The underground base buzzed with the quiet urgency of preparations. The plan was in motion, and there was no turning back. Jake paced across the dimly lit room, checking his gear for the third time. The time for hesitation was long gone. The Council had crossed the line. Now, it was their turn.Elena stood by the map, tracing her finger over the marked points, her brow furrowed in concentration. “They’ll be expecting us to come in from the north,” she said, her voice low and steady. “We’ll need to find another entry.”Jake glanced at her, then at the others. They were all there: Reeva, Lina, and the rest of the team. Every one of them had proven themselves, and every one of them was ready to do what had to be done.“We can’t waste time on misdirection,” Jake said, his tone sharp. “We go straight in. Hit them hard and fast. We don’t let them regroup.”Lina, who had been checking her weapons, looked up. “You sure about this? We’re talking about going head-to-head with the Council’s main

They hadn’t even made it back to the safehouse before word began to spread. Whispers ran faster than fire through the streets, people leaning close, voices low but urgent. The blackout, the explosion, the impossible escape—everyone knew who was behind it. Jake and his people were no longer shadows. They had stepped into the open, and the city had noticed.Inside the van, silence stretched thick. Elena sat with her rifle across her lap, eyes hard, her body still wound tight from the fight. Reeva leaned against the metal wall, head tipped back, letting exhaustion wash over her. Lina sat pressed against the door, hugging her knees, her eyes wide but burning with a strange mix of fear and exhilaration.Jake sat opposite them, his hands clasped together, head bowed. His thoughts churned with everything that had happened—the trap, the fire, the escape. They had survived, but it hadn’t been luck. It had been choice after choice, risk stacked on risk, each one dragging them closer to a line t

The city was on the brink of something—a tipping point where the weight of the Council’s retaliation might either crush them or ignite an inferno that couldn’t be put out. Jake felt the shift in the air, in the quiet that followed the fires, the tension like the calm before a storm. At the safehouse, the energy was fractured. Some were ready to push forward, their blood fired by the chaos, while others were more hesitant, eyeing the smoldering ruins across the city with fear etched into their faces. They had struck hard, but now the cost was clear—those who had lost loved ones, those who had watched homes turn to ash, were scared. Scared of Jake, scared of the Council, scared of everything they had become.Jake stood in the middle of the room, watching his people. They were caught between the hope of revolution and the fear of what it would truly cost them.“We can’t afford to be divided,” he said, his voice cutting through the low murmur. “We’ve made our stand, and now they know we’

The next morning, inside the safehouse, the chatter was muted, the usual rush of activity replaced by a quiet, wary anticipation. The team had done what they set out to do—crippled two major supply lines, destabilized a portion of the Council's infrastructure—but the fight was far from over. They were still in the shadows, still fighting with everything they had, but Jake could feel the shift. The Council would respond soon, and this time, they wouldn’t be caught off guard.Jake sat at the small table in the corner of the room, watching the map spread out before him. Reeva was beside him, going over intel on their next target. The air was thick with the weight of it all. They had hit the Council harder than ever, but the question was: Would they be able to follow through? Or would the Council bring down a hammer of retaliation so strong that they would be crushed?“Elena’s team is ready,” Reeva said, her voice low, but firm. “We’ve hit their food and ammo lines. Now we hit their heart

The night was thick with anticipation. The Council’s reaction had been swift, but what had worried Jake most was the silence in the wake of their attacks.The usual blare of alarms, the visible signs of counterattacks—they were absent. Instead, the streets had quieted. A deadly calm had settled over the city, as though the Council was taking a breath before launching something far worse.Inside the safehouse, the tension was palpable. The team was gathered around the table, the faint hum of the city outside their only backdrop. The maps were laid out in front of them, each location marked with red Xs, targets that had been hit, disrupted, or disabled. But now, there were new marks—redder, larger—and they represented the final push.Jake leaned forward, his hands clasped, his eyes scanning the room. “The Council’s been quiet for too long. They’re preparing something.”Reeva leaned against the wall, arms folded, her expression thoughtful. “A counterattack, or something bigger?”Jake’s e