The bodies were gone by sunrise.
Maxwell and Harper moved with quiet efficiency, dumping the armored corpses into an abandoned storm drain two blocks away. No tags. No IDs. Astra's fingerprints were as clean as their intentions were not.
Ethan sat beside the girl in the rear room, watching her drink slowly from a chipped mug. Her hands were steady again. No blood this time.
Liam patched the blown door as best he could with scrap metal and magnetic locks. "We've got maybe twelve hours before they come knocking again. Less if they've got satellites watching the block."
Ethan turned to the girl. "You said there were other clusters. Is there one near here?"
She nodded. "Not far. North district. Beneath the old commuter terminal.Three pulses. Weak, but alive."
"More mirrors?" Harper asked, stepping in from the hallway.
"Something like that," the girl said. "But broken. Damaged. Like me before I woke up."
Ethan stood. "Then we get them out."
Maxwell scoffed. "You want to raid a nest after they just nearly tore our heads off?"
"We don't have time to play defense anymore," Ethan said. "Astra's hunting us. But if we find others like her… we turn this into something bigger. We build a front."
Harper looked at the girl. "Can you guide us there?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yes."
Liam loaded up a rough schematic of Brinlake's underground on his tablet. "Old commuter terminal's wired to hell. Astra must've gutted the original infrastructure and plugged in their own systems. If we trip even one sensor..."
"Then we don't," the girl said. "I'll go in first. Alone."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Absolutely not."
"I can move without alerting them. I know how the network breathes now. It hums. Like veins under skin. You walk soft, you don't wake the blood."
Maxwell raised a brow. "That's a creepy metaphor, kid."
She didn't smile.
Liam folded his arms. "You'd still need an exit plan. If something goes wrong…"
Ethan stepped forward. "We go in with her. But in shadows. Let her lead. No weapons drawn unless we have to. We're not there to destroy.We're there to extract."
Harper gave a curt nod. "Let's prep."
The terminal loomed like a corpse swallowed by time.
Once the pride of Brinlake's mid-century transport dream, it now sat buried under rust, concrete, and corporate ghosts. Astra had sealed most entrances. But the girl knew of one they'd overlooked,a flood tunnel, accessible only when the tide was low.
They moved through the dark with flashlights off, breathing slow and quiet. The girl led the way, barefoot to feel vibrations in the ground. She paused occasionally, palm to walls, eyes fluttering like a bat reading sonar.
After thirty minutes of silence, they reached a maintenance shaft. The girl crouched by a panel and whispered, "Power node. Pulse-based grid. I can thread through if you give me a minute."
Ethan kept watch behind her. "Take two."
Maxwell tapped his earpiece. "No movement up top. Feels too quiet."
"Because it is," the girl murmured.
She snapped two wires, rewired them with copper from a bracelet she wore, and pressed her thumb to the new contact point.
The door hissed open.
Inside, the corridor pulsed with blue light.
Harper stared. "What is this place?"
"Cold storage," the girl said. "But for minds."
The deeper they moved, the more disturbing the scenery became.
Transparent pods lined the walls. Each held a person,mostly young—floating in blue gel, eyes closed, expressions neutral.
Liam counted at least two dozen. "Jesus…"
The girl approached one pod.
The occupant twitched inside, mouth moving silently.
"She's still conscious," the girl whispered. "Barely."
"Can you wake her?" Ethan asked.
"No. But I can link to her. Briefly."
"Won't that alert Astra?"
"Not if I keep it one-way."
She pressed her forehead to the glass. A quiet hum passed through the chamber.
Everyone fell still.
The girl gasped, then staggered back, clutching her head.
Harper caught her. "What did you see?"
"She's been trapped for five years. They looped her mind in a false memory. Repeating the same day. Over and over."
"Can you break it?" Ethan asked.
"I can try. But not alone. I need an anchor."
"You have one," he said.
She met his eyes, something fragile flickering inside her. Then she nodded.
They focused on one pod,a boy, maybe seventeen, bruises visible even through the fluid. His eyes fluttered as the girl placed both palms against the tank.
Ethan stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.
She exhaled once.
And went in.
Her body stiffened. Her breath hitched.
Inside the tank, the boy jerked violently.
Then everything went still.
A second later, the pod lights blinked.
Green.
The fluid began to drain.
Ethan grabbed the latch as soon as it clicked, helping the boy slump forward. He coughed, gasped, eyes wild but alive.
The girl opened her eyes. "He's out."
Harper moved fast. "Get him dressed. We're moving."
Liam pulled up an exit route. "There's a freight elevator four corridors down. I can override the lock."
They freed two more within minutes. A girl with burn scars and a boy with metal plates embedded in his skin.
Three survivors.
Ethan looked at the girl. "That's enough for now."
She nodded, though her body swayed from the strain.
They retreated fast, careful not to trip any alerts.
When they finally breached the surface, night had deepened. The air smelled of ozone and old oil.
Liam locked down the access point behind them. "We need wheels."
Harper smiled faintly. "Already called a ghost van. No plates. No trail."
Maxwell helped the three new survivors into the back. Each looked dazed, hollow but they were breathing.