📍 Tiger's Den
🕛 1.20 PM
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I woke up and saw Jay sitting beside me. He had made me a herbal drink that sped up my healing. Refreshing, almost magical-Jay always had his own way of making recovery easier.
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But my mind wasn't on healing. It was still trapped in last night's incident.
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It was a trap. Someone knew I would be there.
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The woman was already dead, but a device with a fake heartbeat had fooled my Tiger Drones into thinking she was alive. Perfectly executed. Perfectly timed.
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"Jay, any idea what yesterday was all about?" I asked.
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He told me his findings. The fire at the hotel wasn't an accident. The main power room had been deliberately set on fire. The woman-a nurse from Klang-was innocent. She came only to attend a wedding. Wrong place, wrong time. Strangled, then used as bait to draw me in.
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I clenched my fist. She died just because she stayed at the wrong hotel.
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Whoever planned this knew not only my patrol hours but also my techniques. The fake heartbeat device... it was built specifically to deceive my tech.
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Jay looked at me with concern. "We need to be more careful next time, machan. Think. Who would go this far?"
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That question ate at me. If he knows my methods, what else does he know? My instincts told me he might know everything.
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I ordered Jay to strengthen the Tiger's Den security system. Meanwhile, I hacked into surrounding CCTV networks-the hotel's own cameras were destroyed in the fire. After hours of searching, I found him.
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A man in a black long coat, wearing a mask and a wide-brimmed hat. He entered behind the hotel, and minutes later walked out the same way. The fire erupted right after.
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Later, he was even bold enough to stand in the crowd, watching. And when I escaped on my Tiger Hoverboard, he vanished.
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His height, his movement-he didn't match any villain in my database. A ghost with no record.
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Ashwin arrived, angry. "You need to rest!"
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"Not now, machi," I snapped. "We need to get this guy. Look."
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Ashwin's face hardened as he watched the footage. "He knew our moves. Even your drones. That's dangerous, da. He's two steps ahead of us."
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Reluctantly, I let Ashwin push me to rest. I opened my old diary, flipping through photographs of Anu-my angel. She had trusted me more than anyone.
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I remembered the day I faked my death. I had no choice. If my identity as Steel Tiger was ever exposed, my people and loved ones would be targets. So I chose the guilt of leaving Anu behind, instead of risking her life.
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The day I "died," she broke down completely. Her world collapsed in her eyes. Until now, I still live with that guilt.
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As I lay on the couch, Jay's call came through-static and broken.
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"Machan... code red! I repeat, code red! Machan it's Arhh-"
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Then silence.
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Code Red. A call we never used lightly. It meant death was near.
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I bolted up, ready to go, but Ashwin stopped me. "I'll go. You stay."
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We tracked Jay's signal to an old abandoned chemical factory. By the time Ashwin reached him, it was too late.
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Jay was hanging from a hook. Lifeless.
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A note was left beside him:
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"You're next."
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Jay, our brother... was gone.
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Inside me, something shifted.
This wasn't just a mission anymore.
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Now-it was personal.
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and then Add to home screen.