novelraw Chapter 242 242: The Trap
Chapter 242 242: The Trap
A large expanse of land. Nothing but flat, empty ground stretching for kilometers in every direction. No cover or concealment. Just open space where anything moving would be visible from so far away that it might as well be announcing itself with a flare.
Tatehan exchanged glances with the others, almost feeling frustrated.
He went through the implications in his mind, turning them over, testing them from every angle, searching for some loophole or workaround that would make this mission feasible.
But there was nothing. Just the cold, brutal reality of what the Obscuron had done.
He had cleared the land. Stripped it bare and turned it into a kill zone where anyone foolish enough to try crossing would be spotted immediately and dealt with before they even got close to the force field.
Uh...
Tatehan felt a surge of frustration rise up in his chest, hot and sharp, and before he could stop himself, he ruffled his hair with both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp as if he could physically shake the frustration out of his head.
"Arghh!" The sound came out louder than he intended, echoing off the walls of the workshop, and both Riven and Lyra looked at him with expressions that were somewhere between concern and 'uh…?'
This was not looking good.
Just when he thought he had found the answer, just when Torvan had handed him a device that could actually give them the intel they needed to crack the Obscuron's defenses, Torvan had turned around and told him that getting close enough to use the device was practically impossible.
A large expanse of land with nothing as cover. No boulders to hide behind. No rocks to crouch behind. No terrain features to break up their silhouette or mask their movements.
What was there…!
Just flat, open ground that would leave them exposed the moment they stepped into it.
It was certain they would be noticed before they even got close enough to activate the scanner and do whatever they had to do. And once they were noticed, the automated defenses would open fire. Plasma cannons, kinetic turrets, drones, maybe even manned patrols, whatever the Obscuron had stationed out there would converge on their position within seconds.
And they would get killed.
That was the most likely outcome. Quick, efficient and brutal deaths. The Obscuron would not waste time interrogating people who were stupid enough to walk into his kill zone. He would just eliminate the threat and move on.
But then again...
Tatehan's mind paused, catching on a different thread of thought, a darker possibility that sent a cold chill down his spine.
Getting abducted would be rare. Unlikely, even. But would it be?
He stood there, his hands still buried in his hair, and he forced himself to think it through logically, to consider the scenario from the Obscuron's perspective.
Some group of stubborn people had been spoiling his advancement in the North. They had destroyed his bases, seized his weapons, captured his soldiers, and interrogated his officers. They had formed an alliance between multiple cities, coordinated their efforts, and started actively disrupting his operations in ways that were probably more annoying than dangerous but still significant enough to warrant attention.
And now, if those same people were foolish enough to approach the West: to walk right up to the edge of his territory, out in the open, with no backup and no escape plan, wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity for him to grab them?
Think about it.
The Obscuron could kill them, sure. That would be easy. A few automated turrets, a quick barrage of plasma fire, and the problem would be solved. But killing them would not give him any information. It would not tell him who they were, what they knew, how they had managed to coordinate the destruction of his bases, or what other cities might be involved in the alliance.
But capturing them? Interrogating them? That would give him everything.
He could learn the identities of the people leading the resistance against him. He could find out which cities were involved, what their plans were, what intel they had gathered from his captured soldiers.
He could use them as leverage, maybe even as hostages, to force the alliance to back down or make concessions.
And if he was as calculating and strategic as everything Tatehan had learned suggested, then he would absolutely prioritize capture over kill in this scenario.
Which meant that walking into that kill zone might not result in immediate death.
It might result in something worse.
Tatehan lowered his hands slowly, his expression dark, and he looked at Torvan.
"If we go out there and they spot us, do you think they'd try to capture us instead of just killing us outright?"
Torvan blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question, and then his expression shifted into something more thoughtful. He scratched his chin, his eyes distant as he ran through the logic. "I mean... yeah, probably. If I were the Obscuron and I saw a small group approaching my territory with no backup, no heavy weapons and no obvious way to breach my defenses, I'd assume they were either suicidal or up to something. And I'd want to know what that something was before I killed them."
Riven's eyes widened slightly, and she sat forward in her chair. "You think he'd set a trap? Let us get close, then capture us instead of shooting us down?"
Tatehan nodded slowly. "Yeah. I do. Because killing us would be a missed opportunity. We've been the ones destroying his bases and disrupting his plans. He'd want to know how we're doing it, who's backing us, what we know. And the only way to get that information is to take us alive."
Lyra frowned, her expression troubled. "So you're saying that if we go out there, we're not just risking getting killed. We're risking getting captured, interrogated, and probably tortured for information."
Tatehan exhaled slowly, his hands resting on the edge of the workbench. "Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying."
There was a long, heavy silence as the weight of that realization settled over the room.
Torvan looked between the three of them, his expression uncertain. "So... does that mean we're not doing this?"
Tatehan stared at the holographic map, his mind still turning over the problem, still searching for a solution that would let them get the data they needed without walking straight into a trap.
And then, slowly, a faint, reckless grin began to spread across his face.
"No," he said quietly. "We're still doing it."
Riven and Lyra both looked at him like he had lost his mind.