Chapter 610: You’re One of Mine Now
Chapter 610: You’re One of Mine Now
The assessment went exactly as planned.
Which is to say, I performed at roughly eighty percent capacity and pretended it was my maximum. Commander Reyes watched from behind reinforced glass, making notes on a tablet while two junior analysts tracked my vitals. The combat simulation threw progressively harder challenges at me. Holographic enemies. Environmental hazards. Timed objectives that required split-second decisions.
I passed everything. Not spectacularly. Not memorably. Just well enough to justify my ranking without raising flags.
The tactical seminar proved more interesting. Reyes walked us through the upcoming A-Rank Gate operation in excruciating detail. Formation rotations. Communication protocols. Contingency plans for seventeen different failure scenarios. I absorbed everything, filing it away for future reference.
This was how real Hunters operated. Not the flashy tournament bullshit designed for cameras and sponsorships. The actual work of keeping humanity alive involved spreadsheets, logistics, and a thousand small decisions that meant the difference between victory and body bags.
By the time evening rolled around, my brain felt like overcooked pasta.
The rooftop garden was quiet when I arrived. City lights stretched below like a glittering carpet. The wind carried hints of exhaust and distant music from the entertainment district. I found our spot near the edge, where overgrown planters created a natural barrier against the world.
Reyna wasn’t there yet.
I sat on the concrete ledge and pulled out my phone. Messages waited. Emi had sent a photo of cookies shaped like cats, captioned "Maki inspiration!" Skylar’s message consisted of a single period, which somehow conveyed more judgment than a paragraph could. Akari wanted to know if I’d placed any bets on the upcoming Gate operation because apparently there was an underground market for that sort of thing.
Nothing from Natalia.
The pendant sat cold against my chest. Not hostile. Not warm. Just present. A constant reminder of the woman three hundred miles away who was either planning my punishment or had simply stopped caring.
I wasn’t sure which possibility scared me more.
Footsteps behind me.
"You look like someone kicked your puppy." Reyna dropped onto the ledge beside me. She’d changed from training clothes into something casual. Jeans that hugged her hips. A cropped jacket over a tank top that left her midriff exposed. Her crimson hair was loose, catching the city lights. "Rough day?"
"Standard day. Assessments. Seminars. The usual corporate theater."
"Veronica says you performed adequately." She pulled a candy bar from her jacket pocket and broke it in half. "Which means you sandbagged."
"I performed at an appropriate level for my registered ranking."
"Bullshit." She handed me half the chocolate. "I’ve felt what you can do. The assessment didn’t push you at all."
"The assessment wasn’t supposed to push me. It was supposed to confirm what everyone already believes." I bit into the chocolate. Decent quality. "That I’m a promising C-Rank with unusual potential. Nothing more."
"And the meeting Thursday?"
"What about it?"
"Don’t." She shifted closer, her shoulder brushing mine. "I talked to Veronica. She made some calls. The meeting isn’t standard protocol. Chen’s been asking questions about your medical records. Your academic history. Your family background."
The chocolate turned to ash in my mouth.
"And Seraphina?"
"She requested the meeting personally." Reyna’s voice dropped. "My sister thinks they’re going to offer you something. A position. A contract. Some kind of arrangement that gets you under VHC control."
"Or?"
"Or they’re building a case. Looking for inconsistencies. Trying to figure out how a Zero manifested at eighteen and immediately started breaking records that shouldn’t be breakable."
I stared at the city below. Millions of people living their lives. Working their jobs. Worrying about bills and relationships and whether their favorite restaurant would still be open tomorrow. None of them knew about Gates or Aspects or the bureaucratic machinery that decided who got to be a hero and who got disappeared.
"What did you find?"
"Not much. Yet." Reyna finished her chocolate and licked her fingers clean. "But I got names. The three unidentified officials? Two are from the Insight Division. Internal surveillance. The third is from somewhere called the Prometheus Archive."
My blood went cold.
"Say that again."
"Prometheus Archive. I’d never heard of it either. Veronica had to pull serious strings just to confirm the department exists." She turned to face me. "Satori, what the hell is going on? Why does that name matter?"
I should have lied. Should have deflected with a joke or changed the subject or done any of the dozen things my survival instincts screamed at me to do.
Instead I told her the truth.
"My father worked for the VHC eighteen years ago. He was a researcher. Brilliant. One of the best in his field." The words came slowly, dragged from somewhere I’d tried to keep locked. "He disappeared when I was born. No body. No explanation. Just gone."
Reyna waited. Her hand found mine in the darkness.
"A few months ago, someone tried to break into VHC archives. They were looking for files about his work. His research. Something called Project Prometheus." I squeezed her fingers. "I think it was about artificial Aspect induction. Finding a way to give Zeroes like me the power that everyone else is born with."
"And you think..."
"I think maybe I didn’t manifest naturally. I think maybe whatever my father was working on got used on me somehow. And I think the VHC is starting to put those pieces together."
Silence stretched between us.
The city breathed below. Traffic sounds. Distant sirens. The eternal hum of civilization refusing to sleep.
"Okay," Reyna said finally.
"Okay?"
"Okay." She stood, pulling me up with her. "We have two days. That’s enough time to find out what they know and figure out how to handle it."
"Reyna..."
"Don’t." She pressed a finger to my lips. "I told you I wanted to help. This is me helping. You don’t get to push me away because it’s dangerous."
"Your sister..."
"Will understand. Or she won’t. Either way, I’m not letting you walk into that meeting blind." Her green eyes held mine. Fierce. Determined. The same look she’d worn in the arena when she’d refused to yield. "You’re one of mine now. That means something."