CHAPTER 153: BLUEPRINT FOR TRACE

The rain fell in a constant sprinkle, making the roofs of the factory area wet. Below them, streetlights made wavy reflections on the road.

The four of them lay flat on the roof of an old cloth factory, hidden behind a crumbling brick wall. Across the street was their goal: the huge building with no windows that held the Primary Genesis Facility. They all knew that a terrible thing was being made inside.

"I could have that main cargo door down in five seconds," Draven said, his voice a low rumble. He was already picturing it, a satisfying crash of metal and concrete.

"And in seconds," Seraph replied without taking her eyes off the target, "the entire city guard would be on top of us. In minutes, we’d be on the national news." She finally turned to look at him. "This is not the middle of the mountains, Draven. This is a civilian zone. We can’t have buildings falling on innocent people. We need to be invisible."

Vanessa, covered by a waterproof poncho and working on a small scanner, spoke up. "Honestly, Draven, you need more clever ways to fix things."

He just grunted in response.

Seraph didn’t listen to them. She only looked at Jonah. "This is what you’re good at, Jonah. Looking around. Sneaking in. Tell me what you see. How do we get inside?"

Jonah didn’t answer right away. He was lying on his stomach, watching the warehouse closely. He wasn’t just looking with his eyes. He had extended his senses, feeling for the low buzz of energy and the flow of life around the building.

"It’s quiet," he said. "Too quiet. The safety isn’t only about guards. It’s magical. I can feel detection runes hidden in the walls. They’re the best kind." He knew he needed a scout. He needed eyes inside. He began to run through his options.

First, there was Maul. Jonah almost smiled thinking about it. Sending Maul on a stealth mission would put the mission at huge risk.

Then there was Sylva. Just being near her made everything peaceful. Sending her into that place of ugly creations would be cruel.

What about Cipher? His newest tool, the metallic insect designed for hacking. It could phase through walls and interface with computers. But Cipher was built for the digital world, not the physical one. It couldn’t navigate complex rooms or avoid patrols.

That left Specter. His Grade-4 masterpiece, the Phantom Weaver. A perfect assassin, capable of true invisibility. Specter seemed like the obvious choice. But Jonah hesitated.

"Specter?" Seraph asked, as if she knew what he was thinking.

Jonah shook his head slowly. "I don’t think so. The sensors on that building are too advanced. The Bureau learned from the lab in the mountains. Specter is a Nexus-grade creation. Even while invisible, a creature that powerful gives off a faint energy signature and those sensors would pick it up like a loud noise."

Seraph processed this, her expression grim. " So they’ve gotten used to it. They’re specifically searching for a danger like you."

"Exactly," Jonah confirmed. He looked at his team, the reality of their situation setting in. "Maul is too big. Sylva isn’t a spy. Cipher is for data, and Specter is too powerful."

"So what you’re saying," Draven said, saying what was on everyone’s mind, "is that we have no way in. We don’t have anything that can do the work."

Jonah looked back at the warehouse. Draven was right. His current toolbox was insufficient. He didn’t have the right tool.

Jonah slowly started to smile.

"No," he said, his voice sounding stronger. "What I’m saying is, I need to make one."

Vanessa, who had been listening closely, looked up from her scanner, a bright idea in her eyes. "A special tool for this job," she said softly. "I like it. What do you need?"

Jonah was already thinking quickly, figuring out the perfect way to get inside without being seen. "I need something small. Something that can climb walls and stick to any surface. It has to be completely silent."

"Adhesive climbing," Vanessa noted, already pulling up a file on her datapad. "There are a few beast essences that have that property."

"It also needs to be my eyes and ears inside there," Jonah went on, the idea becoming clearer in his mind. "But it needs more than just normal seeing. That place will have both technology and magic. I need to see it all. I need thermal vision to see heat signatures from guards or machines. And I need arcane vision to see the magical wards and power lines."

"A multi-sensory scout," Vanessa said, typing very quickly. "That’s a complex design, Jonah."

"That’s why it needs to be its only purpose," Jonah explained. "No attacks. No special abilities. Just perfect spying. Something that uses little power, with an energy signature so small it will hardly be noticed"

He leaned over her shoulder, looking at the screen of her datapad. She had already gained access to the Academy’s Essence Archive through a secure military link provided by the General.

"Okay," Jonah said, pointing at the screen. "There. ’Stone-Lurker Gecko.’ Its essence grants the ability to cling to any surface. That’s our movement."

Vanessa quickly picked out the file. "Got it. Simple, stable, uses little energy. Perfect. What about the senses?"

Jonah looked through the list. He saw another file. "This one. The Observer Wasp. Its description says its eyes can see many kinds of light at the same time. It can see heat, and it can see the flow of raw mana."

"A wasp and a gecko," Draven said quietly from behind them. "You’re going to build a very strange creature."

Jonah grinned. "Exactly."

Vanessa had the two essence profiles displayed side by side. "The core concept is solid," she said. "We combine the Gecko’s climbing with the Wasp’s vision. A simple Genesis Core should be enough to house them both."

Jonah nodded, the final pieces of the blueprint forming in his mind. It would have a gecko’s amazing ability to stick to walls, but its legs would have many parts and joints and its body would be in sections, like an insect. Its head, mostly covered by the Wasp’s big eye, would always turn, seeing the world as a mix of heat and magic.

"It needs a name," Seraph said softly. She had been watching the two of them work, looking very amazed.

Jonah looked at the design on the screen. It was a creature made for one purpose: to follow the trail of a hidden enemy, to find the truth in dark places.

"Trace," Jonah said. "We’ll call it Trace."

The blueprint was complete.

It was time to build a ghost.