Lane stayed low. Her eyes never left the floor ahead, her hands still slick with Black Water residue from the last rift sweep. The corridor smelled of scorched metal and old blood.
Lisa was ahead, moving like a predator with a purpose. Lane wanted to follow, wanted to match her sister's pace—but something kept her slightly behind. Not fear. Awareness. She had learned early that being a step behind sometimes meant surviving.
The rift had been minor—just a fracture in reality spilling Sols into the city's abandoned tunnels. No civilians this time. No chaos. But Lane felt the weight of each movement, each breath, as though the air itself measured her worth.
A Sol's claw scraped the wall to her left, dragging sparks along the concrete. Lane reacted without thinking. Black Water leapt from her gauntlets, snaking along the floor and walls until it reached the creature. Its legs collapsed beneath it, dissolving it into a dark slurry before it could even shriek.
Lane exhaled, quiet. Not relief. Not triumph. Just… completion.
Lisa glanced back. "You're faster than I expected."
Lane didn't smile. "Faster than expected is still slower than him," she muttered under her breath. Isaac.
She didn't say it out loud. Couldn't. But he was there, always. Even when he wasn't. The quiet strength he carried—the way he moved, fought, survived—it clung to her like a shadow she couldn't shake.
They cleared the tunnel systematically. Minor Sols, no mistakes. But Lane noticed the subtle things—the way Lisa paused at corners, hands flexing on her weapon, ears straining for the faintest hint of movement. The way even the walls seemed to close in, pulsing black veins faint against concrete.
Lane felt it too. The pull behind her eyes. The pressure at her ribs. Not pain. Not panic. Just… awareness. A reminder that the rift wasn't fully neutralized. That the world was still unstable.
By the time they reached the surface, the sun had fallen behind the city skyline, leaving the red glow of distant rifts to mark the horizon. Lane kept scanning, moving her eyes over the shadows, anticipating threats no one else would see.
Lisa stopped at the edge of the building, looking out. Lane did the same, keeping her distance. Not out of fear, but habit.
"You okay?" Lisa asked.
Lane nodded. But she didn't feel okay. Not really.
The mission had been quiet. Nothing had broken loose. Nothing had attacked.
And that was the problem.
Because the quiet wasn't safety. The quiet was waiting.
Lane clenched her fists, letting Black Water retreat into her gauntlets. She didn't want to show it, but she was tired. Tired of the tension that never left. Tired of feeling the weight of something she couldn't name pressing against her chest.
But she would keep moving. Always moving.
For now, the rift was gone. The Sols neutralized. The city still stood.
For now.
Lane exhaled. Quietly.
And kept watching the shadows.