This is the first glimpse of the second of three stories in this arc.


"You have no exits. You have no options. Make this easier on yourself, and your families, and surrender now!" A police officer yells.

Inside a bank lobby, three thugs are standing, each one masked. They are wearing heavy armor for protection, including vests, helmets, boots, and gloves. A clearly annoyed man walks into the lobby from behind the counter. Also equipped with the armor, He fires his rifle to his right, then left, and then forward. The shots hit nothing but get the others' attention. The man drops his gun and takes off his helmet, still holding it in his left hand.

"You done fucked it up!" He shouted to the other thugs.

The man pulls out one of the pistols the Rider had used in the previous chapter and shoots one of the thugs.


-Days Earlier-

Onyx is sitting on a crate in a warehouse. He is much younger, only fifteen in age. He is wearing a black leather jacket over a grey t-shirt. Onyx is wearing faded black jeans and black shoes.

"So let me get this straight," Onyx speaks, "You want us to rob a bank."

In the warehouse is a table, on the table are the blueprints to the bank. Standing at one end of the table is Red, sporting a black leather jacket with two white stripes on each sleeve, a red t-shirt, jeans, and grey shoes.

"I know we don't usually go for jobs this big, but it's for big pay." Red states.

Onyx stares at him questionably.

"Listen, Onyx, we are going to need your Shadow powers to help us do this." Red says.

"It just seems too easy to get caught." Onyx explains, "The bank has two conventional exits and in order to get to the vault we'll need to go through plenty of security."

"That's why the pay is so high." Red states.

"The Shadow Zone will protect us from the guards. We still need to watch out for cameras, security laser, and who knows what else they're packing." Onyx says.

"Why cameras, they won't see us or anything on us?" Red asks.

"The moment we move anything in view of the cameras, the place will be on guard or even lockdown." Onyx states.

"Oh right... Shit, that makes our job harder." Red says.


Onyx walks out of the warehouse with Red.

"Head back home. I'll be there after I talk to some guys to see if they're willing to help." Red says.

Onyx nods and heads to the apartment complex. Red lived in the same one he does now. Onyx enters and heads to his room. It is mostly empty filled with what Onyx called the "essentials". The room has a bed in the corner, a dresser next to the bed, and desk in the opposite corner of the bed. On the desk is Onyx's weapon and his wallet. Onyx lays on the bed with his upperback leaning against the wall. He bounces a small red ball off the wall waiting for Red's return.


-Present Day-

Onyx stands on the edge of the rooftop, gathering his thoughts.

"Brooding on rooftops, how clichè." Red jokes.

"Says the walking stereotype." Onyx says.

"Hey! Did you just make a joke? That's progress." Red says.

"Focus, Red. Get the Bullhead ready." The Rider orders.

Red nods and does as Onyx ordered. The Bullhead rises in front of the building. Onyx launched a grapnel hook from his pistol and pulls himself inside the Bullhead. He sits in the copilot seat.

"Activate the Tactical Cloak." The Rider orders.

Red presses a button cloaking the Bullhead.

"I said the 'Tactical Cloak'." The Rider repeats.

"Did I do somethings wrong?" Red asks.

Onyx reaches over to Red's console and presses another button. The button seemingly does nothing.

"The Tactical Cloak shields us from radar and sonar detection. What you activated was the Active Camouflage." The Rider explains.

The Bullhead continues to fly until it is high above an old factory that is positioned on a cliff that overlooks the city. The Bullhead stops and hovers above the station.

"Where are we?" Red asks.

"An old factory. It used to mine dust from the tunnels below it. The dust crystals would be shaped and refined in the station before being shipped to other locations. The factory is also responsible for smelting and forging weapons. The station was abandoned due to it's questionable labor force." The Rider explains.

"Why are we here?" Red asks.

"One of the prisoners gave these coordinates. He said it is where their forces are organized." The Rider explains.

Onyx gets out of the seat and walks to the doorway. The door opens and Onyx hold the edges of the door to keep himself from falling.

"Hold position until I call." The Rider orders.

"Yes sir." Red says sarcastically.

Onyx glares at Red before jumping out of the Bullhead. As he drops down, Red contacts Onyx through the Com-Link in Onyx's tactical HUD.

"How are you planning on getting in?" Red asks.

"The main smokestack." The Rider responds.

"Um, readings show that their is a large heat signature inside. The power station is active." Red states.

"No time to change my trajectory. I'm going in." The Rider states.

Once Onyx enters the smokestack, he can clearly see the boiler is active. He fires a grapnel line from his pistol, points his pistol in the opposite direction, and fires the opposing end of the grapnel line. Onyx holds onto the line and swings himself so he is positioned on top of it.


A hooded figure enters a room. Suddenly holographic images of ten people appear around him. One of them is the thug that dislocated Onyx's arm and another is Red.

"Has the Rider taken the bait?" The hooded man asks.

"Yes sir." The thug states.

"Good." The hooded man says.

"I do not wish to have my involvement with this revealed yet." Red states.

"Then let's keep it that way." The hooded man states as he removes his hood, revealing himself to be Rubine.

The ten holograms disappear and the lights in the room turn off.

"Tick tick, boom." Rubine says to himself.


Onyx walks through the factory until he reaches the central control room. Once inside Onyx actives the console in the center of the room. The console reveals a self destruct countdown, currently at seventeen seconds. Onyx begins to head towards an exit. But seventeen seconds was only enough time for Onyx to jump out the window in the central control room that overlooks the workground and run to the exit door. As soon as he opens the door the bombs go off. The explosion knocks Onyx out the door into the streets below. What little of Onyx's aura that had recovered was instantly drained. It was enough to protect him from the explosion, but that wasn't good enough. The fall instantly knocks Onyx out. In the few seconds Onyx had during the fall, he asks himself:

Is this the end?


Well that happened.