"Just a training mishap," Elara said smoothly from the dark back seat, her voice perfectly mimicking a tired, defeated prisoner as she leaned into the light. "Your boy here is clumsy. Open the door."The lobby guard didn't notice the knife hidden below the window frame. He just laughed at the operator's pale, trembling face."Man, the Director is going to chew you out for getting sloppy on a clean run. Go on up. The lift is clear."The guard tapped the authorization scanner, and the heavy glass doors clicked open, granting access to the private upper levels. He was still chuckling as he stepped back toward his post, but his eyes caught the subtle angle of Elara’s arm in the transport's side mirror.From that perspective, the shadow failed to hide the metallic gleam. He saw the exact trajectory of her hand and the unmistakable blackened hilt of a knife pressed deep into his teammate's side.The guard’s laughter vanished. His face hardened as his hand dropped toward his rifle."Wait

Beatrice’s submissive expression vanished, replaced by a ruthless flash in her eyes. Before Elara’s fingers could touch her skin, Beatrice planted her left foot, pivoted her hips with professional speed, and launched her right leg upward.The emerald robe split open as her leg flashed out in a flawless, blindingly fast front kick.Oof!The heavy sole of Beatrice’s foot slammed squarely into Elara’s midsection, striking her vest with immense power. The force of the impact drove the wind right out of Elara's lungs.Elara’s eyes widened in genuine shock. She flew backward across the garden pathway, her boots skidding wildly against the slick stone before she stumbled over a low planter. She hit the ground hard, gasping desperately to force oxygen back into her chest.Down by the grill, the injured operator’s jaw dropped.Beatrice brought her leg down, settling into a balanced combat stance as her robe billowed around her. A sharp, triumphant grin stretched across her face as she look

With a slow, precise step to the left, Elara evaded a snapping kick to her wounded thigh. She slid backward, boots skimming wet marble tiles as a vicious hook kick missed her chin by a fraction of an inch. Ducking, swerving, and sidestepping, Elara moved through the rain of strikes like a ghost in the neon-tinted dark.Every one of Beatrice’s next attacks hit empty air.The contrast was absolute. Beatrice exerted massive amounts of energy, her movements growing wider and wilder with every missed blow, while Elara moved minimally, conserving her remaining stamina. By the fifth consecutive miss, Beatrice’s foot slammed heavily into the solid wooden dining table, sending ceramic mugs and half-empty wine glasses shattering across the stone floor.The impact vibrated up Beatrice's leg, causing her to stagger as her emerald robe caught on the wood.Elara stopped just out of reach. Her head was bleeding, but her breath was finally coming easier. An unhinged grin returned to her bloodie

"MISSS!!!" Shaw screamed, his voice a frantic mixture of pure panic and explosive rage. "Where the hell have you been?! I have called you fifty-four times! Fifty-four! Do you have any idea what it’s like sitting in an extraction rig watching your biometric vitals spike into the red while your comms go completely dead?!""Shaw, calm down—" Elara rasped, wiping a fresh line of sweat and blood from her eyebrow."Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Shaw shouted, cutting her off. He was practically hyperventilating over the encrypted frequency. "You vanished from the grid! Your tracking beacon was flickering! I'm already in transit, burning through my thruster cells, coming to get you right now! Where are you?! Give me coordinates before I pull my own hair out!"Elara shifted the transport into drive, the electric motor humming to life as she steered the heavy vehicle out of the private residential bay and into the subterranean transit tunnels."I'm fine, Shaw. Seriously," Elara said,

Vance slowly turned his head, his face pale with a cold wrath. "Elara Blackwood," Vance said, his voice trembling with a hard edge. "She bypassed our entire penthouse security network. She dismantled the guard detail. She has kidnapped Beatrice."Val froze, his mind short-circuiting. The digital coin dropped from his fingers, clicking loudly as it bounced across the marble floor. He was so stunned that for a few seconds, he couldn't form a sentence. His aunt Beatrice, the fiercely guarded matriarch of their logistics empire, had been taken from her own sanctuary by a dying girl."Aunt... Aunt Beatrice?" Valerius stammered, his eyes darting around the room in shock as the weight of the nightmare settled in. "How is that even possible?!"Down in the fortified basement holding cells of the Vance estate, the heavy security lockdown had barely registered with the two prisoners.Zarek and Tinny ignored the distant blaring, sitting across from each other at a bolted table. A massive spr