Crosswire

The next morning, Elias sat in the corner booth of a crumbling diner, hood low over his brow, fingers wrapped around a cracked coffee mug that hadn't seen soap in years. The walls buzzed with flickering neon and old static — not the gang, the kind that came from dying electrical grids. It was neutral ground. Mostly.

Across from him, Dizzy flipped through a cheap burner tablet like he was searching for buried treasure.

"You really think Static's gonna sit quiet after last night?" Dizzy asked. "We're on their board now, bro. They tagged your name."

Elias didn't answer. He was reading the map overlay, watching the **Syndicate presence markers** pulse deeper into adjacent turf zones. Vire wasn't enough for them. They were extending toward Sector 2 — the Grayline District — formerly Crow Claw territory, now abandoned after a long-forgotten shootout left it charred and cursed.

The system chimed.

******

**[Sector Alert: Grayline District (2A) – Status: Unclaimed | High Resource Density | Moderate Threat Level]**

– Rumored Remnant Nodes

– Power Relay Junction Present

– No Active Faction Control

Suggested Action: Recon & Claim Opportunity

Reward: +5 Crime Points | Unlock: Passive Income Thread

******

Dizzy leaned over and whistled low. "You thinking expansion already?"

"I'm thinking if we don't take it, someone else will. And if Static gets it, we're boxed in."

"Okay. So recon. Just us?"

"No. We take Mara."

Mara Vance — newly upgraded Tier 1 underling. Since joining, she'd trained relentlessly. Smart, tactical, and dangerous with a blade. She was the kind of soldier Elias needed more of.

***

Grayline District smelled like carbon ash and cold metal. A long-dead streetlamp buzzed weakly as they moved down the alley in triangle formation — Elias on point, Dizzy watching their six, Mara on overwatch with a scoped SMG.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

"Place gives me the creeps," Dizzy muttered.

Elias stopped at a shuttered storefront. "This was a Crow Claw front. Pawnshop up top, drug kitchen below."

Mara checked the scanner. "Getting a weird signal spike. Feels like a heat loop — but layered. Like something's jamming and hiding."

Elias signaled silence. He pried the back door open and stepped inside.

Inside, the pawnshop was a ruin — dust, broken shelves, scorch marks. But behind the main counter was a panel that didn't fit the rest. He tapped it.

The system pulsed.

******

**[Hidden Node Detected: Crow Claw Echo Cache]**

Status: Inactive | Condition: Stable

Reactivate?

Cost: 4 CP

Reward: +5 CP | +1 Skill Point | Unlock: Node Income Thread

******

He accepted.

Power hummed through the floor. The lights flickered, then stabilized in low orange. A holographic screen materialized, showing a data flow interface and territorial claim radius.

"Looks like the Claws built more than just trap houses," Elias said.

Mara whistled. "You just brought a dead network node back online. That's gonna trigger eyes."

Dizzy was already checking the windows. "We got movement."

Across the street, four figures in black moved fast — faces masked, weapons drawn.

"Static," Elias said. "We're not the only ones who got that alert."

System pinged again.

******

**[Engagement Detected – Rival Sweep Team Approaching]**

Enemy Class: Static Enforcer Cell (Tier 1)

Options:

– Engage & Defend Node

– Abandon Node (Lose CP Refund)

– Attempt Ambush (Requires: Terrain Control +1)

Current Terrain Control: 0

******

He chose **Engage**.

"Positions," Elias snapped. "No retreat."

They set up fast — Elias behind an overturned counter, Mara flanking to the side stairwell, Dizzy crouched behind a burnt-out vending machine.

The fight broke in seconds. A smoke grenade crashed through the window — hissed and filled the room with acrid fog. But Elias was ready.

He activated HUD targeting and snapped two shots through the mist — one hit center mass, the second shattered an enforcer's visor. Mara opened up from the flank, spraying precision bursts into their rear. Dizzy dropped another with a lucky ricochet.

The last one hesitated. Elias closed the gap and drove a knee into his gut before putting two rounds into his chest.

+5 Crime Points

+1 Skill Point

+1 Underling XP (Mara)

Loot: Static Enforcer Comm Beacon (Encrypted)

The smoke cleared. Bodies cooled on the floor. No alarms. Just silence again.

Dizzy coughed through his shirt. "That was a hit squad. Not scouts. Static's testing us."

"They'll try harder next time," Elias said.

Mara picked up the comm beacon. "This… isn't just a tracker. It's a **relay.** This node was wired into a bigger mesh. You just cut their line."

The system pulsed one last time before they exfiltrated.

******

**[Territory Claimed: Grayline District Node]

+5 CP | +1 Skill Point

Passive Income Thread: Activated (1 CP/day)

Crime Shop Update Pending...]**

******

Elias looked at the expanding map overlay as Grayline turned from gray to deep red.

He had his first real foothold outside Vire. Static was coming. But now?

He had something worth defending.