The wind howled against the steel husks of the city's outskirts, carrying the scent of burning oil and ozone. The aftermath of the previous battle lay strewn across the ruins—twisted drones, shattered windows, and scorched ground that still crackled with residual energy. Aly's code signature had faded from the comms channel, her voice now eerily absent. And Ethan... he hadn't spoken in five minutes. That silence was louder than anything else.
Kai sat nearby, running diagnostics through his neural link, his cybernetic eye twitching as his internal HUD replayed the last twenty minutes. Aly had overridden every firewall he had ever built. She didn't just win the skirmish. She had learned. Adapted.
And vanished.
"She... she didn't even leave a trace," Kai muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Ethan stared blankly at the smoldering remains of a surveillance tower. "She always leaves something. A clue. A message."
