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Chapter 8: Infiltration – Silent Storm
The wind roared like a beast.
From the open bay doors of the dropship, the world stretched into darkness—clouds swirling below, moonlight barely cutting through. The fortress lay somewhere under that cloak of shadow, hidden by cliffs and an engineered storm.
> "Jump on my mark," Akira's voice crackled through the comms.
"Three. Two. One. GO!"
One by one, they leapt.
Yuki felt the world drop away beneath her.
Her body cut through the wind like an arrow. The glide suit snapped open with a silent fwoosh, catching air just enough to steer. Akira was ahead, a black shadow against the night, Reika and Shin flanking left and right.
> "Adjust south-west 5 degrees," Shin's voice came calm and precise.
"Thermals show light movement near the cliffs."
Yuki clicked her wrist scanner, blinking red.
> "I see it. Drones. Small ones. Not a patrol—surveillance."
Reika dove down faster, skimming through the clouds.
> "Let's slip past them. Stay under their scanning arc."
Akira's voice guided them like a silent thread.
> "Maintain glide. No flare. Cloaks engaged in 5... 4..."
Shhhh— a whisper of light shimmered over their suits as optical cloaking activated.
Like ghosts, they passed into the storm-choked valley.
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Landing Zone – Perimeter Ridge
They hit the ground like feathers—quiet, controlled.
Yuki rolled and rose in a crouch, blade drawn, sensors scanning. Her HUD blinked green.
> "Team landed. No casualties."
Akira knelt beside her, scanning the horizon.
The facility was visible now: a brutalist fortress embedded in the cliffs, surrounded by high walls and automated turrets.
> "Point of entry: exhaust shaft on the east side. Leads to maintenance corridor. Avoid main gate. It's rigged."
Shin nodded, drawing a silenced blade.
> "Let's move. No noise."
They moved like wraiths—through grass, over stone. No words, only gestures and blinks on HUDs. The air was heavy with electric charge, a buzz of strange energy that hinted at the experiments inside.
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Inside the Fortress – Maintenance Level
The shaft was narrow, metal cold to the touch. Yuki slid in first, her breathing shallow. One wrong move, one sound—everything would explode into fire.
She dropped down into a corridor choked in dim red light.
> "Clear," she whispered.
One by one, the team joined her.
The facility hummed with unnatural silence. The air reeked faintly of chemicals and ozone.
> "These aren't just labs," Reika murmured.
"This place was built like a bunker."
Suddenly, a sound—clank. Clank. Clank.
Mechanical footsteps.
A guard unit—three soldiers in heavy suits, faces masked, weapons charged.
Akira held up two fingers. Then pointed left.
Yuki moved in sync, slipping into the shadows.
Reika pulled a signal jammer and activated it. A soft pulse shut down comms in the hallway for 8 seconds—just long enough.
> Swish—
Thunk—
Crack—
Three silent takedowns.
The guards fell without a sound.
Yuki and Akira dragged them into a side chamber. Shin reset the corridor's security sensor in under ten seconds.
> "We've got maybe five more minutes before someone notices."
Akira checked the schematics.
> "Next stop: Level B4. That's where the core data is. And whatever weapon they're hiding."
Reika cracked her knuckles.
> "About time we found out what's really going on here."
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End of Chapter 8
The infiltration has begun—smooth for now, but with danger just around the corner.