The rooftop wind whipped Irene’s soaked hoodie against her back, the rain finally dying into a dull drizzle. The skyline buzzed beneath her, neon lights bleeding across the puddles on the ledge. Her phone buzzed again in her pocket.She ignored it. Again.“Still playing both sides?” Reika’s voice cut through the night like static. “Or did you finally pick one?”Irene didn’t turn. “You followed me?”“You’re not exactly stealth mode,” Reika said, stepping up beside her, crossing her arms. “One second you’re hacking Iron Hand firewalls like a pro, the next you’re ghosting the team. What’s going on with you?”“Maybe I like being unpredictable,” Irene muttered, voice dry.Reika gave her a side-eye. “Unpredictable gets people killed.”Irene turned slowly. “And playing it safe got Davion arrested.”Reika stiffened. “That wasn’t our fault.”“Wasn’t it?” Irene shot back. “You hesitated. Beverly froze. Wilson was too busy crying about ethics.”Reika’s jaw clenched. “Don’t do that.”“Do what?”“

Rain still clung to Irene’s hoodie as she sprinted down the fire escape, her boots slapping against the metal stairs. By the time she hit the ground, her heart was racing faster than her legs. She ducked into the alley, Reika’s voice trailing behind her.“Irene! Stop! Just wait a sec, would you?”Irene groaned. “Why are you following me?”“Because I’m not letting you walk into a trap alone!” Reika caught up, hair plastered to her face. “You’re literally the most stubborn human alive.”“Takes one to know one,” Irene muttered, brushing her wet bangs out of her eyes.Reika exhaled, grabbing her arm. “Look, I know you think you’ve got this. I know you think you don’t need anyone. But you’re wrong, okay? You do. Davion needs you, yeah, but we need you too.”Irene yanked her arm back. “This isn’t a group project, Reika. I don’t have time for a vote.”“But you do have time to be reckless? To trust some anonymous creepy voice on the phone?” Reika raised a brow. “That’s totally safe.”“They’ve

“Okay,” Davion winced, leaning against the alley wall, “so I might be dying.”“You’re not dying,” Reika snapped, yanking his arm and forcing him to limp faster. “You’re just being dramatic.”“My leg feels like it got run over by a truck.”“It basically did.”“Cool,” he muttered. “Thanks for confirming.”They were two blocks away from the tunnel now, ducking down side streets, the air sticky with night heat and city grime. The sirens behind them were fading, but Reika’s heart was still sprinting.She turned a sharp corner, dragging Davion along.“You good?”“Nope.”“Too bad.”They stumbled behind a closed salon and slumped down beside some empty crates.Davion exhaled shakily. “Irene really pulled a flashbang on them?”Reika nodded. “Like a total badass.”He shook his head in disbelief. “She always looked like she belonged in a library.”“Yeah, well,” Reika said, pulling out her burner phone. “Turns out she belongs in action movies.”A buzz. One new message.Beverly: “Where are you? I

The fire escape rattled under Irene’s boots as she practically launched herself down, heart thumping in her chest like it was trying to punch its way out. Her hoodie whipped behind her in the night wind, still damp from the rooftop rain. When her feet hit the alley pavement, she didn’t stop running.“West tunnel. Midnight,” she muttered under her breath, checking the cracked screen of her phone. 11:07 PM. Not much time.She yanked her bike from behind a trash bin, threw her hood up, and took off.As she sped through side streets and back alleys, headlights slicing past her at every intersection, her phone buzzed again.Reika.She ignored it.Buzz.Reika again.Ugh. Irene finally picked up, breathing hard. “What?”“Where are you? I swear, if you actually ditched me after that rooftop drama—”“I told you I’m going alone.”“Yeah, well, I told you that was a dumb plan.”Irene swerved around a pothole. “Reika, this isn’t a group project. It’s a rescue mission.”“You’re going to get shot!”

Irene’s boots hit the pavement with a wet smack. Midnight wind whipped her hair into her eyes as she sprinted across the empty street. The city was quiet—too quiet. Even the usual hum of late-night traffic had vanished like it knew something was about to go down.She reached the edge of the west tunnel and ducked behind a stack of rusted crates. Her breath came out shaky, fogging in the cold air. She checked her phone. 12:07 a.m.“Where the hell are you…” she whispered.A pair of headlights cut through the darkness. A matte-black van rolled up to the tunnel’s mouth, silent and creepy as hell.Irene squinted. There were two people in the front seat, maybe more in the back. The license plate was fake. Of course it was.She reached into her backpack and pulled out a flash drive, holding it tight in her fist. Just in case.“Alright, Irene,” she muttered to herself. “Time to crash the party.”She started moving along the shadows when—“I knew you wouldn’t listen.”She spun around, heart pu