The "Grey Zones" weren't just slums; they were the graveyard of R-nex's progress. Here, the skyscraper-sized holographic ads for "Hero-O's" cereal were glitched and flickering, and the air smelled of ozone and cheap synthetic noodles.
Kai led Mina through a labyrinth of shipping containers and rusted fire escapes. Mina was still trembling, her white-and-gold Academy uniform now stained with soot and blood. She looked like a fallen angel in a trash heap.
"Keep your head down," Kai whispered, checking a corner. "The R-nex drones don't come deep into the Sector 9, but the 'Scavengers' do. And they love the taste of Academy silk."
"Kai, we can't just hide," Mina said, her voice small but sharp. "Malice is going to tell the world we're terrorists. My parents... they'll see my face on the news next to a 'Wanted' level."
Kai stopped in front of an unmarked steel door beneath a bridge. "Your life as a 'Star-Tier' ended the moment you saw that footage, Mina. You're not a student anymore. You're a witness. And R-nex doesn't let witnesses graduate."
He knocked a specific rhythm: Three fast, one slow, two fast.
A small slot in the door slid open. A pair of mechanical eyes—camera lenses instead of pupils—scanned Kai's face.
"The Prodigal Son returns," a raspy, digital voice crackled. "And he brought a shiny gold souvenir. Bold move, Kaelen."
The door hissed open. Inside was a high-tech bunker that looked like a cross between a library and a chop-shop. Servers hummed in the corners, but they weren't R-nex blue; they were bathed in a dim, comforting amber.
Sitting behind a wall of monitors was a man in a tattered, expensive suit. He was drinking lukewarm coffee and smoking a cigarette that smelled like burnt cinnamon. This was Silver-Tongue, the man who used to write the scripts for the Sovereigns before he "retired" with a bullet wound and a lot of secrets.
"Sit," Silver-Tongue said, not looking up from his screens. "I've already scrubbed the street cams for three blocks, but Malice is smart. He didn't chase you because he's currently on New Heritage Live giving a tearful interview about how his 'favorite students' went rogue."
"He's a liar," Mina snapped.
"He's a professional," Silver-Tongue corrected, finally turning his chair. His face was scarred, one side paralyzed into a permanent, cynical smirk. "And you two are currently the most hated teenagers on the planet. Congratulations."
He threw a tablet onto the table. The headline read: ACADEMY TRAGEDY: Kaelen Vance Brainwashes Star-Pupil Mina Sato; R-nex Server Room Destroyed.
"We have the flash drive," Kai said, slamming the stolen data onto the desk. "The North Sector footage. The 'Acceptable Margins' clip. Everything."
Silver-Tongue picked up the drive, turning it over in his fingers. "This isn't just data, kid. This is a warhead. But you can't just upload this to the net. R-nex owns the satellites. They'll scrub it in seconds and call it a deep-fake."
"Then what do we do?" Mina asked.
"We go to the source," Silver-Tongue said, his eyes gleaming. "Next week is the Aegis Gala. The night R-nex announces the new rankings. Every hero, every executive, and every news camera will be in the same room. We don't just show the truth to the internet. We show it to the world, live, during the most-watched broadcast in history."
Kai looked at his hand—the skin was still faintly glowing from the solar energy he'd mimicked from Malice. It burned, but the pain felt like a compass pointing him forward.
"But to get into that Gala," Silver-Tongue continued, "you're going to need more than a stolen drive. You're going to need an army of 'Mistakes.'"
"The Underground," Kai whispered.
"Exactly. The kids R-nex threw away because their Grafts weren't 'marketable' enough. The ones with the 'glitch' powers." Silver-Tongue smiled, and it was a cold, sharp thing. "Starting with the girl they call 'Vantablack.'"
Kai froze. "Vantablack? I thought that was just an urban legend."
"She's real, Kaelen. And she can do things with shadows that make your 'Null-Void' look like a parlor trick. If you want to take the sun out of the sky, you're going to need the girl who can eat the dark."