REN PLUTO
The words hung in the air. A goddamn execution order.
Mr. Dasa. Ravi. Your turn.
Ren's blood turned to ice.
Still in front of Maven's bunk. A useless bloody bodyguard. Pry bar limp in his hand. He'd just failed to protect Jules. Failed to stop Sayer from being broken.
Now she was taking their leader.
Ravi just... stopped.
He'd been a wreck. Holding Sayer. Face a mask of horrified grief.
When Gray spoke his name... all of it froze.
He looked up. Eyes red-rimmed and wide. Locked on the smiling cashmere-clad vampire in the doorway.
"No." Ravi whispered. Not defiance. A plea.
"Now, Mr. Dasa." Dr. Gray cooed. Savoring this. Broken the Ghost. Wiped the Heart.
Now coming for the brain.
Ren saw it. The real kill.
Ren was muscle. Nyx was weapon. Sayer was intel.
But Ravi was the glue. The one who read the handbook. Made the plan.
If she broke him... wiped him... the unit was done. Not a team anymore. Just seven animals trapped in a cage.
Ren took a step.
"Dr. Gray." His voice a raw shredded mess. "Take me. I'm the one you want. I'm 448. Take me."
Holding his shield. Hate and protection. Ready.
Dr. Gray... laughed.
Not a coo. A high thin musical sound. Worse.
"Oh, Ren." She sighed like he was a stupid child. "I told you. You're the main course. You haven't marinated."
Her dead black eyes slid past him. Landed on Ravi.
"He's not ready." She said to Ravi like sharing a private joke. "But you... you're perfect. Vibrating with conflict. All that love. All that resentment. Delicious."
She knew.
Seen his glitch in that single moment of hesitation with Jules.
Knew his shield.
Ravi was dead.
Ravi looked at Ren. Eyes not scared anymore. Just... empty. He knew too.
Looked at Jules. The zombie. The blank.
Looked at Sayer. The corpse.
Looked at Ren.
Didn't say help me. Didn't say protect me.
Just... nodded. Once. Tiny stiff it's-over nod.
Stood up. Let go of Sayer.
Walked.
Walked past Ren. Didn't look at him.
Walked out the door. Into the hallway. With her.
Dr. Gray didn't even look at the rest. Just smiled at Ren. Wide bright I-just-won smile.
The door to Suite 734 hissed shut.
Heavy oily thunk.
The maglock.
Locked in.
The silence wasn't just quiet. It was a void.
Ren stood in the middle of the room. Useless.
The killer. The Wolf.
Couldn't do shit.
Looked at the room.
Jules: blank. Staring at wall.
Sayer: corpse. Shivering on floor.
Ravi: gone.
Alone.
"Well." Zelie's voice sharp. On her bunk. Arms crossed. Face pissed. "He's gone too. So who's in charge now? You?"
Ren just... stared. No words.
Shing... shing... shing.
Nyx. On her bunk. Sharpening her knife. Her heartbeat. Slow steady rhythmic.
Shing... shing... shing.
Ren looked at her. Not scared. Not sad. Preparing.
The other wolf.
Maven at her lab. Working. Furious. Hands moving fast. Back to the room. Disassembling Kieran's reader.
They weren't waiting. They were working.
Ren was the one frozen.
A liability.
He stalked to his bunk. Sat. Put the pry bar down.
Just... waited.
Waited to see what—or who—Dr. Gray would send back.
The wait was hell.
Sayer: twenty minutes.
Jules: an hour.
Ravi...
One hour.
Nyx's knife: shing... shing... shing.
Maven's tools: click... click... click.
Jules: silent.
Sayer: shivering.
Ren just... listened.
Shoulder on fire. Throat raw.
Hated Ravi. Hated his softness. Hated his stupid fucking team bullshit.
But he was the glue.
Ren was the fist. Nyx was the knife. Ravi was the brain.
Hate and protection.
No.
Hate and need.
Ren needed him. Needed him to come back. Not blank. Not gray.
Needed him to come back Ravi.
One hour and a half.
Too long.
Jules: simple wipe.
Sayer: failed test.
This... this was a fight.
She wasn't just harvesting Ravi. She was breaking him. Dissecting him.
Ren stood. Pacing. Two-step limping furious circle.
Fuck her. Fuck Thorean. Fuck this school.
Going to kill her. Didn't care about the minus fifty. Going to—
Hssst.
The maglock.
The room froze.
Nyx's knife stopped. Maven's tools stopped.
Ren spun. Pry bar in hand.
The door opened.
Dr. Gray.
Not smiling.
Not sated. Not amused.
Face tight. Annoyed.
Behind her...
Ravi.
A wreck.
Drenched. Gray uniform dark with sweat. Vibrating—low high-frequency shake. Eyes red raw.
But...
Not gray. Not blank.
Pissed.
He stalked into the room. Didn't look at Gray. Walked right past her.
Dr. Gray just... watched him.
"Your paradox is unstable, Mr. Dasa." Cold clinical insult. "Love and resentment. So messy. So unfocused. We'll work on that. A lot."
She turned. Looked at the rest.
"My audit is complete." She said. "Your unit is a liability. All so emotional. So chaotic."
Her eyes landed on Ren.
"You, 448. You're the worst. Not a student. A raw exposed nerve. Not marinated. Burning. Going to burn out."
She looked at Maven.
"And you, 500." Different voice. New edge. "The smart one. The key-holder."
Maven froze.
"She knows." Maven whispered. "She knows I have the glitch."
Gray smiled. "I'll be back. For all of you. Soon. We have so much work to do."
She left.
The door hissed shut.
Click.
Unlocked.
The audit was over.
Silence.
Ravi at the sink. Plunged his head under faucet. Came up gasping. Water streaming from hair.
Shaking.
"Ravi?" Maven whispered.
Ravi looked at them.
Eyes not soft. Not scared.
Hard.
Ravi's eyes... with Ren's rage.
"You beat her." Ren growled. Impressed.
Ravi looked at Ren.
"No." Voice a shred. A husk. "I held it. Love and resentment. Kept thinking of my sister... my father. Just held it. She hated it."
He turned. Looked at Jules. The zombie.
"She showed me." Voice breaking. "Used him against me. Said: 'This is peace, Ravi. This is quiet.' Offered to wipe me too."
Ravi shook with new fury.
"She's a monster."
Looked at Ren.
"You were right. This isn't a school. It's a farm. We're the pigs."
Ren just... stared.
Golden Retriever gone.
Ravi Dasa... forged. Hardened.
He walked to center of room. Not shaking now. Vibrating.
"Okay." Voice firm. Cold. "She knows our shield. Knows the glitch. We need a new one. Need weapons."
Looked at Maven. "The Coudhayes. What else can you do with it? Weaponize it? Like the journal said?"
Looked at Nyx. "The sprints. Kinetic sprints. We need points. Need out of this basement."
Looked at Ren.
"And you." Voice steel. "You're a killer. So kill. Kill for us. You report to me."
The Alpha Struggle. Right here.
Ren stared at this new Ravi.
Hated him.
Respected him.
Ren just... nodded. Once.
The audit was over.
The war had just begun.