{ Mia }
I fell to my knees feeling weak as if all my powers had been drained.
" A-Ace —"
My vision blurred and I blacked out.
Darkness cradled me, thick and endless. But I wasn't alone in it.
A pulse echoed around me — deep and slow, like the heartbeat of something ancient. Something watching.
Then came the whisper.
"You're not ready."
The voice was cold and smooth, curling around my thoughts like smoke.
"But soon."
I tried to speak, to scream, to move, but I was frozen — floating in a void that felt too real to be just a dream.
Then light.
Gold, flickering at first — then growing stronger, warmer.
"Ace?" I rasped. My voice sounded small.
He appeared through the haze, kneeling in front of me, his hands glowing with shadow and light.
"Mia," he said softly, "you're okay. I've got you."
I blinked, breath shaky as I felt the floor beneath me again. Real. Solid. The safehouse ceiling came into focus above me, cracked and dim, but safe.
I was lying on a makeshift cot. My gloves were on the table nearby, scorched at the fingertips.
Ace sat beside me, jaw tense, eyes scanning me like he didn't quite believe I was still here.
"What… happened?" I whispered.
"You passed out," he said. "The violet fire — it wasn't just a flare. It took something out of you."
"I heard a voice," I said, trying to sit up. "It said I wasn't ready."
He went still. "You heard it too."
I looked at him sharply. "Too?"
Ace leaned in, voice low. "It's not just Ash. Whatever corrupted her… it's reaching for you now."
I gripped the edge of the cot. "Then we need to stop it."
He nodded, jaw set. "Before it's too late."
I slowly looked up at Ace. " You know... Scarlett, she can fix me..." I whispered too scared to speak out loud.
Ace's eyes brightened with hope. " How can she do that ?" He asked smirking faintly.
" Well, a few days ago I scanned my body for a new project I'm working on so if I scan it again Scarlett will find the difference between them and now..."
"...and then we can figure out how to fix it !! " He completed smiling.
" Can you access her now ?" He asked eagerly.
" Gimme an hour and she'll be all set..." I smiled weakly still drained from power.
Ace helped me sit up, careful, like I might break.
"Take your time," he said, brushing some dust off my shoulder. "I'll secure the perimeter. Just… yell if anything feels off."
I nodded, then closed my eyes and focused.
"Scarlett," I whispered, letting the word settle into the air like a code.
The implant in my wrist pulsed — faintly at first, then stronger. A hum buzzed behind my ears, and a familiar voice echoed in my mind, clipped and calm.
"System booting… Welcome back, Mia."
I exhaled in relief. "Scarlett, I need a body scan. Compare it to the file from three days ago. Filename: Project Dawn."
"Scan initiated."
Blue light traced along my veins, mapping my body with quiet precision. Every pulse felt like a needle — not painful, but sharp enough to remind me that something inside me wasn't right.
"Scan complete. Differences detected."
I tensed. "How bad is it?"
A pause. Too long.
"Unknown energy signatures detected in 11% of your neural pathways. Source: non-biological. Influence: spreading."
My throat tightened. "Scarlett… is it reversible?"
"Unknown. The energy is adaptive. Self-aware. Possibly sentient."
Ace reappeared at the door, his face already tight with concern. "What did she say?"
I met his eyes. "It's worse than I thought."
He stepped forward, fists clenched. "Then we work faster. We get ahead of it."
But even as he said it, Scarlett's voice whispered again, this time softer — almost like a warning only I could hear:
"You are being watched."
I froze slowly turning to Ace all the colour drained from my face.
Ace turned to me his gaze full of concern. " What's wrong cupcake, it's okay you can tell me..."
I closed my eyes establishing a mind link between us.
" Ace... Someone is watching us..."
His eyes widened. " Are you sure cupcake?"
" Yes, Scarlett said so..."
" Can she detect the source? "
Slowly I whispered my voice trembling ." Scarlett, identify the watcher."
There was a long, pulsing silence.
Then Scarlett's voice returned, flat and mechanical — but laced with something new. A delay. A hesitation.
"Source unknown. Cloaking signature active. Signal triangulated —
—location: inside the safehouse."
Ace's expression snapped from concern to full alert.
"Inside?" he repeated, stepping back instinctively, scanning the room with his eyes and his shadowlight. "Mia, we're not alone."
The walls suddenly felt too close. Every shadow stretched too far.
I gripped the edge of the cot, heartbeat pounding. "Scarlett, how long has it been active?"
"Thirty-six minutes and twenty-four seconds."
My stomach dropped. That meant it started just before I woke up.
Ace was already moving, his powers igniting in his palms. "There's a breach. Stay here —"
"No!" I pushed myself off the cot. "If they're cloaked, they want you to separate us."
He stopped mid-step, turning slowly. "…You think it's a trap?"
I nodded. "I feel it."
The implant in my wrist buzzed again. Scarlett was still online, but faint — like she was being pulled under.
"Warning: External interference detected. Connection… unstable…"
The lights in the safehouse flickered.
Ace muttered something under his breath and formed a barrier of shadow around us, just as a low click echoed from the far end of the room — behind the supply shelf.
A hidden door.
I met Ace's gaze. "That wasn't there before."
He moved toward it slowly, hands raised, every muscle tense.
"I've got your back," I whispered, and followed.