Responsibility doesn't float forever.
Eventually, it settles.
Not where it's assigned.Not where it's loudest.But where people keep returning even when nothing happens.
That was the shift I felt as we moved back into the city—not chasing incidents, not reacting to pressure, but choosing places that the system treated as background noise.
Corners without cameras.Clinics without funding.Routes people relied on because there were no alternatives.
Arjun caught on quickly."So we're… staying put?"
"Yes," I said."Long enough to matter."
The girl nodded."Long enough to be missed."
Aaryan smiled thinly."Ah. Territorial responsibility. Systems hate that."
✦
We started with the clinic.
Not the big one with layered security and polite denial—but the smaller annex three streets away. The one that handled overflow when the main facility rerouted too aggressively.
It didn't look closed.
It just looked tired.
Lights on.Door unlocked.Front desk unattended.
