MAPLE VALLEY_ NIGHT
A cold mist rolls over Old Harbor Road, wrapping the narrow alleyways like ghostly fingers.
Pale neon from downtown Maple Valley bleeds into the puddles, distorting colors with every ripple.
A solitary figure walks into frame.
JAXON STEEL.
He's calmer than before his leave — but sharper, like silence has honed him rather than softened him.
A police barricade flickers in the rain-soaked wind.
Steel ducks under it.
His return to duty begins right here.
---
THE EMPTY CRIME SCENE
The alley where the earlier victim was found has been scrubbed by forensics… but not erased.
Evidence never truly disappears — it hides.
Steel crouches near the dumpster and brushes the ground with gloved fingers.
A faint chemical scent lingers in the air — metallic, almost sterile.
Then he sees it:
A thin filament of melted carbon fiber, nearly invisible unless light hits it at the right angle.
He lifts it.
It vibrates faintly like a tuning fork.
[Agent Steel]: (whisper) Not local manufacturing…
He pockets it.
Then he notices something else.
Scratches on the brick wall — vertical, precise. Not claw marks. Something mechanical.
Like a tool trying to anchor itself.
Steel steps back, studying the pattern.
[Agent Steel]:This isn't a random attack. It's a controlled extraction.
He looks upward.
A rooftop escape route.
The killer didn't flee — it withdrew.
---
ROMER REACHES OUT
His earpiece chirps.
[DR. ROMER ](comm.):Steel, your biometric signature just pinged on-site. You found something?
Steel shines his flashlight on the carbon residue.
[Agent Steel]:Something that doesn't belong to Maple Valley. What have you got on those burn signatures?
Romer exhales sharply — nervous.
[ROMER] (comm.):The sample you sent earlier? It matches a banned bio-synthetic composite. Level 7 restricted tech.
Steel frowns.
[Agent Steel]:That's military-grade.
[ROMER ](comm.):Worse. It's ghost-grade.
Steel freezes at the phrasing.
[Agent Steel]:…Explain.
Romer's voice drops.
[ROMER] (comm.):We have whispers — only whispers — about a syndicate using erased tech. No official name. No confirmed files. But agents call it something unofficial…
Paused
"…Ghost Serpent."
Steel's eyes narrow.
He doesn't react emotionally — but something deep inside tightens.
---
A metal clang echoes deeper in the alley.
Steel turns, weapon raised.
Shadows shift — then stabilize.
A shape emerges, limping, sparks flickering at its joints.
A Cyborg — not the same model that attacked the INN, but an evolved one.
Sleeker, more skeletal, its movements smoother yet glitching under damage.
CYBORG X2 steps forward.
It scans Steel.
Its mechanical voice breaks like static.
[CYBORG X2]:A…gent… Steel…"
Steel circles cautiously.
[Agent Steel]:You're malfunctioning. Shut down your weapon systems.
The cyborg twitches.
[CYBORG X2]:Your des…t…iny… in motion.
Steel moves closer.
[Agent Steel]:Who built you?
The cyborg raises its damaged head.
One red photoreceptor flickers.
[CYBORG X2]:…th…e Serp…ent's… cho…sen… one… is coming…
Steel stiffens.
[Agent Steel]:Who is the chosen one? Who is Serpent?
The cyborg begins emitting a rising frequency hum.
Self-destruct.
[Agent Steel]:No—!
Steel leaps behind the nearest wall—
KRA-BOOM!
A shockwave erupts, shaking the alley.
Scrap metal rains down like jagged shards.
Silence follows.
---
Steel emerges from behind cover, coughing.
He scans the blast zone.
Only fragments remain — too few to identify anything traceable.
Of course.
Whoever sent the cyborg expects this.
He kneels, brushing through the remains.
One shard stands out:
A smooth metallic curve with a faint texture…
A serpent scale pattern, almost microscopic.
He runs his thumb over it.
[Agent Steel]:…Ghost Serpent. So you are real.
---
STEEL CALLS ROMER
Steel taps his earpiece.
[Agent Steel]:Romer, I need a silent forensic run. No reports, no leadership briefing. Just you.
[ROMER] (comm.)…Silent? Even to Madison?
Steel pauses.
Madison is gone.
But that truth can't be spoken.
[Agent Steel]:Yes. Even her.
Romer hesitates, then answers with seriousness:
[ROMER] (comm.):Understood. Sending a drone to collect samples.
Steel lifts the serpent-pattern shard, watching the neon reflections shift across it.
[Agent Steel]:Romer… something big is coming to Maple Valley.
[ROMER] (comm.):Bigger than cyborgs?
Steel closes his fist around the shard.
[Agent Steel]:Much bigger.
---
Across the rooftops of Maple Valley, night winds brush against antennas and satellite dishes.
Hidden between the angles of a rooftop chimney…
A tiny metallic drone, serpent-shaped, sits motionless.
Its single eye glows faint green.
Watching Steel.
Recording.
Reporting.
TO BECONTINUED
............