David t Jayden head-on. They exchanged blows—brutal and desperate, neither giving ground. David’s enhanced reflexes let him match Jayden’s enhanced strength. But Jayden’s abilities gave him options.
Fire. Telekinesis. Size manipulation. He used them all, overwhelming David with variety.
Finally, Jayden caught David with a perfect combination—telekinesis to freeze his movent for a split second, followed by an enlarged, strength-enhanced punch to the chest that cracked David’s sternum and sent him crashing through a table.
The gang leader tried to rise, but he couldn’t. He was fatally wounded, and bleeding profusely. He eventually collapsed to ground, defeated. But he was still conscious.
Jayden stood over him, breathing like he’d run a marathon, every inch of his body screaming in pain. But the real pain he felt was from David’s words.
He’d basically reached a dead end.
All of this—the fight with the Jackals, the intel from Big T, storming The Venom Lounge—and David didn’t have Cassandra. Didn’t even know where she was.
It was all for nothing.
He ran a hand through his hair, frustrating etched in his features. His only lead now was finding the Pioneer responsible for abducting Cassandra.
But first... he needed to be sure that David wasn’t just feeding him lies.
Jayden grabbed David by the collar and dragged him to his feet. "You said you have facilities. Places you keep people. Take there."
David, barely conscious, managed a weak laugh. "Or what? You’ll kill ?" he chuckled. "You ain’t got that in you, kid. I can see it."
Jayden’s hand ignited with fire, flas licking at David’s face. "Try ."
David’s laugh died. He saw sothing in Jayden’s eyes—sothing cold and empty and absolutely monstrous. He was wrong. This kid had definitely killed before.
"Alright," David wheezed. "Alright. There’s... there’s a place. A basent facility under an old factory in Sector 12. That’s where we keep the acquisitions before shipping them off-world."
Jayden’s brows furrowed. "Show ."
...
01:47 AM.
Sector 12, Industrial Area.
The facility was exactly as Marcus had described—hidden beneath a legitimate-looking factory building that had been abandoned for years.
Jayden had forced Marcus to lead him there, threatening to unalive the man if he tried anything. Marcus, beaten and bleeding, had complied.
The basent was a nightmare.
Cells. Dozens of them. Reinforced steel doors with small windows. And behind those doors... were people.
Young won, mostly. So teenagers. A few young n. All terrified. All clearly held against their will.
Jayden moved from cell to cell, searching frantically.
"Please let her be here. Please." He prayed inwards.
But with each door, his hope diminished.
He reached the last cell, looked through the window, and saw a young girl—maybe sixteen—staring back at him with hollow eyes.
Not Cassandra.
Jayden stepped back, his hands shaking. "She’s not here."
David, slumped against the wall, said nothing.
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Jayden roared, his voice echoing through the facility.
"I already told you, kid," David said weakly. "Cassandra Isley isn’t my acquisition. The Pioneers are tasked with abducting important people like her. You want your girl, you need to find them,"
Jayden clenched his fist. "How many pioneers are there? And where do I find them?"
David scoffed. "Hell if i know. I’m just the errand boy, not a shareholder in the syndicate," he muttered. "There could be five or seven or even more rcenaries working for the higher ups. But they’re all anonymous. No one besides the top bosses knows who they are or where they live."
Jayden gritted his teeth. He wanted to hit David. Wanted to burn this entire place down in frustration.
But David was telling the truth. Jayden could see it in his eyes.
Instead, Jayden pulled out his holo-tab and sent a ssage to Fred Walker’s encrypted line:
[Found a Black Cobra trafficking facility. Multiple captives. Sending location. Co quick]
He attached the coordinates, then looked at the captives staring at him through cell windows.
"Help is coming," he told them. "You’re all going to be okay."
So of them started crying. Others just stared, unable to process that rescue was actually happening. They’d probably been here for days, maybe even weeks now.
Jayden turned back to David. "You’re done. Your operation’s finished."
"One operation," David corrected, coughing blood. "Black Cobra’s got operations all over the planet. You shut this one down, they’ll open two more. You can’t stop them all, kid."
Jayden’s expression remained indifferent. "Watch ." He said flatly. Then he punched David one more ti—knocking him fully unconscious—then left the facility.
-----
02:10 AM.
Outside the facility.
Jayden sat on his hoverbike, staring at nothing. He’d accomplished sothing tonight, but it felt like nothing to him. He took down a major human trafficking operation and freed dozens of captives. But Cassandra wasn’t among them.
He failed his main mission.
And to make it worse, he was at a dead end. He had no information, no help, no leads except the vague one David had given him.
"I need to find the pioneer that took Cassie." he thought bitterly. "But where do I even start looking?"
[Jayden] Luna said softly. [You did good tonight. You saved a lot of people]
"But not her," he sighed. "I saved everyone except her."
[Not yet] Luna said. [But you’re getting closer]
Was he? It felt like every answer just led to more questions. Every lead just ended in a dead end.
Suddenly, his holo-tab buzzed. He got a ssage from Fred:
[Got your tip, kid. Moving units now. But Jayden, what the hell did you do tonight? I’m getting reports of a bar fight in Riverside involving 20 gang mbers. Please tell that wasn’t you]
Jayden typed back:
[It was necessary. I was through there I found the trafficking division’s main facility. It housed multiple captives, but Cassandra wasn’t there. The leader says she was likely taken by one of the syndicate’s own Pioneers. I need information about them]
Fred’s response was imdiate:
[I will see what I can dig up. But we need to talk, kid. I have so information that could be helpful. et tomorrow. Sa location]
Jayden pocketed the holo-tab and started his bike.
Tomorrow he’d et Fred. Get whatever information the man had. And then hopefully, he’d find Cassandra.
No matter how many dead ends. No matter how many fights.
He would find her.
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