The garage doors rolled open. Like a pack of midnight wolves, the fleet of armored SUVs surged out into the rainy streets, their tires gripping the wet asphalt as they accelerated in perfect, synchronized formation. They moved with terrifying speed, cutting through the city traffic like a knife through silk, a silent, deadly convoy converging on Route 9.
They were seven minutes away.
Back on the desolate stretch of Route 9, Officer Griggs was losing his mind.
He was shouting, gesturing wildly, threatening Evelyn with everything from immediate incarceration to vehicle impoundment. But nothing was working. His rage, which usually acted as a hammer to shatter the resolve of ordinary citizens, was striking against a wall of diamond.
Evelyn had not moved an inch. She simply watched him with that same, infuriating smirk, a look that made Griggs feel simultaneously enraged and deeply, inexplicably small.
"Are you listening to me?" Griggs yelled, his voice cracking slightly with strain. "I am placing you under arrest! Put your hands behind your back right now, or I will use force!"
He unclasped the leather strap holding his baton, preparing to draw it. It was a bluff, a desperate attempt to force her to submit, but the moment his hand touched the weapon, the atmosphere shifted.
Evelyn’s smirk vanished, replaced by a look of absolute, glacial authority.
"I strongly suggest you remove your hand from that weapon, Officer," she said, her voice dropping an octave, carrying a weight that sent a sudden, involuntary shiver down Griggs's spine.
"You don't give the orders here!" Griggs spat, though his hand hesitated on the baton. "You're a civilian in a cheap car who just assaulted a police officer! I am the only authority out here. Nobody's coming out here to believe you over me! Nobody even knows you're here!"
Evelyn checked the slim, platinum Patek Philippe watch on her left wrist. The seconds ticked by.
"You are operating under a fundamental misunderstanding of the universe you inhabit, Officer," Evelyn said softly, looking back up at him. "You believe that because you wear a badge, you are the apex predator of this city. You believe that power comes from a uniform."
Griggs sneered, stepping closer. "Power comes from the fact that I can ruin your life with one phone call to dispatch."
"No," Evelyn replied, a slow, predatory smile finally breaking across her face as a low, deep vibration began to tremble through the wet asphalt beneath their feet. "Power is what happens when I don't even have to make a phone call."
Griggs frowned. He opened his mouth to shout again, but the words died in his throat.
The vibration in the ground was growing stronger, accompanied by a heavy, synchronized mechanical roar that sounded like a dozen freight trains approaching at high speed. The puddle of water at Griggs's boots began to ripple.
He looked past Evelyn, staring down the dark, empty expanse of Route 9.
Suddenly, the darkness was pierced by a blinding wall of light.
They came out of the night like phantoms rising from the deep.