The river stank of diesel and dead fish. Crown Suites sat on the edge like a crooked tooth, its sign buzzing in the dark. The lobby glow was sickly yellow, cheap enough to make everything look dirty.
Jace adjusted his hood and walked the block slow, eyes scanning. He wasn't the same man Rae left bleeding. Respawn had given him something colder—patience.
[Quest: Scout Crown Suites]
Objective: Confirm Rae's location without alerting her.
Reward: +15 Respect, Map Pin.
Failure: Ambush Risk Increased.
He didn't head straight in. He circled once. Counted cameras. Marked exits. A hotel that dirty always had blind spots.
On the fifth floor, he saw it: door 5B, busted peephole glinting in the hall light. His chest tightened at the sound bleeding through the wall—laughter. Short, mean, familiar. Rae's laugh.
But the HUD blinked again.
[Risk Scan]
Two heartbeats inside. One posted outside. Static.
Jace froze in the stairwell shadow. Someone was sitting dead-still, waiting.
"Marl," he muttered. Big bastard with rings who loved to swing first.
The old Jace would've rushed in, anger first, bullets second. But the System hummed in his blood, whispering restraint.
[Self-Control Check: Passed]
Reward: Focus Stack I
Effect: First strike accuracy increased when ambushing.
He backed down the stairs, boots light, slipping out through the side door. The night slapped him with river wind. He lit a cigarette he didn't want, smoke curling into the dark.
"You're alive."
The voice came from the alley mouth. A woman stepped out of shadow, hood up, hands empty.
Jace's fingers brushed the grip under his hoodie. "Depends who's asking."
"Name's Maya." Her tone was rough, but her stance steady. "I pull information for a price. Tonight, the price is nothing. I just don't want to see you die in that hallway."
"Rae send you?"
Maya shook her head. Her eyes—dark, unreadable—didn't flinch. "Rae lies too much. You? Haven't decided yet."
Jace studied her. She didn't move like a fiend or a corner-rat. She moved like somebody who saw angles most people missed.
"What do you know?" he asked.
"She's in 5B," Maya said. "Not alone. Marl's posted up. And she's not booking those rooms herself."
"What you mean?"
"Pattern's wrong. Room's been used three times this month, booked on a card with six repeating digits. That ain't Rae's money. That's a man hiding behind her skirts."
The HUD flickered.
[Hidden Objective Unlocked: Identify the Cardholder]
Reward: +50 Respect, +1 Street Rank.
Jace exhaled smoke, eyes narrowing. "Name."
"Not yet," Maya said. "But I'll find it. If you make it worth my time."
"Why warn me?"
"Because watching you walk into that hallway would've been boring," she said flat. "And I hate boring."
She slipped a scrap of paper into his palm—four digits, half a number, and a burner phone contact. Then she vanished back into the alley, like she'd never been there.
Jace unfolded it, stared at the digits, then tucked it against his stitches. The wound burned hotter, but so did the ember-light crawling through his veins.
He looked back at the fifth-floor windows. Rae's laugh carried faint on the wind. He could picture her smirk, the way her hand slid off his shoulder before the bullets came.
Not yet.
[Main Quest Updated: Revenge in Blood]
Steps:
Bag Marl.
Flip a weak link in Rae's circle.
Expose the cardholder.
Reward: +200 Respect, Street Rank Up.
Failure: Permanent Death.
Jace flicked the cigarette into the gutter and walked into the dark.
Rae thought she'd buried him. Tonight, she was just the tutorial boss.