The sound of wind returned first.
Then the weight of silence.
Kael sat on a broken column, blood drying on his jaw, suit long gone. His fingers curled tightly around the cracked frame core in his lap, still cold. The glow that saved his life hours ago was gone.
He watched the others from a distance.
Juno stood a few feet away, scanning for more movement. Her armor flickered, then disappeared with a low surge of light. Precise. Controlled. Like her.
Mira crouched by her drone, running post-sync diagnostics. The soft violet shimmer of her armor pulsed as it peeled away, glass-like shards fading into the air. Her expression was unreadable—half proud, half shaken.
And Ryke?
He didn't speak.
His frame burned faint bronze as he stood where the Reclaimer fell, one boot on its half-dissolved remains. His breathing was calm. Focused. Too calm for someone who'd just beaten a monster to death with his fists.
Kael looked down at the core again.
Nothing.
No hum. No pulse. No connection.
He'd frozen in the middle of the fight.
If Mira hadn't stepped in—
"Don't take it personal," she said, appearing beside him.
He hadn't even heard her walk up.
Kael blinked. "Huh?"
She nodded at the core in his hands.
"They do that. Especially early on. It's not rejection, it's caution."
Kael frowned. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
She shrugged, leaning against the column beside him.
"You're alive. That's the part that matters."
Juno approached from across the street, sliding her visor off with a snap. Her eyes were focused on Kael.
"You froze."
Kael stiffened.
"I got back up."
"That's not the point."
Before Kael could snap back, Ryke stepped in.
"Enough."
The silence that followed felt heavier than the fight.
Ryke's voice was flat. Low.
"We didn't win because we worked together. We got lucky."
Juno didn't argue.
Mira sighed. "Could've fooled me."
Kael stood, brushing dust off his jacket.
"Let's not pretend this means anything. We're not a team."
No one disagreed.
But no one walked away, either.
They moved back underground in silence.
The safehouse wasn't warm, but it was shelter. Mira reconnected to her portable node stack, Juno reloaded her weapon by hand, and Ryke just sat against the wall—still in full sync. He didn't power down.
Kael sat across from the others, the core resting beside him like dead weight.
His knuckles were split open. Bruises bloomed under his shirt. His chest still burned every time he breathed too deep.
And the worst part?
He didn't know what any of it meant.
"We all felt that breach," Juno said finally. "That was organized."
Kael nodded slowly.
"It had my suit's signature."
Ryke spoke without opening his eyes. "Reclaimers only appear when VALIANT.EXE registers something… unfinished."
"Unstable," Mira added.
Kael stared at the floor. "So I'm the problem."
"You're not the only one," Mira said quietly.
They all glanced at each other.
No trust. No plan. Just a small circle of people too synced to ignore each other anymore.
Kael leaned back, finally breaking the quiet.
"We're not a team," he repeated.
Ryke opened his eyes. "Then get stronger."
Mira smiled, just barely. "Or die trying."
Juno didn't speak.
But she didn't leave.