They Were Merely… A Tool

The safehouse was hidden beneath a canopy of thick jungle, its walls a patchwork of reinforced metal and scavenged parts. Inside, the dim glow of Eka’s laptop cast long shadows across the room as she hunched over the terminal, fingers flying across the keyboard. The air was heavy with sweat, tension, and the distant hum of nocturnal insects.

Felix groaned from a makeshift cot, his bandaged side rising and falling with shallow breaths. Kiran, pacing, shot a glance at him before turning her frustration toward the screen.

“We barely got out of Neo-Kowloon alive, and now we’re chasing another ghost? What if this is a trap?”

Eka, without looking up. “We don’t have a choice. The coordinates led somewhere for a reason.”

The terminal beeped. Lines of decrypted data scrolled past before resolving into a set of coordinates. Eka’s brow furrowed.

“It’s not a city. It’s a facility… deep in the highlands. And it’s active.”