The high-rise loomed over the city, its skeletal framework bathed in the pale glow of the moon. Inside, the shadows were alive, shifting, waiting. The Sentinels had walked into a trap, and Alexander was ready to close it.
The Sentinels' crimson optics scanned the darkness, their processors attempting to adapt to the shifting abyss. Their internal systems calibrated to track movement, energy fluctuations, and infrared signals—but what they encountered defied all known patterns.
A faint whisper slid through the building, an almost imperceptible sound carried by the wind. The Sentinels turned in unison, weapons locking onto empty space.
Then the shadows moved.
The first Sentinel barely had time to react before a black tendril shot out, wrapping around its metal chassis and crushing it like paper. Sparks flickered as it was pulled into the void, vanishing without a sound.
The second Sentinel pivoted, its advanced targeting system recalibrating. It fired.
A burst of plasma energy tore through the air, but the shadows swallowed it whole. The surrounding darkness quivered for a moment before slithering forward, lunging at the Sentinel with a predatory hunger. The machine's sensors flickered wildly as it detected no mass, no solid entity—only death approaching.
The third and fourth units attempted to retreat, their adaptive AI recognizing the anomaly as a Level 1 existential threat. They were programmed to fight—but they had never fought the abyss before.
A deep, commanding voice echoed through the structure. "You're too late."
Alexander emerged from the darkness, his violet eyes glowing. The very air around him seemed to twist, as though reality itself bent in his presence. Shadows slithered at his feet like living entities, coiling around him as he stepped forward.
The remaining Sentinels fired, their attacks precise and relentless. But they hit nothing.
The abyss moved faster.
Shadows erupted from the ground, consuming one of the drones in a swirling vortex of darkness. Its limbs twitched for a brief second before the abyss devoured it whole. The AI inside tried to adapt, sending rapid countermeasures to its processors, but there was no data on how to fight the void.
Another Sentinel attempted to deploy an emergency beacon—but Alexander was already upon it.
With a single motion, he tore through its mechanical body, rending it apart as though it were made of fragile glass. The Sentinel's core flickered for a brief moment before it shattered, its last transmission cut off before it could reach AIM's servers.
The final Sentinel tried to escape, its emergency flight thrusters activating. It never made it to the exit.
Noctis materialized from the darkness above, his twin blades gleaming before he severed the drone in one clean motion. The pieces clattered to the ground, lifeless. The final red optical sensor flickered once before fading to black.
Silence settled over the battlefield.
The Sentinels were gone.
Monica Rappaccini stood in front of a flickering monitor, her fingers tightening into fists as the live feeds from the Sentinels cut to static one by one.
Her team scrambled around her, frantically running diagnostics and attempting to retrieve any salvageable data.
"It's not just that we lost them," one of the technicians stammered. "They were erased. No tracking signals. No distress beacons. Nothing."
Monica's lips curled in frustration. "That's impossible."
Another analyst gulped. "Ma'am… we've lost every deployed Sentinel in under five minutes."
A cold silence filled the room. The hum of the facility's advanced machinery was the only sound, but it did little to drown out the tension in the air.
Then, the power in AIM's facility flickered.
The screens glitched for a brief moment before going completely black.
Then, across every monitor, a single message appeared.
"You're next."
A chill ran through Monica's spine. For the first time, she felt fear.
Back at SHIELD's surveillance hub, Maria Hill stared at the screen, watching as AIM's network went dark.
Nick Fury exhaled sharply. "That's new."
Coulson leaned forward. "He didn't just take out the Sentinels. He's sending a message."
Fury turned to Hill. "Get me all available intel. Now. We're not just watching anymore—we need to know who the hell we're dealing with."
Hill nodded. "And if we find him?"
Fury's eye darkened. "Then we make sure we're ready for what's coming next."
From atop another rooftop, Alexander gazed down at the city. Tonight, AIM had learned its lesson.
The criminal underworld would soon follow.
Vasili stood beside him, arms crossed. "They'll come at us harder next time."
Alexander smirked. "Let them. We'll be waiting."
As the shadows swallowed them whole, the war for the city had truly begun.
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