Night always felt purer from the rooftops.
Less noise.
Less heat.
Less of humanity clawing at the ground like insects desperate for meaning.
Up here, under the veil of darkness, the world was quiet.
Beautiful.
Killable.
Mantis crouched at the edge of the high-rise, black bodysuit clinging to her form, faint green optic lenses glowing like predator eyes. The rooftop gravel shifted under her boots as she leaned forward and examined Astra Headquarters through her visor.
Her lips curved into a faint, cruel smile.
"Found you," she whispered.
Her voice was soft, almost gentle — a strange contrast to the violence it foreshadowed.
Astra's guards patrolled below like ants following predictable paths.
Untrained.
Unaware.
No challenge at all.
She ran a gloved finger across her jawline, feeling the faint hum of the micro-sensory threads implanted beneath her skin. They prickled with movement, detecting vibrations from the building across the street.
Movements she recognized.
A new recruit.
A trembling, inexperienced heartbeat.
Jack Williams.
Alpha-01.
The prize Mercer wanted returned.
Her tongue pressed against her sharp canine lightly.
She could already taste the hunt.
Her earpiece vibrated once — a coded ping only Mercer used.
She pressed her fingers against it.
"Speak," she breathed.
Mercer's voice seeped through like liquid steel.
"Report."
Mantis's smile widened.
"I have visual on the target," she murmured. "Alpha has grown… interesting."
"Define interesting."
She tasted amusement in his tone, or something like it — an indulgent curiosity, the way a scientist watches a specimen perform better than expected.
"He's learning," she said. "Faster than your projections. Faster than human."
Mercer exhaled thoughtfully.
"Good. Then the serum traces remain active."
"Yes. And we will need him intact."
She paused, tilting her head as she watched Jack move through Astra's tactical course far below. He was clumsy, uncertain — but oh, he was trying. And she found the effort… adorable.
"But you didn't tell me," she murmured, "that you assigned guardians."
Mercer was silent.
But she knew he was listening.
Mantis zoomed in on the two agents flanking Jack.
Rafael Rios. Skilled, disciplined, predictable.
And then—
Her eyes narrowed behind her visor.
Maya Rios.
The blade of Astra.
Mantis held her breath for a moment.
Interesting.
Mercer's voice came again, smooth and sharp.
"The girl interferes."
Mantis smirked. "She does more than interfere. She protects him. She stays too close."
"Attachment?"
"Yes."
"To Alpha?"
"Yes."
Mercer's tone sharpened.
"That will be a problem."
Mantis's smile widened.
"A delightful one."
Mantis watched Maya with quiet fascination.
There were few agents who moved with real discipline — the kind forged in violence rather than training. Maya was one of them.
Her posture.
Her scanning pattern.
Her quickness to react.
Her instinct to shield the boy she'd grown attached to.
Yes.
Attached.
Mantis could see it in her eyes.
That softness.
That fear of losing someone again.
She had seen that look before — right before she put a knife into someone whose love made them weak.
Maya was a threat.
Not because she was strong.
But because she made Alpha stronger.
Mantis whispered to herself, "I wonder how you'll scream."
She imagined Maya's breath catching.
Her body buckling.
A blade sliding between her ribs.
A gift for Mercer.
And leverage for Alpha.
But no — not yet.
Killing her now would make Jack recoil. Break him. Push him away from his true path.
No.
Better to let him watch her bleed.
Better to make him blame Astra.
Better to make him run straight into Mercer's arms.
Yes.
Pain made tools out of people.
And Mantis was an artist with pain.
Studying the Alpha
Jack stumbled mid-roll and hit the ground.
Mantis chuckled softly.
He was raw clay, easily shaped.
But he had sparks of brilliance — she'd seen his improvisation, his near-perfect pattern recognition during the skirmish earlier that day. He learned under pressure, adapted with frightening speed.
If trained properly…
He would be perfect.
She imagined him standing beside her — tall, focused, rebuilt from the ashes of his weakness. A weapon not of Astra, but of Helix.
Mercer didn't just want Jack returned.
He wanted him awakened.
Activated.
And Mantis would be the blade to cut him open and let the truth spill out.
She brushed a finger along her thigh, feeling the cool steel of one of her hidden knives.
"Soon," she whispered to Jack's distant silhouette.
"You'll remember what you were born for."
The Past That Haunts
Mantis rarely thought of the past — it was a foggy, useless thing, cluttered with memories that served no purpose.
But Jack's image stirred something buried.
She remembered the lab.
The screaming infants.
The doctors with their cold eyes.
Mercer standing over the cribs like a god in a bleeding garden.
He had looked at her once — long before she took the name "Mantis."
"You will become my blade," he had told her.
And she had become exactly that.
But when he looked at Alpha-01…
His eyes had been different.
Softer.
Possessive.
Mercer loved nothing.
No one.
But he had shown something close to pride for the infant known as Alpha.
And when the child was stolen away, something inside Mercer broke.
He never forgave.
He never forgot.
And he never stopped looking.
Now, Mantis would deliver him back.
It was her greatest assignment.
Her greatest offering.
Recon
Astra HQ was a fortress, but Mantis mapped every detail with a predator's mind.
Ventilation shafts large enough to crawl through.
Blind spots between security cameras.
Weak locks on emergency exits.
A gap in guard surveillance between 2:13 and 2:17 AM.
Guard shift change at 4:00 AM leaving the west stairwell unmonitored for 22 seconds.
She pieced together the infiltration route like a song.
But she didn't want to infiltrate.
Not yet.
She wanted the fear to sink in first.
She wanted Maya to sense her.
She wanted Jack to feel watched.
She let her fingers scrape across the rooftop floor as she leaned forward.
A tiny piece of gravel fell off the edge of the building, bouncing into the shadows below.
Mantis grinned.
"Soon, Alpha," she whispered.
A Shadow Revealed
Maya paused mid-step.
She looked toward the rooftops.
Right toward Mantis's vantage point.
Mantis froze.
Her breath hitched.
Could she see her?
Maya narrowed her eyes — sharp, trained, instinctive.
Mantis felt… something unusual.
A thrill.
A pull.
A challenge.
She whispered, "Yes… look for me."
Maya took a step forward, as if sensing danger in the wind.
Rafael called her away.
Maya hesitated—
Then left.
Mantis's smile returned.
"You feel me," she whispered.
"That's good. You'll be fun."
The Mission
Her earpiece buzzed again.
Mercer's voice was velvet and venom.
"Mantis. Report again."
She answered without looking away from Jack.
"I am studying him. He is growing stronger. Astra is molding him into something capable."
"Then accelerate your timeline."
She licked her lips.
"With pleasure."
"But do not harm him."
She laughed softly. "I wouldn't dare."
Mercer's voice darkened.
"The girl, however… is expendable."
Mantis's smile widened, sharp and bright.
"So I am allowed to play with Maya."
"You may remove her if necessary."
Mantis closed her eyes, letting the permission wash over her like warmth.
"Understood."
She disconnected.
The rooftop wind shifted.
The hunt had begun.
A Promise
Mantis rose to her full height, stretching her limbs with fluid grace.
Below, Jack walked with Maya and Rafael toward the elevator.
Maya walked closer to him than she needed to.
Mantis noted this.
She didn't like it.
Not at all.
Her eyes hardened.
She whispered into the night:
"Enjoy your time with her, Alpha."
She stepped back into the shadows, her silhouette dissolving into darkness.
"Because when I come for you…"
Her smile turned razor-sharp.
"…she will be the first thing you lose."