Marvis's POV
She left at exactly 2:03 a.m.
Black hoodie. Tight ponytail. No jewelry. A burner phone tucked in her back pocket. Melody Quinn didn't walk like a student anymore.
She walked like someone who had something to prove.
I watched from the security feed that tracked the alley behind the SH building. No backup. No hesitation. Just sharp eyes and steady steps.
"She's headed east," Nico's voice crackled through my earpiece. "Mid-State Care in zone three. One of Lucien's known drop zones. Still want to let her run it solo?"
"For now," I said, fingers steepled under my chin. "But send a unit to sweep the perimeter. Quietly. I want full eyes but zero interference unless she's compromised."
Nico grunted. "If she walks into something she can't handle"
"She's either ready, or she isn't. We won't know until she's tested."
I didn't say it, but I was watching for more than just Lucien's scent.
I wanted to see her instinct under pressure.
The car I'd assigned tailed from three blocks behind, lights off, drone above. Melody didn't notice. She was locked in, headphones in, probably using music to muffle her nerves.
Smart. Or naive.
At 2:18 a.m., she reached the clinic.
One of Lucien's quiet fronts clean on paper, dirty underneath. Our intel showed recent renovations, strange night deliveries, and temporary staff who disappeared after two shifts.
It was bait.
And Melody was walking straight into the lion's teeth.
But she didn't go through the front door.
She circled the building first, counting windows. Her shadow shifted as she paused near the back exit, kneeled, and pulled something from her bag.
A small camera.
She wasn't just observing she was documenting.
That wasn't part of the assignment.
And yet… I didn't stop her.
At 2:25 a.m., she found a blind spot.
Exactly where the alley camera failed.
"Damn," I muttered.
"She's gone dark," Nico said through the comms. "Should I move in?"
"No."
My jaw tightened.
"She's not in yet," I said. "She's testing something."
We waited.
Five minutes. Ten. Then.
"There," I whispered.
The side light above the clinic's rear stairwell blinked twice.
She was using reflections.
Clever girl.
She hadn't disappeared. She'd rerouted her signal using a car mirror nearby. A trick I hadn't seen since.
I narrowed my eyes.
Someone had trained her. Not formally, but enough to make her dangerous in the right hands.
Or deadly in the wrong ones.
At 2:37 a.m., she slipped through the rear entrance.
Not locked. Too easy.
Which meant someone wanted her to walk in.
I leaned forward in my chair.
"Track heat signatures inside," I ordered. "How many bodies?"
"Four," Nico said instantly. "Two ground level. One in the hallway. One moving down to the basement."
"Armed?"
"Three out of four."
I nodded once.
And Melody? She was unarmed.
I didn't like that.
I knew I said no interference but even I had a limit.
"Deploy one shadow inside," I muttered. "Silent. She doesn't see them. They intervene only if her life's at stake."
"On it," Nico replied.
Melody moved like someone who had watched too many crime documentaries but somehow made it look calculated.
She crept into the hallway, her head tilted just slightly, as if listening for breath.
Then she stopped. Froze.
Her body stiffened like she'd seen something.
The hallway camera caught it: a man at the far end of the corridor. Holding a clipboard. But the way he stood too still. No clipboard movements. No footsteps. Just a mask of professionalism wrapped around something colder.
Lucien's man? Maybe.
Melody didn't run. She moved toward him.
What the hell is she doing?
Then I saw it her fingers reaching into her hoodie pocket. Not for a weapon. For her phone.
She lifted it slightly pretending to scroll while using the reflection on the screen to track his steps.
He walked past her without speaking.
Testing her? Or... protecting something?
Either way, Melody slipped into the lab room the moment he was out of sight.
"Audio?" I asked.
"Barely," Nico replied. "Static blocks in the lab."
Of course. Lucien didn't leave loose wires. If this place was part of his network, every room would be shielded.
But then Melody did something I didn't expect.
She planted her hand on the counter, took a photo of a folder labeled MSC-P-31, and placed something beneath the counter.
A tiny mic.
"Where the hell did she get that?" Nico asked, shocked.
"She's improvising," I muttered.
"She's out of time. One of the guards is looping back."
"Get her out. Now."
By the time Nico's shadow operative reached her, Melody was already slipping back through the rear door sweat on her face, adrenaline clearly rising.
She made it. Barely.
But as I watched her climb back into the alley and disappear into the city shadows, something twisted in my gut.
She wasn't the same girl who walked into my office days ago.
She was changing.
Learning the rules of our world and breaking them before anyone could stop her.
That made her valuable. And dangerous.
And I wasn't sure which mattered more.