The air inside AGILA's hideout felt thick. Not just with smoke from the emergency heaters or dust from the crumbling stone walls—but with everything unspoken.
They had won.
But no one felt victorious.
Vega sat in the corner, cross-legged, calibrating one of their stolen sensors. His fingers moved, but his eyes were distant. Lyra stood near the tunnel entrance, arms crossed, watching Mira—who hadn't spoken since they arrived.
Enzo leaned on the table in the center of the room, scanning a rotating map projection. ARGYROS, still hovering near Mira's wrist, flickered with low energy pulses.
"You can say it," Mira murmured. "I'm dangerous."
Enzo looked up. "You're not."
"I felt every death in that facility," she said, eyes distant. "The ones we couldn't save. I watched one man's memories while we were escaping. He thought he was already dead."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "You almost lost control. You screamed when the pulse started."
"I didn't mean to," Mira whispered. "I didn't know that would happen."
"You were fine in the field," Vega added. "You helped us get out. That matters."
"She's not wrong," Enzo said, standing upright. "But we need to understand your limits before the next mission."
Mira nodded but stayed silent.
The flickering map suddenly blared red.
"Signal intercept," Vega muttered. "Localized sweep—Descovinio patrols near Sector 12. They're not searching random blocks anymore. They're triangulating."
"They're hunting us," Lyra said.
Enzo nodded. "Drago won't let the loss at Facility 19-A go unanswered."
"So what now?" Vega asked. "We saved thirty civilians. One relic holder. We made a dent, but we don't have supply lines. No allies. No staging points. We're running on steam and old conviction."
Enzo turned the map off. The silence hit like a physical weight.
"You're saying we should stop?"
"No," Vega said. "I'm saying if we keep moving without a plan, we'll burn out. Or worse—get others killed."
Mira flinched.
Lyra shifted her weight and finally said what had been building in her throat:
"You move like a soldier, Enzo. But sometimes... you talk like someone who knows this war better than anyone else. You ever going to tell us how?"
Enzo looked at her. For a breath too long.
Then: "When it matters."
Lyra shook her head and turned away.
---
That night, Mira sat alone in the storage room, knees pulled to her chest. ARGYROS hovered silently beside her, flickering like a heartbeat.
She whispered to it. Not words. Just thoughts.
They'll leave me behind.
She replayed the screams, the chaos, the echo of terror she'd absorbed. Her arms trembled, though the room was warm.
Enzo found her like that. Quiet. Curled in the dark.
"Can't sleep either?" he asked gently.
"I don't sleep. Not really. ARGYROS replays what I see until it decides I've understood it."
Enzo sat against the opposite wall.
"It's not a weakness," he said. "Empathy. Feeling what others feel. It's why you'll never be like them."
"I don't want to be part of this war."
"You already are."
She nodded.
"I'll try harder."
"You've done more than try."
She looked up at him then. Her expression was different—less afraid.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Mira asked. "That… pressure. Like something's coming."
Enzo didn't answer.
Because he did feel it.
And it wasn't just the soldiers. It was the palace. The bloodline.
And the inevitable collision.
---
The next morning, Vega cracked the firewall on a signal fragment Mira had captured during the escape.
He played the audio.
Distorted. Masked. But the voice was male, calm, and laced with familiarity.
> "You made your move, and now they're watching all of us. Ricthard sees more than you think, and Drago's leash is longer than it looks. But you're not alone in this."
Pause. Static.
> "There are other cracks in the empire. Deeper than blood. If you want answers… head east. The ruins beneath Auris. It starts there."
End of message.
Vega leaned back.
"That's Palace-level encryption," he said. "This wasn't a civilian broadcast. Someone inside helped us."
Lyra looked at Enzo. But said nothing.
Mira stared at the recording. "I know that voice," she said. "I heard it once… years ago, when they brought me in."
Enzo looked at the map.
Then at the skyline beyond the cavern entrance.
"Auris," he whispered. "Then that's where we go next."
Behind them, the terminal blinked once, then died.
Outside, a storm began to rise.