Taboo Online

All four entrances to the inactive steel depot had been sealed from the inside.

Rather than test any of them, Red Hound sent a ceramic cutting team through the eastern wall while power crews isolated the property from the surrounding grid. Sections of the depot went dark, leaving only Bureau floodlights and the black glow of brands moving through prepared machinery.

Luke watched the first teams enter from the armored command vehicle. His field chair had been locked into place beside Lauren’s seat, and the clear ceramic sleeve still protected his right wrist.

Rhea and Thalen entered with Red Hound’s unit.

The upper loading floor held six of the seven freely moving heat signatures. Two collaborators surrendered when ceramic barriers closed across the freight exits. The other four opened fire from the catwalks and tried to reach separate control stations, but padded bolts, restraint lines, and suppression foam stopped them before they touched the machinery.

Within three minutes, all six were secured on the loading floor.

The seventh signature retreated toward the service level below.

"Upper floor secure," the team leader reported. "We’re moving toward the confined group."

Red Hound answered through the operation channel. "Bring the specialists to the eastern threshold. Keep them behind the second shield line."

The command vehicle’s rear lift lowered Luke’s chair onto the concrete. Lauren walked beside him with one hand resting lightly against its frame, while two responders carrying ceramic shields led them into the depot.

Rust, old oil, and burned insulation filled the air. Mounting channels and empty conduit runs lined the walls around the freight elevator. They had been installed to carry power from the Ashline units into the underground frame, but none of the resonance equipment had ever reached the depot.

They descended one level.

The service floor trembled every few seconds. The movement did not come from the city grid, which was already dead. Each vibration rose from somewhere below, followed by a faint silver glow along the seams in the furnace floor.

While the rescue team approached the maintenance room, engineering crews spread across the outer furnace level and fixed ceramic fracture charges to the empty conduit housings.

The eight confined heat signatures occupied a glass-walled maintenance room overlooking the furnace floor. Five men and three women sat in heavy chairs with black clamps around their wrists and ankles. Ordinary wires led from the restraints into a control cabinet beside the door.

The seventh collaborator stood behind them in a maintenance coat with both hands raised.

"Don’t shoot," he called through the glass. "He locked me in here with them."

One of the captives tried to shake her head. The restraint at her neck stopped most of the movement, but Luke noticed the effort.

He had a direct view from the protected threshold.

Truth Behind Motion responded before the man moved.

His raised hands were meant to draw attention upward. He intended to drop his right elbow, strike a recessed control beneath the nearest chair, and send the stored current through all eight captives.

"Right side of the first chair," Luke said. "There’s a trigger beneath his elbow."

Red Hound gave one signal.

A padded bolt struck the collaborator’s forearm through the open service hatch. His hand slammed against the chair instead of the recessed control, and two responders crossed the room before he recovered.

They secured him without allowing his body to fall against any of the restraints.

All seven collaborators were accounted for.

The woman in the first chair sagged with relief, although the clamps still held her in place.

Lauren turned toward the physical control cabinet. "I need the scan."

The medic checked her readings. "Five seconds."

Violet light gathered beneath her blindfold as Unveiled Weakness opened.

Most of the visible wiring dulled into inactive lines. Three structures continued glowing beneath them.

One held current inside the eight restraint chairs. Another fed the outer receiving frame through conduits beneath the furnace floor. The final channel traveled deeper, connecting the control system to the living anchor in the chamber below.

"Open the chair restraints first," Lauren said. "If you cut the floor conduits now, the stored current will discharge through the captives. Each chair has a manual isolation point beneath its left side."

The timer sounded.

Lauren released the skill before the medic had to order her to stop. Through partner resonance, Luke felt the first dull pressure forming behind her blindfold, but it began easing almost immediately.

Rescue teams entered the maintenance room.

They slid ceramic plates beneath each chair, isolated the manual contacts, and opened the wrist and ankle clamps one person at a time. The first man tried to stand as soon as the restraints released, only for his legs to fold beneath him. A medic caught him and transferred him onto a stretcher.

The second captive kept asking whether the machinery was still connected to her. Nobody offered a promise until the monitor on her chair went dark.

"It’s isolated," the rescue medic said. "You’re coming out now."

The first five reached the protected corridor without incident.

As the sixth chair opened, black brands flared across the ceiling.

An old overhead crane lurched into motion despite the depot’s disconnected power. Its steel arm swung over the furnace floor, dragging a suspended maintenance platform toward the glass-walled room.

"Impact incoming," someone warned.

The ceramic shield carriers turned, but the platform was too wide for their barriers to cover.

The field medic saw the platform bearing down on the occupied corridor.

"Immediate threat. Panel authorized."

Rhea raised her uninjured arm.

Her scarred panel formed above the corridor and caught the lower edge of the platform at an angle. She guided its momentum away from the maintenance room instead of trying to stop the full weight.

The platform crashed into an empty section of the furnace floor, shattering its railing against the concrete. Rhea’s shield flickered beneath the impact but remained intact long enough for the final three captives to pass below it.

"Everyone’s clear!" a medic called.

Rhea dismissed the panel immediately.

Her braced shoulder dropped, and Thalen caught her elbow before she lost her footing.

"I’m still standing," she said, though most of her weight remained against his arm.

Thalen kept his grip until the field medic reached them. The warning flashing across Rhea’s monitor needed no translation.

All eight workers were alive and moving toward the surface.

Red Hound waited until the rescue lead confirmed that the last stretcher had reached the freight elevator.

Then he gave the order to cut the outer feeds.

Ceramic blades closed around the three conduits beneath the furnace floor. The first died at once. The second released a burst of black light, which suppression plates trapped before it spread beyond the housing.

The third went dark for half a second.

Then it lit again from below.

Power no longer traveled toward the central chamber. The primary anchor was forcing its current outward through the prepared network.

Cold tightened inside Luke’s wrist.

"The central current is active," he reported. "The residue is reacting, but nothing is pulling."

The lead analyst answered through the channel. "The outer ring is offline. All twelve Ashline sockets are empty and isolated. The frame cannot stabilize a permanent passage."

A deep metallic groan rolled through the depot.

The furnace floor split along a hidden seam.

Silver-gray light rose through the opening, followed by a gust of air that smelled of stone, metal, and a storm that did not belong under Earth’s sky.

Red Hound looked toward the newly exposed stairs.

"Rescue teams continue to the surface. Assault team with me."

The workers were clear, the outer feeds were broken, and the last collaborator was in restraints.

Whatever remained below had nothing left to hide behind.

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