Justice Looms

Justice Looms

The pre-dawn surveillance grid at Dow James flickered with anomalies only Malachi Vazquez could read. 📡🌅 His modified visor displayed cascading data streams as he set up for the morning round, each glitch in the city's watching eyes telling a story of desperation. The Glitch Renegade tag on his bag pulsed in rhythm with the disruptions—Malcolm Cross was moving assets, and he was doing it sloppily.

"You seeing this, Spark?" Neon Blaze's voice crackled through his earpiece as she arrived at the course, her mohawk catching the first rays of dawn. "The whole grid's lighting up like a Christmas tree."

Malachi's fingers danced across his touchscreen gloves, isolating the pattern. "He's not just moving money anymore. These are evacuation protocols—safe houses, weapons caches, even some judges on his payroll. The man's scared." His specialized disc spun between his fingers, its RFID scrambler circuits ready to sing. 🥏⚡

Raven Blackwood materialized from the shadows, having monitored their encrypted channel. The Shadow Sentinel leader studied Malachi's data with tactical precision, her mind already calculating implications. "If Cross is this desperate after last week's revelations, he's planning something catastrophic. Show me everything."

The unlikely trio huddled around Malachi's holographic display as other players began arriving. Each surveillance anomaly painted a clearer picture—Cross had kill switches throughout the city's infrastructure, dead man's switches that would destroy evidence and eliminate witnesses if triggered. The corruption ran deeper than circuits and servers; it was hardwired into the city's bones.

"There," Malachi pointed to a cluster of anomalies near the abandoned subway tunnels. "That's not just data traffic. He's physically there, probably in the old emergency command center. My predecessor built it to be invisible to the grid, but—" He smiled grimly. "I wrote the patches that made it visible again. He doesn't know I can see him."

Blaze's electric eyes gleamed with possibility. "So we've got location, we've got evidence, and we've got a city full of citizens ready to stand up. Time to end this." 🎯⚔️

"Not so fast," Raven cautioned, her experience tempering their enthusiasm. "Those kill switches change everything. We move wrong, and every witness we've protected, every piece of evidence we've gathered—it all burns. We need precision and spectacle working in perfect harmony."

As the tournament officially began, the three vigilantes found themselves on the same card—a twist of fate that Malachi suspected wasn't entirely random. His modified visor showed him more than just the course; it revealed the invisible web of surveillance surrounding them, the electronic eyes that Malcolm Cross was surely monitoring.

"First test," Malachi announced, selecting a disc with specific RFID modifications. "Watch the lamp posts on hole three."

His throw carved a perfect anhyzer line, the disc's electromagnetic field creating a ripple effect as it passed each electronic device. Street lights flickered, security cameras swiveled randomly, and for exactly seven seconds, a blind spot opened in the surveillance grid. The disc chains with a satisfying crash, but the real victory was in the data now flowing to Malachi's systems. 💿🔍

"Impressive," Raven admitted, her own throw following a more traditional line. "But seven seconds won't be enough to evacuate witnesses or breach his bunker."

"That's where the community comes in," Blaze interjected, launching her disc with characteristic flair. "Malachi, what if every Neon Knight threw one of your special discs simultaneously? Could you create a city-wide blind spot?"

The tech specialist's augmented eyes widened with possibility. "Not just a blind spot—a complete grid reversal. Every camera Cross uses to watch us would turn inward, broadcasting his operations instead of ours. But I'd need at least fifty synchronized throws, timed to the millisecond."

"I can give you a hundred," Blaze grinned, already composing a message to her network. "Every course in the city, all at once. Call it... Operation Static Storm." 🌩️📡

Raven's tactical mind was already adapting to this new possibility. "While they're blinded by their own surveillance, my Sentinels extract the witnesses and secure physical evidence. But Cross will have manual overrides, backup systems—"

"Already on it," Malachi interrupted, his next throw precisely calculated to pass through three specific electromagnetic fields. "Each disc that hits metal creates a resonance pattern. By hole nine, I'll have mapped every backup circuit in his command center. The old emergency bunker has exactly seventeen redundant systems, and I know the frequency to disable each one."

The round progressed with dual purpose—competitive disc golf masking revolutionary planning. Other players, unaware of the conversation's weight, cheered good shots and commiserated over tree kicks. But the Lone Wolves were orchestrating something unprecedented: a synchronized strike combining the Neon Knights' public power with the Shadow Sentinels' surgical precision, all enabled by Malachi's technological wizardry.

At hole seven, Malachi's surveillance detected something troubling. "We've got company. Not cops—private military contractors. Cross is bringing in outside muscle." His modified disc flew low, its scrambler field temporarily disabling their vehicle's communications. "That bought us maybe twenty minutes before they realize they're cut off."

"Then we escalate the timeline," Blaze decided, her throw angry and powerful. "Tonight. Every Knight, every Sentinel, every citizen who's ready to stand up. We hit him before he can fully prepare."

Raven wanted to object—rushed operations led to mistakes—but Malachi's data supported Blaze's instinct. "She's right. The grid shows increasing activity around Cross's location. If we wait until tomorrow, he'll have tripled his security or vanished entirely." 🚨⏰

As they approached hole nine, Malachi prepared his masterpiece. Nine holes of careful throws had mapped the electromagnetic landscape, each metal basket and sign becoming part of his grand design. His final disc was special—jury-rigged with components salvaged from the very surveillance systems that had once betrayed him.

"This is for everyone Cross silenced," he said quietly, then launched the disc with perfect form.

The throw was beautiful—a long, stable flight that seemed to bend reality around it. As it approached the basket, every electronic device within a hundred yards responded to its call. Screens flickered with fragments of evidence, speakers crackled with recorded confessions, and for one brilliant moment, the truth was everywhere and undeniable. The disc hit chains dead center, and Malachi's network exploded with data. 💥📊

"Got him," he breathed, his visor displaying Malcolm Cross's complete defensive layout. "Every camera angle, every escape route, every contingency. He built his fortress on my architecture, and I just found every secret door."

Blaze was already broadcasting to her Knights, her voice carrying the electric energy of imminent victory. "Tonight, we paint the truth across this city in lights he can't turn off. Every street corner, every screen, every surface—Malcolm Cross's empire ends where our voices begin."

Raven, for once, didn't counsel caution. The evidence was clear, the plan was solid, and—though she'd never admit it publicly—Blaze's methods had proven their worth. "My Sentinels will be ready. Extraction teams, evidence securing, witness protection—all coordinated with your public operation."

"And I'll be your eyes," Malachi promised, his fingers already preparing the next phase of code. "When those hundred discs fly tonight, Cross's surveillance grid becomes our broadcasting network. Every crime he's hidden, every official he's bought, every life he's destroyed—it all goes public in a storm of static and truth."

As the round concluded and players began dispersing, the three unlikely allies stood together at the final basket. The sun was fully up now, burning away the morning mist and revealing the city in all its corrupted glory. But change was coming, carried on electromagnetic wings and propelled by righteous fury. 🌇⚖️

"Stay sharp and throw true, Wolves," Raven said, surprising herself by including the Neon Knights in her traditional farewell. "Tonight, we remind Malcolm Cross why lone wolves hunt in packs."

Blaze's grin was electric with anticipation. "And why the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. He won't see us coming because we'll be everywhere at once."

Malachi simply nodded, his augmented vision already overlaying the city with tactical data. The Glitch Renegade had spent years hiding from the system that betrayed him. Tonight, he would turn that system into the very weapon that would destroy Malcolm Cross's empire.

The justice they'd sought for so long was finally within reach. All it would take was perfect timing, unprecedented cooperation, and a hundred discs flying in synchronized rebellion against the darkness. The finale was coming, and the city itself would be their battlefield. 🐺🎯