RUSH

'Yeah, maybe I am a stray.' Liora mentally chuckles at herself. It's not like she wanted some help anyway—someone just happened to be there when she's at her most vulnerable.

The tension around was suffocating, silently pressing down on her shoulders like a dumbbell that she can't move.

"She's a liability. We don't even know what she is."

The voice came from a man leaning against a stack of overturned crates, arms crossed tight against his chest. His eyes switching between distrust and annoyance. His fingers tapping against his skin like time—and his patience—is running out.

"I know exactly what she is," a guy sneered, still unable to hide judgement in his small eyes. "A problem."

A few murmurs of agreement rippled through the room. The second man she met spoke again, turning to her direction while playing with the gun in his hand.

Liora opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come. What could she even say? That she didn't know why she was running? That she barely understood who she was?

The panic rushed inside her body, like static pulsing in her veins. Get it together. Say something, Liora! Anything!

A flicker.

A soft beep made everyone froze on their spot. One by one, their Xen-Links blinked to life—then glitched, screens distorting with static before flickering out entirely.

The room was so silent, enough for the disrupted signals to make noise.

"What the fuck—" Someone yanked his arm up, shaking his device like it would snap back to life. Another cursed under his breath, tapping at his screen.

Liora's breath hitched. She stared at them as her own hands tremble at her sides. Did I do that? It's happening again.

A sharp scrape of metal. Small eyes—the one who called her a problem—drew a knife, just slightly, just enough for her to catch the glint of steel.

"Show us your Xen-Link."

"I... don't..." Liora silently cheered to herself for finally talking. She dragged her arm up to show everyone that she doesn't have that device, let alone a malfunctioning one.

A beat of silence.

"The hell?" Small eyes stepped forward, grabbing her wrist and turning it over as if the device would magically appear. "That's not possible. Everyone has one."

"Unless she ripped it out," another voice muttered, skeptical.

"Does she even look like someone who knows how to do that?" A different voice scoffed.

"Then how is she even walking around? You need this fucker for half the city to even recognize you exist."

Flux, still lounging in his chair, let out a slow drag of smoke. Unlike the others, he didn't bother checking his wrist—either he already knew it wasn't working, or he really just didn't care.

"She's here now," he mused, voice smooth but laced with something sharper. "Might as well figure out if she's worth keeping."

His gaze flicked to Liora, unreadable.

"Fine! Let's try this again. Who the hell are you?" A guy, who appears to be the smallest of them, stepped forward and glared at Liora. His lisps visibly heard, "Let's start with a name, yeah? Isn't that simple?"

"I'm... I'm Liora," her voice wavered, almost swallowing her words.

The man sarcastically smiled at her as a response, then tilted his head—eyes narrowing like she'd just given the wrong answer to a test she didn't even know she was taking.

Someone scoffed under their breath. Another shifted, unimpressed. Flux? He just exhaled another slow drag of smoke, unreadable as ever.

A tall, broad-shouldered guy with stark pale skin stepped closer. His bod was solid, intimidating, but his expression held something different—curiosity, not suspicion. He smiled, easy and genuine, something that felt foreign in this room.

"I'm Nyx." he said simply.

It wasn't much, but it was the first thing that didn't sound like an accusation out of all that she heard last.

"C'mon man! What happened to being anonymous?!" The small guy threw his hands up, pacing in frustration.

"Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but we don't take in strays—especially ones who can't explain why the hell drones were chasing them." Tall one ran a hand through his mess of hair, snickering under his breath.

Before Liora could answer, the room pulsed. A low-frequency hum vibrated through the walls. The Clan's heads snapped up at once.

"Drones."

One of them yanked their Xen-Link back online, forcing a flickering holographic map to appear. Red blips swarming around their location.

"Shit—how did they find us?!" the small guy cursed, his face almost twisting.

Flux finally stood up and flicked his cigarette away, still infuriatingly calm. "Better question... how fast can we move?"

"She's dead weight. We ditch her." Small eyes pointed his knife towards Liora, but she barely registered it. If they left her, so be it.

"We dragged her here. If she dies, it's on us," Flux countered smoothly.

"Technically, you did that—"

The small guy's response was cut when a hail of bullets suddenly pierced through the old door, followed by a few machine beeps. The room froze for half a second.

No time to argue. The decision is made in the way they all start moving.

The tall one shot Liora a glare as he passed, "If you slow us down, I swear—"

She didn't hear the rest. They were already running.

They push through the underground passages, every frantic footstep echoing. The drones' searchlights follow dangerously close. Liora runs along, heart hammering.

They don't even trust her. And yet—she's running with them.