Combat Core Quarters — Early Morning
Levi rose before the break of dawn.
lily still in her bed, motionless. He assumed she was asleep.
He dressed quietly — uniform pants, boots, blades at his hips.
He stepped out and shut the door behind him.
Silvia opened one eye.
"…Of course," she muttered, rolling onto her side.
—
Combat Core Training Chamber — Sublevel
The private training chamber sat beneath Combat Core headquarters.
Levi had requested it himself.
The walls were lined with conductive plating and reinforced alloy designed to disperse and recycle high-voltage output. It wasn't a place to fight.
It was a place to handle his power properly.
A place where he could release it without collateral damage.
He stepped into the center of the room.
Exhaled.
Lightning erupted from him in multiple directions at once.
Bolts slammed into the walls, ricocheted, and shot back toward him at unpredictable angles.
Levi pivoted sharply, dodging the first wave. A second followed. Then a third.
He increased the output.
More bolts.
More reflections.
Faster.
The chamber began to fill with crossing streaks of white and blue light.
He kept moving.
Adjusting.
Reacting.
As the bolts began to number in the hundreds… then thousands… he shifted tactics.
Instead of dodging, he began intercepting.
He drew one blade and let a bolt strike it directly. The electricity ran along the metal and grounded into the floor grid.
Another bolt.
Another.
Soon both blades were drawn.
He wasn't reacting anymore.
He was anticipating.
Angle.
Speed.
Voltage.
Each strike redirected almost casually, as if he already knew where it would come from.
—
Then the chamber door slid open and Lily slipped inside.
She had meant to watch quietly but then a bolt ricocheted toward her from the left wall.
Levi vanished from the center of the room.
He reappeared in front of her in a blur of white light.
Without even looking back, he flicked one dagger over his shoulder.
The blade intercepted the bolt midair.
Electricity exploded across the steel and dispersed harmlessly into the grounding plates.
Silence followed.
Levi caught the dagger as it fell.
"…Sorry," he said calmly. "Didn't see you come in."
Lily stared at him for half a second longer than she meant to.
The discipline.
The control.
The fact that he didn't even look.
She folded her arms.
"I came to train."
A lie but a decent one.
Levi nodded, accepting that without question.
"Good."
He sheathed one blade and powered down the room.
The chamber lights dimmed as the residual charge faded.
—
Combat Core Training Chamber — Rest Area
They sat briefly along the wall.
Levi leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"…Lily."
She glanced over.
"How much do you know about the capital's internal procedures?"
She blinked.
"That's specific."
"I'm still adjusting to the administrative side of this," he admitted. "Reports. Protocol. Rank structures. Its so different here, It feels like everyone else knows something I don't."
Lily studied him.
"…You must not have paid attention much in the academy."
"Well you'd be right if i had actually gone to the academy in the first place."
Lily blinked quickly stunned in disbelief.
"Stone recruited me off the street and i was later field promoted when he died, Everything I know came from him."
That explained it.
It explained everything.
"You're not like the others," Lily said quietly. "Most officers spend years in cadet programs before they ever hold authority."
She paused.
"That recruitment style… it hasn't been used since the War for Peace."
Levi looked at her.
"War for Peace?"
"When outlaws were at their peak. Five Points was still forming. They needed numbers. Strength first. Structure later."
"It appears Captain Stone came from that era."
Levi leaned back slightly.
"So I was trained the old way."
"Yes."
"And now?"
"Now they refine officers," Lily said. "Education. Discipline. Doctrine. They say it prevents power from rising without control."
Levi didn't comment on that.
If anything, it made him more aware of how out of place he was.
"If you want to understand more," Lily added, "we should visit the Grand Archives."
"The grand Archives?"
"It houses the largest bank of information in the capital, Anything youd ever want to know about our history you'll find it there."
"Good, then thats our destination."
—
Combat Core Courtyard — Morning Drills
Morning drills passed quickly.
Recruits trained.
Orders were issued.
Routine continued.
By midday, Levi and Lily were already on their way.
—
Grand Archives — Central Capital
The capital's knowledge repository rose like a cathedral of stone and glass.
Massive pillars.
Layered floors.
Data terminals alongside centuries-old texts.
Levi immediately noticed something else.
The technology.
Cleaner.
More advanced.
Integrated into everything.
The capital wasn't just politically superior.
It was technologically ahead.
He moved through historical records first.
Five Points founding.
Heroic narratives.
Accounts portraying them as humanity's shield against chaos.
Most of it was information Lily already knew.
But for Levi, much of it was new.
Too polished.
Too unified.
As if history had been edited for clarity.
Then he shifted focus to anything pertaining to x-9 and its production.
[Access restricted.]
He tried variations.
[Prototype Collar Compound.]
[Experimental restraint systems.]
[Dr. Hagan Kestrel.]
Only one file surfaced.
An old Research & Development facility.
[Destroyed in a fire.]
[Date of destruction—]
Levi's eyes narrowed.
That timeline aligned almost exactly with Dr. Kestrel's disappearance.
"…Convenient," he muttered.
He requested deeper access.
[Denied.]
[Rank insufficient.]
[Certain archives require higher clearance — a need-to-know hierarchy designed to keep sensitive information compartmentalized.]
At his current rank, that door was closed.
Levi exhaled slowly.
Then he stood.
"…I'll climb," he said quietly.
Lily glanced at him.
"If that's what it takes."
—
Grand Archives — Exterior Steps
Outside, Lily spoke first.
"There's another option."
Levi looked at her.
"Scientia."
"The R&D headquarters sector," she clarified. "If anything survived that fire, it would be archived or replicated there."
Levi considered it.
"How far?"
"Far enough that we'd need to stay overnight."
He nodded once.
"Then we go."
—
Unknown Location — Surveillance Terminal
A terminal flickered.
[Search activity flagged.]
[Keywords logged.]
[X-9.]
[Kestrel.]
[Old R&D facility.]
A notification was sent.
Then erased.
Someone had noticed.
—
Capital Transit Rail — En Route to Scientia
The train to Scientia cut through the capital at high speed.
Levi and Lily sat across from each other in a private compartment, documents spread between them.
They reviewed what little they had uncovered.
Some of it was new even to Lily — connections she hadn't thought to examine before.
That was Levi's strength.
He didn't look where people expected.
He looked where something felt wrong.
Conversation shifted to the Star Badges and the legends tied to them.
"Divine artifacts," Lily said. "Gifted to humanity by the god of Order."
Levi looked down at his badge.
"They're said to have presence," she continued. "A will. Though most never experience it directly."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I use lightning whenever I want. What more is there?"
Lily folded her hands thoughtfully.
"Historical records mention certain users who reached a different state. Their power increased dramatically. Beyond what standard officers are capable of although most information is redacted."
"How?"
"They called it a kind of resonance."
Levi waited.
"They stopped borrowing power… and began wielding it."
He frowned slightly.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Lily shook her head.
"Maybe what we use now is only a fraction. A portion allowed to us. And once someone reaches a certain level… the badge grants access to more."
Levi looked at his hand.
The lightning had felt different lately.
Less resistance.
Less backlash.
As if it was syncing.
He didn't say that out loud.
Instead, he returned to the other thought pressing at him.
"The fire," he said.
Lily looked up.
"The old R&D building was destroyed around the same time Captain Irons mentioned Dr. kestral vanished,that cant be a coincidence."
"Yes."
"It doesn't sit right with me."
The train roared past another sector boundary.
Levi stared out the window.
"If Kestrel built X-9… and that building burned…"
"…Then either someone buried the research," Lily finished, "or someone inherited it."
Silence settled between them.
Scientia was approaching.
Levi's jaw tightened slightly.
"…Let's hope we find the truth," he said.
The train accelerated into the night.
Unaware that someone was already preparing for their arrival.