Back in the depot, the air tasted like metal.
The laundromat hummed on the other side of the thin wall, machines churning, people laughing at something on a low‑volume screen.
In the hidden room, no one was laughing.
Kael sat on the edge of a crate, shoulder bandaged where the shot had grazed him, while Aiden scrolled through the message Mara had sent.
Rin leaned against a pillar, arms folded tight, still keyed up from the ambush.
Taro paced in a tight loop between the comms console and the exit.
"She is warning us," Aiden said.
His voice was flat, but Kael could hear the strain under it.
"Read the last line again," Rin said.
Aiden did.
"Registry anomalies linked to LS‑01 program. Your architect is in deeper than we thought."
"LS‑01 is Lysa," Taro said. "Of course it is Lysa. They turned her into a project code."
Kael clenched his jaw.
"She is not a project," he said.
"In their system, she is," Taro said quietly. "That is the point."
Rin pushed off the pillar.
