**EXT. NEO-BOSTON STREET - CONTINUOUS**
Valentine scans the crowd, his eyes locking onto a figure across the street. A woman in a nondescript gray coat, watching him intently. She's too still, too focused to be random.
I've got company. Someone's tailing me.
He turns quickly, heading into a narrow alley between buildings. The woman follows, maintaining distance. Valentine pulls out a small device from his pocket - a temporal scrambler.
Mia, activate scrambler. Short burst.
He presses a button. A wave of temporal energy washes over the alley, causing the woman to stumble, her form flickering for a second. In that moment, Valentine sees beneath her disguise - not a woman, but advanced synthetic skin over metallic components.
They sent an android after me.
He breaks into a run, weaving through the alley. The synthetic recovers quickly, pursuing him with inhuman speed. Valentine knows he can't outrun it forever. He needs to get to Thorne.