Elio Novan has it all-wealth, power, and the success of YUI, the world's leading tech giant. But beneath the surface, his life is anything but perfect. Haunted by a tragic past and a betrayal that left him shattered, Elio has built walls around his...
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POW. Blood splattered across the cold cement floor, staining the crates around me. I holstered my gun eyes scanning the room. "And that's the last of them," I said to myself, hoping that it really was the last of them.
"Child's play," Derix said with that same cocky grin he always had that made me want to slap him sometimes.
Alex, of course, had something to say. "We were just lucky. There were a lot of them, Derix. We barely pulled that off."
"Lucky?" He snorted, still in that arrogant tone. "We took them down like they were nothing."
"YOU ALMOST DIED, LIKE, TEN TIMES!" Alex shot back, her voice sharp. There was that edge—she'd been tense all day.
"FUCK OFF, AL—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP." My voice cut through their argument like a blade. It wasn't loud, but it had enough bite to stop them both in their tracks. "Both of you. Quit bickering. We don't have time for this shit."
Silence. Finally. It stretched out for a few moments, only the faint sound of dripping blood and the distant hum of broken machinery filling the space.
"Let's focus. Loot the place. See if we can find anything worth taking or any trace of Enna." I didn't need to explain the urgency—they knew. Every second here felt like it could be our last, and if ENA reinforcements showed up, we'd be outgunned.
Alex gave a half-hearted shrug, clearly still irritated. "Whatever you say, Alegra." But she turned away, her eyes already scanning the place.
I watched as they moved back into the shadows, leaving me standing alone for a second. The air smelled like blood, gunpowder, and that faint metallic scent of Ashium.
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"Ugh... fucking Alex... can't even let me enjoy my moment." I grumbled, kicking a stray piece of debris as I stomped toward one of the crates. "Alright... let's see what the hell we're supposed to find in here. What even are we looking for, anyway?"
I knew the odds of just stumbling across something useful were slim, but whatever. It's not like I had a better plan. Maybe there'd be some sort of document, map, or... I don't know, a clue or something in these crates.
