By midday, leaden clouds had rolled in, turning the sky a dull chrome gray over the city. Lyra and Jax wound their way through a maze of side streets on the hoverbike, avoiding main thoroughfares where Prysm-Sek security drones might patrol. The bike's engine whirred softly beneath them. Each time they approached an intersection, Jax would slow, scanning the sky and street before proceeding. The events of the night had surely put the corporation on high alert, and Lyra had no doubt they'd locked down whole districts searching for intruders.
Lyra kept her hood up and eyes low, though the midday crowds of pedestrians and vendors provided some cover. Neon signs that never slept glowed sickly in the overcast light, advertising cybernetic implants, skewered meat, and illicit stimulants—anything and everything for sale in the sprawl. The city felt different today. Or maybe it was just her. Every stranger that passed seemed like a potential informant. Every whir of a distant engine made her tense, expecting another hail of gunfire.
They pulled into the shadow of an overpass and came to a halt behind a row of rusting shipping containers. Jax killed the engine. "This is as far as I take the bike," he said quietly.
Up ahead, past a sagging chain-link fence, lay the abandoned transit station where Eris had arranged to meet them. It was an old hub from decades ago, back when public maglev trains still ran here. Now the station sat in disrepair, half-flooded with stagnant water and overgrown with oily weeds. It was exactly the kind of place no corporate patrol would bother to check—at least not yet.
Jax dismounted first and offered a hand to Lyra as she swung off the seat. Her muscles protested; a night of adrenaline followed by a tense morning ride had turned her limbs to stone. She winced slightly as weight settled on her injured leg, but she was in far better shape than hours before. The quickheal injections were doing their job—her calf wound had clotted, and while her ribcage was tender, it no longer stabbed with each breath.
"How do you want to do this?" Lyra asked under her breath, eyeing the fence. She could make out the dilapidated station building beyond, its once-glass facade now shattered and covered in graffiti.
Jax was already pulling a crowbar from the bike's saddlebag. "Quietly." With a grunt, he pried open a gap in the fence just wide enough for them to slip through. He scanned the area one more time, then nodded to Lyra. Together they darted through the gap and into the station grounds.
Inside the perimeter, the city noise dulled. Tall concrete pillars of the overpass loomed overhead, dripping dirty rainwater. They approached the main station building cautiously. Lyra's heart quickened with anticipation at the thought of seeing Eris. The last time they'd all been together was days ago, when they'd finalized the plan for the arcology infiltration. Eris had argued for more prep time; Lyra insisted they couldn't wait. They parted on tense terms, and Lyra carried that guilt alongside her determination. Would Eris still be angry? Or just relieved she was alive?
Jax held up a closed fist and Lyra halted. He pointed at a small surveillance camera mounted under the eave of the station entrance. Its lens was dark. "Dead," he murmured after a moment. "No power."
They stepped through the shattered sliding doors into the station's lobby. The air smelled of rust and mold. Pale daylight filtered in through holes in the ceiling, illuminating dust motes and an old ticket counter tagged with neon paint. Broken turnstiles led toward the train platforms beyond.
Lyra strained her ears for any sign of life. At first only dripping water and the distant rumble of traffic above registered. Then, faintly, she heard it: the soft buzz of a portable generator and the clack of a keyboard echoing from below.
She exchanged a glance with Jax. That had to be Eris.
They moved toward a stairwell leading down to the platforms. Lyra felt a smile tug at her lips despite everything. She descended the cracked steps quickly. The platform level was gloomier, but ahead she could see a faint glow of multiple screens and an improvised workstation set up on an old bench.
"Eris," Lyra called softly.
A figure rose from behind a stack of crates, tense for a split second until recognition set in. "Lyra!" Eris's voice echoed in the cavernous space.
Eris hurried forward. She was slight and wiry, with a half-shaved head and the rest of her hair dyed deep violet. LED circuitry in the shape of delicate vines glimmered under the skin along her neck—a custom dermal implant Lyra remembered well. Eris wore baggy fatigues and a tattered jacket lined with sensor pads. Right now, her eyes were wide with concern and relief.
Before Lyra could speak, Eris closed the distance and wrapped her in a fierce hug. Lyra hissed as her bruised ribs protested, and Eris immediately released her, stepping back with an apologetic wince. "Sorry! You're hurt."
"I'm alright," Lyra assured, smiling. "Better now."
Eris looked her up and down, noting the bandages peeking under Lyra's sleeves and pant leg. "Okay is relative, but I'll take it. We thought we lost you back there." Her attempt at a light tone wavered.
Jax stepped up, resting a hand on Eris's shoulder. "Told you I'd get her out."
Eris responded by punching Jax lightly on the arm. "And you. Running off like some action hero. You could've both been killed."
"Seemed worth the risk," Jax replied with a shrug and a faint grin. "Had to keep my favorite girls alive somehow."
Lyra felt warmth at the banter. In this dark, forgotten station under the city, she finally let herself believe it: they were together again. Despite all that had happened, the three of them had reunited.
Eris motioned to her makeshift command center. "Come on. Fill me in. What the hell happened up there? One minute you're in, then comms cut out, and I'm hearing explosions on the back channels."
Lyra eased herself onto an upturned crate. Jax remained standing, arms crossed as if still on guard. In a low voice, Lyra recounted the raid: infiltrating the arcology's restricted lab, the firefight in the server chamber, her near-death when security countermeasures trapped her. Jax interjected with how he'd forced entry just in time. As Lyra spoke, flashes of last night raced through her mind—the moment she snatched the data shard, the searing heat of the explosion, and the desperate run along the collapsing catwalk.
"...If Jax hadn't shown up when he did, I wouldn't be here," Lyra concluded quietly.
Eris let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Damn. And Noel... any sign of him in there?"
Lyra's jaw tightened and she shook her head. "No. Noel wasn't there. We were too late or in the wrong place. But I grabbed this." She reached into her boot and produced the data shard, holding it between her fingers. The translucent prism caught the light, its facets gleaming. "I think it has info on Noel, or at least on Project MANTIS. It's what I went in for."
Eris's eyes lit up despite the grim news about Noel. "Project MANTIS... I dug up that name in some low-level syslogs last week. Couldn't get details, just that it's top-secret. If Noel's tied to it..." She gingerly took the shard from Lyra, handling it like unstable explosive. "There could be answers here."
Jax walked a few paces away toward the stairs, taking up a watchful position as Lyra and Eris worked. Eris plugged the shard into a port on a rugged tablet tethered to a larger jury-rigged deck. She flipped down a visor over her cybernetic eye augment, fingers flying across a projected keyboard of orange light.
"I'm initializing a sandbox," Eris muttered, eyes flicking left to right as code reflected on her visor. "Just in case there are any nasty security daemons. Let's see... Whoa, this encryption is heavy. Definitely military grade. But you know I love a challenge." She shot Lyra a quick smirk.
Lyra managed a grin in return. In truth, watching the lines of code scroll made her anxious. Everything they needed could be locked behind that digital wall. She forced herself to breathe slowly. "Let me know if I can do anything."
"Keep an eye out, and maybe hand me that canned coffee from my bag," Eris replied, her focus already back on the data.