Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 138: -Ambush Protocol

Chapter 138: -Ambush Protocol

The man Bai senior had just woken from cryo, but his stride was sharp, posture perfect, eyes burning like they’d never closed. No fatigue. No adjustment period. Just immediate, clinical motion. Like returning to the world was a scheduled task he was already ten minutes late for.

"I designed this corridor for two exits," Bai Sr. murmured as they walked, hands behind his back. "The forward breach was always the fallback. But I see you used the west passage. Tactical, but not subtle."

Lucas kept pace, his coat blood-slicked and half-scorched. "Subtle didn’t survive the front gate. We were welcomed with tanks and illegal shifters."

"Of course you were," Bai Sr. replied, almost disappointed. "The government doesn’t play chess. They play blackjack."

Behind them, Ava’s voice crackled in his ear through the bracer. She’d split off through the upper catwalk to monitor the perimeter.

"Lucas," she said. "We’ve got incoming. Unregistered signal boost—elevation too tight for drone class. Looks like human ambush units. At least nine."

Lucas didn’t hesitate. "Front gate?"

"No. North passage. They’re trying to corner you before the last fail-safe hatch."

Lucas turned to his father. "Change of plans. Keep left. We’re rerouting through the hydro corridor."

Bai Sr. didn’t slow. "Good."

They broke into a jog as the vault’s airlock sealed behind them. Steel hissed shut with a sound like finality.

Lucas activated the combat subroutine in his bracer. Ava had loaded the full set of gear she’d prepped—and this time, he didn’t hold back.

[SYSTEM DEPLOY: AVA.Z CONFIG – LOADED MODULES: 5]

[INITIALIZING: BRIDGEWALKER II / SOVEREIGN LINK / LIGHTFANG GRID / TREMOR-CAP SPIKES / DUAL ARC MOUNTED SUNDIAL]

Bridgewalker skittered from his back like a shadowed second spine—legs unfolding, sensors sweeping.

Ahead, movement sparked.

Three figures—half-visible, camo-cloaked—emerged from a service grate.

Lucas moved fast.

[TREMOR-CAP SPIKES DEPLOYED – GROUND IMPACT: 3.5m RANGE]

He slammed the first two spikes into the floor.

The resulting shockwave lifted the ground like a buckled tile—launching two ambushers into the ceiling.

The third opened fire.

Lucas deflected with his bracer shield and countered with Sundial—full arc.

The beam hit the wall behind the shooter, then bounced.

It ricocheted twice, hit a metal support, and split into a clean L-shape burst—ripping through the attacker’s thigh.

[TARGET NEUTRALIZED – PAIN RESPONSE: ACTIVE]

"Lucas," Ava said again, voice sharper. "More incoming. They’ve got micro-suppressors—trying to cut my feed."

"Let them try."

Bridgewalker launched forward, leapt the gap, and clamped onto the exit control panel, downloading the bypass code Ava had uploaded earlier.

[VAULT EXIT – OVERRIDE GRANTED – TIME REMAINING: 15s]

Two more enemies rounded the corner.

Lucas dropped low, raised his bracer, and deployed Lightfang Grid—the emitters flaring into a neon lattice midair.

The moment the enemies crossed the threshold, the lattice snapped shut.

White light. Screaming. Instant neural shutdown.

Bai Sr. didn’t even flinch. "Elegant."

Lucas, panting now, turned toward him. "You’re not worried?"

"I’m already ten years ahead of this fight," the man replied calmly. "You’re just catching up."

They pushed forward—out into the final corridor, where the service ramp led back to the exterior launch point.

The ambush wasn’t done.

Shifters this time—fast and trained. Fully shifted, black-eyed, muscle-wrapped monsters that didn’t snarl anymore.

They just calculated.

Ava’s voice hit the comm again. "Lucas, I’ve rerouted Sovereign. You’ve got one shot. It’ll burn the entire east slope. Say the word."

Lucas looked at his father. "Cover your ears."

Bai Sr. adjusted his collar, unbothered. "Fire."

Lucas tapped the bracer.

[SOVEREIGN STRIKE – LOCKED AND PRIMED]

A high-pitched ping filled the air like a signal tearing through the bones of the mountain.

The shifters rushed forward.

Sovereign dropped from a launch node hidden in the ceiling—fist-sized, humming with Ava’s signature red-black coil.

The moment it hit the floor—

It screamed.

A vertical column of light ignited, white-hot and absolute.

The tunnel shook. The mountain groaned. Everything within fifteen meters vanished in a wash of plasma and smoke.

When it cleared, only Lucas and his father remained.

Breathing.

Bai Sr. adjusted his sleeve again. "Effective."

Lucas leaned against the wall. "Ava built it while I was unconscious."

"Then you’ve made one very good decision."

Lucas exhaled hard. "Finally."

From above, Ava dropped down the final ladder, sweat-slick and furious.

"You burned half the tunnel," she snapped. "That was my escape route!"

Lucas blinked. "You told me to use it."

"I meant smartly."

Bai Sr. stepped forward between them. "Children, we can bicker when we’re not being hunted."

They turned to him in perfect sync.

He smiled.

"I assume you’ve got transport?"

Lucas pointed up the cliff wall. "Hidden drop point. William’s waiting."

Bai Sr. nodded. "Good. Then let’s go home."

Ava nodded and walk in the front. The path was—an old maintenance trail woven between skeletal towers and rusted equipment, half-swallowed by dirt and creeping frost. No guards, no cameras. Just silence and stone, broken by wind and footsteps.

Lucas walked behind her.

Bai Sr. followed behind—not slow, not stumbling. He walked like a man who’d never left, like the ground still knew his weight.

They didn’t speak for the first three minutes.

Ava gave him a hand signal that she was going to scout moving a head leaving Lucas and his father some privacy.

His father broke the silence first.

"You’re not leading with questions. I expected more impatience."

Lucas didn’t look back. "I ran out of questions years ago."

"That didn’t stop you from following the path I left."

Lucas smirked, bitter and sharp. "Following isn’t the word I’d use."

"Fair."

They crested a rise. Below them, the drop point—a flat ridge under a broken solar canopy—sat in shadow. No lights. That meant William was already there.

Lucas slowed.

His father did too.

"So," Lucas said, "was there ever a version of the plan where you didn’t disappear?"

"Yes," Bai Sr. said calmly. "It required people listening when I said the system would fail."

"And when they didn’t?"

"I took steps."

Lucas glanced back, eyes narrowed. "You didn’t even say goodbye."

His father didn’t flinch. "Because I wasn’t finished yet."

Lucas stopped walking.

His boots crunched on loose gravel.

The wind picked up between them.

"I had to become who I needed to be," his father said. "And you had to survive long enough to become who I hoped you’d be."

"You think that’s comforting?"

"I don’t think it matters if it is."

Lucas scoffed. "Still sounds like a strategist."

"I am one."

They stood at the edge of the ridge now, the last curve before the pickup zone.

"I didn’t want to raise a loyal heir," his father continued. "I wanted to build a force strong enough to outmaneuver what’s coming."

Lucas turned slowly.

"This whole thing—was that the plan? Abandon your company, bury your research, sleep while the world ended, and leave me to sort out the scraps?"

Bai Sr. raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t just sort them. You turned them into an empire."

Lucas said nothing.

A moment passed.

Then—quietly—his father added, "When your mother died, I lost perspective. The kind that lets you see tomorrow without bitterness. I wasn’t fit to lead anymore. But I wasn’t willing to die either. So I stored the only thing I had left."

"Knowledge?"

"No." His gaze sharpened. "My leverage."

Lucas crossed his arms. "And now that you’re awake?"

"Now I use it. With you. If you’ll have me."

Lucas didn’t answer immediately.

The wind cut between them again, snapping at their coats.

Then Lucas said, "Ava’s scared of you."

"She should be. She’s clever enough to recognize power before it declares itself."

"You played god with her life."

His father gave the faintest nod. "And yet, she’s still standing. She’s not a tool, Lucas. She’s the proof."

Lucas met his gaze. "Of what?"

"That even engineered things can choose who they become."

Footsteps approached behind them.

Ava’s silhouette emerged between the trees—head down, pace steady, red lighting flickering softly from her bracer.

She didn’t speak as she reached them.

Lucas turned forward again.

"So what now?" he asked his father.

Bai Sr. didn’t answer right away.

He looked out over the ridge, hands folded neatly behind his back, the wind stirring the collar of his coat like it remembered how he used to move before everything went quiet.

Then—

"That’s your game now, son," he said, calm as always. "I’m just watching the show... and keeping an eye on the grandchildren when they come."

Lucas blinked.

Hard.

"You’re not serious."

"Of course I am," his father replied, like he’d just commented on the weather. "I’ve done my part. Set the board. Wrote the code. Faked my death twice. At this point, I’m retired."

"You were in cryo."

"Exactly. The most productive kind of retirement."

Lucas stared at him, eyes narrowed. "You don’t even know if I want kids."

His father glanced sideways. "You partnered with a girl who rewrites weapons systems in her sleep and threatens military brass without blinking. You’ll fold eventually."

Ava, coming up behind them just in time to hear that, coughed—hard.

"I’m right here, by the way."

Bai Sr. didn’t even look her way. "Good. Then you can confirm how right I am."

Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose. "We are not having this conversation at a tactical withdrawal point."

"Of course not," his father said pleasantly. "You have three more ambushes and at least one betrayal left before you can afford to talk family planning."

Ava looked between them, one brow raised.

"This is what I signed up for?"

Lucas exhaled slowly. "Apparently."

His father smiled—quiet and sharp.

Then he turned toward the drop ship as its silent lights flared on in the clearing below.

"I’ll let you lead now," he said, already moving. "But I expect quarterly updates. And no sudden engagements without vetting."

Lucas turned to Ava, deadpan.

"You see why I don’t bring him out often?"

"I don’t know," she said, lips twitching. "He’s starting to grow on me."

Lucas groaned. "That’s what I was afraid of."

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