The noise of Dharavi was a constant shield. The hum of small plastic workshops, the clatter of metal sheets, and the voices of thousands of residents created a wall of sound that blocked out the rest of Mumbai.
In a small concrete room beneath a leather workshop, Vikram sat on the floor, his back resting against a brick wall. His body was completely exhausted, his muscles aching from the Prana ignition at the docks. Faint blue sparks still flickered under his skin, but they were weak.
Rahul stood by the small wooden window, watching the street. "Patil's police cars are patrolling the main slum entries. They have set up checkpoints, looking for anyone with high-voltage signatures."
"They are looking for me," Vikram said, his voice quiet.
"They are looking for all of us," Rohan said, entering the room with a plate of hot rice and lentils. "Rhea is safe in the Dharavi server node. She has hidden our data logs. But the news is bad, Vikram. The blackout has spread. Central Mumbai—Dadar and Lower Parel—went dark an hour ago. The Vow is turning off the city block by block."
"Why isn't the national government stepping in?" Rahul asked.
"Because Devendra Malhotra is telling the media it's a technical failure caused by a solar flare," Rohan said, sitting on a wooden box. "He's the city's hero, deploying Malhotra Corp's generators to 'emergency sectors'—which are actually Vow strongholds."
Vikram took a bite of the food, the warmth returning some strength to his core. He looked at the leather notebook on his lap.
"We have to hit their nodes," Vikram said. "If the main transmitter is under the Gateway, it needs secondary power nodes to run the Grid across the north. There are three major nodes in old textile mills in Dadar."
"But Dadar is already in the dark," Rahul said. "If we go in there, Javed's Wraiths will be waiting. In a blackout, they have the absolute advantage."
"Then we don't go in blind," Vikram said. "We need to train. I need to learn how to sense the shadow energy before it strikes. My father wrote about *Tenebrous Sensing*—using our own Prana electromagnetic field like radar."
"We have twelve hours before the next node goes active," Rohan said. "Show me how to ignite my Prana, Vikram. If we're going into the dark, I'm not going to be a liability."