Kiera's new plan was simple and reckless.
They needed proof, and their only tangible link to the Vanguard's network was the corrupt sector security officer Ryu had seen with Vex.
"He's sloppy," Kiera reasoned, pacing the confines of the safehouse.
"A low-level opportunist. The true Vanguard operatives are ghosts, but this man... he's just a man. He can be broken."
The objective was to capture him, bring him back to the safehouse, and interrogate him.
They needed names, locations, methods—anything that could be used as leverage or evidence. It was a desperate gamble.
To capture a security officer, even a corrupt one, would be a major crime, and it would mean exposing themselves, leaving the relative safety of their hidden sanctuary.
"This is suicide," Joric protested.
"The moment we move on him, every security patrol in the sector will be on high alert. We'll be trading our hidden cage for a city-wide manhunt."
"We have no choice," Kiera countered.
"The Vanguard is accelerating their plans. We either take the fight to them, or we wait for them to burn the world down around us." Her gaze fell on Ryu.
"This will be your first field test. You're not a liability anymore. You're a weapon."
Ryu felt a jolt of both fear and excitement.
He was not a warrior. He was not a spy.
But Kiera was looking at him not as a burden, but as a partner. His training had been confined to the sterile environment of the safehouse.
Now, he would have to apply it in the real world, where the stakes were life and death.
Their preparations were swift and meticulous.
Joric, using his old intelligence contacts, managed to pull the security officer's file.
His name was Cassian. A mediocre officer with a history of minor infractions and a large, unexplained debt that had recently been paid off.
His patrol route was predictable, often taking him through a sparsely populated market district in the late hours.
The plan was for Kiera to be the primary operative, using her speed and skill to incapacitate Cassian.
Ryu's role was support.
He was to be her 'eyes,' to use his newfound, if weak, ChainForce sensitivity to detect any other energy signatures in the area—any hidden Vanguard backup or unforeseen threats.
It was a role that played to his unique strengths without putting him on the front line.
As night fell, they moved out.
The familiar tunnels of the Outer Sector felt different now. Every shadow seemed to hold a threat, every distant noise a potential enemy.
They found their position in a darkened alley overlooking Cassian's projected patrol route.
Kiera melted into the shadows on a low rooftop, becoming one with the darkness.
Ryu stayed on the ground, hidden behind a stack of crates, and closed his eyes.
He reached for his 'center' and extended his senses.
It was a new, strange skill, feeling the world not with his eyes or ears, but with the hum of the ChainForce.
He could feel the low-level energy of the city's power grid, the faint life-force of the sleeping residents in the apartments above, and... something else. A small, disciplined spark of energy moving down the street.
It was Cassian.
"He's coming," Ryu whispered into a small comm-link connected to Kiera. "And, he's alone."
Cassian strolled down the street, his arrogance palpable even from a distance.
He was a king in his small, squalid kingdom. As he passed the alley, Kiera dropped from the rooftop, a silent specter of black.
But as she moved to strike, Ryu felt it. A second energy signature, and a third, suddenly flaring to life from the darkened doorways across the street.
They had been waiting, cloaked and hidden.
It was an ambush.
"Kiera, it's a trap!" Ryu yelled into the comm.
But it was too late. Two Vanguard soldiers, armed with stun batons, sprang from the shadows, their target not Cassian, but Kiera herself.
Cassian had been the bait all along.