Chapter 7

Camille sprinted through the tunnels, her lungs burning as the echoes of her trap's EMP discharge faded behind her. 

The generator room was now a graveyard of disabled tech and unconscious enemies, but she knew Darius wouldn't stay down for long.

He was too stubborn. Too ruthless.

Her fingers clenched around the straps of her pack, the stolen Energy Core pulsing against her spine. This was her chance.

She had bought herself time.

Now, she needed to disappear.

She followed the subway tunnels deeper underground, where even the mutated creatures rarely ventured. Past rusted train cars, flooded passages, and collapsed support beams that smelled of mildew and decay.

Finally, she found a maintenance hatch leading to an old storage bunker, forgotten beneath the city's ruins.

Her system flickered to life.

[Blueprint Analysis Activated]

[Scanning Location…]

The map unfolded before her, revealing a reinforced steel chamber, filled with abandoned supplies.

Perfect.

She pried open the heavy door and slipped inside. The air was stale, thick with dust, but the place was intact.

Camille exhaled.

For now, she is safe.

Pain.

A dull, throbbing ache spread through Darius's skull as he forced himself upright, blinking against the sparks still flickering in his vision.

His team was scattered across the floor, groaning. Selene's claws twitched, and Amber-eyes cursed as he shook off the last remnants of the EMP blast.

Darius growled. She had beaten them. Again.

His fist clenched.

That little thief had stolen his Energy Core, humiliated him, and trapped him like a fool.

Selene staggered to her feet, rubbing her temples. "She's getting good at this."

Amber-eyes spat, glaring at the ruined room. "She had a system, didn't she? No way a normal human pulls off something like that."

Darius's expression darkened.

If Camille had a system, it made sense now—how she kept outsmarting them, how she built so fast.

But that also meant something else.

She wasn't just some scavenger anymore.

She is becoming a threat.

Camille crouched beside a pile of old tech, her hands moving swiftly as she rummaged through rusted crates.

[Scanning Supplies…]

[Materials Acquired: Scrap Wiring (5), Circuit Boards (2), Nanofiber Sheet (1)]

Not much.

But enough to work with.

She had a hideout now, but it wouldn't last forever.

Darius would come for her—and next time, she wouldn't have the element of surprise.

She needed an escape plan.

Her system pinged.

[Blueprint Unlocked: Personal Cloaking Device]

[Components Needed: Nanofiber Sheet (1), Energy Source (1), Circuit Board (2)]

Camille's eyes widened.

Invisibility.

If she could build this, she could slip past any patrol, any bounty hunter, even Darius himself.

Her fingers itched to start working.

She pulled up the schematics, studying the delicate circuitry required to weave the nanofiber sheet into a functional cloaking field. It wasn't true invisibility, but rather a light-bending effect that would allow her to blend into her surroundings.

She needed one more energy source to power it.

And she knew exactly where to get one.

The Black Market.

A lawless sector deep in the ruins of Neo-Haven, where smugglers, mercenaries, and exiled scientists bartered survival for secrets.

It was dangerous, but if Camille wanted to build her cloaking device, she had no choice.

She pulled a tattered cloak over her shoulders, concealing her face as she moved through the underground alleys, past flickering neon signs and scavengers huddled around makeshift fires.

At the edge of the market, she found who she was looking for.

Tobias Kane.

Ex-engineer. Information broker.

And a man who owed nobody loyalty—only the highest bidder.

He leaned against a broken-down hoverbike, his cybernetic arm glinting in the low light. His gaze flicked over her, a grin spreading across his face.

"Well, well," he drawled. "If it isn't the little tech rat who outsmarted Darius."

Camille kept her expression neutral. "I need a power source."

Tobias chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure you do. But Darius isn't the only one looking for you, sweetheart. There's a bounty on your head now."

Camille's breath hitched.

She should have known.

Stealing from Darius was one thing—but humiliating him? That made it personal.

Tobias held up a small energy cell, no bigger than her palm. "This what you're after?"

She nodded.

"What's it worth to you?" he mused.

Camille reached into her pack and pulled out a blueprint chip—one of the system-generated designs she had stored.

"This is a schematic for a micro-thermal regulator," she said. "Pre-collapse tech. You won't find another like it."

Tobias's eyebrows lifted.

His greed flickered in his expression.

"Deal." He tossed her the energy cell, catching the blueprint chip in return.

Camille snatched the cell out of the air, tucking it safely into her pack.

She turned to leave.

"Careful out there," Tobias called after her. "Darius isn't just mad, Camille. He's obsessed now."

She didn't respond.

She already knew.

Camille reached her hideout just before dawn.

She dropped her pack, pulling out the nanofiber sheet and circuit boards, her hands working quickly, efficiently.

[Blueprint Assembly: 40% Complete… 60%... 90%…]

Finally—

[Personal Cloaking Device: Complete]

She slipped the device over her wrist, activating it.

A faint shimmer passed over her body. The edges of her form blurred, bent, disappeared into the background.

It worked.

She exhaled.

With this, she could move undetected. Steal what she needed. Strike when the time is right.

She wouldn't be hunted anymore.

She would be the one hunting.

Darius thought she was a nuisance.

A scavenger playing at survival.

He was wrong.

Camille wasn't just surviving.

She was evolving.

And soon—

She'll be unstoppable.