Grimm turned toward the tent's entrance when he heard footsteps. Sophia stepped inside, her white dress brushing the floor as the night breeze tugged at the fabric. The long cut along her thigh shifted with every step. Grimm swallowed hard and jerked his gaze away before he embarrassed himself.
The last thing he wanted was to look like he was ogling her, but he couldn't deny it. This woman was dangerous, yes, but stunning all the same.
Sophia didn't seem to notice his stare, or she didn't care. She walked straight to her chair and sat down without a word. Her expression was distant, the kind of look people wore when their mind was far from the present.
Grimm stayed quiet too. With her back inside the tent, the cramped space felt even smaller, and he had no idea how to start a conversation. Silence settled between them and grew heavier by the second.
Minutes dragged by. The lantern light flickered across the canvas. Outside, insects buzzed and the wind brushed softly against the trees. Inside, the only movement was the slow rise and fall of their breathing. The quiet pressed down on them.
Grimm finally gathered the nerve to speak. At the same moment, Sophia lifted her chin as if she'd been preparing to do the same. Their eyes met. Her green eyes locked with his dark ones, and for a heartbeat neither of them looked away.
She broke first. Sophia dropped her gaze, her hair falling forward and hiding the color rising on her cheeks. Grimm missed the quick flush spreading across her face. Her heart kicked once, so loud she wondered if he heard it.
Why am I blushing? she thought, annoyed with herself. This is ridiculous. Don't tell me…
She cut off the thought. No. Impossible. It's just the situation. Anyone would feel awkward in a tiny tent with someone else. That's all it is. Nothing more.
She straightened and forced herself to glance up again. Grimm was still watching her. The warmth on her face threatened to return, but she pushed it down with a small cough.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked.
He blinked. "You looked like you were about to say something before you looked away."
"Oh." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, regaining her composure. "Well… you looked like you wanted to say something too."
"I did." Grimm rubbed the back of his neck. "Since we both have something to say, why don't you go first?"
Sophia hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I wanted to ask you something. You said you lost your memories in that accident five years ago. I'm wondering if you remember anything at all from before then. Even fragments. Your name, your parents… anything."
He didn't need to think. He shook his head. "No. Everything before that day is gone."
He paused. "Why ask?"
Sophia waved her hand quickly. "It's nothing. I was just curious."
Grimm didn't buy it. Her tone was too light, her eyes too guarded. She had a reason; she just wasn't willing to share it. But pressing her wouldn't help, so he let it slide.
She cleared her throat. "What about you? What were you trying to say?"
Grimm took a moment. "About what you mentioned earlier. Those fanatics. When you said fanatic, you meant them, right? The Anti New Order group?"
The question hung in the tent. Sophia let out a long, tired breath.
"Yes," she said.
Grimm's brow tightened.
The Anti New Order group, as the name suggested, was made up of people who couldn't accept the world after the Tower appeared. The world had changed, and a new order had replaced the one they knew.
Before the apocalypse, the world belonged to the wealthy elite. Conglomerate heirs and billionaires could buy their way out of any crime and bend the law whenever it suited them. Power wasn't strength. Power was money.
Then the cracks opened, monsters poured through, and the old world burned. Money meant nothing when a beast tore through armored convoys like paper. In the new world, strength was the only currency that mattered. Those who could fight back became the backbone of civilization: Pathfinders, Awakeners. The new order.
The ones who lost everything were the people who used to stand at the top.
They refused to accept it. They gathered in the shadows. They attacked settlements, hijacked resource convoys, bombed safe zones. Every time authorities crushed them, they crawled back. Insignificant enough to avoid full focus of the allianc but dangerous enough to be ignored completely.
Sophia's jaw tightened. "We've been tracking new movements from them these past few months. They're planning something big again. Those rats never stop. With everything happening out there, you'd think they'd have better things to do than throw tantrums about the past."
Grimm frowned. A thought clicked into place.
Gerald… he must've been one of them. But it doesn't fit. He was an awakener. They don't recruit awakeners. Their whole belief is built around opposing them. Why would they include the people they hate?
And that dark energy he sensed… that wasn't normal. There's no way a group like that should have access to something that twisted.
Sophia must have noticed the confusion on his face. She turned her hand over, and something materialized in her palm.
A glove. Or something shaped like one.
It looked like it had been stitched from rotting flesh. Black veins spread across the surface like dried roots. The sight was unsettling enough, but the feeling it gave off was worse. The same sickening pressure he felt when he clashed with Gerald.
Grimm didn't hesitate. He activated Omnivision, and the tent peeled back into spectral layers. The glove pulsed with that same dark energy.
Gerald's left hand. That was where it came from. It wasn't his power. It was this thing.
Sophia spoke. "The Anti New Order group has been running human experiments for years. Their goal was to create enhanced humans who could rival awakeners without relying on the Tower. The alliance shut down dozens of their labs. Some were inside safe zones. Others were buried in the Badlands."
Her expression darkened. "Recently they changed tactics. They've started creating items like this."
She held the glove higher.
Grimm's stomach twisted.
"We've dealt with several awakeners these past few months who suddenly lost control," she said. "Every time we traced the cause to an object like this. And every trail leads back to them."