The dust settled in the cavernous shantytown beneath the Jingjie Sector, coating the metal grating in gray ash. Captain Halden rested her pulse-rifle against her shoulder, its barrel venting a thin wisp of heat, and stared at Lin Yan. Halden took a slow drag from her cigarette, the cherry glowing a violent red in the dim emergency lighting. Her eyes swept over the rusted architecture, the terrified refugees peeking from behind crates, and finally, the bright, unyielding hope on Yan's face. Halden gave a single, curt nod.
The shift in Yan was instantaneous. Her cheerful demeanor evaporated, replaced by the hardened edge of a seasoned underground commander.
"Bao! Fen!" Two grease-stained runners darted from the shadows. "Mobilize the scouts. Fifty-man sweep of the old Chiyou war-tunnels. South grid first. We're looking for a lab. If you find it first, do not engage. Report back."
The runners nodded sharply and vanished into the labyrinth of rusted pipes.
With the hunt officially underway, the adrenaline of the drop began to bleed out of the cadets.
Zeri leaned heavily against a coolant pipe, watching the camp. A few yards away, kids chased a makeshift ball around a scrap-metal fire, their laughter echoing off the damp ceiling.
Zeri scoffed, folding her arms. "Look at them, Gideon," she muttered. "Living in garbage and acting like it's a vacation resort. It's weird."
"They are finding joy in survival, Zeri," her AI, Gideon, chimed in her earpiece, his voice paternally protective. "Much like you need to prioritize your own. Your internal bio-monitors are flashing red. You need to sit down."
"Chill out, Gideon. You're acting like an overbearing dad," Zeri sighed. "I'm fine. Built different, remember?"
She pushed off the pipe, and her left leg instantly gave out.
Her cocky smirk vanished into a sharp squeak as her knees buckled. She hit the grating hard, clamping her left arm against her ribs. The hard-light projector on her hip was shattered, leaking luminescent blue coolant onto her boots.
"Zeri! You have multiple micro-fractures in your ribs and severe tissue trauma," Gideon scolded, panic in his synthetic voice. "I am pinging medical—"
"Do not ping medical, Gideon, I swear to god!" Zeri gasped, forcing herself onto one knee. "Cancel it!"
"Been looking for you, hotshot."
Zeri's head snapped up. Halden rounded the corner of the rusted corridor, exhaling a slow cloud of gray smoke.
Instantly, Zeri forced herself to stand. She threw her head back, flashing a blinding grin, masking the fire in her chest behind pure adrenaline.
"Captain!" Zeri beamed, leaning casually against the pipe. "Tell me you recorded that drop. I completely styled on that hybrid back there. Command should just pay me double and send the boys home."
Halden didn't say a word. She walked straight into Zeri's personal space, her cigarette hanging loosely from her lips, and grabbed the clasps of the cadet's tactical chest plate.
"Woah, hey, boundaries! Buy a girl dinner first, Cap—" Zeri joked, but flinched, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood as Halden yanked the side-plating free. The armor depressurized with a hiss.
Beneath the undersuit, Zeri's flesh was a mottled canvas of deep purple and black where the hybrid's bone-scythe had impacted.
"Captain Halden, she requires immediate stabilization," Gideon pleaded over the external speakers.
"I see it," Halden grunted.
Halden pulled a canister of high-grade bio-foam from her belt and sprayed it directly onto the contusion. Zeri shuddered violently, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the pipe, but she forced a strained laugh.
"S-spicy," Zeri wheezed. "You got a... a cute little band-aid to go with that? Maybe a sticker for being brave?"
Halden ignored the bravado. She resecured the armor plate, exhaled quietly, and slid down the pipe to sit next to Zeri.
"You're an absolute idiot, you know that?" Halden chuckled, a rare, warm smile breaking through her usual stoic mask. She tapped her cigarette, offering Zeri a sideways glance. "Did you give your mom a call yet?"
Zeri's hyperactive smile shattered. Her posture stiffened. "My mom? Are you joking? No. Why would I do that?"
"Because she worries about you," Halden said calmly.
"She doesn't worry about me, she just likes micromanaging everyone until they suffocate," Zeri spat, her fingers digging tight into her elbows. "She did it to him, and now she wants to do it to me. No thanks."
"Zeri, your heart rate is elevating rapidly," Gideon warned softly. "Please, deep breaths."
"Shut up, Gideon. You don't know anything about him," Zeri snapped, her voice cracking. She glared at the rusted floor.
Halden watched her, letting the silence stretch long enough to acknowledge the pain. Then, she leaned over and gently bumped her shoulder against Zeri's.
"Funny," Halden said, her tone softening. "Because on the day you joined POND, while you were taking selfies in your new armor, she tracked me down by the drop-ships."
Zeri scowled. "No she didn't."
"Grabbed my arm," Halden continued. "Tears in her eyes. She begged me to look after you. Asked me to make sure her little girl didn't get herself gutted out here trying to prove something to a ghost."
Zeri stared at her, breathing quickly. The defensive anger drained away, leaving her looking exhausted and young. She blinked rapidly at the ceiling. "You're lying. She would never do that."
"She did," Halden said. She dragged her thumb across a rusted pipe, then wiped it gently on Zeri's pristine white cheek, leaving a thick smudge of ash and grease. "But I didn't say yes because of her."
Zeri swallowed hard. "Then why did you?"
"Because you were the only one in your class who actually looked terrified when civilians were in the crossfire," Halden said quietly, resting her hand on Zeri's uninjured shoulder. "You try to hide it behind all this obnoxious noise and neon, but it's there. That's your potential. That's why I picked you."
Zeri didn't have a sarcastic comeback. For a long moment, the untouchable prodigy looked like a bruised kid who desperately needed a hug. She let her head rest heavily against Halden's shoulder with a shuddering sigh.
Halden let her rest for a minute. Then, deciding the air was getting too heavy, she reached into a tactical pouch and pulled out a battered tube of violently pink lip gloss.
Zeri cracked open one eye, an eyebrow raised. "Are you serious right now?"
"Found it in the barracks. Figured it matched your entirely unsubtle aesthetic," Halden deadpanned, tossing it into Zeri's lap. "Though honestly, who were you trying to impress with that flip off the dropship anyway? Darian?"
Zeri practically gagged, sitting up slightly. "Ew! Darian? Gross. He spends more time looking in the mirror than I do."
"Ravion, then," Halden teased, taking a drag of her cigarette.
"Oh my god, I would rather kiss a Class-4 Anomaly," Zeri laughed, a genuine sound breaking through the grime and pain. "Ravion probably schedules his bathroom breaks in a spreadsheet."
"Just checking," Halden smirked, leaning back against the pipe. "You've got that 'distracted by a boy' combat posture."
"I do not! I am an independent icon," Zeri protested, uncapping the gloss and using the reflection of her shattered projector to apply it, despite being covered in ash and blood.
Halden chuckled, watching the kid finally relax. For a few minutes, in the middle of the rusted labyrinth, the war faded away, replaced by the simple sound of two girls laughing in the dark.