Kai and Avren were getting along now. Good friends, even. Strange how fast that had come. Weeks of working side by side in GRARC's storm had ironed out the friction. Kai had stopped questioning Avren's methods out loud, even if the shadows of them lingered in his head. Avren never asked him to approve—only to help. And help was his job. If Mary hadn't ordered it, Kai might have kept his distance forever.
The precinct called them into a briefing. Short, sharp. A transfer for a day. Zone Delta needed hands.
Later, Kai leaned against Avren's car in the lot, waiting. Smoke trailing from his hand, duffel slung over his shoulder. Avren strolled up, cocky grin already aimed like a weapon.
"What are you waiting at the car for? I ain't driving to Delta."
Kai blinked, caught, then laughed too. "Of course." The sound was awkward, but genuine.
---
The Rift Hub was built inside an old airport. The bones of it still showed—arched steel beams, weathered signs pointing toward gates that no longer existed. Now the runways were sealed, and the terminals bristled with resonance detectors, Concord guards, and surveillance towers.
Lines funneled crowds through scanning arches humming with blue light. Those lights didn't just sniff for contraband—they read resonance, sniffed for spikes of rift corruption, checked if your soulprint still matched what Sovereign logged. People walked slower when the hum touched them, like the machine had pulled at something private.
Kai and Avren moved with the tide. Around them was a parade of lives: soldiers bound for frozen stations in Greenland, scientists hauling sealed crates stamped with Concord emblems, traders in layered coats heading toward the American Free Zones with goods wrapped too carefully to be simple. Refugees clutched papers like lifelines. And among them—mercenaries, guild reps, clan envoys—each one carrying themselves like they owned the floor.
Security was tight but used to chaos. Uniforms barked orders, rifles slung, resonance wards glowing along the walls. Signs showed destinations: North America, Greenland, Zone Epsilon, Zone Gamma. The Lawless City wasn't listed anywhere, but Kai knew better. There were always doors if you had the right hands to open them.
Avren nudged him forward as the scanners passed green. "Keep walking. They'll stare longer if you stare back."
The portal chamber still looked like a hangar. The air shimmered in the center, rift gates bound in metal rings. Each ring vibrated faintly, pulsing in rhythm with Sovereign's unseen breath. One opened as they approached, the surface rippling like black glass. A Concord officer waved them through, already shouting at the next group.
Kai stepped in, the sensation washing cold across his chest, like walking into a memory.
---
They came out on the other side in Zone Delta.
The precinct there loomed ahead, its façade grimmer than Alpha's—thicker barricades, higher fences, walls stained with rain and smog. The sky was pale, the streets quieter. Zone Delta didn't hum like Alpha; it whispered.
Kai adjusted his pack and followed Avren toward the doors.
The day had only just begun.