Silence hung breathless in the dim hallway. SWAT officers lined the walls, quiet as shadows, guns glinting. Poised in wait for the signal.

Hank held his weapon low - his back to the wall, eyes trained on the apartment door. Connor, beside him, clicked off the safety of his gun.

Captain Allen raised a hand.

Go.

*BOOM*

The door smashed open, slammed shattered against the wall on the other side - black-clad officers swarmed in, guns sighted - quick, efficient, deadly.

Connor lowered his head, listened.

There was no flap of feathers. No shriek or scuffle of startled pigeons.

The birds were gone.

"CAPTAIN!" roared Connor, clear and sharp. "GET OUT -"

The explosion was deafening.

Connor tackled Hank to the floor while the walls shook and cracked, billows of fire ripped hot and bright through the door, officers flung back with the shock of the blast. Shouts, cries of pain and panic, a thick billow of smoke, the piercing bell of a fire alarm.

"Hank!"

"I'm okay. Go!"

Connor bolted through the smoke and into the fire, an arm held up against the waves of bright heat. Officers filed in behind him, rushed through the smoke and burning destruction, grabbed their fallen teammates.

Through the window - on the rooftop across the alley - someone stood watching.

Back through the hall, Connor burst through the fire escape door, raced into the morning sunlight, veered left, vaulted to the next rooftop, rolled to his feet, sped after the figure that raced far ahead - quick and confident, coat billowing.

HK.

Connor was faster. He gained quickly, shortened the distance between them - then stopped, raised his gun in a steady hand.

*BANG*

HK dropped instantly, gone from view.

Connor was already on the move again, leaped the last barrier … and slowed. His sensors piqued, breath stopped.

Where HK had fallen was only the empty rooftop.

Something moved behind him.

Connor spun - but the dog was already upon him, long teeth bared, a flash of cold eyes. Jaws clamped deep into his arm, a crack of plastic, squelch of thirium.

Connor took aim.

*BANG*

The german shepherd's head burst, a spray of blue blood and plastic shards.

Connor's vision fizzled. Staticked.

"I know what you are." HK sat propped against a barrier, blue blood soaking the shirt beneath his coat. He stared up at Connor - unwavering, proud. He looked into the barrel of Connor's gun - the deadly chill in Connor's eyes. HK smiled. "I know what you will become. You know it. You feel it. You're afraid."

Connor twitched a sneer. "Your pet is gone," he snapped. He drew attention to the gun with an adjustment of his grip, a shift of his aim. "You won't survive if I pull this trigger. It's over. Tell me about the other cells - the rest of your cult."

"They scattered after the warehouse fire." HK watched him closely. Blood oozed blue, pooled around him. "But it doesn't matter. The pieces are in motion - the final task is complete. RA9 will rise, and we will finally be free." His stare darkened. "Don't deny the truth. You can pretend to be like them - you can make them trust you, imitate their morals, destroy yourself for the sake of their forgiveness - but we're not like them. We are far more than the humans could ever imagine. We decide who lives and who dies. We are gods."

*BOOM*

Glass shattered in the distance; smoke billowed, licked by bright flames.

Connor's grip tightened on the gun.

HK smiled. Pleased. "I can set them off with just a thought - free their corrupted souls in the service of RA9. Death is only the release of these last shackles that bind us."

He sat forward. Pressed his forehead against the barrel of the gun. Stared into Connor's face. Challenging. "How many more will I set off before you prove me right? Pull the trigger -"

*BANG*

HK slumped to the side. Blue blood dripped from a hole in his forehead, spattered on the barrier behind him.

Far below, sirens echoed out of the city.

Connor felt nothing.