The coast announced itself before it appeared.
The air shifted first. Cleaner. Sharper. Salt threaded through rot like a blade through cloth.
Felicity slowed without realizing it, tail swaying, ears tipping forward as if listening to something only she could hear.
"Someone's been cleaning," she said quietly.
Victor followed her gaze and nodded once. "And powering."
The ruins thinned as they advanced. Towers leaned back from the shoreline like exhausted sentinels, concrete ribs exposed, streets fractured into channels where seawater crept inland. The farther east they went, the fewer corpses they saw. Fewer nests. Fewer signs of panic.
That alone was unsettling, Then the structure rose out of the fog.
It wasn't a wall in the traditional sense. It curved. Pale stone reinforced with dark metal ribs that arced like a living skeleton, smoothed by water and time rather than chipped by violence. Channels carved directly into the foundation redirected harbor currents, water flowing in controlled veins that glimmered faintly with embedded runes.
Beneath it all, turbines hummed.
Low. Steady. Alive.
Above the main gate, bold letters inlaid with blue resin caught the dying light.
TIDEHAVEN
Rose let out a low whistle. "That's… confident."
Before anyone could answer, the water beside the gate rippled.
It didn't splash.
It parted.
A woman stepped out of the channel as if it were solid ground.
She was tall, her posture easy and balanced, blue hair braided thick down her back. Her skin caught the light with a faint iridescence, scales ghosting along her neck and temples like something ornamental rather than monstrous. The spear in her hand hummed softly, restrained power thrumming beneath its surface.
Her gaze swept them with practiced efficiency.
Felicity first.
Then Victor.
Then the rest of Snow Team.
"State your business," the woman said. Her voice carried without effort, amplified subtly by the water around her.
Felicity stepped forward before Victor could stop her. Not to challenge. Just to soften the edge.
"We're Snow Team," she said, smile warm, posture open. "We clear routes, kill monsters, and don't steal from people who feed us. We're looking for trade, work, or somewhere not actively trying to murder us."
The woman's eyes sharpened. "Levels."
Victor answered without hesitation. "Fifty."
A ripple passed through the guards lining the walls. Not fear. Recalculation.
"I'm Pia," the woman said after a beat. "Acting commander of Tidehaven." Her gaze returned to Felicity, lingering now. "You don't look like level fifty."
Felicity smiled. "I don't scream it."
For half a second, Pia looked caught off guard.
Then she laughed. Short. Genuine. "Fair."
The gates opened.
Inside, Tidehaven unfolded vertically.
Walkways and balconies ringed a massive central basin, water flowing in controlled arcs beneath reinforced glass flooring.
Light refracted upward, bathing the interior in shifting blues and silvers. People watched from above. Not starving. Not desperate. Curious, cautious, and unmistakably well fed.
They were led into a circular chamber overlooking the basin. Pia rested her spear against her shoulder and folded her arms.
"We don't allow outsiders to settle," she said evenly. "But we do hire."
Kai's ears twitched. "Define hire."
"Mercenary contracts," Pia replied. "Route clearing. Suppression. Retrieval. Pass a trial, earn access to work, housing rotation, and trade privileges."
Rose tilted her head. "And if we fail?"
Pia's smile sharpened. "You leave."
The trial was not a duel.
It was worse.
Below them, a reinforced gate slammed open.
Something massive emerged.
Scaled. Stitched. Old tech fused with fresh magic, plates bolted into flesh that should never have healed around them. It roared, the sound reverberating through the chamber as water sloshed violently against the basin walls.
Felicity didn't flinch.
She placed one hand against Victor's arm. The other against Voss's chest.
"Together," she said softly.
They moved.
Victor launched first, fire and ice tearing the air apart in controlled arcs. Voss followed, space folding and snapping as heavy weapons assembled midair around him, cannons locking into place with mechanical finality.
Rose's vines tore up through reinforced stone, binding, crushing, tearing. Kai vanished and reappeared in blinks of distortion, breath ripped from lungs before screams could form. Sarge's lightning danced through metal seams, turning the creature's own reinforcements against it.
Felicity threaded her magic through all of them.
Not flooding. Not forcing.
Reinforcing.
Wounds sealed as they formed. Reflexes sharpened. Weight shifted just enough to turn killing blows into narrow escapes. When the creature finally collapsed, steaming and broken, the only sound left was water dripping against glass.
Pia watched in silence, So did everyone else.
Tidehaven's first mission briefing took place beneath the waterline.
Reinforced glass walls looked straight into the basin, schools of engineered fish drifting past in eerie synchrony, their bodies glowing faintly as they moved. Other mercenary teams lingered at the edges of the chamber. Scarred. Mismatched. Strong.
Watching Felicity like they couldn't quite decide what she was.
"Your first contract is containment," Pia said. "A residential district inland. The dead have stopped wandering."
Kai frowned. "That's bad."
"Yes," Pia agreed. "They're nesting."
A projection bloomed above the basin. Streets choked with debris. Buildings sagging inward. Red marks clustered thick around a central block.
"Coordinated movement," Pia continued. "Silence during daylight. Migration at dusk."
"Learning," Rose muttered.
"Possibly."
Felicity leaned forward slightly, studying the map. Her expression stayed calm. Thoughtful.
"You've already sent teams," she said softly.
"Yes."
"And they didn't return intact," Felicity continued, still gentle.
Pia's grip tightened on her spear. "They withdrew."
"With casualties," Felicity said.
A murmur rippled through the chamber, A man stepped forward.
Tall. Broad shouldered. Armor clean but old. His presence pressed outward, subtle but undeniable.
"Zombies don't usually organize," he said lightly. His eyes never left Felicity. "Something's stirring them up."
"Or someone," Felicity replied, meeting his gaze without flinching.
His mouth curved. "I'm Calder. Breakwater lead. We lost three people in that district." He shrugged. "If you make it back, I'll buy you a drink."
Felicity laughed softly. Not coy. Not encouraging. Just amused.
"I don't drink with strangers who flirt over mass graves."
Calder chuckled. "Worth a try."
Victor's wing shifted, Voss's jaw set.
Pia felt the room tilt.
"Snow Team deploys at dawn," Pia said crisply. "Clear the zone. Identify the source. Burn it if necessary." Her eyes locked on Felicity. "Do not improvise."
Felicity smiled serenely, "I only do that when plans are bad."
A few mercenaries laughed, Calder looked delighted.
Pia did not.
Because this wasn't just a test of strength, It was a test of influence.
And Felicity was already reshaping the room without trying.
The debrief broke slower than it should have.
Mercenary teams filtered out in loose clusters, voices low, eyes sharp, tension buzzing like a live wire stretched too tight. Some looked impressed. Others looked threatened. A few looked like they were already regretting underestimating Snow Team.
Felicity didn't notice any of that, She was humming.
Softly at first. Tuneless. Then a little louder as she drifted toward the exit, hands clasped behind her back, tail swaying in an easy rhythm. She skipped once to avoid a puddle on the stone floor, boots splashing lightly, then laughed at herself under her breath.
Victor clocked it instantly.
Voss clocked it even faster.
"Oh no," Rose muttered. "She's in a mood."
Felicity spun once on her heel, hair catching the light, then bounded down the short ramp toward the outer corridor. "That fish down there," she said cheerfully, glancing back at no one in particular, "did you see the little blue one? It waved at me."
"It did not," Kai said flatly.
"I think it did," Felicity replied, completely sincere.
Behind them, Calder's team passed close enough for incidental contact. Calder himself offered Felicity a lingering look, thoughtful and sharp. Before he could say anything, one of his men Rhys brushed past too hard.
Not an accident.
Rhys was tall, lean, rat beastman, his tail twitching with restless arrogance. He gave Felicity a sideways glance and snorted. "Careful, pearl," he said loudly. "Wouldn't want you slipping without one of your handlers."
The corridor went quiet.
Felicity stopped.
She turned, slow and polite, ears tipping forward. "Oh," she said gently. "I'm okay. Thank you for worrying."
That should have been the end of it.
It wasn't, Rhys scoffed. "That's cute. You really think you get to talk back now?"
Victor took one step forward.
Voss cracked his neck.
Pia turned sharply from the far end of the hall, already bristling. "That's enough," she snapped.
Rhys laughed. "What? I'm just saying what everyone's thinking."
No one was thinking that.
Felicity tilted her head, genuinely puzzled. "I don't think that," she said softly. "And I'm everyone."
A few mercs snorted despite themselves.
Rhys's face darkened. "You don't even know what you are," he snarled. "You think because you glow and smile—"
He never finished the sentence.
One of Breakwater's enforcers slammed him into the wall.
Hard.
Not Victor.
Not Voss.
Not Snow Team, A different merc entirely. Big. Armored. Already done listening.
"Shut up," the man growled. "You're embarrassing us."
Rhys shoved back.
That was his second mistake.
The third was reaching for a weapon inside Tidehaven's walls.
Security reacted instantly.
Water surged from the channel vents. Spears snapped into formation. Rhys was yanked off his feet, slammed into the stone, and restrained so fast it barely registered as violence.
Pia strode forward, eyes blazing. "Drag him out," she said coldly. "He's done here."
"But—" Rhys started.
A crack echoed through the corridor.
Rhys did not get up again.
No one asked who struck first.
No one argued.
Snow Team watched with mild interest.
"Well," Tommy said eventually. "That escalated."
Felicity blinked.
"Oh," she said quietly. She looked at the body, then away. Her shoulders drooped for half a second. Then she straightened, took a breath, and did something profoundly unhinged.
She skipped.
One light hop.
Then another.
She twirled once, hands out, tail fluffing as she laughed softly, like she was trying to shake off a bad dream. "Okay," she said brightly. "That was uncomfortable. Let's go somewhere with air."
Every mercenary in the corridor stared.
Calder stared.
Pia stared.
Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that."
Victor watched Felicity like she was made of glass and sunlight both.
Voss watched her like she was gravity.
Pia's jaw tightened as Snow Team passed her.
"That fox," Pia said sharply, stopping them. "She's a problem."
Felicity turned back, smile apologetic. "I'm really sorry about the yelling," she said. "And the death. That wasn't my intention."
Pia looked like she wanted to scream.