[EVENING – STREET]
The sky had begun to dim.
Noah and Lilly walked in silence now,
the earlier tension refusing to dissolve.
Lilly broke it first.
"That guy," she said. "The one who looked at us."
Noah nodded. "He wasn't curious."
"That's not comforting."
They stopped at a crossroad.
Lilly checked her notes again, more out of habit than need.
"We have enough for the assignment.
Patterns, anomalies, suspicious presence."
She looked up.
"But this doesn't feel like a school project."
Noah didn't answer immediately.
"Yeah,"
"It doesn't."
[ROOFTOP – MS. MAI]
Ms. Mai watched them separate—Lilly turning toward her apartment complex,
Noah heading deeper into the neighborhood.
Her finger tapped once against her wrist.
A coded vibration responded.
Low-priority channel.
Observation only.
She exhaled slowly.
"They're already brushing against it," she murmured.
"And they don't even know what it is."
Her gaze shifted to the street below.
The man with the wrist mark was gone.
That bothered her more than if he'd stayed.
[UNDERGROUND – ABANDONED TRANSIT HUB]
Unit Zero wiped out most,
The remaining few sensed it.
"Show yourself!" thug yelled.
Footsteps answered.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A man stepped into the dim light.
Black combat coat.
No insignia.
No mask.
Short hair.
Cold eyes.
A faint scar ran from his jaw to his neck.
"Name's Kade Riven," he said.
"Unit Zero. Ace designation."
No one knew what that meant.
"You are not supposed to tell them that Kade!" Vera angered,
They learned fast.
"Dead people tell no tale." Kade sneered.
The first attacker rushed him with a blade.
Kade shifted—not back, but in.
He caught the wrist, twisted crack, then used the attacker's momentum to drive a knee into his face. Teeth shattered. The body dropped.
A gunman fired.
Kade didn't dodge.
He took the hit in the shoulder, spun with it, and threw his own knife in the same motion.
It buried itself in the shooter's eye.
Blood sprayed.
Pain flared—but Kade didn't slow.
Another swung a pipe.
Thump, It connected.
Hard.
Kade staggered.
For half a second, the criminals thought they had a chance.
Then he smiled.
"Good," he said quietly. "I was getting bored."
He surged forward.
A punch cracked ribs. crack
A kick crushed a knee the other way. grunts
A head slammed into concrete—thud thud thud.
Gasps. Someone tried to choke him from behind.
Kade let it happen.
Let the pressure build.
Grabbed his head, flipped behind
Twisted his neck, crack.
Seven down.
Two left.
Both firing.
Bullets tore into Kade's side and thigh. He grunted, dropped to one knee.
"Riven, pull back," Vera snapped.
"You're hit."
Kade wiped blood from his mouth.
Shot weapons from their hands
"No," he said.
"Let me finish."
He pushed up.
The remaining men broke.
One ran.
Kade threw his last blade.
The final man screamed and charged.
Desperation.
Fear.
Kade met him head-on.
Headbutted
The man landed a solid hit—split Kade's brow open.
For a moment, they stood forehead to forehead, breathing hard.
Then Kade whispered, "You should've stayed invisible."
He headbutted him.
Once.
Twice.
The third time ended it.
Silence returned.
Kade stood alone in the hub, blood dripping onto concrete.
Unit Zero moved in —ghosts reclaiming the scene.
No bodies were left behind.
No evidence.
No story.
Only absence.
[CONTROL ROOM – LIVE UPDATE]
"Cell neutralized," the operator reported.
"No spillover. No trace."
The Chief Commander nodded once.
"And the symbol?"
"Still appearing elsewhere."
The President folded his hands.
"So it's not one head," he said.
"It's a network."
"A growing one," the Commander replied.
The school feed reappeared on the main screen.
Noah at home.
Lilly safe behind locked doors.
Ms. Mai standing alone in the dark.
"And the children?" the President asked.
The Commander didn't look away.
"They're closer than we want," he said.
"And further than they should be."
[NOAH'S BED – Thinking of Earlier Encounter]
Noah stopped.
Across the street, a man was looking at him. Tall. Thin. Smiling.
Noah frowned.
Why is he smiling like that?
Noah's brain cycled through options:
Do I know him?
Is my zipper down?
Is he selling something?
The man didn't blink. He just kept smiling, like he was waiting for Noah to do a backflip.
Maybe he's lost, Noah thought. Nana says city people get lost easily. I should be polite.
Noah decided to stare back, waiting for the man to ask for directions. It was the polite thing to do. If you look away, it's rude.
So Noah stared.
Unblinking.
Patient.
Come on, Noah thought. Just ask where the station is.
The man's smile widened slightly. Then he turned and walked away.
Noah blinked.
"…Weirdo," he muttered.
[MS. MAI – PRIVATE LOG]
Subject proximity increasing.
Environmental threats confirmed.
Memory interference detected.
She paused, fingers hovering.
Then added one last line.
Personal note:
The promise… may not have been childish.
She closed the log.