Blackout Protocol

The city was a jungle of steel and glass, bathed in the cold glow of neon and surveillance drones. In this world, corporations were more powerful than nations, and Carla Radames was their phantom—a shadow in the dark, a whisper before the last breath.

Tonight, she was hunting.

She lay prone on the rooftop, the polymer weave of her bodysuit blending seamlessly into the darkness. Her sniper rifle, a custom X-99 Railgun, hummed softly, its electromagnetic coils primed to fire a silent, untraceable shot. The target was Dr. Elias Korver, a bioengineer defecting from Blue Umbrella to a rival megacorp, Helios Biotech. If he made it to their skyscraper, he’d bring them something priceless—secrets Umbrella would kill to keep buried.

And that was where Carla came in.

Through the rifle’s scope, she watched Korver in the penthouse of the Helios tower, surrounded by bodyguards. He was nervous. He should be. The city below was alive with traffic, holographic ads flickering across the skyline, oblivious to the fact that a man’s life was about to be erased.

Carla’s finger hovered over the trigger. Breathe in. Exhale. Fire.

A sharp thunk—the only sound the railgun made.

In the penthouse, Korver’s head snapped forward, a small, charred hole between his eyes. He was dead before his body hit the floor. Chaos erupted—guards shouting, alarms blaring. But they were looking for an assassin who had never stepped inside the building.

Carla smirked, rolling onto her back, letting the city lights paint her visor in gold and crimson. Another mission complete. Another rival erased.

Somewhere in an underground Umbrella facility, her employer would be smiling.

She pulled out a small device and pressed a button. A remote virus wiped all security footage from the surrounding buildings.

No witnesses. No evidence. No Carla Radames.

She faded into the night.