Kai led the way into the processing center.
The desk, the fluorescent hum, the stink of chemicals — it all dragged his chest tight. The torture room door was still cracked, just wide enough to bleed memory. His jaw clenched, but he didn't let his steps falter.
Matt's aura was sharp enough to cut. Shadows flexed and crawled at his boots, eager. Kai's own presence was almost as dangerous, his single eye burning as if daring someone to interfere.
Renn slid past, smoke curling from her lips. "These two gentlemen have some items to retrieve from processing."
"That's fine," the operator muttered.
At the back, the suppressor guardian twitched — golden body etched with sigils, its chain-fingers flexing as though it remembered Kai's guardian. Its handler stood silently behind, clipboard steady, her eyes colder than the steel walls.
A tray clattered down on the desk. Phone. Cigarettes. A lighter. Small, ordinary things. Kai swept them into his cloak.
"Okay. Let's go," he said.
The night air outside hit his face like a reprieve. He was still adjusting his hood when it happened.
'Boss! Boss! Can you hear me? Yes! Finally, I broke through — telepathy! Holy hell I sound incredible in here. This is your boy Flicker reporting live from your skull. Question: is it SAFE around Velnix? Because she's eyeballing me like I'm a midnight snack.'
Kai stiffened. He looked around sharply, then muttered aloud before he could stop himself: "Flicker…?"
Matt slowed, brow furrowing. "Who are you talking to?"
Renn cocked her head, one eye narrowing. "Yeah, who the hell's Flicker?"
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling smoke. "Spirit. Don't worry about it."
Inside, Flicker shrieked with joy. 'You heard me! You actually heard me! This is the best day of my entire existence!'
Kai sighed and closed his eye.
[Finally. Flicker developed telepathy. Let's talk. Kai's busy with big jobs, so I'll manage this channel.]
'Wait, wait—who's this? You don't sound like him!'
[Dualmind.]
'Dualmind? You're like his…what, assistant?'
[Correct.]
'Oh, come on! I finally break through and I get pawned off to tech support?!'
[You'll adjust. Kai has no time for your noise. If you want to stay, you'll learn restraint.]
'Restraint?! Buddy, I'm pure personality! If I get quiet, I stop existing!'
Velnix stirred at Kai's back, her misted arms unfurling slowly, folding back in. Flicker's voice cracked. 'See?! That twitch again! I'm telling you, she's sharpening her forks!'
[She won't eat you.]
'She might try!'
[Then prove yourself useful enough to keep.]
Kai half-listened, letting Dualmind field the noise while he kept pace with Matt and Renn.
"The Circle won't sit on blueprints like that," Renn was saying, flicking ash. "They'll dangle them until the highest bidder foams at the mouth. Every gang will claw for it."
Matt's shadow twitched. "Leverage like that? Concord's foundation cracks the second it leaves this city."
"Which," Renn said with a grin, "makes it the perfect time for us to snatch it first."
Kai let the cigarette burn down to the filter, smoke curling around his hood. The Lawless City hummed all around them — outside, a war over blueprints; inside, two spirits bickering like children in the backseat of his skull.
"Guys, give me a second. I need to sort something out."
Matt and Renn exchanged a look but stood guard, eyes sweeping the street.
Kai closed his eye and spoke inward. "Hey, Velnix — this is Flicker. He's your brother now, so take care of him. He's learning with DM. First lesson: shapes. His task is to form into a gun. If he fails, you as his older sister nudge him in the right direction."
Flicker's voice burst in, jittery and excited. 'Guns are complex — so many parts inside!!'
[I'll teach you.] Dualmind's calm tone cut through, precise.
Kai smirked faintly. The introductions were done. Velnix, Flicker, and Dualmind were no longer just fragments orbiting him; they were becoming part of his life, tethered whether he liked it or not.
He opened his eye again and exhaled. Matt was waiting. Renn arched a brow. So he explained — the voices, the guardians, the new telepathic presence rattling in his head. Neither liked it, but both accepted it with the same grim silence the city bred into them.
"Back on track," Kai said at last, tugging his hood low. "Let's hunt down these documents."
Renn's grin sharpened. She gestured across the skyline. "Oh, this is going to be great. Time to show you some culture of the free world. Red Circle HQ is right there — and there are thousands of bodies between us and them."
Matt frowned. "So what's the plan?"
"Flowride assault," Renn said, almost gleeful.
Kai and Matt shared a look, neither having the faintest clue what that meant. But they nodded anyway.
The city growled around them, alive with neon and hunger, as the next step loomed.