The world reacted faster than Ethan expected.
Faster than it should have.
Within minutes of the broadcast, satellites shifted orbit. Secure military channels lit up. Black-budget task forces that officially didn't exist were quietly activated. In underground markets, Mariam Rahal's face began circulating under new names—Asset. Anomaly. Vessel. Threat.
Ethan saw it all on the Vortex's HUD as encrypted feeds poured in.
They weren't chasing him.
They were tracking her.
Sophia's fingers flew across the interface, her voice tight. "We've lost half our ghost relays. Governments are overriding civilian satellites. They're triangulating based on energy signatures—Mariam's nanobots lit her up like a flare."
Mariam looked down at her hands.
So this was her footprint on the world now.
Wolf swore under his breath. "They're not coordinating. That's worse. Everyone wants her for themselves."
Ethan's jaw clenched. Fragmented hunters meant chaos. No rules. No lines.
The Vortex screamed as Ethan forced it into a steep descent, dumping altitude and power simultaneously. The engines protested, but obeyed. Clouds swallowed them, interference scrambling every lock-on for a precious few seconds.
"We can't keep running like this," Sophia said. "Eventually someone gets lucky."
"No," Mariam replied before Ethan could. Her voice was calm. Too calm. "They don't get lucky."
Everyone turned to her.
She closed her eyes.
The nanobots responded instantly.
Ethan felt it before he saw it—the air pressure shifting, systems flickering as the Vortex's sensors struggled to interpret what was happening. A low-frequency hum vibrated through the cabin as invisible patterns spread outward from Mariam's body.
"What are you doing?" Ethan asked, sharp now.
"Listening," she said.
Her eyes opened—and for a heartbeat, they weren't entirely human.
"I can feel them," Mariam continued. "Their signals. Their drones. Their weapons." She inhaled slowly. "They're loud."
Sophia stared at her display in disbelief. "Ethan… her nanobots are hijacking ambient electromagnetic noise. She's masking us. Not cloaking—rewriting the background itself."
Ethan's stomach dropped.
He hadn't designed that.
Wolf leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "She's learning on the fly."
Mariam met Ethan's gaze. There was no fear there now. Only resolve—and something else. Acceptance.
"You said we decide how the key is used," she said quietly. "This is me deciding."
The Vortex vanished from every tracker on the planet.
For six seconds.
That was all it took.
A missile screamed through the clouds where they should have been, detonating in empty air. The shockwave rocked the Vortex, alarms flaring red.
Wolf laughed once, harsh. "Yeah. They're not playing."
Ethan slammed a fist into the console, fury and fear colliding inside him. "This is exactly what I was trying to prevent."
Mariam didn't look away. "You were trying to protect me."She paused."I'm trying to survive."
The difference cut deeper than she knew.
Sophia's voice dropped. "We've got movement ahead. Unknown craft. Not Syndicate. Signature doesn't match any public military either."
Ethan recognized it instantly. His blood ran cold.
"No," he muttered.
A sleek black carrier emerged from the clouds, angular and silent, its hull swallowing radar like a void.
Wolf's expression darkened. "Tell me that's not—"
"It is," Ethan finished. "Astra Grey."
The carrier's comms flared to life.
A familiar voice cut through—smooth, controlled, and deadly calm.
"Ethan Stone. Still running."A pause."You taught her well. But you made the same mistake you always do."
Ethan's eyes burned. "You betrayed SHIELD."
Astra chuckled softly. "No. I outgrew it."
The feed shifted—Astra stood on the carrier's bridge, eyes locked directly on Mariam.
"They're going to tear the world apart trying to own you," she said. "I can offer something better. Sanctuary. Control. Purpose."
Mariam felt the nanobots stir violently, reacting to the threat in Astra's voice.
"And if I say no?" Mariam asked.
Astra smiled.
"Then you become the most hunted entity in human history."
Silence followed.
Ethan leaned toward Mariam, voice low, urgent. "Don't listen to her."
Mariam stared back at Astra's image, then at the burning horizon behind them—at Haven, gone. At the world, already closing in.
"I'm done being protected," she said.Her gaze hardened."If this is a war, then I choose how I fight it."
The nanobots flared—brighter than ever.
And somewhere across the planet, a dozen systems simultaneously detected something new.
Something awake.
The hunt had begun.