Katherine’s shoulders sagged. The air in the apartment still felt thick with Kyle's unsettling presence, even after he agreed to her conditions – or at least, pretended to. "Alright," she said, her voice tired. "The list. But it won’t be quick. Accessing that level of Association data, bypassing their security without raising alarms... it’ll take a few days. Minimum." He nodded, pushing himself up from the armchair. The casual movement didn’t match the cold calculation that moments before filled his eyes. "That’s fine," he said. "I have my own plans in the meantime." He didn’t elaborate. He never did. He walked towards the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. "Thanks, boss." Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him with a soft finality. Katherine stood there, staring at the closed door, the silence amplifying the thumping in her chest. The smell of spilled wine was sharp in the air. She finally let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. "Are you completely

Three days. Three long, nerve-shredding days since Kyle's unsettling visit. Katherine’s fingers hovered over the encrypted datachip on her desk. The information was there – names, affiliations, suspected abilities of key Association Hunters. A list that felt heavier than lead. Each byte of data was a potential death sentence, for them or for Kyle. Or for her, if this went wrong. ’He said he’d be in touch,’ she thought, chewing on her thumbnail. ’When? How?’ Every unexpected noise in the Guildhall made her jump. Every sideways glance from a colleague felt like an accusation. Her desk comm chimed, the sound sharp and sudden. She flinched. "Katherine, report to my office. Immediately." Zara’s voice, clipped and cold. No room for argument. Katherine’s blood ran cold. ’Oh no.’ She knew that tone. It wasn’t about budget reports or overdue paperwork. It was the tone Zara used when something big, something bad, had hit the fan. ’She knows. Or she suspects.’ "On my way, guildmaster," sh

The air changed. The dry, ancient stone smell of the castle vanished, replaced by the damp, metallic tang of Necrus. Raindrops, fine and cold, immediately misted Kyle's face. He stood on a flat, tarred rooftop, the city sprawling around them, a mess of dark buildings and flickering neon signs under a sky Viv appeared a second later, a grin already splitting her face as she breathed in the city air. "Ah, home sweet hell," she muttered, stretching her arms. "Smells like desperation and bad noodles. I missed it." Kyle ignored her. He walked to the edge of the rooftop, crouching low. The Tiger Guild liaison office was across the narrow street, three floors up in a grey, utilitarian building. Lights burned in a few windows, muted behind rain-streaked glass. Katherine’s schematics indicated the trackers’ main workspace was on the second floor, rear-facing offices. "Target acquired," Kyle said, his voice flat. He pointed. "Second floor. Two primary targets there, according to the chip. Ano

The alarm blared from the floor below, a shrill, insistent cry that cut through the relative quiet of the trackers’ office. Heavy boots pounded down a distant Guild corridor, the sound rapidly growing closer."Party’s over," Kyle stated, his voice flat. He glanced at Arachne, who was still at the main console. "Status?""Virus deployed," she reported, her fingers a blur across the interface. Lines of code scrolled, then screens flickered and died. "Local data corruption initiated. Their immediate tracking capabilities for this sector are offline. Spreading to networked systems will take time, but their eyes are blind here, for now.""Good enough." No time for a full system wipe. He turned towards the window they’d entered through. "Out. Same way."Viv grinned, wiping her daggers on a dead tracker’s uniform. "My favorite kind of exit. Quick and messy." She was already moving towards the window, light on her feet.The shouts were louder now, echoing from the main corridor just outside t

Arachne stood beside Natalie, occasionally offering quiet corrections or pointing out structural weak points in the Spire’s lower defenses that Natalie might have missed. Viv lounged in a chair, sharpening one of her daggers with a whetstone, occasionally interjecting with cynical comments about the Spire’s likely kill zones."They’ll have psionic dampeners around the divination sanctums," Viv said, not looking up from her blade. "And probably some nasty energy leeches in the conduit corridors. Standard high-security playbook. Try not to get your brain scrambled or your fancy powers sucked dry, Boss.""We won’t be there long enough for it to matter," Kyle stated, though he filed away Viv’s warning. Psionic interference was a concern.A faint chime echoed from the main hall. A soft, almost melodic sound, utterly out of place in the castle’s ancient stone silence.All four of them froze.Kyle's head snapped up, his eyes instantly alert. Arachne was already moving towards the war room do