Unity City didn't sleep.
It hummed.
Every tower hummed. Every ad-beam, every tram, every living soul trying to forget the blood baked into the chrome under their shoes. A thousand screens blinked across the skyline like synthetic stars. And down below, between those lights, the real world breathed ...it was damp, restless, beautiful in all the wrong ways.
I moved through it like a bad dream someone forgot to wake up from.
My shadow stretched and folded along the walls, bending to every flicker of neon like a ripple through the night. The air smelled of ozone and machine oil. Human laughter and Humarite chatter mixed in the alleys, both pretending they were equal under Hawk's ever-watchful lenses.
Hawk.
The keepers of peace.
The invisible gods of the city.
Big metal eyes perched in the corners of streets, humming softly. They said Hawk was created to "ensure unity." I'd say it was created to remind every Humarite how easily a bird can be caged. Every camera blinked like it was judging, every drone buzzed like an insect that forgot it was made of steel.
I told you before, didn't I? Humans are fragile in the head. They crave control like it's oxygen and they'll choke you with it before they ever let you breathe on your own.
Anyway… enough philosophy.
Let's talk about him.
The bounty hunter.
Name's Vex Marrow.
Sharp bastard. Used to work under the government as a Humarite retriever the kind they sent to capture "rogues." He got bored, started working for the highest bidder. Stole a job from me last week. My job. My blood. My money. He doesn't know who he crossed.
Well… he's about to.
I slip into an alley where the night hums louder. Beneath a flickering holo-sign that reads "THE VEIN" — the den where bounty hunters drink their pride and polish their egos stands a door guarded by a seven-foot Humarite with horns and a bored expression.
Above the door, a giant holographic board loops through wanted faces.
And there....it's me.
DAWN
"Shadow Null" not accurate
Bounty: 18 Million credits( because bounty money is different from Andross)
Status: Kill on sight ( How cute)
They didn't even get my good side.
"Really?" I mutter to no one. "I'm smiling under the mask in that shot."
The guard's tail flicks lazily.
"You've got some nerve walkin' here, ghost," he growls.
"I know," I reply, stepping past him. "That's the fun part."
He doesn't stop me.
He can't.
House rules: No bounty fights, no killing and no gangs inside The Vein.
I press my palm to the scanner. The metal door slides open, breathing smoke and heat into the night.
---
Inside, chaos lives and smokes cigars.
Holographic wanted boards line the walls, shifting through faces faster than memories. The room splits clean down the middle , humans on one side, clean suits and chrome implants; Humarites on the other, feathers, horns, tails, and eyes that glow in ways nature never approved of. The music's heavy and the bass is so deep that it rattles your bones. The air's thick with laughter and the smell of alcohol that's flammable enough to count as a weapon.
Every head turns when I step in.
Every voice dies.
"Oh, don't stop on my account," I say, spreading my arms. "Pretend I'm not here. Just your neighborhood murderer passing through."
Someone cocks a gun.
Someone else whispers, "It's him."
I ignore them. Pull a chair from the nearest table with a thread of shadow ,it slides across the floor and spins perfectly under me. I take a seat. The bartender, a cybernetic Humarite with silver horns, doesn't move. I raise a hand.
"Something sweet," I say. "Surprise me."
No one breathes.
"Relax," I tell them. "You can't collect a bounty here. House rules. You shoot, they gut you. I'm just here for information."
I reach up and tap the side of my mask, it shifts slightly, letting a bit of my voice soften. "I'm looking for Vex Marrow. Tell him I want to talk."
No one answers.
But I can feel them thinking.
Every heartbeat. Every lie they almost said.
"Fine," I sigh. "I'll wait."
I let the silence stretch until the tension feels like a physical thing, then I look at you.
Yes, you!.
"Don't give me that look," I whisper. "You think I don't know you're watching? You want to know more about me. About him. About Riven."
I tilt my head, letting the lights dance across the steel of my mask.
"I'll tell you, but not yet. Let's live in the present a little, hmm? You'll appreciate the tragedy more once the blood dries."
The bartender finally slides a glass toward me. It's glowing blue, fizzing faintly. I take a sip.
Sweet.
Tastes like regret.
Outside the bar's tinted windows, the city pulses with traffic weaving like veins in a living organism. Unity City, the heart of a dying world, still pretending it's alive.
Humans walking hand in hand with Humarites but never really together. Billboards scream equality while drones drag brown-winged Humarites into vans marked "Regulatory Custody." A child stares at the sky as two Hawk patrol ships roar past, their logos gleaming in gold. And above it all, the moon hangs cracked, still bearing the scar from when the galaxies brushed that cosmic radiation storm that birthed my kind.
Fifty percent of humanity, rewritten by the stars.
Humarites.
Null abilities.
Bloodlines that decide your worth before your first breath.
You know the types X, Y, XT, T.
You know the hierarchy.
You know how fragile it all is.
"I wonder…" I say quietly to my drink, "if that same radiation also scrambled their morality. Humans, I mean. Maybe it only mutated half their hearts."
The bartender looks like he wants to speak, but doesn't. No one does.
Then a door opens in the back.
Soft, mechanical.
Out walks a woman in a long red coat, chrome plates running down her neck like scales. Her eyes shine orange and cybernetic, predatory. Her smile's all knives.
"Dawn," she says. "You're either brave or suicidal."
I tilt my head. "Can't I be both?"
The bar breathes again. The hunters loosen their grips. The music crawls back in. She slides into the seat across from me. Her fingers drum the table ,mechanical ticks against wood.
"You're looking for Vex Marrow," she says. "You know he doesn't deal with ghosts."
"Then I'll haunt him," I reply.
She smirks. "You always were dramatic."
"And you always had terrible taste in company."
A moment of quiet. Then I lean forward.
"Where is he?"
She hesitates. Looks around. Every hunter pretends not to listen.
"Dock district," she says finally. "Old airship bay. He's guarding something big. Something Hawk doesn't want anyone to see."
"Perfect," I murmur.
I stand, finish my drink, and set the glass down.
Before I leave, I turn back to the crowd.
"You can all breathe now," I say. "I'm done bleeding on your carpet."
Then to you :
"We'll continue the story later. I promise. You want to know how Riven became the reason I stopped believing in heroes? You'll get it. Just not tonight."
The lights flicker as I step back into the night.
The shadow swallows me whole.
The neon fades.
Only my voice remains.
"The past is a wound.
And I've only just started picking the scab."