Lena didn't answer immediately.
Moody had learned, over years of breaking people who thought they were unbreakable, that silence was rarely hesitation. It was calibration. Measuring what the truth would cost.
When she finally opened her eyes, they were steady.
"My father didn't die protecting an idea," she said. "Or a nation. Or Himself."
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, hands clasped like prayer had failed her long ago.
"He died protecting me," she continued.
"And what I'm carrying."
Moody didn't interrupt. The recorder hummed faintly above them, patient.
"There's a device," Lena said. "Prototype-scale. No serial architecture. No external signature unless you know exactly how to look."
She tapped her sternum once.
"It's keyed to a living nervous system. To mine. I just found out recently. Mr Brine did helped me with so many things. He's been scanning my body like you know, as if I'm something dangerous.
Moody's eyes sharpened, just a fraction.
"A survivability engine," she added softy.
"Not armor. Not a weapon. A correction field. It bends probability inside a limited radius—just enough that fatal outcomes… miss."
Bullets drift wide. Structural collapses hesitate. Explosions choose the other direction.
"Not immortality," Lena said quickly. "Just… improbability."
Moody exhaled once through his nose.
"That's why you don't die."
"Hahaha! Come on. I'm a human being. Why should i not? The device is to protect my heart. That's why I don't die, but it doesn't mean i can't. "she stated calmly.
Silence hit harder between then she continued.
"My father built it to protect me since at the time i was born, the doctors had told him if i don't get a heart donor, i will die, and by that time he was already working on how a human can survive without a heart but with a device," she said. "He wanted to break inevitability."
'So this means you were the first person to be tested. I mean to use his experiment to see if it could work on a human being?
"If you say so. Because by that time he was working for Mr Raf...Rafeal.... or wherever his name is.
"You mean Mr Rafferty Rampanda?" Moody added with a slight chuckle."
"Yeah! That's name and by his right hand man was Mr Tan, I think you've met him before."
"Yeah! That crazy old man. I can't believe he's into these too?."
She swallowed. Then continued her little story.
"So they found out. The day he died at the hospital, he had time to make one choice. Save Himself or save me."
Moody already knew the answer.
"Me," Lena said."
Her voice cracked, just once.
"He didn't survive."
Moody leaned back, slow, controlled.
"And Silver Mark has been hunting the impossible variable ever since."
"Yes."
"And Hellfire didn't know."
"They did. I got all these information from them because My Father couldn't tell me everything. You know The Hellfire Group are the most Trustee agents around the country.," Lena said.
"Don't you think Hellfire's been trying to use you as their leverage?"
"I don't really think so. Hellfire protects threats by containing them. Silver Mark destroys them."
She met his gaze.
"You took me in," she said. "But your protection is thin and your men looks weak. Deliberately. You're using me as bait."
Moody didn't deny it.
"You're not wrong," he said. "But you're not alone."
She laughed quietly.
"That's what he said too."
"Then you must know I'm not Mr Brine Whiskey. I'm Moody the owner of The Red Group.
-------
Brine didn't bother with subtlety.
Mr. Tan's office overlooked the old industrial quarter—steel, smoke, and legacy contracts written in blood and handshake.
Brine walked in like a storm that had decided on a shape.
"You owe me," Brine said.
Tan didn't look up from his tea.
"Everyone thinks that."
"You owe her," Brine corrected. "And Moody's getting her killed."
That got Tan's attention.
"Moody doesn't get killed," Tan said carefully.
"Silver Mark disagrees."
Tan sighed, setting the cup down.
"Then the city is about to get expensive."
Brine leaned forward.
"Help me."
Tan studied him.
"You don't ask for help. You ask for permission to burn things."
"Yes," Brine said. "And this time, I'm asking."
Tan's eyes narrowed.
"Are you jealous of him because he got her? I know you love her." He teased trying to balance his mood."
"Tsc! Ain't here to joke. Come on old man I'm just doing my duties." He said avoiding his eyes.
"Is that so?"
"Yes!"
"Since when a well feared man like you ever tries to avoid someone's stare? You don't need to hide how you feel. She loves you too."
"Jeez! I came here for your help not for some silly lectures. So, are you gonna help me or not?" Brine said trying to sound serious though deep down he knew Mr Tan was right. Lena has already occupied his mind and he can't control his feelings towards her.
After a long moment, Mr Tan nodded once.
"Very well," he said. "Let's remind Silver Mark why some names stay unmarked."
"For God's sake old man, it isn't Silver Mark that took her, it is Moody. He has his own group of men. They call themselves The Red wild of wherever it is."
"Ooh! You want me to help you got against your brother?Mr Moody?"
"It is not about who goes against who, is about who are we trying to protect."
"But it doesn't seem so, It feels like you can't stay another night without seeing her. Without hearing her voice. She has clouded your mind like a mist, right?"
"Okay, fine. Are you happy to hear that. Yes I fucking want her by my side not with someone else's weak army. I promised her I won't let her down, but I did. That's why I'm fucking here, crying my lungs out, begging you to help me. So, for the last time will you or not? I'm running out of time. Mr Rafferty might have received the news already about Moody having her . I need to work on my next move before he does." He paused catching a light breath.'
"Fine. I'm always ready to offer a hand. My men here will do anything. What's the plan?
They continue planning on how to take Lena from Moody's hands without using force or war while on the other side Mr Rafferty received the confirmation at dawn.
Moody.
Location verified.
Asset confirmed: Lena Skye.
He smiled, thin and precise.
"So," he murmured, "the dog thinks he can guard a miracle. It's been long since i had a war. I left him alive knowing he won't interfere with my things, but here he is, getting his hands dirty."
He tapped his desk once.
"Deploy the Silver Mark men," he said. "Full sanction."
A pause.
"And bring enough silver to end legends."
--------
The seventh night came with rain.
Moody felt the shift before the alarms—pressure in the air, probability tightening like a noose. He was busy staring at Lena's face admiring every part of her body. He's been inlove with her ever since he met her yet the courage to tell her how much she means to him had lost. He thought maybe it wasn't the right time to reveal this to her. He has to wait until things gets better.
"Contact," someone shouted.
The first shot tore through the courtyard, ricocheted wrong, almost hit Lena—
Almost.
She flinched, heart hammering.
Moody moved like a blade being drawn dragging her besides him.
Silver Mark men poured in from rooftops, angles precise, movements rehearsed to kill futures before they happened.
The Red Group answered with fire.
The world fractured into sound and motion.
And then—
"LENA!"
She turned.
Brine was there, soaked, bleeding, impossibly alive.
He crossed the battlefield like it had personally failed to stop him.
She ran. Breaking away from Moody's tight grip. She had thought that Mr Brine will never come to her again. But here he was, standing in front of her. They collided hard, breath stolen, hands everywhere, checking, gripping, real.
He cupped her face like she might vanish.
"I couldn't lose you again," he said hoarsely.
She didn't answer.
She kissed him despite the war that was going on. Deep. Desperate. The kind of kiss that said I choose you even if the world burns for it. I chose you despite the separation. Around them, gunfire screamed. Men fell. The improbable bent and twisted and missed.
Brine held her like shelter itself.
When they finally broke apart, foreheads touching, rain mixing with tears, he whispered,
"We'll end this."
She nodded.
Behind them, Moody stood amid chaos, eyes on the war he had started—and the love that might end it. He had thought he had the chance, but it was snatched away from him. The love he was hoping for, was all illusions. Tears mixed with rain dropped profusely, his knee weakening. He even dropped his special axe from his hand cause of the pain he was feeling. All his effort has been taken away in a jiff.
And far away, Rafferty watched feeds go dark, smile fading.
The impossible had chosen a side.
And the city would bleed for it.