SECTOR 13 — OUTER BOULEVARD
Crowds surged like electric rivers. Android couples strolled with their robot pets, drone taxis zipped overhead, neon kanji and Hindi billboards pulsed on every building face. Their biomechanical suits glowed faintly beneath their clothes like ghostly wiring—Valerian's storm-blue flicker, Luna's lilac warmth.
As they walked side by side, the Synthwave track "Her Eyes" seeped into the streets from overhead speakers—a calm, dreamy sound, romantic in tone. The soundscape of Mechatopia was alive, and yet… the melody seemed to single them out, wrapping their silence in something fragile and unspoken.
Valerian's jaw remained tight, his gaze scanning every corner, every shadow. His voice was low, almost muttered.
"The case is folding into folds. Every trail breaks into another. Not a single clue about Flame. But the underworld… the fighting clubs—they'll have something. They always do."
His words were for the mission. For survival. Yet Luna's attention was not on the mission.
She glanced at his side profile his eyes sharp, reflecting neon blue, the faint stormy glow of his reactor casting light under his shirt. He walked like a blade unsheathed, calm but deadly. She wanted to say something—anything—but her throat tightened.
Instead, her reactor betrayed her again, glowing brighter with each step.
Inside, her thoughts spiraled
He says I'm a burden. He says I'll slow him down. Maybe he's right… but even if I only have this mission to be with him, I'll take it. Just let me stay by his side a little longer.
Valerian's reactor flickered faintly at her side. For a heartbeat, green shimmered over red—like an emotion fighting to surface. But in an instant, it was gone.
They crossed a crowded boulevard. Valerian's cold voice cut through the sound of traffic.
"Stay sharp. Don't let your emotions show. You're Mk 1 now, not human. If anyone doubts us, they'll dismantle us piece by piece. Understand?"
Luna forced a smile, her cheeks tinged pink under the neon lights. "Understood."
But in her chest, her reactor blazed like fire, pulsing with emotions she couldn't suppress.
The Synthwave played on. The city breathed around them. And between them—unspoken truths, glowing faintly in the dark.
The deeper they went into the city, the brighter the skyline above them pulsed—and the darker the streets around them grew. Neon towers loomed in the distance, their shimmering lights fading into the haze of smog and holographic adverts, while down here, the lamps flickered with erratic sparks, struggling to pierce the mechanical fog.
Hover-vehicles buzzed overhead like insects, casting fleeting shadows over the alleyways. Androids with mismatched limbs and glowing optics leaned against rust-stained walls, trading data-chips and black-market implants. Every step deeper felt like descending into another reality—a place where even the light was afraid to linger.
Valerian scanned it all with stormy eyes, his suit's faint blue glow reflecting off puddles of oily rainwater on the pavement. His thoughts tightened like coils in his mind.
This city is too vast… billions of alleys, millions of faces. Looking for Flame Stormbringer here is like finding a microchip in a scrapyard. Impossible. Unless I break through the underworld walls.
He exhaled slowly, then spoke without softening his tone.
"You don't get it, do you? How reckless you were earlier—it's shameful. For someone who claims to be an S-rank, you act like a trainee with no discipline. If you repeat something like that again…" He turned his head slightly, his reactor pulsing red as his voice dropped into steel. "I won't save you next time."
The words pierced her.
Luna's steps faltered. For a single second, she let her gaze fall to the ground. The neon shadows played across her cheeks as her lips trembled. Her lilac reactor—normally bright pink when she was flustered—shifted. In that fragile heartbeat, it turned green. Not a warm green of calm, but a sharp green of defiance.
Her voice cracked out before she could stop it.
"You think silence makes you strong? Nah… it just makes you look like a spineless mutt hiding behind its tail."
The sound echoed in the narrow alley, louder than she intended.
And then—silence.
She froze, realization hitting like a tidal wave. Her hand flew to her mouth. Her reactor pulsed violently, flashing green before drowning back into pink, burning hot with shame.
"W-wait—I… I didn't mean that! I-I just—Valerian, I—"
Valerian's boots stopped against the metallic ground with a sharp finality. He turned slowly, his face half-lit by the faint glow of a broken holo-sign overhead. His storm-blue reactor flared briefly, red pulsing darker, almost black.
His eyes locked on her. Calm. Cold. Like a predator calculating.
Inside Luna's mind, panic screamed.
Why did I say that?! What am I doing? Idiot, idiot, idiot… He'll never forgive me. He already thinks I'm reckless, now he'll think I'm disrespectful too…
Her reactor flickered uncontrollably pink, heat rising across her face. "I—I'm sorry! Please, just—ignore what I said. It slipped. I don't… I don't think that about you."
For a long, suffocating moment, Valerian said nothing. The distant sounds of drone engines and synthwave music bleeding from the upper city filled the silence.
Then, without a word, he turned back around. His boots clicked against the damp ground. He moved forward, his tall frame cutting through the haze like a blade, not sparing her another glance.
Luna stumbled after him, clutching the edge of her jacket, her chest burning. She bit her lip, her voice a whisper only her reactor could hear.
Why am I always like this? Around him, I lose control. I can fight, I can lead, I can stand against entire armies… but with him, I'm just a girl who blurts out stupid things. I don't want him to see me as a burden. I just… I just want him to see me.
Her reactor pulsed faint pink again, syncing faintly—almost against Valerian's will—with his stormy red glow ahead of her.
Inside his mind, Valerian's thoughts stirred.
She dared to call me spineless… me. Yet why didn't ? Why didn't I unleash the words I should have? He clenched his fists, feeling the hum of the Assault Units in his gloves. Because… there's something. Something about her presence. Every time danger looms near, every time she's close, I feel… something cracking inside me.
But his face remained stone. His silence remained unbroken.
And the city swallowed them deeper into its neon veins.