FUEL FOR THE NIGHT

No one spoke about Myst's outburst, but the shift in how they treated her was subtle, lingering in the silence between words and actions.

Cipher, usually absorbed in his work, started pulling her into discussions about data patterns. Nothing too deep, nothing overwhelming, just enough to keep her mind busy.

Blaze tossed an energy bar onto her lap one afternoon, acting as if it was nothing. "Eat," he said gruffly, already walking away before she could respond.

Shade, in his usual ghost-like manner, left a clean set of gear by her cot one morning—her weapons sharpened, her jacket stitched where it had started fraying. He never mentioned it, and neither did she.

Razor didn't push her to talk, but when she sat near him during strategy meetings, he always made sure to acknowledge her ideas. It wasn't much, but it told her she was still part of the fight.

Through all of it, Nyx kept his distance. Not out of coldness, but as if giving her space to process everything. And somehow, that was the hardest thing to get used to.

It wasn't until Cipher called for a meeting, his voice tight with urgency, that the quiet shifted into something heavier.

"I found something," he said, bringing up a holographic display of decrypted data. "And I think we need to act fast."

Cipher leaned forward, eyes narrowing as code scrolled rapidly across his screen. "Alright. Whatever the hell this place was, the government scrubbed it clean. All files have been wiped or rerouted. They didn't just shut it down—they buried it."

Blaze, sitting opposite him, tilted his head slightly. "You're saying there's nothing left?"

Cipher scoffed. "Please. You should know me better than that."

He tapped a few keys, and a faint smirk tugged at his lips. "They tried to erase it, but the trail isn't completely cold. I found fragments in the data I pulled. There was a facility under the name Project Thorn, but the records don't match anything on their known experimental sites. This place was off-books."

Myst stiffened slightly at the word experiment, but she said nothing.

Echo, lounging in his chair, propped his chin on his hand. "Sounds sketchy. What kind of facility are we talking about?"

Cipher clicked his tongue. "That's the problem. There's barely anything left to work with. No exact coordinates, no surviving blueprints. All I know is that it was shut down recently. Within the last few weeks, tops."

Razor tapped his fingers against the table, thinking. "And they erased it right after closing it down. That means there was something important there."

Echo leaned back, stretching. "Alright, so we need to find where this place actually is before we go breaking into it. Any ideas?"

Cipher exhaled, clearly irritated that he didn't have a clean answer. "I can try tracking where the erased files were rerouted. It won't give us a location, but it might tell us who covered it up."

Shade nodded. "That's a start. I can work some of my old connections, see if anyone in the underground heard whispers about a sudden shutdown."

Echo grinned. "And I'll do what I do best. Talk to people. Maybe flirt my way into some information."

Cipher rolled his eyes. "Try not to get punched this time."

Myst, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke. "I want to help."

The others glanced at her.

Echo's smile softened. "Of course you do, Myst."

Cipher frowned slightly but didn't argue. "You could go with Shade. You've got the best instincts when it comes to people lying."

Shade gave a slight nod of agreement. "If you're up for it."

Myst nodded. "I am."

"Then it's settled," Razor stood up. "Get answers first. Then we break in."