WHISPERS IN THE DARK

The glow of Cipher's monitors flickered erratically, the lines of code shifting faster than even he could process. Static bled into the screen, pulsing endless violet.

Flux stood in the center of the room, fingers twitching at his sides. His breath was slow, controlled—but his body was another story. The AI inside him was awake now, fully pushing past the barriers he had kept in place for years.

It was searching. Tearing through the remnants of XENIS-IS, scanning beyond what even Cipher could access.

Myst was out there. And he was going to find her.

The others kept their distance, uneasy.

Cipher worked furiously at his console, trying to stabilize the connection before it collapsed in on itself. "Flux, I swear—if you fry my entire system, I'm throwing you out myself—"

Flux barely registered his voice. The data was flowing through him, feeding into his mind faster than he could process. His fingers curled, electric violet crackling along his veins, the AI's presence pressing harder against his mind. Coordinates, distorted audio feeds, fragmented video streams—

Then a pulse. A clear signal.

Cipher's screen spasmed before stabilizing, revealing a location.

Unknown Facility - Outer Districts

Silence fell over the room.

Blaze exhaled, running a hand down his face. "Shit. You actually did it."

Echo let out a breath of laughter, but there was no humor in it. "So now what? We storm the place?"

Razor looked at Cipher. "Can you confirm it?"

Cipher hesitated, eyes scanning the data. The signal wasn't clean. There were deliberate scramblers at work. "No. But if it's a trap, it's a damn good one."

Flux blinked, his eyes flickering between violet and their normal color. His voice was hoarse. "It's... her."

Another beat of silence.

Then Razor straightened. "Then gear up. We leave in twenty."

The room snapped into motion. Blaze was the first to move, cracking his knuckles as he strode toward the weapons cache. "Finally," he muttered. "Thought we'd spend all night debating."

Echo wasn't far behind, grabbing his sidearm and a knife, his usual smirk absent. Shade had already slipped away to gather intel, moving like a shadow through the hideout. Cipher, despite his frustration, was working double-time to reinforce their comms and prepare for any digital interference.

Flux stood still in the center of it all, his hands still tingling with residual energy from the connection. The pressure in his head hadn't eased. If anything, the AI's presence felt stronger now. But he didn't care.

He had Myst's location. That was all that mattered.

Cipher's voice cut through the tense energy. "We don't go in blind. I need time to dig deeper into the facility's security."

"We don't have time," Flux snapped, his patience getting thin.

Cipher shot him a sharp look. "And if we walk into a kill box? You think she'll be happy we died trying to save her?"

Flux clenched his jaw, but before he could argue, Razor cut in. "Cipher's right. We go in with a plan. But we don't waste time either." He turned to Shade, who had just returned. "What do you have?"

Shade tossed a small device onto the table, its screen flickering with a crude map of the Outer Districts. "Facility's underground. Government wiped it from records years ago, but someone's keeping it alive. No official blueprints, no data leaks—whoever's running it doesn't want to be found. We'll have to make our own entrance."

Blaze snorted. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Shade's expression darkened. "There's something else. The area's got movement—Ascended patrols. If Myst's there, they're guarding her heavily."

The air in the room grew even more charged.

Flux's grip tightened. Good. Let them try.

Echo finally spoke up, strapping his gear into place. "Alright, so we know where she is. We know it's dangerous. What's the plan?"

Razor exhaled, his eyes scanning the map. "We split up. Cipher and Shade handle security. Flux, Echo, and Blaze move in on extraction. I'll cover you. We get in, grab Myst, and get out before they even know we're there."

"Clean and simple," Blaze said, rolling his shoulders. "I like it."

Echo scoffed. "Since when has anything we've done been clean and simple?"

Razor ignored them, focusing on Flux. "You said you could track her. Can you keep that connection stable?"

Flux hesitated. The AI inside him had locked onto Myst, but the longer it stayed connected, the harder it was to hold back. "Yes."

Razor didn't look convinced, seeing the hesitation pass by his face. "If something goes wrong—"

"It won't."

Another silence hovered between them, then Razor nodded. "Then we move in ten."

As the Clan moved to finalize their gear, Flux closed his eyes, feeling the pulse of the AI thrumming inside him. Wait for us, Myst. We're getting you back.

Her mind glitched. Like lines of code flickering across her vision. She saw corridors. Metal walls. A prison with no doors.

For a second, she saw the surveillance feeds again. Flickering lights. A figure moving toward her position.

Her breath caught. She saw him. Flux.