The night raid arrived like a sudden downpour, when the faint sound of police sirens echoed from the main road, bouncing off the walls of narrow alleys in a slum on the outskirts of town. Rusty stilt houses stood precariously, covered in tangled electrical wires that resembled spider webs. The night air was stifling, mixed with the smell of fried food from roadside stalls, the odor of dirty black water evaporating from the sewers, and the smoke from passing motorcycles. Meanwhile, the neon lights of a minimarket far away tried to penetrate the darkness of the dead-end alley that was the target of tonight's operation. At the end of the alley stood an old warehouse with a cracked cement building, a rusty iron door, and broken windows covered with boards. From the outside, the warehouse might have looked ordinary, but Team Bravo knew the secrets inside: fresh bot clues left behind, a van without license plates seen the night before, and the heat from the pendant Rangga held in his hand that never seemed to subside.
Team Bravo that night consisted of nine resilient and brave individuals, plus twenty military SATGAS members dressed in black civilian clothing. They moved in silence using night vision goggles and silenced weapons. Rizal led the way with his SS2 rifle ready to fire, while Fauzan moved on the left flank with a backup machete, Maya guarded the right flank with a bow ready for use, and Hasan guarded the rear. Meanwhile, Sari, Fahri, Bima, Amira, Dito, and Tono stood by in the surveillance van about 100 meters behind, while Rangga moved ahead unseen as a scout.
Rizal communicated via encrypted radio, his tense voice competing with the roar of motorcycles passing through the alley. "Position one, ready to enter. Rangga, make sure the back door is accessible. Fauzan, Maya—stand by at the upper window. Hasan, make sure the warehouse door is secure. Colonel, SATGAS remains on standby at a distance of 50 meters. We move in silence—they know we are close."
From the shadows on the warehouse roof, Rangga replied with the warm sensation of the pendant piercing his chest. "The back door is locked with a chain. Two shadows are moving inside."
Fauzan jumped over the iron fence quietly, the machete in his hand cutting through the barbed wire without a sound, his eyes focused on the dark upper window. "Maya, look inside—there's a dim light from a table lamp. Is that a spreadsheet or a small altar?"
Maya pulled out her NVG goggles, her sharp, eagle-like eyes squinting into the darkness. "It's a spreadsheet. There are two people—one wearing a neat suit, the other a T-shirt. The one in the suit is holding a cell phone. They are talking about something in low voices... 'the forest is safe, the sacrifice is ready to be sent.'"
Hasan, from behind the warehouse with a suppressed pistol in his hand, relayed via radio, "The door is secure. Rizal, we're ready to go in—they're moving toward the long wooden box in the corner."
Rizal gave a hand signal, and the SATGAS team moved slowly with flashbang grenades at the ready. "Enter on three... two... one." The iron door slowly opened using a hydraulic push, and the team entered quickly. Rizal fired a silenced bullet into the air as a warning. "Military! Hands up! Don't move!"
Inside the stuffy warehouse filled with stacks of cardboard boxes labeled "social assistance," two men stood frozen: the middle-aged man in a neat suit had a calm smile on his face despite his raised hands, while the man in a T-shirt was trembling, holding a long wooden box with dried brown stains. On the iron table was an open laptop displaying a donation spreadsheet, a map of the city with red circles marked "recruitment targets," and a lapel pin with a stylized skull symbol.
The man in the suit spoke calmly, his voice smooth like a salesman offering a product. "Calm down, Mr. Soldier. We are foundation staff—we are here to provide assistance to the community. Look, the box contains canned food."
Fauzan opened the box—and inside was not food, but a crumpled white cloth with dried bloodstains, a rusty pocket knife, and a bone pendant similar to the one Rangga had. "Food? You're a liar!"
Meanwhile, the man in the T-shirt screamed in panic, "Don't kill me! I'm just a courier—they told me to deliver goods to and from the village!"
Rizal immediately pressed the button on the radio, "Colonel, we've arrested two people. There's enough evidence—dried blood in the box, spreadsheets with targets. But the man in the suit is too calm. Check his cell phone."
The task force then searched the warehouse and found a hidden back room: a wall made of cement that could be opened, leading to a 3x3 meter room with a wooden altar containing a small cement skull statue, extinguished candles, and a list of twenty people's names marked as "protected" by their foundation—complete with their photos, which were missing from the police report. The man in the suit smiled thinly at the results, "Oh, our foundation saves them from poverty. This altar? Just cultural decoration."
Maya shot an arrow at the wall—there was a hollow sound. "There's another room. Get ready to go in."
Rizal pushed the secret door open, and the team entered a narrow ten-meter-long corridor leading to an underground concrete room: there were green-flashing server racks, CCTV monitors displaying live feeds from luxury apartments, police stations, and even Bravo headquarters the night before. A mysterious woman in a black suit sat in front of a keyboard, her face reflected on the screen, but her cold eyes were visible as she raised her hand. "You're too late. The data has already been uploaded to the cloud. Now you know who we really are."
Fauzan shouted, "Who?! The syndicate boss?!"
The woman smiled faintly, her voice soft like a narrator's. "We are the guardians. Forest or city—it's all the same to us. Bravo's data has been spread across the dark web. For now, your families are safe."
Rizal fired a silenced pistol near her feet as a warning. "Give us the encrypted cell phone! The password, now!"
The woman slowly threw her cell phone. "It's been done. The code is Skull Zero. Have fun, friends."
The task force then arrested the three people, sealed the warehouse, and transported all the evidence into the van. However, inside the surveillance van, Dito suddenly shouted while staring at the laptop, "This server has an automatic wipe feature—80% of the data is gone! Our live feed has been recorded by the enemy!"
Rizal looked at the woman's phone and found the last message that had just come in: a photo of Colonel Hendra at a secret meeting that night, with the caption 'New partner?' The mystery deepened: did this syndicate have a mole within the team?
The colonel said over the radio in a tense tone, "Extraction now! Analyze the evidence at headquarters. They're playing smart—mysterious and invisible."
Fauzan punched the van wall in frustration. "Skull Zero? Who are they really? Did we raid the wrong warehouse?"
Rangga replied, "Nothing's wrong. They deliberately left clues—luring us into a big trap. Their boss moves in the shadows."
The sound of the city's sirens grew louder, and the team moved quickly to evacuate the area—but Rizal's phone vibrated with a new message from an anonymous sender: "Good evening, Bravo. Tomorrow, there will be the first sacrifice in the city." Attached were coordinates for the city center.
This culminated in a raid shrouded in mystery, with the syndicate as the adversary operating in the shadows, and Skull Zero awaiting Bravo's next move.