The sun rose over the city with a mocking serenity. The storm had passed, leaving the streets of the industrial district washed clean of the previous night's grime.
Adrien woke up at his desk.
His neck was stiff, and his glasses were lopsided on his face. He blinked at the triple-monitor setup, which was currently showing a series of mundane system diagnostics.
"What...?"
He rubbed his eyes, a strange sense of displacement washing over him. He felt as though he had just woken up from a dream that was already dissolving at the edges—something about green light and falling glass.
He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a small, black encrypted drive. There was no label on it, but pinned to it was a small, neon-pink sticky note. It had no words, only a crudely drawn emoji of a gummy bear wearing a gas mask.
Adrien stared at the note. His heart began to beat with a rhythm he couldn't explain.
I need to call Leon, he thought. Why did he need to call Leon? Leon was downstairs at the security desk. He saw him every day. But today, the urge felt like a physical weight in his chest.