"On three?" I whispered.Harumi nodded.
I kicked the cage door open. Harumi's eyes glowed faint blue as water burst from the pipes, spiraling around her arms like glass blades.
Guards raised weapons. Too slow. Too late.
Water slashed steel apart. I caught one guard's thought—his finger tightening on the trigger—and fired before he could. My bullet found him clean.
The hall erupted.Screams. Smoke. The clash of fists and blades.
Harumi moved like the tide—swift, brutal, unstoppable. Her water tore through weapons, armor, even stone. I kept pace, mind weaving through chaos, pulling the trigger where it mattered.
And still, more guards came.
That's when I heard it.A voice—not aloud, but inside my skull.
The detective.Fall back. I'll handle this.
Even his thoughts were steady.
He was bleeding already, but he stood like a wall. Refusing to yield.
Harumi shook her head fiercely."No," she whispered.
We weren't leaving him. Not now.