Infamous

They left the car, crawling and coughing. Eve turned her eyes to Wo. He didn't bother to make an expression, calm and dominant.

"Your actions will have consequences."

"Give me the device."

"You must be a fool to believe I'll give it to you just like that?" Wo approached her slowly, "Your powers are useless in front of raw power."

Eve assumed a fighting stance. At the same time, the two Honors crawled out and looked at Eve with twisted rage. They rushed. The ground shook for every step they took.

"Three on one, cute." She smiled as she took her jacket off, revealing a tank top beneath that to show her fit frame and muscles. She also had the luxury to tie her hair into a pony.

"Come!"

"This girl is more insane than they said!" Yin Hee spoke to herself from a distance.

A beat of silence passed.

Then—

**Boom.**

Eve launched forward like a bullet, low to the ground, shoulder-first. The sudden burst of motion sent the earth beneath to cave. She slammed into the Honor nearest to her, knocking him into a parked car with a metal-crunching *bang*. Alarms blared.

The second Honor was already moving. His arms flickered—**a distortion rippled around his fists**, as if light itself bent to him.

"Distortion type?" Eve clicked her tongue and ducked under a punch that split the air like a whip crack. The impact left a dent in the cement wall behind her.

She kneed him in the gut, but he didn't even flinch.

"Cheap armor," she muttered, flipping backward just in time to avoid a blast of *electricity* from behind.

Wo stepped into view, his arms crackling with violent arcs of **bioelectric energy**, his veins glowing faintly blue. "Still reckless as ever, Eve. I almost missed this."

Lightning licked across the concrete as he raised both arms and clapped—sending a **shockwave** down the lot. The force sent Eve skidding back, soles squealing against the floor.

"Cute trick," Eve said, flicking strands of hair out of her face. Her breathing steadied. Her body loosened. "Mine's better."

She exhaled slowly. A glint shimmered in her eyes.

**Snap.**

Reality bent. One of the Honors lunged—only for Eve to sidestep a moment before he moved, twisting time and probability to favor her reflex.

She aimed a jab to his side, this time slipping through the gaps in his armor. He grunted, staggered, then swung a wild punch—only for Eve to catch it, redirect it, and smash his head into the side mirror of a van.

"Stay down," she hissed.

But the second Honor grabbed her arm and hurled her across the floor. She rolled twice and slammed against a pillar, groaning. Blood ran down her cheek.

"You're bleeding," Wo said, stepping closer, electric charge intensifying. "That's rare."

Eve stood shakily. "I'm just warming up."

**Crack—!**

He struck.

Eve dodged right—but Wo was faster now. He was already there, a livewire blur, elbowing her ribs and then shocking her mid-spin. Her scream tore out as volts surged through her body. She crashed onto the hood of a car, twitching.

"Eve!" Yin Hee's voice echoed faintly from the distance, but Eve didn't look back.

She bit down, hard. Smoke curled from her gloves. Muscles spasmed.

Then her fingers flexed.

"Probability... is a funny thing."

Her eyes glowed. The world **bent** again.

Just as Wo charged for the final blow, he slipped on something—water? Oil? A random bottle? It didn't matter. It shouldn't have been there. But probability said it was.

Wo fell forward. Eve rolled beneath him and delivered a brutal uppercut to his chin, cracking bone. Then she grabbed his wrist—and redirected the current from his body into the *grounded steel column* next to her.

Electric arcs exploded in a burst of light.

Wo was thrown back, unconscious before he hit the ground.

The last Honor, still dazed but standing, hesitated.

Eve glared, bruised and breathing hard. "Wanna be next?"

The man took one look at her, at Wo, then backed away slowly.

Yin Hee arrived at last, panting. "Are you—holy crap, you look awful."

"I'll live," Eve muttered, wiping blood from her mouth. She limped toward the suitcase and knelt beside it.

Inside: the **Neurosonic Disruptor**.

She closed the case, her grip tightening. "Let's finish what we were here for before someone wakes up."

Yin Hee helped her up. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

Eve smirked and wore her jacket. "You wouldn't survive it."

They approached the man trapped in his overturned car. Yin Hee glanced at Eve.

"I need his blood to find out where Miem is."

"Will it even work? I doubt Miem means anything to him."

"Miem's an asset. One that makes him money. Of course she matters."

Eve nodded, then sliced his skin just enough to draw a drop of blood.

Violet fire flared from her fingertips, curling around the droplet.

It hissed. Seethed. Then evaporated into steam, leaving behind a pulsing violet glow. Silence followed.

"What did you see?" Eve asked.

"She's in a hidden lab beneath the military base. We're lucky we found these guys, or it would've been a nightmare to search." Yin Hee paused, then added, "No—credit goes to you." She began dragging the man out.

"You can keep praising me, I won't stop you," Eve said with a smirk as she checked her phone.

Behind her, the man groaned.

"Get off me!"

"I'm helping," Yin Hee replied calmly.

A message from Sunny lit up Eve's screen.

**\[Let's regroup here.]**

**\[Roger.]**

She glanced at Yin Hee, who had just finished pulling the man to safety.

"Why bother? He deserved to die in that wreck. He hurts people for profit."

"They said he's redeemable."

"They?" Eve frowned, hesitant. "You hear those voices too?"

"You can hear them?" Yin Hee's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. But only in the morning. Whispers... I couldn't make out what they were saying."

"Interesting," Yin Hee murmured, tapping her chin.

"We should get moving." Eve turned toward the elevator.

Yin Hee, lost in thought, didn't notice her leave—until a whisper slid into her ear.

*Danger. Move.*

She snapped her head toward Eve—her device was glowing, faint but unmistakable.

"Eve, throw that thing away!" Yin Hee shouted.

Startled, Eve looked down. The glow triggered something deep in her gut—pure instinct. She hurled it without hesitation.

It soared, the light intensifying—then burst in a flash of blinding brilliance. When the light cleared, a cube hovered where the device had been. It shimmered like starlight, its surface pulsing. The device floated inside, unreachable.

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy," Eve muttered, stepping closer. The cube was made of a material unlike anything she'd ever seen—impossibly smooth, impossibly strong.

Suddenly, doors materialized around them. Dozens. Some of wood, others of rusted iron, steel, or something unidentifiable.

"Yin Hee, we need to go. Now."

There was an urgency in Eve's voice Yin Hee had never heard before. Calm, aloof Eve was rattled—and that bloomed panic in Yin Hee's chest.

Eve erased every trace of their presence.

They bolted upstairs—just as the doors opened.

Figures emerged. Powerful Honors.

One stepped forward, his presence commanding. He wore a battlesuit of ivory white and midnight blue, radiating confidence and power.

He scanned the wreckage. "What the hell happened, Wo?"

"It was Eve," came a rough voice. Wo had somehow regained consciousness.

"You lost to a girl?" the leader snapped. "Pathetic. Put a bounty on her. Take her family hostage. I want her captured—*now!*"

As Eve sprinted through a pharmacy, a TV flickered, glitching—then her face appeared onscreen. Alongside it, a massive bounty.

She froze, staring at it. Her thoughts are unreadable.

"Eve!" Yin Hee grabbed her arm, pulling her back to reality.