Vows of Graphite and Guilt
Beneath the streets, the massive transformers of Substation 42 groaned, their cooling oil boiling in a fraction of a second before the automated safety breakers three blocks away tripped in a cascading phase fault.
The tactical spotlights exploded. The night-vision optics on the agents' helmets flared with blinding, white-hot feedback, overloading their digital sensors and rendering them completely useless.
Absolute, suffocating darkness slammed back into the vault.
Screams of confusion and pain ripped from the federal team as the agents tumbled over one another in the pitch black, momentarily blinded by the retinal burn of the arc flash.
"I can't see! My eyes—the NVGs are fried!"