Ethan and Malek stumbled out of the colpsing tunnel, gasping for air as they reached the surface. The sunlight hit them harshly, a stark trast to the suffog darkhey had just escaped. The tunnel behind them tio crumble, the earth groaning and shifting as dust clouds billowed upward. The survivors, they had failed. The thought of the i people trapped beh the rubble g Ethan.

  "They're gone," Malek said, his voice hollow, hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath. "We couldn't get them out in time. Buried uons of rock."

  Ethan said nothing, the cold realization hitting him hard. They had e to rescue the Syndicate's prisoners, men and women who had been dragged underground as part of Raeth's scheme. And now, with the tunnel sealed behind them, there was no yone could have survived. At least that's what it looked like. Ethan's mind raced. Had Raeth known about the colpse beforehand? He must have escaped with them somehow. The timing had been too perfect.

  "Iris," Ethan muttered under his breath, addressing the AI embedded in his suit. "Give me a full enviroal s. I want a signatures or movement below us."

  The HUD inside his visor flickered to life, and Iris's calm, syic voice replied, "Sing now. It will take a few moments, Ethan."

  Malek looked up, his face twisted with guilt. "It's on us, man. We should have-"

  "We didn't have time," Ethan interrupted, his voice cold but steady. "We couldn't save them. Raeth orchestrated this colpse; he kly what he was doing. But he got out. I know it."

  "Ethan," Iris chimed in, "no signifit heat signatures detected in the viity below the surface. I am deteg elevated seismic activity sistent with a rge structural colpse. ces of survival are negligible."

  Ethan ched his fists. "They're dead," he said, mostly to himself. "All of them."

  Malek swore under his breath, kig at a ro frustration. "Damn it! We were supposed to get them out, Ethan. That was the mission."

  Ethan remained silent for a moment, staring out across the barren ndscape. The mission had gone sideways the moment Raeth had gotten involved. He was always oep ahead, always twisting the game to his advantage. He was ruthless, yes, but smart. Ahan knew he hadn't see of him.

  "Raeth didn't die down there," Ethan said, his voice low. "I don't know how, but he got out. He has the survivors too. He wants us to think they're gone, buried in that rubble. But I'm not buying it."

  Malek wiped the dust from his face, eyes squinting against the harsh sun. "You really think he's still out here? With them?"

  "I know he is," Ethan said, eyes sing the horizon. "That colpse was a distra. He set the whole thing up, then slipped away. I'm not sure where he's gone, but he's watg. And we're going to find him."

  Just thehan's HUD pinged. Iris's voice returned. "Ethan, I'm deteg an approag aircraft. Likely a Syndicate re drone."

  Ethan's heart quied. "Get down," he hissed, yanking Malek down behind a nearby outcropping of rocks.

  The drone passed overhead, its sleek frame humming ominously as it sed the area. Ethan watched through his visor as Iris dispyed its flight pattern, trag the drone as it moved away, disappearing over a ridge. Raeth was already looking for them, no doubt trying to firm their fate after the tunnel colpse.

  Malek's breathing was still ragged from exertion. "We're not staying here, right?"

  "No," Ethan replied, gng at his HUD's map overy. "There's an old rey station to the south. We send a low-frequency signal from there without gettied by Syndicate forces immediately. We use it to figure out our move."

  Malek exhaled heavily. "You're sure they won't pick it up?"

  Ethan stood, pulling Malek up with him. "Not for a while. But we have to move fast. Raeth's not going to leave anything to ce."

  They begarek across the rough terrain, keeping low and moving quickly. The sun was brutal, and the ndscape offered little in the way of shade. Malek was visibly struggling in the heat, while Ethan's suit, equipped with advaemperature regutio him cool and steady.

  After a tense hour of walking, Iris's voiterrupted agaihan, multiple ground vehicles are approag from the north. Likely Syndicate patrol."

  Ethan cursed under his breath. "They found us."

  Malek's face paled as the sound of distant engines reached them. "What now?"

  "There's a ravine up ahead," Ethan said, his visor mapping the terrain. "If we get down there, we lose them in the rocks. Move."

  They sprioward the ravihe sound of engines growing louder behind them. Syndicate forces were closing in fast. Ethan's mind raced. Raeth wouldn't stop at just finding them, he was out for blood, and the survivors were leverage. If Raeth still had them alive, he wouldn't give up easily.

  As they reached the ravine, gunfire erupted behind them, bullets striking the roear their feet. "Go, go!" Ethan shouted, pushing Malek into the steep dest. They slid down the rocky slope, the narrow ravine some cover from the ining fire.

  "We 't stay here!" Malek yelled, his voice barely audible over the sound of Syndicate gunfire.

  "Iris, plot a route," Ethan anded, his visor sing the winding ravine for an escape.

  "Route calcuted," Iris responded. "Follow the path deeper into the ravi leads to a series of caves approximately 300 meters southeast. Likelihood of dete decreases signifitly."

  "Let's move," Ethan said, pulling Malek up once again.

  They hurried deeper into the ravihe sound of Syndicate vehicles growing distant as the rocks closed in around them. But something caught Ethan's eye, a heat signature ahead. Someone else was in the ravine.

  "Iris," Ethan whispered, "analyze the heat signature."

  "Unknown lifeform," Iris replied. "No Syndicate insignia detected. Approach with caution."

  Ethan's grip tightened on his on. Was it Raeth? Or someone else entirely?

  They rounded a bend, ing face to face with the figure. A man, dressed in tattered clothes, clearly not Syndicate. His face ale, gaunt, his eyes wide with fear. One of the survivors?

  Before Ethan could speak, the man raised his hands in surrender. "Please… don't shoot. I...I mao escape. Raeth… he took the others. They're still alive."

  Ethan's heart skipped a beat. The survivors weren't buried after all.