, heavy and mean.
Delryn scanned from a rooftop across the street. "I've got no movement. But they're in there. I can feel it."
Echo crouched beside me. "You ready?"
"No," I said. "But that hasn't stopped me before."
We entered from the north wing.
The walls creaked.
Each step echoed.
Echo kept her hands loose at her sides, shadows rippling faintly across her boots. I had a small energy disk pulsing in one palm—half shield, half light.
We didn't talk.
Not down here.
We reached the main floor.
Massive. Hollowed out.
Concrete pillars stretched toward a shattered ceiling.
Pools of stagnant water dotted the floor.
And in the center?
A single chair.
Someone sat in it.
Waiting.
We approached slowly.
No traps. No sudden moves.
Just the sound of our breath.
The figure raised its head.
A mask covered their face. Bone white. A jagged lightning bolt down the middle.
The symbol.
Echo stiffened.
The figure spoke.
"You came."
Voice: distorted. Male? Female? Hard to tell.
"Thought you'd send a drone," the figure added. "Was almost disappointed."
"We almost did," I said. "But I don't like waiting for answers."
The figure chuckled.
"Smart."
They stood.
No weapon in hand. Just confidence.
"You're the one they talk about."
I didn't reply.
"You've built something. The Divide. A name. A path. The people follow you."
"They follow the idea," I said.
The mask tilted. "Exactly."
The air changed.
Charged.
Then came the others.
They stepped from the shadows like ghosts. Ten. Maybe twelve.
All masked.
All watching.
Echo spun back-to-back with me.
"Plan's blown," she whispered.
I nodded. "Play it out."
"We know what you want," the masked one said.
"You don't know me," I replied.
"Oh, but we do."
The voice softened.
"You want choice. You want power. You want to tear down what's broken."
He gestured to the space around us.
"So do we."
Echo snarled. "You destroy everything."
"We erase rot," he corrected. "So something new can grow."
"That's not growth. That's fire."
"Fire cleanses."
The tension spiked.
Power rippled from the walls—static, hot, angry.
I clenched my fists.
"If this is your offer, we're not interested."
"You haven't heard it yet."
He took a slow step forward.
Held out a small black box.
Inside, I saw something glowing. A crystal? No—tech. Old. Pulse-based.
"It's a data core," he said. "Taken from the League's central vault. Holds records they buried. Project names. Command strings. Proof."
"Why give it to us?"
"Because you're already changing things. We want to see how far you'll go."
He smiled beneath the mask. I could feel it.
"This is a gift," he said. "But gifts always come with weight."
I stared at the box.
It pulsed once.
Alive.
"You want us to owe you."
"No," he said. "I want you to see."
He dropped it at my feet.
Then turned and walked away.
The others followed.
No fight.
No blood.
Just silence.
And the box.
Back at base, we didn't speak for a long time.
Echo stared at it like it might explode.
Reese paced.
Delryn cleaned her weapon three times.
Finally, I picked it up.
The hum vibrated through my hand.
Riven would've known how to crack it.
But Riven wasn't here.
Echo took it gently.
"I'll start scanning."
Hours passed.
Then came the voice.
Faint.
Old.
Leaked from the core like a ghost.
A recorded message from deep inside League command:
"Phase Three begins once the Divide leader is neutralized. Primary targets flagged. Contingency clearance… Hollow protocol approved."
Delryn paled.
Reese swore.
I stood still.
Because in that one sentence, we learned everything.
The League had a name for the Hollow.
And a plan.
A joint plan.
Us.
Neutralized.
Echo looked at me.
"What do we do now?"
I felt the hum in my chest again.
Not fear.
Not doubt.
Purpose.
"We don't walk in again," I said.
"We bring the fight to them."