Ray of Hope

Dante turned quickly when he felt someone grab his clothes, ready to fight. But before he could do anything, the guard pushed him against the wall, immobilizing him.

"Let me go!" Dante shouted, struggling against the guard's grip.

"Calm down" the guard said in a calm but firm voice. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Dante stopped, breathing heavily. His eyes met the guard's, filled with a mixture of determination and something else, something Dante hadn't seen in a long time: understanding.

"You have no idea what you're doing" the guard continued. "Entering Kade's base is very dangerous. You won't achieve anything alone."

"I have no other choice!" Dante replied, trying to break free again. "My little sister is in there. I can't leave her."

The guard tightened his grip a bit more but softened his tone. "I know. I came to help you rescue her."

The guard's words surprised Dante, who stopped struggling. "Help me?"

The guard nodded and loosened his grip, allowing Dante to stand up. "My name is Marcus. I've been following Kade and his group for a while. I know how dangerous they are and what they do to the people they kidnap. But before we do anything, I need to know exactly how many we're up against and where they are."

Dante looked at Marcus with suspicion, but something in his tone made him want to trust him. "I'm Dante. Why are you helping me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do" Marcus replied simply. "And because no one should face something like this alone."

Marcus stepped back a bit, and his left eye turned a reddish color as he activated his thermal vision. This advanced technology, implanted directly into the optic nerve, allowed him to see the heat signatures of living beings and objects, especially useful in low visibility situations or to detect people hidden behind walls and other obstacles.

"There are twelve people inside" Marcus said, concentrating. "Two groups of three, a group of five, and one person alone who seems to be watching over the group of five."

Dante frowned, trying to imagine the layout inside the building.

"In one of the groups of three" Marcus continued, adjusting the focus of his thermal vision, "there's a smaller figure, clearly shorter and thinner than the others. It could be your little sister. The heat signature matches that of a child."

Dante felt a knot in his stomach as he processed the information. The possibility that his sister was so close and at the same time in such danger filled him with a mixture of hope and fear.

"So Lena is with them" Dante said, his voice barely a whisper, trying to control the surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

Marcus looked at him seriously, knowing every second counted. "We need precision and speed. I know some techniques to avoid being detected, but I need to know if you have any skills or implants that could be useful."

Dante had never gotten an implant. He couldn't afford them, and the ones he could find on the black market were so defective that he feared something bad might happen to his body if he got one. Illegal implants, although cheap, were often made with low-quality materials and without proper safety measures, which could lead to serious infections, body rejection, or even death.

Dante hesitated for a moment, unconsciously touching the spot where the bioluminescent mark was. He didn't know if he could trust Marcus with that information, and he wasn't even sure if the system was really useful, as he hadn't found any utility for it earlier. He decided not to mention it. "I don't have any implants," he replied. "And I don't know how to fight much, but I'm good at hiding."

Marcus looked at him, sighing. "Stay here. I'm going in alone. I don't want you to get kidnapped too."

"No! I'm not letting you go alone" Dante said firmly.

Marcus tried to reason with him. "Dante, understand, if they catch you, not only will you not be able to help your sister, but you'll also be in danger. Let me handle this."

Dante shook his head, determined. "No. She's my little sister. I'm not staying here doing nothing."

Marcus sighed again, forced to make a tough decision. "I'm sorry, Dante. I can't let you put yourself in danger."

Before Dante could react, Marcus gave him a quick, precise blow to the neck, knocking him unconscious.

Marcus sighed, looking at the unconscious body in front of him. "It's always complicated" he murmured to himself, "helping those in need in such a corrupt world."

He looked at Dante for a moment, reflecting on the irony of the situation. "In an ideal world, law enforcement officers wouldn't have to hit innocent people to protect them" he thought. But he knew Neon City was far from an ideal world. Corruption had infiltrated every level of society, from the highest spheres of power to the darkest streets.

He often felt like a drop of water fighting against a fire, doing everything possible to help those in need, knowing that each act of kindness was a small victory against a rotten system. "Hiding the truth, fighting in the shadows... this shouldn't be necessary" he thought while moving Dante to a safe place out of general sight. "But when the system is so rotten, we have no other choice."

As he prepared to enter Kade's base, an instinct in Marcus told him something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but there was a feeling of unease he couldn't ignore. He reflected on the situation: Kade would never have let Dante escape. A loose end was too big a risk for someone like him. "I have to stay alert" he thought. "Something doesn't add up."

Marcus straightened up, taking a deep breath. He decided to enter Kade's base. He knew he first had to gather information before engaging in any direct conflict. Activating his thermal vision again, he identified the door farthest from the people inside the building.

Marcus moved cautiously, aware of every small sound and movement around him. The shadows and city noise became his allies as he approached the door.

Reaching the door, Marcus quickly examined it. He knew that, as an agent, he could access it directly, but that would alert the owner. He couldn't take that risk. In Neon City, agents had security implants that allowed them to enter any home, but these were monitored to prevent abuse of power and alerted the owners the moment they were used. Marcus needed a more discreet solution.

"I'll have to hack it" he thought. He pulled a small device from his pocket, an item he had obtained on the black market, as agents were not allowed to carry unregulated hacking tools. With expert hands, he began working on the door's security system, his eyes attentive to the process while his thermal vision remained active, watching for any movement inside the building.

Finally, after a few tense minutes of manipulating the security system, Marcus managed to hack the door. A soft click indicated the mechanism had unlocked. Carefully, he opened the door and entered the building, disappearing into the darkness.