Water drips in black echoes. Selene's boots splash through a tunnel older than the city's first promise.
She drags her fingertips over slime-crusted walls — feels the cold bite through her gloves.
Her cloak sticks to her back, damp with sweat. Her heartbeat drowns Micah's voice — but the comm stays alive in her ear like an angel with a bad signal.
Up ahead — torchlight flickers in puddles. A shape hunched by a nest of rusted metal and chain-link fence.
Not quite human — Talon.
Its spine shifts like a snake under scarred skin and bolted plates. Its fingers tap the concrete — claws longer than carving knives.
Micah (voice low, almost begging):
"Boss, if you can back out — now's the time. Don't play hero for ghosts."
Selene slides a feather blade from her belt — feels its perfect weight.
She steps forward — shadows swallowing her whole.
---
2 — GREER'S REVELATION
Far above — in the morgue's cold belly — Greer hunches over an old folder Ward "forgot" to lock away.
Inside: a battered photo — Selene's father, crime scene taped shut. Feather residue never tested. Old autopsy photos.
New samples match old fibers.
It hits her like bile: the Raven isn't some urban legend — it's a girl who's been carrying her father's corpse on her back all these years.
Greer lifts her glasses — rubs her eyes raw.
She wants to scream — but the walls hear everything in this city.
She calls Ward's encrypted line. He answers on the third ring, voice gravel.
Greer (voice shaking):
"I know who she is, Ward. God help me — I know."
Ward's silence on the line is thicker than any lie.
---
3 — CROW'S HOLLOW LAUGH
Elsewhere — above the tunnels, behind a velvet curtain of rotting feathers — King Crow watches a flickering monitor.
A grainy feed of Dock 47. A small black shape — Selene — moving through Talon's nest like a ghost that forgot how to stay dead.
Crow runs a finger over an old map — city streets like veins.
He whispers to no one:
Crow:
"She cuts off feathers one by one — but the Flock's heart still beats. Wait, little Raven. Wait and watch."
---
4 — THE FIGHT
Talon turns — eyes not eyes at all. Twin lenses flick open, tracking the heartbeat in her ribs.
It stands — too tall, limbs jointed wrong. It laughs — a sound like a steel hinge tearing.
Selene crouches — cloak sweeping the sewage at her feet. Her breath smokes in the cold dark.
Talon lunges — claws slash sparks from concrete. Selene rolls — blade slices under its ribs, but steel screams back at her.
The thing doesn't bleed — it hums.
She slips behind rusted piping — catches her breath, heart thundering.
Micah (voice crackling):
"Raven, it's armored bone. Soft spot's the jaw hinge — aim up. Remember your lessons — break the mask, not your own neck."
Selene swallows the fear — feels her father's hand ghost her shoulder: Stay alive, little wing. Stay alive.
She steps back into the circle — Talon roars. Claw meets cloak — sparks — a rib bruises under the impact.
She spits blood in the darkness — laughs ragged.
Selene (to Talon, to herself, to her father's ghost):
"You're not the first monster I've buried."
She dives — two feather blades — one buries deep under Talon's jaw. Sparks rain like cheap fireworks.
Talon jerks — metal whines. A claw catches her thigh — hot pain, bone-deep. She shoves forward — breaks the hinge with her fist.
The thing staggers — mouth smoking.
Selene twists her blade — pulls back — Talon's neck splits like rotten wire.
It topples — a metal puppet without strings.
She stands there in the tunnel's stale breath — dripping blood, mask cracked at the temple.
---
5 — RAFI'S SHADOW
Up in the broken brickwork, Rafi stares through a rusted grate — phone in hand, eyes wide.
He records everything — trembling fingers, cold breath.
This time he won't post it. He'll keep it — her kill, her truth.
He wants to be the Raven — but watching her bleed, watching her break monsters with her hands? He knows he never will.
---
6 — WARD AND GREER
Ward finds Greer in the lab's far corner — she looks at him like a priest at confession.
Greer:
"I can't hide this. I'm not like you — I can't bury what I know."
Ward's eyes are tired moons.
Ward:
"Don't bury it. Just hold it. A little longer. If she dies — the city dies with her. And you know it."
Greer turns away — but doesn't throw the file in the shredder yet.
---
7 — THE RAVEN'S PROMISE
In the tunnel's dripping dark, Selene pulls her blade free — Talon's body already cold.
She whispers to the rot around her:
Selene (soft, a promise only the dead hear):
"One more monster down. One more lie cut out. Keep coming."
Above her, the city breathes — crooked, hungry, waiting.
---
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE