The rooftops of Seoul glowed with neon light, the night alive with the pulse of the city. Yet here, in a quiet industrial block, the world felt hushed, caught between the frost of Luna Snow's power and the looming shadow of Juggernaut.
Vanessa leaned against the rusted railing of a rooftop, her gaze fixed on the streets below. The distant sounds of traffic and laughter drifted up like echoes from a different world — a world she had never truly been part of.
"I hope…" she began, her voice low, almost too quiet for the night to carry, "that one day, there are no more evil people."
Luna's eyes narrowed, mist curling from her fingertips. "Strange words, coming from someone who fights beside Juggernaut."
Vanessa smiled faintly, but there was no pride in it. Only something softer. Something cracked.
"You think I was born into power? Into destruction? No. I lived with my mother — just the two of us — until I was ten years old. She was kind. She was warm. She sang to me when I couldn't sleep."
Juggernaut shifted behind her, silent, listening as though hearing this for the first time.
Vanessa's voice faltered, then grew cold.
"And then… she left. One morning, she was gone. No note. No reason. Just gone. I waited in that little apartment for days. Weeks. A month. Alone."
The neon glow flickered across her pale face as she turned toward Luna, eyes shimmering not with tears but with hardened memory.
"By the time the officials found me, I was skin and bone. They sent me to an orphanage. That was where I learned what people are really like. Children can be cruel. Adults can be worse. They tried to break me every day — but instead, they only taught me how to survive."
Juggernaut's massive hand clenched into a fist, his voice rough.
"They should've paid for that. Every single one of 'em."
Vanessa looked back at him, her faint smile returning.
"Maybe they already did. Maybe that's why I am what I am. The pain they gave me never touched me. It always went back to them. That was my gift. My curse."
Luna studied her carefully, frost curling heavier in the air.
"And now? Do you use that curse to protect… or to destroy?"
For a moment, Vanessa's composure cracked, the child she once was flickering through her cold exterior.
"I don't know yet."
The silence stretched between them, broken only by the neon hum of Seoul's heart. Luna kept her face calm, but inside she thought: She's dangerous… but she's also broken. If I play this right, maybe I can still reach her.
Juggernaut, however, gave a grim chuckle, breaking the tension.
"She's my daughter, Snow. Whatever road she takes, she ain't walkin' it alone."
And in the glow of the city, the fragile thread binding these three together — trust, lies, and unspoken choices — tightened, setting the stage for what was to come.