Ch 89: Unraveling the Threads

The road stretched endlessly before them, broken asphalt blending into the dusty horizon. The crawler rumbled steadily, its treads grinding over loose gravel as Kael and Mira sat in its reinforced cabin.

For a long while, neither of them spoke.

Kael kept his focus on driving, but he could feel Mira's gaze shifting between him and the passing landscape.

"You're quiet," Kael noted, his voice even.

Mira exhaled through her nose, rolling her shoulders.

"Thinking."

Kael adjusted his grip on the steering controls. "About?"

"The fact that someone put a hit on me."

Kael let out a short chuckle. "Yeah, well, you do have a talent for making enemies."

Mira didn't laugh.

Instead, she stared at the passing ruins, her fingers absentmindedly tapping against her thigh.

"You were trying to dig into some war between factions out there."

Mira stiffened, eyes narrowing. "How did you know?"

Kael smirked. "Haha, yeah, right—wait, what?!" His casual response turned into genuine surprise.

Mira exhaled. "Yeah, I kind of uncovered some things."

Kael glanced at her. "Ahhh, let me guess… The Consortium and some other big factions are manipulating various cities in the Blanks and around its borders in a proxy war."

Mira's head snapped toward him. "Seriously, how are you guessing this off the top of your head?"

Kael sighed, reaching into a side compartment and pulling out a bundle of documents.

"I'm not."

He tossed the papers into Mira's lap. The documents, slightly crumpled from their retrieval at the mercenary camp, bore seals and markings of an unknown faction.

Mira's brow furrowed as she scanned the contents, flipping through encoded messages, supply manifests, and mission briefings.

Kael leaned back against his seat.

"These weren't just mercs. They were soldiers, acting as mercs, belonging to some faction."

Mira's fingers tightened around the documents.

Kael continued, voice dropping slightly. "I was hoping they only took you as a sex slave, but to think you went ahead and did something like this… That was out of my predictions."

Mira shot him a glare. "Charming."

Kael smirked. "Just saying, you know how to get into deep trouble."

Mira didn't reply. She kept reading, absorbing everything, her mind racing through the implications.

As the crawler pressed on, Mira remained hunched over the papers, analyzing every bit of information they had recovered.

"This is bigger than I thought," she muttered.

Kael kept his eyes on the road. "Elaborate."

Mira tapped one of the documents. "The Consortium isn't just playing with minor city-states or backing factions for small skirmishes. They're pulling strings across multiple regions—trade disputes, resource blockades, tactical assassinations. This is an actual war, just… fought in shadows."

Kael nodded. "Figures. The Consortium never gets its hands dirty directly."

Mira flipped to another page, eyes narrowing. "And they aren't alone. There's another power moving behind the scenes, countering them. It's not named outright, but they have military backing, resources, and—" She stopped, rereading a section. "—they've been tracking movements in Baku."

Kael's gaze flicked toward her.

"So, you're saying we're walking into a city that's about to be swallowed by a cold war?"

Mira exhaled sharply. "More like a city that's already a battlefield—we just didn't realize it yet."

Kael let out a low whistle. "And here I thought this was going to be a simple trip."

Mira leaned back against the seat, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I should've left this alone."

Kael arched a brow. "You? Leaving something alone? That'll be the day."

She gave him a dry look. "Not funny."

Kael chuckled, shifting his focus back to the road. "Well, what's done is done. The real question is, what do we do with this?"

Mira hesitated.

"If we take this information to the wrong people, we're dead."

"If we try to disappear, they'll keep hunting us."

"And if we move forward, we'll be walking into a mess that's bigger than both of us."

Kael smirked. "Sounds like fun."

Mira scoffed. "You're insane."

"You're the one who started this."

She sighed. "Fine. We move forward, but we don't go in blind."

Kael nodded. "Agreed. We gather intel, find out who's pulling the strings, and see if there's a way to leverage this."

Mira set the documents down and folded her arms. "And if there isn't?"

Kael grinned. "Then we make sure we're not the ones getting played."

Hours passed. Night fell.

The crawler pressed on, following the path toward Baku—a city shrouded in uncertainty.

But as they neared a ruined outpost, Kael slowed the vehicle. Something was off.

Fires burned in the distance. Not campfires—wreckage.

Mira grabbed her scope, scanning the area. Her expression hardened. "Another convoy was hit."

Kael's fingers drummed against the controls. "Same group?"

Mira zoomed in. "No. This was different. Less precision, more destruction. These weren't mercs—this was a slaughter."

Kael adjusted course, bringing them in closer. The wreckage was still smoldering, bodies strewn across the ground.

Then he saw it—a sigil marked in blood on a ruined transport.

A warning.

Mira's breath hitched. "I know that mark."

Kael glanced at her. "Who does it belong to?"

She hesitated before muttering, "A faction worse than the Consortium."

Kael's grip on the wheel tightened. "Fantastic. Just what we needed."

Mira exhaled. "We're in deep."

Kael smirked. "Then we better start swimming."

The crawler pressed on, carrying them deeper into the unknown.

Absheron awaited.