NEED U

Myst exhaled sharply, muscles coiled as she pushed herself forward. The dim light of the hideout's training space flickered above her, casting jagged shadows along the walls.

Her strikes were precise, but her movements carried an edge of frustration. The weight of her thoughts bore down on her, making every motion feel heavier than it should.

She wasn't just training—she was trying to drown out the noise in her head.

The name. The memory. Clinging to the edges of her thoughts like a virus she couldn't purge.

She threw a punch. Then another. A calculated sequence, moving through the motions The Clan had drilled into her weeks ago. But her body was restless, her mind sharper than before.

The last encounter had drained her, left her rattled. She hadn't forgotten the way Flux reacted. The way the entire room had shifted.

That moment when he touched her—when her body repelled him. It was instinctive, uncontrolled. And she hated not knowing why.

A sharp exhale. Myst pivoted, driving her foot into the training dummy's midsection. The impact sent a pulse of static through the air, distorting the light for just a second. She stilled, watching the afterimage fade.

"You always train this hard, or is this a special occasion?"

Cipher's voice cut through the silence. He leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, watching her like he had been there for a while.

Myst rolled her shoulders, shaking out her hands. "Couldn't sleep."

"Right." He didn't sound convinced. "Or is this some new coping mechanism?"

She hesitated, flexing her fingers. "Just trying to focus."

Cipher clicked his tongue, pushing off the wall. "Yeah? Well, if you're looking for a distraction, there's a lot more useful shit to do. Not that punching ain't useful."

He turned, moving toward his workstation, but something on his screen caught his attention. He barely glanced at it at first, then paused, frowning slightly.

Lines of code abnormally flickered on the holoscreen—unreadable, shifting too quickly.

Feeling the sudden shift in his demeanor, Myst followed his gaze. "Something wrong?"

Cipher hesitated, then shook his head, fingers hovering over the keyboard as if debating whether to dig deeper.

Instead, he leaned back in his chair, exhaling sharply. "Nah. Just noise."

Myst didn't push, but the weight of his curiosity lingered between them. Something about that screen, about whatever Cipher had seen, made her pulse quicken. But for now, neither of them said anything more.

Later, when Myst finally stepped out of the training room, she nearly collided with someone.

Flux.

She stopped short, his presence catching her off guard. The dim corridor made his expression unreadable, but she could feel the tension in the air. Unspoken things hanging between them.

His eyes flicked to her hands, still clenched, then back to her face. "Still going at it?"

Myst hesitated. "Something like that."

Flux exhaled, his fingers twitching at his sides before he stepped closer. It was subtle, but enough to make Myst notice the weight of his presence. There was something about the way he looked at her now—like he was trying to piece her together, trying to decide what she was.

Then, without thinking, he reached out.

The moment his fingers grazed her wrist, a flicker of static pulsed between them.

It wasn't violent. Just enough to make the air between them shift.

Flux tensed, pulling back almost immediately. His expression didn't change, but something flickered in his gaze. A brief inhale, controlled, before he shoved his hands into his pockets, like the moment hadn't happened at all.

His gaze lingered for a beat longer. Then, he muttered, "You're not the only one looking for answers."

Myst swallowed, watching his retreating figure. The hum beneath her skin lingered longer than it should've. And she wasn't sure which unsettled her more—the static, or the look in his eyes before he left.