Around him, his team readied gear. Mara double-checked her comms, securing a jury-rigged headset made from scavenged parts. Two scouts loaded explosives into satchels—charges designed not to kill, but to cripple infrastructure. Data hubs, communication towers, fuel depots. Symbols of control.
“We move in pairs,” Solace instructed, voice like iron. “Disrupt. Disappear. Repeat.”
His finger hovered over the old, analog watch strapped to his wrist. No GPS. No network. Just hands ticking in defiance of the digital chains that now bound the surface world.
“Zero three hundred,” he said. “On the second.”
Mara stepped close. Her voice softened for a brief, human moment. “You sure about this one? Feels… heavier.”
He nodded, eyes never leaving the ladder above. “It has to be. If we don’t show them that the machine can bleed, the people down here stay buried. Forever.”
Mara headed out.... alone.
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