The black convoy moved without sirens.Vehicle lights were off.Only steel silhouettes glided slowly through the tunnel.Darin pulled Rian behind a concrete pillar and pressed the boy to the floor.“Quiet.”Rian nodded quickly, holding his breath.Darin peeked through a narrow gap.Four light armored vehicles.Two unmarked vans.Personnel dismounted in synchronized, silent movements, trained, wearing dark helmets, heavy vests, and suppressed automatic rifles.Not police.Not cartel.Internal units.The force used when the city wants something erased without a trace.Darin knew that style.He had once worked alongside them.Once.After that, an entire district vanished from the map.“Brother…” Rian whispered, barely audible. “Are they bad?”Darin did not answer.He checked his pistol, three rounds left, and the broken knife still tucked at his waist.He took a slow breath.They began to fan out.Two units swept the left side of the tunnel, one climbed to the upper track, the rest seale

The floodlights bleached everything white.The air in the alley felt stretched too tight, as if one wrong move could snap it apart.Darin stood at the threshold of the metal stall, hands half raised, his breathing heavy and uneven. In front of him, dozens of gun barrels locked onto his body from every angle.Behind him, Rian.Out there, Loma.The scar-faced commander stepped forward casually, as if this were not an ambush but a meeting he had planned for a long time.“You’ve caused us quite a bit of trouble,” he said lightly.Darin did not answer. His eyes were fixed only on Loma.The woman knelt on the asphalt, her hands bound behind her back, her lips split open. One eye was already turning blue. Yet when she saw Darin, she still managed to shake her head slightly.Don’t.The movement was so small it was almost invisible.Almost.But Darin saw it, and something inside his chest tightened.The commander followed his gaze and smiled faintly. “She’s stubborn. Even after we asked nicely

The world suddenly felt folded.Not ordinary darkness.Not unconsciousness either.Everything seemed to rewind for a fraction of a second, then lurch forward far too fast.Gunfire still rang out.The floodlights still blinded.Rian still stood at the end of the alley with three red laser dots fixed on his back.But for Darin, everything slowed.Not completely stopped, just slow enough to feel wrong.[Forced intervention protocol active.][Duration limited.][Do not waste it.]The system’s tone was no longer a passive whisper.There was pressure in it now, like something being forced to work harder than it should.Darin had no time to analyze.His instincts moved immediately.His body exploded forward.His first step slammed into the asphalt with inhuman speed.The soldier nearest to him had not even finished raising his weapon when Darin was already past him.One elbow.BRAK.Helmet cracked.Body dropped.The second step came lower.He slid beneath another rifle barrel, his shoulder s

The sensation came half a second after the blow landed, not just pain but something deeper. As if something inside Darin’s body had shifted out of place. His breath was cut off harshly, and his body was thrown sideways, slamming into the wet asphalt with a loud impact.BRAK.The air rushed out of Darin’s lungs all at once. His vision trembled, but he did not pass out.Not yet.The Commander did not pursue.Instead, he stood calmly a few steps from where Darin had fallen, observing him like a scientist watching the reaction of an experiment.“Left rib,” he said flatly. “At least cracked, maybe worse.”The tone was cold and irritating.Darin forced in a long breath that failed, sharp pain stabbing through his chest as it expanded.Damn.This was not an injury he could ignore.Behind the container, Rian’s voice caught.“Brother.”The small voice wavered, nearly breaking.Darin pressed his palm against the ground and forced himself up. His movements were slower now, but still steady.He s

The Commander saw it first.The change was small, only a fraction of a second, but it was clear enough for someone used to reading an opponent.Darin’s eyes sharpened.The Commander’s punch was already close to his face when Darin moved. Not backward, not to block. He stepped inside the distance.THUD!His elbow slammed into the Commander’s chest with a force that had not been there seconds ago. The impact forced the scarred man to step back.One full step.Something that had not happened at any point during the fight.The Commander immediately stabilized himself. His eyes narrowed as he reassessed.Darin stood upright. His ribs still hurt. His breathing was still heavy. But something about the way his body moved now was different.The system spoke again.[Conditional Mode activated.]No explanation. No statistics. Just that fact.The Commander raised an eyebrow slightly. “Interesting,” he said quietly.He stepped forward again, coming fast with a straight punch, a sweeping kick, and