EX GIRL

It was a sleek, rectangular device, humming with an artificial pulse that set Liora's nerves on edge. A thin, ghostly light swept over her skin as it activated—reminding her of something distant, something she should remember but couldn't grasp.

The scanner hummed softly, bathing Liora in a cold glow as the device processed her data.

The others watched in silence; doubts lingering more over expectations. The longer it scanned, the more it felt like it was searching for something it wasn't supposed to find.

Then, the screen glitched.

A burst of static cut through the air, the scanner's light flickering erratically. Weird texts scrolled through the holographic monitor before it froze, spatting a big red warning:

SUBJECT DESIGNATION: [REDACTED]

PROJECT STATUS: TERMINATED

WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED

A heavy pause settled over the room.

"That… doesn't look normal." Nyx leaned forward, eyes narrowing at the screen. "Should it act like that, Cipher?"

The hacker, who had been monitoring the scan, rapidly typed commands into the interface, trying to dig deeper.

"This doesn't make sense. It's like—" he gritted his teeth, fingers flying over the keys as if having a fight with it. "Like someone went out of their way to erase her."

Liora stared at the screen, her stomach twisting. Test subject? Terminated? A sharp, electric weight pierced through her skull.

The lights around them dimmed as if in sync with her heartbeat, flickering violently before settling into a low, pulsing glow.

"What the hell?" Small Eyes took a step back, glancing around before turning to Liora. "What are you doing?"

"I... I'm not... doing anything..." Liora's breath hitched as the scanner buzzed louder, lines of corrupted code flashing like warnings across the screen.

A high-pitched frequency stung through the space, sharp enough to make their Xen-Links fizzle and glitch for the third time. The hum in the air turned suffocating, as if the entire hideout itself was reacting to her presence.

Liora staggered back, head spinning. Her vision warped at the edges, with reality flickering between the present and something distant, something she couldn't quite grasp.

Her legs buckled, letting her stumble.

"Shit—she's going down!"

Flux caught her before she hit the ground, his grip firm but careful. Her breathing was uneven, shallow, like she was drowning in something unseen.

The lights burst back to life in a blinding flicker before everything reset, a deep hum rolling through the surroundings. The scanner rebooted itself—wiping the data clean.

The warning message was gone.

"The fuck was that?" someone muttered.

Cipher slammed his fists against the table. "The system just purged itself—whatever file she triggered, it's gone."

Blaze exhaled through his nose; arms crossed as he studied Liora's unconscious form in Flux's arms. "Well," he drawled. "That's not suspicious at all."

No one spoke, all eyes locked on the now-blank scanner, the ghost of its warning message still fresh in their minds.

Flux stood up properly, adjusting Liora's unconscious weight in his arms. "So," he said, tone unreadable. "What now?"

No one had an immediate answer.

Cipher dragged a hand down his face. "We keep her under watch. I need time to figure out what the hell just happened."

Blaze huffed but didn't argue. "Put her in one of the rooms. We'll deal with this when she's awake."

Flux nodded, moving toward the far end of the hideout, where a smaller, dimly lit room stood separate from the main area. He gently laid her down on an old but surprisingly clean cot.

He stared at her almost worn-out clothes—the hem of the shirt starting to tear, her skin barely showing. The man tugged on her shirt before covering her up with his jacket.

A beat passed before he exhaled and turned away, the door sliding shut behind him.