They didn't call it a mission.
They called it proof.
A battered truck rolled through the tunnel gates, headlights flickering like tired eyes. Maxruell and Juvy stood in the back, wind cutting through their clothes. Above them, the city of 2041 burned quietly neon lights, sirens, and rain mixing into one ugly heartbeat.
Varkos leaned against the cab door. "Cult safehouse. Old meat factory by the river. They been snatching people for rituals."
Juvy swallowed. "So we just… walk in?"
"No," Varkos said. "You walk in. They die."
Maxruell stared out at the dark buildings. "You're using us."
"Yeah," Varkos said. "And you're alive because of it."
The truck slowed.
The factory sat like a corpse by the water windows boarded, smoke leaking from the roof like breath. Faded signs read: MEAT PROCESSING – CLOSED.
Juvy's skin prickled. "Souls… a lot of them. Trapped."
Maxruell felt the pull again.
Downward.
Into the dark.
They jumped off the truck.
Rain hissed against hot pipes. The front door hung open.
Inside, chains rattled.
Chanting echoed through the halls.
Juvy whispered, "They're praying…"
Maxruell's shadow stretched along the floor. "Let's ruin it."
They crept forward.
The main room opened wide meat hooks still hanging from the ceiling, now holding people instead of animals. Cultists in black robes stood in a circle, blood symbols glowing beneath their feet.
A man with a bone mask raised a blade. "For Mother—"
The lights went out.
Shadows exploded outward.
Maxruell stepped in.
The first cultist didn't even scream. His shadow lifted him into the air and snapped his neck like a twig.
Juvy raised her hands, shaking. "Stop… please…"
Fire bloomed along the walls, cutting off exits. Wind slammed cultists into hooks. Crystal burst from the floor, pinning them in place.
The captives screamed.
"Juvy!" Maxruell shouted. "Free them!"
She closed her eyes.
The chains shattered into glowing dust. The trapped souls poured out of the victims' bodies like mist, then slid back in.
The people fell to the floor, sobbing.
A cultist rushed her with a glowing dagger.
Maxruell turned.
The man's shadow swallowed his face.
Blood sprayed across the wall.
Maxruell felt it again.
Something slipped.
He couldn't remember the sound of rain from when he was a kid.
The leader of the cult screamed, "You can't kill faith!"
Juvy looked at him, eyes glowing with fractured color. "Faith shouldn't sound like screaming."
The air crushed him.
His bones folded inward.
Silence.
The building shook.
Sirens howled outside.
Juvy dropped to her knees, panting. "Max… I don't feel right."
Her chest glowed faintly, like cracked glass.
He grabbed her shoulders. "Hey. Stay with me."
They ran.
Out the back door. Over broken fences. Through garbage and smoke.
The truck waited.
Varkos was smiling.
"You cleared the nest," he said. "Cult lost thirty people."
Juvy whispered, "We saved them…"
Varkos nodded. "And now every cultist in the city knows your faces."
Maxruell climbed into the truck, staring at his hands.
"How many memories does it take," he muttered, "before I forget her name?"
Juvy leaned against him, exhausted. "Then I'll remember for you."
The truck rolled back into the tunnels.
Behind them, the factory burned.
Above it, the river carried blood and ash into the night.
And in a quiet room far away, a woman traced a symbol on bone and smiled.
"They have learned to kill," Mother Cain whispered.
"Good."