Taboo Online

North River freight spur had been built to carry noise.

Steel rails crossed the yard in every direction, freight cars waited in long rows, and loose couplings knocked together whenever the wind shifted one by even an inch. A single step on the elevated platforms could send a metallic echo across half the property.

For the six hours before the Ashline shipment was scheduled to move, the Bureau worked to silence all of it.

Sound-dampening wraps covered the couplings nearest Route Nine. Ceramic wedges locked the rail joints, loose equipment disappeared from the platforms, and thick suppression mats covered the concrete around the freight car holding the resonance units. Responders taped down metal buckles, exchanged heavy boots for quieter field gear, and switched to earpieces and hand signals.

Before leaving North Basin, Lauren had carried the plan through the Heartroot.

Aelira’s answer had been brief.

Bring him back alive.

Red Hound promised that the Queen would receive confirmation before the captive or any recovered equipment left the freight yard.

Luke watched the final preparations from an armored observation car parked behind an empty freight shed. His right arm remained in its sling, and although the cold around his wrist had eased after Mason’s treatment, his fingers still refused to close properly.

Lauren occupied the seat beside him. Padded wraps protected her wrists, though her fingers moved more freely than they had that morning.

Dr. Shaw had permitted one ten-second use of Oracle’s Glimpse while she remained under neurological monitoring. Any sharp increase in pain, loss of balance, or returning numbness would end her part in the operation.

A narrow armored viewport gave them an unobstructed view across Route Nine. The live feeds offered closer angles, but neither Luke nor Lauren intended to test a perception ability through a screen.

Rhea waited near the western containment line with Red Hound’s main team. A support wrap covered the shoulder she had strained at the pumping station, and medical staff had cleared the single scarred panel she had managed to summon again for one controlled manifestation.

Red Hound’s voice reached the observation car through the secure channel.

"Convoy approaching. Two cargo vehicles and one utility van."

The first truck rolled through the outer gate without slowing. A dark cargo van followed, with the utility vehicle bringing up the rear.

"They know the route," Lauren said. "They aren’t checking signs or slowing at the switches."

"Let them reach the loading point," Red Hound replied.

The vehicles entered the center of the yard.

No sirens sounded, and no floodlights snapped on. The Bureau let the drivers believe the route remained open until the first truck stopped beside the Ashline car.

Four armed operators stepped from the utility van. They wore work jackets over dark armor, and each carried a compact weapon wrapped in black cloth.

The three drivers remained at their wheels.

Then the cargo van’s rear doors swung outward.

The hammer wielder stepped down.

He looked even larger beneath Earth’s electric lights. Black armor covered most of his body, reinforced across the shoulders and chest, while the enormous hammer rested across one shoulder. Several plates were newer than the others and lacked the scratches left by the battle in Lethariel.

A faint vibration already clung to the hammerhead. The convoy’s engines, tires, and shifting cargo had given it a shallow reserve. The dampened loading lane had kept that reserve small, but the weapon had not arrived empty.

The giant surveyed the silent yard and lowered the hammer.

"Something’s wrong," Luke said.

Lauren turned her covered face toward the tracks. "He hasn’t seen anyone."

"He doesn’t need to. This place should be loud."

The hammer wielder raised one hand, stopping the escorts beside the Ashline car.

Red Hound stepped from behind a freight container with his weapon lowered. Bureau teams emerged at both ends of Route Nine, sealing the access roads without shouting.

A large illuminated board activated behind the eastern line.

LEAVE THE HAMMER ON THE GROUND.

PLACE YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM.

The giant read the message, then looked toward Red Hound. A slow smile spread across his face.

"You emptied a freight yard for me."

His voice carried through the quiet, and the faint distortion around the hammerhead thickened.

The board changed.

WE CLEARED IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE.

The giant’s attention shifted toward the covered Ashline car.

Luke watched him directly through the viewport. Truth Behind Motion stirred before the giant’s body moved.

His shoulders angled toward Red Hound, but the intention beneath them pointed elsewhere. He planned to pivot, strike the rear coupling, and send the impact through every freight car connected to Route Nine.

"He’s going for the rear coupling," Luke warned.

Red Hound gave one hand signal.

Ceramic shutters dropped around the coupling before the hammer wielder completed his turn.

The hammer struck the layered barrier.

Suppression material compressed around the head and swallowed most of the sound. The freight car shifted only a few inches before the rail clamps locked beneath it.

A thin ripple gathered around the hammerhead. The barrier had reduced what the strike gave him, but it had not erased the impact.

The hammer wielder studied the weak distortion around his weapon.

"You learned something."

Red Hound gave no verbal answer.

Bureau responders moved on the escorts. Ceramic restraint lines caught two before they cleared their weapons. A third surrendered, while the fourth ran for the utility van before suppression foam hardened around his boots.

At the same time, induction clamps seized the axles of all three vehicles and killed their engines. One driver raised both hands. Another tried to reverse against the locked wheels. The last reached beneath his seat, but responders pulled him from the opposite door.

Within seconds, all seven ordinary operators had been restrained.

The hammer wielder stepped away from the coupling.

Lauren touched two fingers to her blindfold.

"I’m opening one line."

The medic started the timer. "Ten seconds."

Lauren turned from the screens and faced the giant through the viewport. Violet light appeared beneath the fabric.

She did not search every possible version of the fight. She followed only his next successful attempt to charge the weapon.

One future showed him striking the rail beneath his feet. Another showed him turning the hammer inward and driving it into the armor over his chest. The blow injured him, but it fed enough force into the weapon for one major release.

Lauren closed the skill before the timer reached eight seconds.

"He’ll use his own armor if the yard won’t give him enough," she said.

Luke looked through the viewport.

The giant had already shifted his grip.

"Chest strike," Luke warned. "He’s charging it himself."

Red Hound signaled the containment teams to widen their spacing.

The hammer wielder drove the weapon into his chest plate.

The crack carried through the silent yard. Black armor buckled inward, and the giant staggered, but the vibration around the hammerhead deepened.

Then he raised it for another blow.

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