We'll get him

Lyra rummaged through Eris's clutter of gear until she found the can. She popped it open and handed it over. Eris murmured thanks, sipping while her other hand typed furiously.

A tense quiet settled in, broken only by the hum of Eris's equipment and the drip of water in far corners of the station. Lyra found herself touching the locket at her neck again, thumbing it absently. She couldn't stop thinking about Noel—where he was, whether he was hurt or afraid. The unknown gnawed at her.

Jax approached quietly. "All quiet up top," he reported, then tilted his head, studying Lyra. "You hanging in there?"

"I'm fine," she said, more curtly than intended. His brow lifted and she sighed. "Sorry. Just... anxious."

He gave her a sympathetic nod. "We'll get him."

Before Lyra could respond, Eris let out a soft, triumphant sound. "Got through the first layer." She was scanning one of her smaller screens. "There's multiple directories. One is labeled 'PROJECT MANTIS'—all caps. And... oh man, they really don't want us in here. There's another encryption layer on that folder."

"Can you break it?" Lyra asked, moving closer.

"I'm trying." Eris tapped a few keys, then cursed under her breath. "Not cleanly, not without time. But I see references in the unencrypted portions... A list of subjects maybe."

Lyra's heart skipped. "Subjects? As in human test subjects?"

"Likely." Eris's voice was grim. "Scrolling... Yes, 'MANTIS Subjects'. There's a dozen ID codes." Her eyes darted. "One of them... NK-7. Noel K."

Lyra felt a flood of relief and fury at once. Relief that Noel was indeed recorded here—alive long enough to be logged. Fury at seeing him reduced to an ID on some list. "That's him."

Eris nodded. "So Noel was part of this project. If we crack the rest, maybe we'll find out where he is or what they did to him."

Jax leaned in slightly. "Any hints so far?"

"Some," Eris replied. "Not location yet, but... I'm seeing a code name 'Site Theta' repeated. And something about 'Phase II relocation'." She frowned deeply. "Hold on, there's a text file... It looks like an orders memo. It's partially encrypted but I can read fragments."

Lyra unconsciously held her breath as Eris opened the file. Eris read slowly, halting whenever gibberish replaced words. "'Protocol: MANTIS Phase II Relocation. Subject Noel K. to be transferred to cryostasis at Site Theta awaiting overse--'" She stopped, the rest of the line indecipherable.

"Awaiting what?" Lyra asked urgently.

"I don't know. The text devolves into cipher script there." Eris tapped a few more keys, but more strings of random characters filled the screen. "Dammit. They must have layered the encryption. I need more time to brute force the rest of this file."

Lyra felt her stomach twist. "It sounds like they moved Noel. Cryostasis... Site Theta... and 'awaiting' something, maybe 'overseas shipment'? It cut off at 'overse--'."

Jax muttered a curse. "They might be planning to send him out of the city. If Noel's about to be moved overseas, our window to find him is closing."

Eris pulled off her visor and rubbed her eyes. "I need to fully decrypt that memo to know for sure. It could have the destination or exact timeline, but it's beyond my on-the-fly cracking right now." She glanced around their dingy surroundings. "And this isn't the safest place to run intensive codebreaking. If I had my main rig... but it's not exactly portable."

Lyra tried to master the surge of panic she felt at the idea of Noel being shipped away. "How long to break it with what you have?"

Eris chewed her lip. "Maybe a couple hours to brute force, if we're lucky and not interrupted. But if they've got quantum-level encryption, maybe longer."

"We might not have longer," Jax said. "Prysm-Sek will be sweeping for us. And if that memo is right, Noel could be on a boat or plane by tomorrow, or even today."

Lyra's hands balled into fists. "Then we need to find 'Site Theta' immediately. There can't be too many places they could freeze someone and prep a secret transport."

Eris nodded, thinking aloud. "Site Theta sounds like a codename for an off-the-books facility. Could be a private airfield, or a secure lab by the port. Prysm-Sek has a lot of hidden properties."

Jax paced, the concrete crunching under his boots. "We could try to cross-reference 'Theta' with city infrastructure records or known Prysm-Sek holdings. Eris?"

"Yeah, I can try a quick search via city net, bouncing through a few proxies," Eris said, already typing again. "But if I poke in the wrong place, they might sniff us out."

"Minimize risk," Lyra cautioned. "We might have to narrow it down with what we have first."

Eris brought up another window, her fingers moving fast. "I'll query some old corporate zoning databases under an alias. See if any decommissioned facilities have code names or Greek letters."

Lyra stood and began to pace as well, unable to sit still. Noel in cryostasis... it likely meant he was incapacitated but alive. Awaiting overseas shipment. She felt a wave of nausea. If they moved him out of the country, finding him would become nearly impossible.

Jax caught her eye. "We'll stop it," he said firmly, as if reading her thoughts.

Lyra nodded, clinging to his certainty.

A faint crackle from a nearby handheld radio cut through the silence. Eris had left it tuned low to a news station. Through the static, a report was airing: "...last night's violent incident at the Prysm-Sek Arcology. Corporate representatives claim a rogue augmented gang orchestrated the attack. A citywide security alert remains in effect. Generous rewards are offered for information leading to the perpetrators..."

Eris grimaced and shut it off. "They've officially pinned it on us. Every bounty hunter in the city will be looking."

Jax checked his pistol out of habit, then glanced up the stairs to the exit. "We should move soon. I don't like staying too long in one spot after that broadcast."

Eris nodded distractedly, eyes still on her code. "Just a few more minutes... I've got something." She paused, then sighed. "Found references to 'Theta' in municipal records. A warehouse lease in the industrial docks quarter flagged as 'Site Θ'. Looks like Greek letter Theta, probably them trying to be subtle. It was transferred to a Prysm-Sek shell company three months ago."

"The docks," Lyra repeated, heart quickening. That fit an overseas shipment scenario. "That's got to be it."

Eris waggled her hand. "It's a strong lead. An old cold-storage warehouse near the river, Pier 27-C. If I had to guess, yeah, that could be where they stashed Noel for transport. But I'd feel better confirming via the shard data once I crack it fully."

Jax moved toward the station stairs, peering upward. The clouds outside were growing darker, and a few fat raindrops splattered on the platform concrete. "Then we regroup somewhere safer to finish the job. We know enough to act on if we have to, but let's get the full picture."

Lyra gathered up one of Eris's equipment bags, buckling it. "We need to plan a rescue and fast. But first, we get out of here and keep that data safe."

Eris began disconnecting the shard and packing her deck with swift efficiency. "Agreed. I've pulled what I can for now. I'll crack the rest on the move."

Suddenly, a distant clang echoed from the lobby upstairs. It sounded like the fence being rattled or a door forced.

All three froze. Jax was the first to kill the lights, plunging them into semi-darkness lit only by the dim gray light from the stairwell. He held up a hand for silence.

Muffled footsteps—several—crunched on broken glass above. Then a voice, amplified by a helmet speaker, called out: "We know you're in here! Come out, now!"