Taboo Online

"There are three active points," Lauren said. "The relay feeds everything else. A second knot is wrapped around the worker, and the needle above him controls the threads. Most of the visible branches between your team and the maintenance recess are dead."

Pain began gathering behind her blindfold.

Luke felt the first pulse of it through partner resonance.

"You found the route," he said. "Close the skill before the headache gets worse."

Lauren released Unveiled Weakness. The violet light faded, and she pressed two fingers lightly against her temple while her breathing steadied.

Rhea shifted closer but did not touch her until Lauren leaned slightly in her direction.

At the same moment, a cold ache tightened inside Luke’s right wrist.

He reported it immediately.

"The residue reacted."

Red Hound turned toward him. "What triggered it?"

"The relay knot pulsed just before the cold started. It isn’t showing me where anything is, but it responds when the active current moves."

The mark beside the barrier dimmed, and the cold pressure in Luke’s wrist eased with it.

"It stopped when the pulse ended," he added.

Red Hound relayed that to the tunnel team. "Luke confirms activity only. Lauren’s map remains primary."

The team leader waited for the sequence.

Lauren reconstructed the three connections in her mind before speaking.

"Pull the relay’s manual disconnect. Don’t damage the cabinet. Once the current drops, cut the dead branch across the service doorway. That will open a safe route to the maintenance recess."

"And when we reach the worker?" the team leader asked.

"Slide the suppression plates beneath the knot around his body before you touch the ceiling needle. The threads will tighten once the needle realizes you reached him. Isolate the knot around his legs, cut the narrow seam beside his left hip, and move him clear before severing the channel beneath the needle."

"What happens if we break the needle first?"

"The threads may discharge through the worker or the tunnel supports. Contain it if you can. Destroy it only if the trap leaves you no other choice."

Red Hound repeated the sequence once and gave the order.

The responders moved.

One of them hooked an insulated pole around the relay’s manual disconnect and pulled.

The cabinet flashed from within. Every emergency lamp in the contaminated section went dark, and portable lights snapped on behind the containment barrier.

The black network remained active, but its movement slowed as the electricity disappeared.

A responder reached the service doorway and positioned a ceramic cutter around the branch Lauren had identified. The black growth split without releasing light, heat, or mana.

"Dead line confirmed," the team leader said.

The team advanced.

The maintenance worker lay on his side with black growth wrapped around both legs and one hand. Sweat covered his pale face, but his eyes opened when a responder called his name.

"Don’t cut it," he whispered. "It gets tighter."

"We know. Stay still and keep talking to me."

Two responders slid suppression plates beneath the knot without lifting him. A third positioned an insulated loop around the narrow seam Lauren had marked near his left hip.

Above them, an inactive maintenance screen flickered.

The pale mask of the thread wielder appeared on the glass.

Her head was tilted toward the camera, but she said nothing. The image lasted less than a second before the screen went black.

It had been waiting for them.

Every thread in the tunnel snapped tight.

One sliced through a portable lamp. Another carved a bright groove across the service door. The responders dropped as the strands swept toward the trapped worker.

"Hold your positions," Red Hound ordered. "Do not rush the ceiling needle."

Lauren listened to the reports through her earpiece. The image created by Unveiled Weakness remained clear enough for her to follow the change.

"The knot around the worker is tightening because the relay went dead," she said. "Lock the suppression plates now, then cut beside his left hip."

The team leader relayed the instruction.

Both plates closed around the black growth and dulled its movement. The insulated loop tightened against the marked seam.

The knot split.

The worker cried out, but the black branches released his legs instead of discharging through his body. Two responders dragged him into the cleared doorway while a medic moved forward from the staging area.

The threads recoiled toward the ceiling needle and gathered for another sweep.

"Worker clear," the team leader reported.

"Sever the channel below the needle," Lauren said.

A ceramic blade closed around the narrow brand connecting the needle to the wall.

The channel broke.

Every thread lost its tension and fell across the concrete.

No one moved for several seconds. Then the team leader approached the ceiling plate with a containment tube, enclosed the needle without touching it, and twisted the entire assembly free.

The brands along the tunnel walls stopped spreading.

Their black surfaces dried and faded into scars across the concrete.

The maintenance worker was conscious when the medics carried him to the surface.

Luke watched from beside the command vehicle as the man answered simple questions and tried to move his toes. Two remained numb, but sensation had already begun returning to one of them.

No responder had been lost. The tunnel remained closed, though structural engineers reported that the supports were stable.

Red Hound joined Luke and Lauren beside the containment table. The recovered needle rested inside three transparent suppression layers. It was no longer than a finger, yet its surface swallowed the portable light shining over it.

"The worker is alive, the relay is dead, and the tunnel is still standing," Red Hound said. "Now we find out where this thing was sending its signal."

A Bureau analyst attached a passive scanner to the outer case.

Numbers moved across her screen before settling into a repeating sequence.

"It transmitted when the relay failed," she said. "The signal wasn’t aimed at a person. It tried to confirm a connection with another receiver."

She enlarged a municipal map and marked a location beside the river.

"The signal bounced through an abandoned flood-control network, but the final handshake came from Riverside Pumping Station Four."

Luke looked at the timestamp.

The receiver had answered less than a minute earlier.

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