Who Are You?

Briggs stood frozen, his breath ragged, eyes locked onto the glowing figure before him. The white armor, the radiating energy, the inhuman power it was all too much. His mind raced, trying to put the pieces together.

Hunterrina.

The name wasn't foreign, but it had only ever existed in whispers, in classified reports, in myths about an immortal soldier. But now, standing before him in all her terrifying glory, it was Rina. His friend.

His voice finally came out, rough and confused.

"Are you... Pulse Red?"

Rina's glowing eyes narrowed slightly, her expression unreadable. For a moment, the air between them was thick with tension, only the sound of the burning wreckage behind her filling the silence.

Then, she scoffed.

"Briggs, are you serious?" she said, exhaling. "You think I'd be working with those psychos?"

Briggs still looked stunned, unable to process everything he just saw.

"Then what the hell are you, Rina?" he demanded, stepping forward. His voice wasn't angry it was shaken. "What have you been hiding from me?"

Rina didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked away, her jaw tightening.

She could lie. Brush it off, tell him he imagined it. But after tonight? There was no going back.

She let out a slow breath. "Briggs... it's complicated."

Briggs clenched his fists. "Then uncomplicate it."

She looked at him, her gaze serious but calm. "Not here."

Briggs hesitated, still shaken, but finally, he exhaled and nodded.

"Fine," he muttered. "But you owe me a damn explanation."