The abandoned rail depot lay just beyond the southern ridge, half-swallowed by vines and rust, a forgotten skeleton of concrete and steel. At night, it felt like the world around it was holding its breath. No streetlights. No drones. Nothing but moonlight running across bent metal beams and the faint hum of the nearby power lines.
That silence didn't comfort Blaze.
It pressed on him.
He sat on the edge of one of the derailed cargo crates the Titans had turned into makeshift sleeping quarters. His elbows rested on his knees, fingers locked so tight his knuckles were white. Every few minutes his eyes drifted toward the entrance where Kenji and Zara were running perimeter checks.
He kept replaying the past twenty four hours in his head. The escape. The shadows. Jason's face as he physically blocked Aurion's officers from taking Blaze away. The way everybody ran because of him. Because he couldn't control what was happening to him anymore.
