The clash of blades echoed into the night, striking sparks against the cracked stone of the city street. Scorpio pushed harder, fury driving each strike. But something about Gregg's defense—measured, non-lethal, almost controlled—finally began to gnaw at his perception.
The clash continues as they jump from rooftops of Perol to resolve the unspoken truth.
"You're holding back," Scorpio growled mid-swing.
Gregg dodged with effortless speed, flipping back onto a rooftop, panting but smirking. "Took you long enough."
"What the hell are you playing at?"
Gregg lowered his blade, breathing deeply. "I had to make sure you hadn't changed. That you were still Scorpio—the same relentless bastard who'd fight to the end if it meant protecting what he believed in."
Scorpio narrowed his eyes. "You're testing me?"
"No," Gregg said quietly. "I'm trusting you."
Silence fell. Only the wind answered.
Gregg slowly sheathed his sword. "I infiltrated the Ashen Pact Syndicate two years ago under direct orders from someone above the monarchy. Officially, I'm dead. Off-record, I've been working from the inside, dismantling their operations piece by piece."
Scorpio didn't move. He didn't believe him. Couldn't until Gregg pulled out a small black insignia from his coat. It bore the crest of the Silent Circle—Moravuno's most elite covert resistance, thought extinct.
Scorpio's breath hitched.
"I never betrayed Moravuno," Gregg said, stepping down from the rooftop. "I became what they needed me to be—a ghost. And if you're truly here to destroy the syndicate, then we're on the same side."
For a long moment, Scorpio said nothing.
"Then...Then why fight me?"
"Because the Ashen Pact is watching everything". Gregg responded
"You could've told me!" Scorpio snarled, driving his knee into Gregg's ribs.
Gregg coughed, spat blood, and twisted free, his blade narrowly deflecting Scorpio's follow-up strike. "And risk blowing the entire op because your conscience wouldn't let you stay quiet?"
"I would've helped you," Scorpio hissed, slashing with a fury born of heartbreak. "We fought side by side, bled together!"
Gregg ducked, his coat torn as Scorpio's blade grazed his shoulder. "I had to become them to kill them. You wouldn't have let me. You're too good."
"Don't mistake silence for strength!" Scorpio shouted. "You think I wouldn't get my hands dirty for the mission? You think I wouldn't have risk my life for you?"
Gregg's eyes flickered. Pain. Shame. Then resolve.
"I had to become poison to kill poison," he said coldly.
Their swords locked—steel grinding steel. Sweat and blood dripped from their faces. Lightning split the sky overhead.
Then the rooftop where they clash exploded.
Flames and debris hurled them apart. Scorpio slammed into a chimney stack, groaning as bricks cracked against his spine. Gregg tumbled into a skylight, shattering through it into the room below.
Alarms shrieked across Perol.
The Ashen Pact was onto them.
Scorpio forced himself up, ribs screaming. Below, Gregg staggered into view through the broken glass.
"They'll hit this sector in five minutes," Gregg said, blood dripping from his mouth. "Drones. Hellhawks. Ghost Path enforcers."
Scorpio looked down, face unreadable. "Then we fight our way out. Together."
Gregg gave a grim smile. "Could've used that loyalty a year ago."
They leapt across rooftops, ducking under drone light. Perol's security grid activated—turrets rising from alleys, scanning the darkness. They dropped into a dead sector, sprinting through rusted gates and collapsed towers. Enforcer squads thundered behind them.
Gregg led Scorpio into a buried tunnel entrance masked by rubble. Inside, the air was damp and metallic. They passed walls scorched by old battles, claw marks, bullet holes.
They reached a hidden basement—a safehouse. The flickering lights revealed old tech rigs, weapons, schematics... and a dusty photograph of the two of them from years ago. Uniforms clean. Smiles unbroken.
Scorpio stared at the photo. "Back then, I thought we'd die for each other."
Gregg nodded slowly. "I never stopped believing in the mission. But to finish it, I had to let you think I was gone. I'm sorry."
Scorpio turned, pain etched into every line of his face. "You're lucky I don't run you through right now."
Gregg didn't flinch. "Then do it. But if we're going to burn the Pact, I need you. They've synthesized Soma Path anomalies. They're creating false demigods. Mass production."
Scorpio's eyes went wide. "That's suicide. They'll collapse the entire Path structure."
"They don't care. They want to rule the zodiac chaos. And they've weaponized Ghost Path children. I've seen them."
Scorpio grabbed Gregg's collar. "Show me the core. We end this tonight."
Gregg activated a hologram: Perol Fortress—center of the Pact's control. "Three security rings. Laser turrets, biometric seals, and Ghost Path sentinels."
Scorpio growled, "So we go loud. Let the city know what they're hiding."
Gregg loaded a high-frequency sonic disruptor. "That'll wake the dead. But we'll need more than guts."
Suddenly, the power flickered. A chilling voice echoed through their comms.
"You've come home, traitor."
Gregg paled. "Fuck. They've locked onto us."
A crash above—reinforcements dropping in.
Scorpio ripped open a weapons crate. "We fight now. Move."
Gunfire erupted above. Enforcers burst into the stairwell.
Gregg hurled a flashbang and kicked over a table for cover. "I told you they had Ghosts! We've got maybe five minutes before one of them gets down here!"
Scorpio snapped open a plasma cannon and fired into the ceiling, collapsing part of it onto the invaders.
They burst out of the safehouse and into a storm-drenched alley. Red spotlights danced through the rain. Drones dove like vultures.
Gregg pulled Scorpio into a metro tunnel. "If we cut through Line 9, we can get within three klicks of the fortress."
Scorpio nodded. "Then let's ghost this place."
Line 9 was a tomb of silence. The air hummed with Pact scanners. Every step forward was a step into shadow.
As they moved, Scorpio asked, "You said you saw children. What did they do to them?"
Gregg hesitated. "They cut them open. Injected artificial Soma. Those who didn't die… went mad. Voices in their heads. Visions. They used them like bombs. Sent them into rebel towns."
Scorpio's knuckles turned white around his weapon. "We burn it all."
They reached the edge of the fortress.
Perol Fortress rose like a monolith of dread—its walls pulsing with neon veins, turrets moving like eyes. A drone swarm passed overhead.
Gregg pointed to a weak point. "We overload the core reactors. But the failsafe is biometric. Needs a Ghost Path signature."
Scorpio raised a brow. "How do we fake that?"
Gregg's silence was answer enough.
"You… let them use you?" Scorpio whispered.
Gregg nodded. "I let them alter me. Partially. Enough to pass as Ghost-aligned."
"You're insane."
"I'm alive. That's more than most."
Together, they infiltrated the outer perimeter, taking down guards with silent blades and suppressed rounds. Inside, they hacked through doors, disabling defenses one by one.
As they reached the core, an alarm blared.
From the shadows stepped a figure—tall, pale-eyed, wrapped in crackling energy.
A Ghost Child.
Scorpio whispered, "No sudden moves."
The child blinked slowly. His mouth opened.
"Father?"
Gregg froze.
"What did you say?"
The boy trembled. "They said… you were my creator."
Gregg dropped his weapon. "My God. They used my DNA."
The child's energy surged. "They made me kill. I didn't want to. I hear them screaming."
Scorpio stepped forward. "We can save you. But you need to trust us."
Sirens blared. Soldiers approached.
The child screamed—and detonated.
Gregg tackled Scorpio into a containment bay. Fire consumed the hallway. Screams echoed.
Inside the containment core, Gregg slammed his hand onto the biometric pad.
"System override," the AI whispered. "Core meltdown in 60 seconds."
Scorpio turned to Gregg. "We won't make it."
Gregg shoved a flash drive into Scorpio's chest. "Take this. It's everything. Names. Experiments. Locations."
"No," Scorpio said. "We're finishing this together."
Gregg smiled, blood in his teeth. "Tell the world. Burn it all."
As he was about to run into the heart of the reator to tear off its cables
Scorpio reached out immediately and grab his clothes,mixed with sadness...Determing not let him die
And just like the two were caught in the explosion.
Seven minutes later, Scorpio came out from the tunnels
Nearly burnt, bruised and carrying a unconscious Gregg at his back.
He can barely stand at this point
So just at the moment, Alarms and sirens ran wild as the city began to wake.