another set of triplets?!

As they set off, Raziel couldn't help but wonder what kind of splicers Leon's cousins really were. From the way Leon talked about them, they sounded like trouble, but that only made her more curious. If they were as skilled as Leon claimed, they'd have answers about House Forgotten—and maybe even about her core.

But Leon's wariness wasn't lost on her. The history between him and these cousins was clearly complicated, and Raziel had no intention of letting her guard down. If they were survivors who knew how to play by the rules, she'd have to be careful not to provoke them. But that didn't mean she wouldn't test them.

As they approached the outskirts of scavenger territory, Leon led the way through a maze of makeshift hideouts and winding alleyways. The closer they got, the more tension hung in the air between them. Raziel could tell this wasn't just about finding someone to decode the plans. There was more to this reunion than Leon was letting on.

Finally, they arrived at an old, abandoned factory, the kind of place that looked like it had been forgotten by time. Leon hesitated at the door, his hand hovering just above the entrance. Raziel saw it—the moment of doubt, the hesitation.

"You good?" she asked, her voice quieter now.

Leon nodded, though he didn't look at her. "Yeah. Let's get this over with."

Leon stood still for a moment, staring at the rusted metal door of the abandoned factory. His hand hovered over the old keypad beside it, a relic from a time when this place had purpose. Now, it was nothing more than a scavenger hideout—a perfect place for his cousins to disappear from the world. Raziel watched him closely, sensing his hesitation.

"You sure you're ready to face them?" she asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and challenge.

Leon gave her a sharp glance but didn't respond immediately. Instead, he punched a series of codes into the keypad. With a groan of metal on metal, the door creaked open. The air inside was musty, the kind of damp that came from years of neglect. Leon stepped forward, motioning for Raziel to follow.

"They won't be happy to see me," Leon muttered as they entered. "So stay close, and don't say anything stupid."

Raziel grinned, her voice dripping with mock innocence. "Me? Say something stupid? Never."

They moved through the dark, twisting corridors of the old factory. Every creak, every shift of the shadows, made Raziel's senses sharpen. Despite her brashness, she knew better than to let her guard down in a place like this. Leon's cousins might not be on the Council's radar, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous.

As they reached the central chamber, a dim light flickered in the distance. Three figures stood near a makeshift table, their silhouettes cutting sharp angles against the dull glow of old tech scattered around the room. As they approached, the figures turned toward them.

"Leon," one of them said, their voice calm but with an edge. "I didn't think we'd be seeing you again."

The speaker stepped forward. It was a woman, her features sharp and angular, with short dark hair that barely reached her jawline. Her eyes were calculating, cold, and despite the casual stance, Raziel could tell she was assessing every move they made. Behind her, two identical men stood side by side, arms crossed, their faces unreadable.

"Thalia," Leon greeted her stiffly, his voice careful. "Got room for a few more scavengers?"

Thalia's lips twitched into a humorless smile. "Depends on what you're bringing to the table this time. Last I checked, you didn't exactly leave on the best terms."

One of the men, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. He was taller than Leon by a few inches, and his gaze held a similar coolness. "You didn't just show up out of the blue for a friendly reunion, did you, Leon?"

Leon met his cousin's gaze but didn't flinch. "Nico. Still as charming as ever, I see."

Nico raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. The third triplet, standing slightly to the side, hadn't spoken yet, but his eyes—dark and piercing—were locked on Raziel. She shifted under the weight of his gaze, feeling the intensity of his scrutiny.

"So," Thalia said, stepping closer, her attention now on Raziel. "Who's your friend?"

Raziel shot Leon a look, clearly unimpressed with how this reunion was going so far. "I'm Raziel," she said before Leon could respond, her tone challenging. "You're Leon's cousins, huh? Thought you'd be taller."

Thalia's smile widened, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Feisty, this one. I like her. But we're not here for small talk, are we?"

Leon cut in, his voice firm. "We need your help."

Thalia raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "And why would we do that?"

Leon pulled the metallic box from his pack, setting it on the table in front of them. "Because you know what this is. And you know it's valuable."

Nico leaned in, his expression sharpening as he eyed the box. He brushed some of the remaining dust off and traced the insignia with his finger. "House Forgotten," he muttered. "I thought their relics were all gone. Wiped out like the House."

"Clearly not," Leon replied, his voice steady but tense. "We found this. And inside are plans—plans for something big. But we can't read it."

Thalia's eyes narrowed. "You think we can?"

"You deal in old tech," Leon said. "You've seen things the Council wants to keep hidden. If anyone knows where to find someone who can decode this, it's you."

The third triplet finally spoke, his voice quiet but with a sharp edge. "And what makes you think we'd risk helping you? You've made your bed, Leon. We've got our own deals to keep clean."

Raziel watched as Leon's jaw clenched, the tension in the room growing thicker by the second. She could feel the strain between them—the kind of bad blood that came from betrayal and disappointment.

Thalia stepped forward, placing her hand on the box, her fingers lightly tracing the faded insignia. "This isn't just some relic. If these plans are what you say they are, they could change everything. But you're asking us to stick our necks out for you, Leon. And I remember the last time we did that."

Leon's eyes flashed with a mix of anger and regret. "I didn't ask for that back then. And I'm not asking for a favor now. This is a trade. You help us decode these plans, and you'll have access to whatever we find."

The cousins exchanged glances, a silent conversation passing between them. Raziel could tell they were weighing the risks, calculating whether Leon's offer was worth it. Finally, Thalia spoke.

"We'll help. But you need to understand something, Leon. We're not putting ourselves on the Council's radar for you. If this goes sideways, we're out. No questions, no loyalty."

Leon's gaze hardened, but he nodded. "Deal."

Thalia turned her attention to Raziel, her eyes narrowing slightly. "And you... Raziel, was it? You just along for the ride, or do you actually bring something to the table?"

Raziel smirked, unbothered by Thalia's scrutiny. "I bring plenty."

Thalia's gaze flicked from Raziel to Leon. "You didn't mention you were bringing company. She your bodyguard now?"

Leon shook his head. "No. She's more than that. But that's not important right now."

Thalia studied Raziel for a moment, clearly sizing her up. "Alright," she said slowly, her eyes still calculating. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

With that, Nico and the third triplet—Luca—began preparing a scanning device, setting it up on the table to analyze the plans. Thalia lingered near Leon, her posture still guarded, but there was a spark of interest in her eyes. Whatever they were about to uncover, it was clear the triplets were already weighing how it might benefit them.

As the machine began its slow decoding process, Raziel leaned closer to Leon, her voice low. "You trust them?"

Leon didn't look at her, his gaze fixed on the device as it worked. "No. But they're our best shot."

Raziel's jaw tightened, her eyes scanning the room, lingering on the triplets who were focused on the machine. "They don't seem too thrilled to see you."

"They aren't," Leon muttered. "But they won't turn us in. Not while they think there's something in this for them."

Raziel raised an eyebrow but said nothing, watching as the machine hummed softly, its screen flickering as it started to decode the ancient language. Thalia, Nico, and Luca exchanged quiet glances, and Raziel could see their calculating minds working behind their neutral expressions.

The machine hummed softly, its lights flickering as it began the slow process of decoding the ancient text. Nico leaned over the display, his sharp eyes scanning the symbols as they flickered across the screen. Thalia stood back, arms crossed, her gaze shifting between the box and Leon, while Luca adjusted the settings with a precision that suggested he'd done this countless times before.

Raziel shifted her weight, her patience wearing thin. "So how long is this going to take?"

"Decoding something this old isn't exactly quick," Luca said, his voice calm but distant, as if he were more focused on the machine than the conversation. "Especially when the language is practically extinct."

"It's not extinct," Nico corrected, his tone clipped. "It's just... specific. House Forgotten wasn't like the others. They kept their secrets close."

"And paid the price for it," Thalia added, her voice sharp.

Leon stayed quiet, his expression unreadable as he watched the process unfold. Raziel leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. "They're acting like they know a lot more about this House than they're letting on."

"They do," Leon muttered back, his eyes not leaving the screen. "They've always had a thing for ancient tech. And House Forgotten? It's their kind of puzzle."

Before Raziel could press further, the machine let out a soft beep. Nico straightened, his eyes narrowing as he read the partially decoded text that began to appear. The characters were still fragmented, but the structure of a blueprint was starting to take shape.

"Here we go," Nico said, pointing to the screen. "This... this is interesting."

"What is it?" Thalia asked, stepping closer.

"It's a core," Nico replied, his voice filled with curiosity. "But not like anything I've seen before. Look at this—it's not designed to power machinery. It's meant for something... organic."

Raziel stiffened, her eyes flicking to the glowing core in the box. "Organic? Like... a person?"

"Or something close to it," Luca chimed in, tilting his head as he studied the screen. "This isn't just tech. It's biotechnological. Whatever this core is for, it's meant to merge with a living system."

The room fell into a heavy silence as the implications of his words settled over them. Thalia broke the quiet, her voice skeptical. "So what are you saying? This thing was meant to be part of someone?"

"Not just anyone," Nico said, his eyes narrowing. "Whoever designed this knew exactly what they were doing. This isn't experimental. It's precise."

Leon's jaw tightened. "So it's a Splicer core."

"More than that," Luca said, glancing at him. "It's advanced. Far beyond anything the Houses currently use. If this thing was ever completed..." He trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

Thalia's gaze shifted to Raziel, her sharp eyes narrowing as if piecing together a puzzle. "And what about her?" she asked, nodding toward Raziel. "Why is she here?"

Raziel tensed, her hands instinctively clenching into fists. "I'm here because I want to be."

Thalia's lips curled into a slight smirk. "Sure. But I don't believe in coincidences. Leon shows up with a ghost Splicer right after finding tech linked to an extinct House? Sounds like more than luck to me."

"Leave her out of this," Leon said, his tone hard. "She has nothing to do with it."

Thalia raised an eyebrow but didn't push further. "Fine. But if there's a connection, you'd better figure it out fast. Because if this core really is what it looks like, you're holding something that could get all of us killed."

Raziel's flames flickered faintly in her palms, but she forced them down, her voice steady. "Then we'd better figure out what it says before anyone else finds out we have it."

The decoding process continued, the screen slowly revealing more details of the core's design. But the language remained fragmented, pieces missing, leaving more questions than answers.

"This isn't enough," Nico said finally, stepping back from the screen. "We're missing key parts. Without the full text, we can't understand how this core was meant to work—or who it was meant for."

Leon frowned. "So where do we find the rest?"

Luca leaned against the table, his expression thoughtful. "If the plans are real, there's a chance House Forgotten left more behind. But it won't be easy to find."

Thalia's smirk returned, though it was colder now. "And if they didn't? Then this is just a dead end."

Leon met her gaze, his eyes steady. "It's not a dead end. We'll find the rest."

Raziel glanced between Leon and the cousins, her frustration bubbling under the surface. "So, what's the plan? We just chase more breadcrumbs until we stumble into something useful?"

Leon turned to her, his expression grim. "If that's what it takes."

Raziel rolled her eyes but didn't argue. She could feel the weight of the moment—the importance of what they'd found. Even if it wasn't complete, it was something. And for now, that would have to be enough.