The Shadow Boy and the City of Glass

Trapped in the Web

Red laser dots danced across my chest. There was nowhere left to run.

Director Vance stepped forward from the line of guards, her heels clicking hard against the pavement. She looked at us like a cat watching three mice cornered in a box. Her white uniform was spotless, completely untouched by the chaos of the broken city around us.

"Did you really think you could walk out of my city?" Vance asked, her voice calm and sharp.

Evelyn dropped her empty gun on the ground. She raised her hands slowly, keeping her body planted directly in front of Elena. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white. My shadow energy bubbled beneath my skin, ready to burst out, but I knew it was useless. The guards had heavy suppression rifles pointed right at our heads. One wrong move and we would all be dead before we hit the ground.

Elena stepped past Evelyn. She did not look scared at all. Her violet eyes locked onto Vance with a cold, steady stare.

"You want the core inside me," Elena said. Her voice was flat and fearless. "That is the only reason we are still breathing."

Vance smiled, a thin and ugly expression that did not reach her eyes. "You are smarter than you look, little girl. The council needs that power to stabilize the rift in the sky. Without it, the whole corporate sector falls apart. And you," Vance added, turning her gaze toward me, "were the perfect tool to bring her out into the open."

The words hit me harder than any physical blow. Marcus had told me the truth back at the car. I had been the key all along. The security codes I stole, the broken vents, the easy escape—it was all a setup designed by Vance to let us run right into this trap. I had walked straight into their hands, dragging Elena and Evelyn right along with me.

"Ethan did not know," Evelyn said sharply, stepping forward to block Vance's view of me. "He was just trying to save his sister."

"Ignorance is not an excuse for treason, agent," Vance replied, lifting a small remote control in her right hand. She pressed a silver button.

Suddenly, heavy metal cuffs shot out from the walls of the alley, snapping around Evelyn’s wrists before she could dodge. Similar cuffs locked onto my ankles and arms, pinning me hard against the brick wall.

I pulled against the iron, but the more I fought, the tighter the locks squeezed. Black shadow energy leaked from my fingers, but the cuffs were lined with dampening tech that sucked the power right out of my skin.

Elena tried to raise her hands, but two guards lunged forward, grabbing her arms and forcing a heavy metal collar around her neck. The moment the collar clicked shut, the violet light in Elena's eyes flickered and died out completely. She gasped, her knees buckling under her as the core inside her was forced into deep sleep.

"Elena!" I shouted, straining against the heavy chains.

"Save your breath, Ethan," Vance said, walking closer until she stood right in front of me. She reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look straight into her eyes. "You built a nice little rebellion in your head. But in the end, you are just an experiment who forgot his place."

She let go of my face and turned to her lead guard.

"Take them to the deep subterranean lab," Vance ordered, turning her back on us. "Prep the girl for core extraction. And put the boy and the agent in the isolation cells. Let them watch what happens to people who try to break the system."

The guards grabbed our arms, dragging us roughly toward a heavy transport van parked at the end of the alley. The metal doors swung open, revealing a dark, empty interior designed to hold prisoners.

As they threw me inside, I looked back one last time. Elena was limp in the guards' arms, her head hanging down. Evelyn glared daggers at Vance, her jaw set in pure hatred.

The van doors slammed shut, cutting off the light and plunging us into total darkness as the engine roared to life.