The first sign of danger was the silence.
Kane had been talking—her voice sharp, urgent, rattling off equations and theories as she tried to piece together a way to keep me from vanishing completely. But suddenly, she stopped.
The air turned wrong. Thick. Heavy.
My skin prickled.
Then—
"Target identified."
The voice wasn’t human. It came from everywhere and nowhere, distorted and fragmented like a corrupted file trying to play itself.
I spun around, instincts flaring.
A figure stood at the far end of the hideout.
Tall. Masked. A black bodysuit covering every inch of their form, lines of glowing circuitry pulsing along their limbs. The air around them shimmered, distorting like heatwaves on asphalt.
A notification flashed in my vision.
[Caution: Opponent is using a perfected vers
