[8:45pm]

The first siren didn’t sound like an alarm.

It sounded like the city itself screaming.

WOOOOMMMMM...!

A low, metallic howl rolled across the skyline of Neo Solace, vibrating through steel towers and holographic billboards alike as the entire outer ring of the Megacity came to life!

The glowing advertisements that moments ago painted the night in neon pinks and electric blues suddenly flickered red.

[FEDERATION EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVE!]

[Outer Ring Districts 1-6 Under Lockdown, Effective Immediately!]

[Citizens Are To Remain Indoors!]

[All SIN-less Found Outside Are To Be Shot On Sight!]

VROOM!

The sky and land in the outer district exploded with motion!

And as if mourning the death of an Earl, at that moment, the neon clouds in the sky opened their mouth, unleashing a torrent of acid rain on the city.

Rain poured from the polluted neon heavens in silver sheets, hissing against overheated pavements and chrome rooftops as the chase for the assassins began.

High above the city, the sky traffic lanes collapsed into chaos as civilian vehicles were forced downward by swarms of black military gunships descending through the clouds like hunting predators.

All civilians were rushing home to observe the state of emergency, but the military were not waiting for them.

Occasional gunshot sounds could be heard already.

Bam... bam... bam...

Those were SIN-less who were still unfortunately outside being shot in cold blood!

In Neo Solace, SIN-less had no human rights, and what better time to vent anger and retribution on them than when an honorary Earl was assassinated?

The outer ring of the city became engulfed in chaos.

Geneforms, SIN-less screamed in terror and fright as they ran for their lives, dashing into any nearest enclosure before the Federation Army could vent their wrath on them while official citizens also rushed to observe the state of emergency.

Officially, the assassination was recorded to have happened only 7 minutes ago, and now the outer ring of the city was at war with fear.

BZZZZZT!

Thousands of drones flooded the air in coordinated formations, their crimson scanners sweeping across apartment windows, alleyways, and transit rails as the Omnicore Eye went on overdrive!

Its massive heavy-duty processors tripled their usual operating speed!

Searchlights cut violently through the rain, illuminating entire streets at once. Above, giant holographic warning symbols flickered across skyscrapers while automated loudspeakers repeated evacuation commands in cold synthetic voices.

On the streets below, panic spread faster like wildfire.

One strategy of the SIN-less to survive the disaster this night was to join massive crowds where citizens were intermixed, this prevented the Federation Army from shooting at them indiscriminately in retribution.

This created a situation where crowds shoved through flooded intersections as armored police carriers thundered past them.

Riot officers in matte-black rigid exosuits formed barricades around subway entrances, their helmets glowing with blue HUD visors as they scanned, separating citizens from the tide of SIN-less who were on a rush to enter enclosures.

Above them hovered massive military walkers, towering machines with hydraulic legs that shook the ground every time they moved.

The Federation Army in Neo Solace mobilized at full power!

Somewhere in the crowd, a child cried.

Somewhere else, someone screamed after hearing gunfire three blocks away.

There were multiple of such sounds in the chaos, and they mixed to form a crazy cacophony of riot, search, and disaster.

Nobody even knew whether the assassins had escaped or not, or if there had been more than one.

At the center of Egghead District, Bourdillon Hotel burned against the night. Not with fire, but with light and scrutiny as emergency floodlamps illuminated the hotel while Federation agents swarmed the structure like ants around a corpse.

They knew that the assassins were no longer here, but they were here to scan and look for any clues that the police may have missed.

Entire floors of the hotel, including the underground level had already been sealed off with energy barriers, trapping nobles- Earls and Barons, including regular customers of the hotel this night inside for interrogation.

Dante and Mr. Hwang Luo were also trapped inside for interrogation, and they were already being interrogated.

Media drones tried desperately to get close, but once the army got involved, everything was controlled.

Bzzzzt!

Electromagnetic defense pulses blasted away all media drones.

The Federation wanted silence and control, and so far, the news of the assassination had been successfully contained inside Neo Solace.

Not even the nearest Federation City had heard of the news.

There was a Category-A lock already clamped on the psionic network, preventing information from leaving Neo Solace’s LAN to the broader internet.

But though the Federation wanted silence, the city itself saw blood.

All entry and exit points into the city were already blocked and inside the streets surrounding Bourdillon Hotel, military convoys rolled forward in endless lines as soldiers disembarked with terrifying efficiency.

They wore adaptive combat armor, their rifles humming with charged plasma coils as they swarmed like a bee hive.

Their visors displayed facial-recognition feeds in real time as they scanned every civilian nearby.

They scanned every face, every movement, and every heartbeat.

Afterall, information already came that the assassins likely had the ability to switch between faces to deceive the Omnicore Eye!

A curfew was declared less than 8 minutes after the assassination.

By the 10th minute, internet access across the Megacity was severed completely, plunging all citizens and SIN-less of the city in darkness!

By the 11th minute, soldiers barged into a luxurious suite of a certain high-profile hotel within the inner district of the city but by the time they arrived, the suite was already deserted.

Madam Ophelia and her 3 slaves were nowhere to be found.

They were gone!

By the 12th minute, rumors began spreading that the assassins possessed military-grade stealth tech... or worse.

Rumors also spread that there were likely insiders who helped them, and then came the aerial response.

GRRRRRRRRR...!

The clouds above Neo Solace trembled as colossal Federation battle cruisers emerged from the storm layer, their undersides glowing with rows of blue propulsion engines.

Their emergence was quickly followed by that of the swift fighter jets.

WHOOOOOOOOSH...!

These bad boys cut through the air like a hot knife through butter, negating friction and gravity as they moved at Mach speed!

Their collective arrival drowned out even the thunder itself and the rain as citizens below stopped running just to stare upward in horror as the massive warships positioned themselves directly above Bourdillon Hotel.

As for the fighter jets, they rushed outside the city to scan the perimeter to see if the assassins already escaped the city!

Neo Solace like a bee nest was ruffled, and now it responded.