Morning in Bronson Town arrived grey and quiet.
Logan stood at the window of his hotel room with a cup of cheap black tea, watching the early movement of people on the street below. Delivery carts rolled past. A few origin-ranked workers in uniform crossed the intersection with the same unhurried pace the city seemed to prefer. The air carried a faint metallic tang from the energy conduits running under the pavement.
He had slept lightly. The system interface had stayed quiet through the night, but the two active missions sat in the back of his mind like cold stones.
Kill Ethan.
Escape the Shadow's gaze.
And now the quieter third goal that had brought them here in the first place: find the woman with the pure light affinity before anyone else did.
A knock sounded at the door. Three soft taps.
Luna entered first when he opened it. Ethan followed a step behind, expression already closed off the way it always was when the three of them stood in the same room.
