She’s aiming for him.
I don’t let her have the shot.
“We didn’t come here to prove anything,” I say calmly.
The cameras shift, tightening their focus on me.
“Subject Nightshade?—”
“We were brought here because we refused an order,” I continue. “You might want to remember which one.”
Silence.
It’s brief, but it’s real.
Honey’s head lifts. Bones’s fingers curl slightly against his knee. Ghost tilts his head, listening harder now.
Seytan’s voice cools. “You were instructed to remain in position.”
“And we didn’t,” I say. “Because Kayla was taken.”
There it is.
Her name lands differently than anything else has.
The room reacts – not mechanically, but procedurally. Systems don’t flinch. People do.
“You are not authorised to pursue her,” Seytan says. Flat. Final.
Hatchet makes a low, soundless noise in his throat, pure pressure. Snow’s jaw tightens.
“We know,” I say. “That’s why we tried anyway.”
Seytan exhales, sharp this time. “You were punished for defiance.”
“No,” I correct. “We were punished for initiative. And all you’ve done is waste time and wear down your best assets.”
She scoffs. “You’re hardly assets if you can’t follow simple commands.”
“And yet, you need us to find her and bring her back.”
“Says, who?” She snaps, cracks in her armour showing.
“You wouldn’t be here if you’d found her already and now fuck knows how much time has passed or what state she’ll be in when we finally do get to her.”
I shift slightly, enough to close the distance between myself and the others. Snow mirrors me without looking. Bones leans forward. Hatchet adjusts, aligning his body despite the restraints. Honey presses his hands into his sleeves, grounding himself. Ghost’s shoulder brushes mine, deliberate.
A line forms.
“You isolated us,” I continue. “You tested us. You catalogued our limits. You stripped away what you thought made us dangerous. You tried to take awayher.And for what? What have you truly learnt that you didn’t know before?”
I look up now, meeting the nearest lens directly.
“We still choose her.”
The silence stretches.
“She is not your concern,” Seytan says. “She is just another asset.”
