Next Day
Midtown High School, After Lunch Break
The bell rang, echoing through the tiled hallways like a sigh of routine, but Raj's steps weren't in sync with the rhythm of school life anymore. Not today. Not after Adrian.
He and Peter slipped into the library instead of returning to class, moving with a shared urgency neither voiced. The rows of dusty books and humming monitors welcomed them like conspirators.
Peter glanced around, then nodded to a corner computer near the windows. "Private enough."
Raj sat down, eyes narrowed. "You sure no one's monitoring this?"
Peter fished a small flash drive from his backpack. "Built my own VPN and ghost net last semester when Flash tried to hack my math scores. We'll be fine."
"Flash tried to do what—?"
Peter waved it off, plugging in the drive. "Long story. Let's focus on your new buddy, Agent Twitchy."
Raj cracked a grin but it didn't last. "He's not normal, Pete. I saw him… watching me before the fire alarm. His eyes were calm, like he was waiting. And then that note…"
Peter nodded. "Yeah. 'R-9.' No way that was random."
The cursor blinked on the screen, waiting.
"Let's start with enrollment records," Peter said, typing fast. "If Adrian's new, there should be a transfer file."
Raj leaned in, watching the screen flash through school databases. Adrian West. Transferred from some boarding school in upstate New York. No past grades. No photo ID. Just a generic name and a blank file pretending to be real.
"That's fake," Raj said.
"Like, government-fake," Peter replied, eyes narrowing. "This isn't amateur hour."
"Hydra?" Raj asked quietly.
Peter nodded. "Possible. Or something similar."
Before Raj could reply, a faint sound broke their focus. Someone moving down the hallway. Raj's posture stiffened.
"I'll check," he whispered.
He moved to the glass door and peeked into the hallway. Empty.
But on a locker down the hall, a small sticker caught his eye. Orange sun emblem. His emblem.
Raj's chest tightened.
Peter joined him. "Is that—?"
"Someone's playing games."
Raj peeled the sticker off and turned it over. The back had one word scribbled on it in clean block letters.
"Found you."
Peter's hand clenched into a fist. "This guy is trying to bait you."
Raj didn't answer. His eyes flickered golden for just a second before he forced them back. Too soon. Not here.
They returned to the computer, more focused now. "Let's dig deeper," Peter muttered. "No way someone that shady doesn't leave a trail."
Within minutes, Peter's fingers danced across the keyboard again, bypassing school-level firewalls like paper. "Got something."
He pulled up a string of surveillance footage—most of it mundane. But one clip showed Adrian walking through the faculty parking lot, heading toward a black unmarked car. Another man stepped out to greet him. The frame skipped, but Peter froze it just as the two exchanged something metallic. A small device, too slick to be a phone.
"Can we enhance it?" Raj asked.
"This ain't a spy movie, Raj."
"Try anyway."
Peter smirked and zoomed in. It helped… a little. The device looked eerily similar to the tech used in the surveillance trap from the one Monica had set. Compact, blinking, and designed to vanish.
Raj's jaw clenched. "He's not just watching. He's recording. Transmitting, maybe."
Peter turned serious. "We need to stop playing defense."
They packed up fast. Raj pocketed the sticker. Peter ejected the flash drive. Just as they were leaving, Peter hesitated. "We should set a trap of our own."
Raj turned. "Go on."
"We give him something to report. Feed him what we want them to see. We flip the game."
Raj smiled slowly. "That… actually sounds fun."
"Spoken like a true glowing god."
"Shut up."
They both laughed, but it was short-lived. Outside the library, the air was heavier. The day had shifted. They could feel it.
Later That Evening – Hydra Observation Van
Inside a nondescript van parked two blocks from Midtown High, monitors flickered with school hallway footage, thermal scans, and data pulses from Adrian's hidden transmitter.
A Hydra agent in a suit sat watching Raj's every move. A woman beside him scribbled notes.
"He's adapting faster than anticipated," she said without looking up.
The man nodded. "And he's not alone. Parker's helping him. Not ideal."
The woman's lips twitched. "We predicted interference. Still, R-9 is tracking as expected. Elevated solar absorption. Defensive reflexes nearly perfected."
"His suit's working?"
"Too well. It's regulating his energy spikes. The more stable he becomes, the harder it will be to provoke him."
The man tapped the screen, showing Raj and Peter in the library. "We'll need to escalate."
The woman's eyes gleamed. "Project Aegis?"
"Not yet. First, we destabilize. Make him doubt his surroundings. Adrian's bait. But we'll need more… pressure."
The woman opened a side file labeled: PROJECT R-10.
"Let's see how he handles chaos."
Back at Midtown High – Rooftop, Sunset
Raj and Peter sat together again on the same rooftop they'd claimed weeks ago. The sky burned orange, reflecting Raj's own emblem—so bright now, it almost seemed prophetic.
Peter took a deep breath. "So what's the move?"
Raj didn't speak at first. He pulled out the sticker. "Someone left this to tell me they're watching. I want to leave them something too."
"Like a message?"
Raj nodded. "But not a threat. A promise."
Peter looked over, his voice quiet. "You're not the same as when we met. You were afraid to let anyone see you back then."
"I still am," Raj admitted. "But now I'm more afraid of being used."
He looked up at the horizon, eyes reflecting the last rays of sun.
"I'm done hiding. They found me. Let them see who I become."
Peter smiled. "Then let's write the next page ourselves."