Location: Outskirts of Hollow Creek, Tavara – 10:18 PM
The moon was hidden behind thick clouds as Damien stepped out of the armored SUV, his boots crunching over the frostbitten ground. Hollow Creek was no longer the sleepy outpost it had once been—it now pulsed with hidden surveillance and the uneasy silence of a town gripped by fear.
His eyes scanned the old ranger station up ahead. Abandoned. But according to General Marlowe's journal, it housed a subterranean passage that led to a decommissioned military relay hub. That hub was now believed to be one of Cassian Wolfe's covert control centers.
Beside him, Shadow moved like a phantom. The elite operative wore thermal-black tactical gear and communicated with slight hand gestures.
"We go quiet," Damien said in a low voice. "No alerts. If we get spotted, we vanish."
They moved as one, slipping through the rusted gate and into the station's shadowy interior. The scent of mildew and dust clung to the air. Damien found the trapdoor beneath a torn rug—a relic from when Hollow Creek was still a border surveillance post.
They descended into darkness.
Underground, the temperature dropped sharply. Their boots echoed as they passed dormant consoles and decaying cables. But then, voices.
Damien raised a fist, stopping Shadow mid-step.
Two men in Cassian's colors—black tactical vests with a blood-red insignia—were speaking softly near a data terminal. Damien pressed against the wall, narrowing his eyes.
"They're planning to move the files out tonight," one said. "All operations—assets, coordinates, everything—heading to the Valken Vault."
That was the name Damien hadn't heard in years. A top-secret blacksite vault used to store military secrets before the dissolution of the Unified Command. If Cassian had repurposed it…
They couldn't let that data transfer happen.
Damien signaled Shadow. The takedown was fast and silent. Two bodies slumped to the floor, unconscious.
They approached the console. Damien inserted a portable decryptor drive.
He watched as encrypted files flickered across the screen. Names. Locations. Project codename: Ashvine.
Suddenly, an alert blared across the system. "UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS – TRACE INITIATED."
"Damn it—Trace is live!" Shadow hissed.
"Download whatever you can. Wipe the rest," Damien ordered.
Thirty seconds later, explosions rocked the floor above. Enemy backup had arrived.
"We're surrounded!" Shadow barked, pulling Damien back.
Damien clenched the decryptor and detonated a localized EMP charge, frying the terminal.
"Then we fight our way out. Or die with their secrets," he growled.
And with that, they slipped back into the tunnels as the entire Hollow Creek base erupted into a hornet's nest of chaos.