Chapter 94: Jailbreak

 

Tokyo. Fuchu Prison. Sector Z (Underground). Incinerator Room. 3:05 AM.

CLANG. The bottom of the sanitation truck opened. Sebastian, Harper, Jack, and Braun tumbled out onto a conveyor belt, surrounded by "biological waste"—failed cyborg parts and twisted metal. Ahead, the orange glow of the Plasma Incinerator roared, ready to melt everything into slag.

"Move!" Sebastian shouted. He sliced open the body bags. They scrambled off the belt just seconds before the waste was consumed by the fire.

They were in. The air smelled of burnt ozone and antiseptic. "Sector Z is two levels down," Harper checked her wrist comp. "Zero's cell is at the end of the hall. Cell 001."

"Let's go say hello," Jack racked his shotgun.

---

[The Prisoner]

Cell 001.

The cell had no bars. Just a wall of laser grids. Inside sat a young man. Thin, pale, with messy hair dyed electric blue. He was sitting on the floor, staring at a blank wall. He was mumbling code. "01001... Loop... Override... Sector 4..."

Sebastian walked up to the laser grid. "Kenji."

The young man stopped mumbling. He turned his head slowly. One of his eyes was covered by a crude, homemade eyepatch. The other eye was sharp, intelligent, and angry. "Sterling," Kenji grinned, revealing a silver tooth. "You look terrible. Where is your fancy suit?"

"At the dry cleaners," Sebastian said. "Open the door, Kenji. We're leaving."

"I can't," Kenji tapped his temple. "My father put a Neural Dampener in my skull. If I try to hack the door, it fries my brain." "But... if you hack the dampener from the outside..."

Harper stepped forward. She connected her device to the cell's control panel. "I'm overriding the frequency," she said, her fingers flying across the keys. "Done."

BZZZT. The laser grid flickered and died. Kenji stood up. He took a deep breath. "Finally," he whispered. He reached into his mouth and pulled out a small, bloody microchip from his gum. He plugged it into the wall socket of the cell. "Now... let me show you what I can do."

---

[The Oni Unit]

Suddenly, the red emergency lights began to flash. [ ALERT: PRISONER ESCAPE. SECTOR Z. ] [ DEPLOYING ONI SQUAD. ]

The blast doors at the end of the corridor hissed open. Five figures stepped out. They looked like samurai from a nightmare. Black carbon-fiber armor. Full-face masks with glowing red visors. High-frequency katanas that hummed with energy. And then... they vanished. Active Camouflage. They became shimmering distortions in the air.

"Invisible ninjas?" Jack cursed, aiming his gun at empty air. "I hate this country."

"I can't track them!" Harper yelled. "Their thermal signature is masked!"

"You don't need to see them," Kenji said calmly, his eyes closed, his hand still on the wall socket. "I see them. In the code."

Kenji’s fingers twitched. CRASH. The fire sprinkler system above the corridor exploded. Water rained down on the hallway.

The water hit the invisible figures. The camouflage flickered. The silhouette of the five Oni warriors was revealed by the cascading water.

"Now!" Kenji shouted.

---

[The Syntax Error]

Sebastian moved. He didn't have armor, but he had momentum. He slid across the wet floor, dodging a glowing katana blade by an inch. He grabbed a discarded stun baton from a guard post. CRACK. He slammed it into the knee of the first Oni. The cyborg screamed—a digital, glitching sound.

Jack opened fire. BOOM. BOOM. The slugs hit the second Oni, shattering its stealth generator. It sparked and materialized fully, falling to the ground.

But the other three were fast. Too fast. One lunged at Harper. "Oh no you don't!" Braun threw his heavy medical bag at it. It bounced off harmlessly, but it bought a second.

"Kenji! Doors!" Sebastian yelled, parrying another sword strike.

"Processing!" Kenji laughed maniacally. "Let's redecorate!"

He hacked the prison's Magnet-Lock System. Suddenly, the heavy steel cell doors on both sides of the hallway slammed open and shut violently. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. Like giant clapping hands.

One Oni was caught between two doors. CRUNCH. Flattened.

"Two left!" Sebastian shouted.

He engaged the leader. Hand-to-hand. The Oni was stronger, but Sebastian was smarter. He waited for the Oni to strike. He ducked. He jammed the stun baton directly into the Oni’s Neck Port. "System crash," Sebastian growled. ZAP. The cyborg seized up and collapsed.

---

[The Great Escape]

The hallway was clear. "We have 2 minutes before Takeshi sends the heavy mechs," Kenji unplugged himself from the wall. He looked weak, nose bleeding.

"Exit strategy?" Sebastian supported him.

"The Supply Train," Kenji pointed to the elevator. "It leaves in 5 minutes for the mainland." "It's a Maglev. Bullet train speeds. If we miss it, we are dead."

They ran to the elevator. As the doors closed, a hologram of Takeshi Nakamura appeared in the hallway. The father looked at his escaping son. "Disappointing, Kenji," Takeshi’s voice was cold. "You run away with thieves."

"Better a thief than a machine, father!" Kenji spat at the hologram. "And by the way... I deleted your browser history."

The elevator shot up.

---

[The Maglev]

The Surface. Train Platform. Rain.

The sleek, silver Maglev train was starting to move. Hovering on a magnetic cushion. "Jump!" Sebastian yelled.

They sprinted across the wet platform. Jack threw Braun onto the rear cargo car. Harper jumped, landing gracefully. Sebastian grabbed Kenji and threw him on board. He jumped last, his fingers gripping the edge of the door.

The train accelerated. 100 km/h... 200 km/h... They were flying through the neon-lit night of Tokyo.

Inside the cargo car, they collapsed, panting. Kenji looked at Sebastian. "Thanks for the ride."

Sebastian wiped the rain from his face. "Don't thank me yet. We still have to stop your father."

Kenji grinned. He pulled a small drive from his pocket. "While I was in the system, I found something. The location of the Baroness's money." "Or rather... what Takeshi used it for."

"What?"

"He's building something," Kenji’s face darkened. "In the Akihabara District. Under the electronics market." "Project: Soul Transfer." "He doesn't just want to be immortal. He wants to upload the Syndicate into the cloud. To exist as pure data."

Sebastian looked at the passing city lights. "Then we have to pull the plug."

(End of Chapter 94)