The assignment was a joke.
Kael knew it the moment he saw the mission file. A low-tier retrieval in a zone flagged for instability. No backup. No resonance support. Just a vague directive: "Observe and report."
He didn't ask questions anymore. The system didn't answer them.
The transport dropped him at the edge of Sector 9—a collapsed district where resonance protocols had failed years ago. The air shimmered with residual static. Buildings leaned like exhausted giants. Kael adjusted his stabilizer and stepped into the ruins.
He wasn't alone.
A figure stood near a broken terminal, scanning data with surgical precision. She wore a protocol analyst's coat, but it was torn at the sleeve. Her hair was tied back, her eyes sharp and cold.
> "You're early," she said without looking up.
Kael paused. "I wasn't told anyone else would be here."
> "That's because you weren't supposed to be. I rerouted your drop."
She turned. Her gaze was clinical, calculating.
> "Name's Lira. Former analyst. Current anomaly."
Kael didn't respond. He didn't trust easily anymore.
---
Scene Shift: A Sudden Crash
A tremor shook the ground. Kael spun, resonance flaring. From the rubble, a figure emerged—scarred, limping, eyes burning with unstable light.
> "Juno," Lira muttered. "Of course."
Juno stumbled forward, his resonance flickering erratically. His left arm was wrapped in makeshift bandages. His voice was raw.
> "You brought him here?" he growled at Lira. "Another system pet?"
Kael stepped between them. "I'm not with them."
Juno laughed—a bitter, broken sound. "You wear their stabilizer. You breathe their air. You are them."
Kael didn't flinch. "Not anymore."
---
Flashback: Mission Debrief, 2 Weeks Ago
Kael stood in silence as his original received praise for a mission Kael had prepared. The system had reassigned it last minute. No explanation. No apology.
> "You're not optimized for leadership," the director had said.
> "You're stable. That's all."
Kael had nodded. But inside, something cracked.
---
Present
Juno collapsed against a wall, breathing hard. Lira approached, scanned his vitals, then looked at Kael.
> "He's unstable. But he's not wrong. The system broke him. Tried to archive him. He escaped."
Kael knelt beside Juno. "Why bring me here?"
Lira hesitated. "Because you're not optimized. You're overlooked. That makes you dangerous."
Kael looked at Juno—scarred, burning, alive.
> "I wasn't discarded," Kael said quietly. "I was preserved—to burn later."
Juno opened one eye. "That's the first real thing you've said."
---
Scene Shift: Underground Shelter
Lira led them to a hidden chamber beneath the ruins. Old resonance maps lined the walls. Training modules flickered in the dark.
> "This was a prototype lab," she explained. "Before the system decided emotion was inefficient."
Kael touched a console. It responded to his presence.
> "You're compatible," Lira said. "Of course you are."
Juno stood, wincing. "We train here. Off-grid. No system oversight."
Kael turned to them. "Why me?"
Lira's voice was steady. "Because you still feel. And that's the one thing the system can't replicate."
---
Closing Scene
Kael stood in the center of the chamber. Lira calibrated the resonance field. Juno activated a training sequence.
Kael closed his eyes.
> "They called me a shadow. A glitch. A leftover."
He opened them. The field pulsed around him.
> "But I'm not here to echo. I'm here to burn."