Raya pressed herself against the icy wall of the maintenance alcove, breath tight and measured. Frost needled through her jacket and thermals, sharp as pins against her skin.

Somewhere in the distance, the sharp clatter of boots rang out. Methodical. Close. A reminder of how little room there was for error.

Her fingers curled around the edge of her medkit, the reinforced casing grounding her. Her gaze stayed fixed on the corridor's corner, waiting.

Akiko had called it "being quiet."

But as far as Raya could tell, Akiko's version of quiet involved foxfire flares, theatrical taunts, and enough attitude to punch through a concrete wall.

The sound hit her first. Akiko's voice, pitched just loud enough to bait.

"Hey, fellas! Looking for me?"

Raya closed her eyes, tension spiking. Frustration warred with fear.

What was she doing?

She edged toward the corner, careful. Just far enough to glimpse the corridor.

There she was. Akiko, claws alight, smirking like she owned the world, facing down a full squad of Haven guards. Marcus Vehrin stood at their center, spine straight and cold as steel.

Raya's heart jumped into her throat as Akiko pivoted and sprinted, a streak of blue light vanishing into the shadows.

Vehrin barked an order. The guards gave chase.

Raya let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

The plan, if you could call it that, was working. Akiko had their attention.

But her chest stayed tight, tangled with irritation and worry. Reckless. Loud. Brilliant. And it worked. For now. Damn her for that.

Raya shook the thought off and turned back toward the maintenance bay hatch. She wasn't here to argue tactics. Not yet. She had a job to do.

She stepped out of the shadows, boots crunching lightly against frost-slick decking. The bay's security panel blinked in slow, cold pulses.

Raya tapped the pad against the receiver. For a breath, nothing happened.

Then, a soft chime. The lock disengaged with a low hiss, warm air spilling from the threshold and fogging the cold around her.

She hesitated, hand still on the frame.

"You better make it back," she murmured. "Don't draw all of Haven down on us, you infuriating, brilliant idiot."

Then she stepped through, sealed the hatch behind her, and exhaled into the quiet.

The change in atmosphere was immediate.

Sound filled the space. A deep, rhythmic gurgle of water coursing through the pipes that crisscrossed the room like veins. It echoed like a heartbeat too slow. The air was thick with the tang of rusted metal and something faintly organic, sour beneath the processed scent of recycled moisture.

She moved carefully.

The lighting was dim, unreliable. Half the overhead lamps flickered, casting the machinery in pale gold pulses. Some of the smaller pipes bore long, ragged scratches. Too deep to be mechanical wear.

Stagnant pools dotted the floor, catching the light with oil-slick shimmer. Her boots splashed faintly as she crossed the room, each step too loud.

This place had been abandoned in a hurry.

She swallowed hard, eyes catching on a torn-open pipe. The edge had been warped from the inside. Whatever came out had pushed through.

She forced herself to look away.

Focus.

There, a ladder. Bent, but climbable. It led to a raised platform against the far wall, just high enough for a vantage point and, if it came to that, a last line of separation.

She ascended quickly and crouched near the edge. From here, she had full view of the room: the web of conduits, the stagnant pools, the places where the light gave up.

"You better not take too long," she whispered. "This place already feels like it's waiting for something."

The gurgle of water answered. A slow hiss escaped a damaged valve.

Raya sat very still, eyes scanning the shadows.

Akiko would come. She had to.

She sat perched on the platform, knees drawn close. The constant gurgle of water through corroded pipes set the tempo. Slow, rhythmic, broken only by the occasional hiss of steam from a cracked valve. Every sound felt too loud. Too close. Like the bay itself was holding its breath.

Her eyes flicked to the hatch for the hundredth time. Still closed.

Her processor said six minutes had passed. It felt like hours.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Akiko would be fine. She always was.

But the tightness in her chest didn't ease. Not with the memory of Akiko's last smirk fresh in her mind. That spark in her amber eyes when chaos started crackling around her. Like she was built for it. Like she needed it.

It was intoxicating. And infuriating. And terrifying.

Her fingers curled against the cold steel edge of the platform. The scent of rust and recycled air grounded her.

She couldn't spiral now. Akiko had promised. She always did. But the seconds dragged on, heavy with what-ifs. Reinforcements. Detectors rebooted. Marcus Vehrin, cruel and clinical, pinning Akiko to the deck with words alone.

"Damn it, Akiko," she muttered.

A metallic creak jolted her upright.

Her heart stuttered.

The hatch hissed open.

And there she was. Strolling in like she hadn't just baited half of Haven's elite. Ears perked. Eyes bright with triumph. Tail swaying with impossible calm.

"Hey, Ray," Akiko said, her voice light. "Miss me?"

Raya didn't think. She dropped from the platform, boots splashing into a shallow puddle as she crossed the floor in three sharp steps. Her arms wrapped around Akiko, cutting the grin off her face with the force of it.

"You idiot," she whispered, voice tight as she buried her face against Akiko's shoulder.

Akiko stiffened for half a heartbeat, then relaxed, her tail curling slightly around Raya's waist in a soft arc.

"I told you I'd be back," she murmured.

Her voice was warm. Steady.

Raya pulled back, just enough to meet her eyes.

"You could've gotten yourself killed."

Akiko didn't flinch. "I knew I'd make it."

"No bravado. No smirk." Raya's hands still clutched her jacket. "Just blind faith?"

"Not blind," Akiko said. "Just... focused."

Raya shook her head, frustration and relief crashing into each other. "One of these days, you're not going to walk away."

Akiko's smile faltered. "I know."

Her voice was soft, threaded with guilt. "I'm just trying not to make it this day."

Raya exhaled. Her grip loosened. "Just… promise me you'll be careful."

Akiko blinked, her expression faltering for a moment before she nodded. "I promise," she said, her voice low and sincere.

The words held weight.

Raya held her gaze a second longer, then turned.

"They'll figure it out soon," Raya said. "We need to move."

Akiko nodded, already scanning the room. "Detector's trashed. Guards are scrambling. We've got a window."

The pipes hissed as they moved deeper into the bay. Shadows gathered between rusted conduits. Puddles warped the overhead light into oil-slick halos that shimmered with each step.

"Something tore through here," Akiko muttered, eyes on the jagged scars gouged along a metal support.

Raya's stomach turned. "Skadi wasn't exaggerating. Whatever came through here wasn't subtle."

"Whatever it was," Akiko said, brushing a claw lightly over the scored edge, "it didn't sneak in."

Akiko smirked faintly over her shoulder. "Subtle's overrated."

Raya shot her a look.

Akiko shrugged, and they kept moving.

The silence around them thickened. Beneath the water's echo, beneath the soft tap of boots and the low hum of aging circuits, something else stirred. Something waiting.

They spotted the figure slumped near one of the larger pipes, a man half-submerged in shadow, uniform soaked, body curled in a posture that said he'd either passed out or given up. But he wasn't alone.

Another figure knelt beside him. Upright. Still. A sharp silhouette cut from the industrial grime by the faint glow of a processor in his hand.

Raya stopped cold.

Akiko did too, a beat slower.

"Inspector Dorian Kess," Raya murmured, her throat tight.

Kess turned at the sound of their approach. His expression shifted, irritation giving way to sharp recognition. His gaze landed on Akiko, and something tightened behind his eyes.

"You," he said, low and brittle. His hand drifted toward his holster. "You're no Haven agent."

Akiko raised her hands, claws flickering faintly with residual foxfire. "Surprise," she said. "This awkward enough, or should I come back later?"

Kess didn't laugh. His fingers twitched near the weapon, but he didn't draw. Just stared.

"I looked into you," he said. "Back on Ashara. Started asking questions I shouldn't have. Got cut out of the system the next day. Demoted. Transferred. Buried."

Akiko's smile faltered. "Better than the last guy who poked too hard."

Raya glanced her way.

Akiko didn't elaborate.

Kess snorted, but the sound was brittle. "Some consolation."

"You're still breathing," Akiko said. "That counts for something."

Raya stepped in quickly. "Inspector, I'm a medic. That man needs help."

Kess's eyes narrowed. "You're with her."

"I'm with the Driftknight crew," Raya said firmly. "And right now, your man is dying."

Kess looked down. The wounded man's face was pale, lips cracked, arms mottled with deep, branching discoloration that pulsed faintly under the surface.

Mana corruption.

Raya's jaw clenched.

After a moment's hesitation, Kess stepped aside, but his eyes never left Akiko.

Raya dropped to her knees, medkit clicking open with a practiced snap. The man's uniform was stiff with frozen water and blood. She sliced through the fabric, exposing lacerations that pulsed with black fluid.

The wounds weren't deep. But the veins…

They crawled beneath his skin, dark tendrils radiating out from each injury. Alive. Moving.

She didn't pause. Gloves snapped into place. Antiseptics flooded the worst of it. Gauze and sealant foam smoothed over torn flesh.

But the veins remained. Slow, pulsing. Like something coiled just beneath the surface.

She hesitated. Then pressed both palms flat over the man's chest, drawing from the thin strand of magic she'd carried since Ashara.

Golden light bloomed beneath her fingers. She focused, narrowing her breath to stillness. The light sank into the man's body, soothing the twitch in his muscles, knitting shallow tissue.

One vein pulsed, then another. The glow pressed against them. They did not recede.

Raya pressed harder. The warmth flared bright, then sputtered as the veins pushed back, anchoring themselves deeper beneath the skin like barbed wire.

She pulled her hands away, breath ragged.

"It's not enough," she said quietly. "I can't clear it."

Akiko crouched beside her, tail flicking with restless tension. "That's Karn's work, isn't it?"

Raya nodded, teeth tight. "If it is, it's deliberate."

She closed the kit with a sharp snap, her motions precise, her hands trembling. "Haven and Ashara are just letting this happen?"

She stood and rounded on Kess, voice rising.

"You knew this was down here, and you did nothing?"

Kess's face darkened. "You think I condone this? I've been out of the command chain for months. Haven sealed it off. I had a few contacts in the Asharan command. They led me here, but they've gone silent."

Akiko stood too, arms folded. "Nice and convenient."

Kess ignored her. His eyes returned to the wounded man. "Is he stable?"

"For now," Raya said, though her voice was still tight. "But I can't help him here. He needs real facilities."

Akiko hesitated. "And we will get him help. But he's not the only one who needs saving."

Raya looked up sharply. Akiko met her gaze, steady.

"Whatever did this… it's spreading. We stay here, we risk everyone. And I'm not sure Zephara's equipped to deal with this kind of infection, magic or otherwise."

Raya's jaw clenched, but after a moment, she nodded.

"We need to move," Akiko added. "Guards'll be coming."

Kess looked between them. From Akiko's claws to Raya's glowing palms, to the man struggling for breath beneath their feet.

"I don't know what game you're playing," he said quietly. "But I'm not part of it."

"No," Akiko said, brushing past him toward the nearest maintenance hatch. "But you're going to be."

She didn't look back.

Raya lingered one more heartbeat beside the man, fingers brushing his forehead. Then she turned, falling in behind Akiko.

Behind them, the wounded man let out a low, broken breath. A sound like something trying to come back to life.

And the pipes around them kept hissing.

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