Ethan and the team emerged from the shattered underground facility, staggering into the cold, open night. Behind them, the facility loomed, pocked with holes and flickering with the dying lights of broken systems. Their breaths were heavy, each exhale visible in the chill desert air. They had mao escape, but somethi off, a gnawing instihan couldn't shake.

  As they reached a small clearing, he spotted a strange, blinking red light ing from the structure's lower levels. His gaze sharpened as he realized the truth. Tiny devices, scattered and unobtrusive, dotted the perimeter of the facility, each pulsing with a steady red blink. It took only a sed for the pieces to click together in his mind.

  "Bombs…" he muttered, tension coiling in his voice. His heart quied as he uood. Raeth's forces must have rigged the entire base with explosives, likely a failsafe to ehe facility's destru if they lost trol. And now, with seds tig down, they were standing ih of an immi bst.

  "Run!" he shouted, his voice slig through the stillness as he turo Malek, Derek, and the others. There was no time to expin. They just had to move.

  Without a word, the team broke into a sprint, their shadows dang wildly in the frantic glow of the tig explosives. Each step sent jolts of pain through Ethan's shoulder, which he could feel was dislocated from the earlier fight, but he pushed through. He had to; stopping now would meaaih. The tdown seemed to echo in his mind with each frantic heartbeat.

  The first explosioonated just as they reached the edge of the facility. A colossal bst erupted from the ter of the base, sending a mushroom cloud of fire and shrapnel into the air. The shockwave hit Ethan like a tidal wave, nearly knog him off his feet. The others staggered, but they pressed forward, instincts and adrenaline driving them further away from the rea of explosions unfolding behind them.

  The sed bst came immediately after the first, and then another, each triggering the in a brutal cascade. Ethan risked a gnce over his shoulder, just in time to see the facility being ed by fire, colpsing piece by pieto a chaotic heap of rubble. The ground shook beh their feet as debris rained down, and an inferno rose into the night, illuminating the desert with an eerie, e glow. Etha his head down, c his face as fragments of metal and crete flew past them, his advanced helmet shielding him from dust and gre, yet the force of each bst still made him stagger.

  A strange, low hum cut through the chaos as the st of the building crumbled. Emerging from the smoke-filled wreckage was a sleek, dark Syndicate ship. Its angur, predatory shape trasted sharply against the moonlit sky, casting an ominous shadow across the ruins below. The sight made Ethan's stomach drop. He narrowed his eyes, and as if in response, a holographic image flickered to life within the cockpit. A familiar face, cold and mog.

  Raeth.

  "Well dohan," Raeth's voice crackled through a nearby speaker embedded in the Syndicate ship's hull, his tone smooth but edged with frustration. "You've mao destroy a small facility. But don't fool yourself into thinking you've won anything." Raeth chuckled, a bitter, hollow sound that sent a chill through Ethan. "If anything, you've only ehis fight will get nastier."

  Ethan ched his fists, feeling frustration simmering in his chest. His voice came out low, but his words were ced with steel. "You run, Raeth, but you're only deying the iable. We'll find you!"

  Raeth's lips curled into a sly smirk. "Oh, I have no iion of hiding. Tonight was only a preview of what's to e. You have no idea what I have in store." His voice carried an uling calm, though a hint of bitterness colored his words. "You'll see me agaihan. Aime, it won't be so easy." With a final mog salute, he raised his hand, his image flickering slightly before the hologram fizzled out.

  The ship's thrusters roared to life, sending gusts of hot air and ash swirling around them. In seds, the Syndicate ship shot off into the night, leavihan and his team staring after it as it disappeared over the horizon. The silehat followed was deafening, broken only by the crag of dying fmes and the distant groan of colpsial.

  Ethan's gaze remained fixed on the dark sky, his jaw ched. He could still feel the adrenaline c through his veins, his mind rag from the harrowing escape and Raeth's ominous words. The burning wreckage before them was a reminder of how close they'd e to death and that, for Raeth, it had all been a game.

  Malek's hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present, grounding him. Ethan turo meet his friend's gaze, finding a mixture of exhaustion and quiet resolve in his eyes.

  "He got away," Malek said, gng back at the sm ruins, "but tonight, we hit him where it hurts. Raeth won't recover from this easily, not with the resources we destroyed here." There ark of determination in his voice, a defiahat gave Ethan a glimmer of hope.

  Ethan nodded slowly, taking in the se around him. They hadn't captured Raeth, but they'd struck a heavy blow to the Bck Sun Syndicate, and for now, that was enough. His own frustration simmered beh his calm exterior, but there was a new sense of resolve as well. They'd made a statement tonight, and Raeth k.

  "We'll be ready ime," Ethan said, his voice steady, his words more a promise than a statement. He looked at Malek and the others, their faces streaked with dust and exhaustio each held a look of fierce determination. Raeth had escaped, but this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

  With o look at the burning remains of the Syndicate base, Ethan turned away. The chase had only just begun, and the ime they crossed paths with Raeth, he khey would be even more prepared.