The night air felt heavier now — like the city understood that someone far above SRD had just entered the game.
Phineas kept scanning rooftops.Alex kept looking behind them every three steps.Kayden walked forward, expression steady but eyes sharp, still feeling the imprint of the Citadel Observer's presence.
They were halfway through a narrow service tunnel when APEX flickered violently.
"Commander—new resonance approaching.Not anomaly.Not Citadel.Not SRD."
Alex froze."Then… then who—?"
A voice cut through the tunnel from the shadows.
"Kayden. Stop."
Kayden's heart jolted — not in fear, but in recognition.
Hale stepped into the weak overhead light.
But this wasn't the calm, controlled Hale they knew.
This Hale looked wrecked.
His uniform jacket was unzipped, collar torn, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot as if he hadn't slept in days. His hands trembled just enough for Kayden to notice, but not enough for Alex or Phineas to catch.
And the first thing Hale did was look at Kayden — not with suspicion, not with authority, but with raw fear.
"Kayden…"His voice cracked, something Hale never allowed."Tell me it isn't true."
Phineas stepped forward defensively."What did they tell you?"
Hale didn't even look at him.
He stepped closer to Kayden, motion slow, deliberate, almost pleading.
"Tell me the Citadel didn't make contact."
Alex's breath stuttered.
"How— how do you even KNOW about that—?"
Hale finally looked away, exhaling shakily.
"Because the moment their signal touched the city grid, SRD command went into panic mode."He rubbed his face, voice breaking."Half the board was told to stand down. The other half was told to prepare for… for transfer."
Phineas swallowed."Transfer to who?"
Hale looked at him with hollow eyes.
"The Ascendant Citadel."
Alex shook his head violently."No—no no no— they can't just TAKE him!"
Hale's jaw tightened.
"They can. And they will. The Citadel doesn't request. They claim."
Kayden felt a cold thread move through his spine.
Hale approached, grabbing his shoulders with both hands.
His voice was barely above a whisper now:
"Kayden… you need to run. You need to hide. You need to stay OUT of their sight. You don't understand what the Citadel does to people like you."
Kayden's expression didn't change.
But Alex stepped between them, furious.
"He's NOT an experiment! He's NOT a weapon! He's a PERSON—"
Hale didn't get angry.
He got quiet.
"Alex."He inhaled shakily."If the Citadel marks him… he stops being a person."
Alex went cold.
Phineas whispered, "Then what does he become?"
Hale looked at Kayden — and the dread in his eyes was not for SRD, not for the anomaly.
It was for the Citadel.
"He becomes an asset.A designation.A function."
He exhaled once, the sound sharp and ragged.
"He becomes something they mold.Something they own."
Kayden finally spoke, voice low but steady.
"Hale… what do they want with me?"
Hale looked like the answer hurt him.
"Your signature."He hesitated."Your resonance."
Kayden's eyes narrowed.
"You knew."
Hale's silence was the confirmation.
Alex felt his chest collapse in on itself.
"So you knew he wasn't normal— even before all this?!"
Hale shook his head desperately."I didn't know WHAT you were, Kayden. But the Citadel did. Someone up there flagged you a long time ago. They've been waiting for a signal like tonight's."
APEX flickered — unstable, frightened.
"Commander…Hale's emotional readings: high distress.Truth probability: 93%.His intentions: protective."
Kayden placed a hand over Hale's grasp — calm, grounded, terrifyingly mature for someone who should be panicking.
"Hale," he said softly."What aren't you telling me?"
Hale's breath went shallow.
"The Citadel doesn't intervene unless they see something… potential. Something dangerous. Something they want to shape before someone else shapes it first."
Alex took a step back, horrified.
"They want to train him."
"No," Hale corrected with a trembling voice."They want to initiate him."
Silence.
Deep.Heavy.
Like the air itself was waiting for Kayden's reaction.
Kayden didn't flinch.
He didn't look away.
He simply asked:
"Can they be stopped?"
Hale closed his eyes.
"No."
Alex's voice cracked."Then what are we supposed to DO?!"
Phineas answered before Hale could.
"We get smarter.We stay ahead.We don't walk into traps — not theirs, not SRD's."
Hale looked at Phineas — genuinely, painfully — with something close to admiration.
"You're sharper than half the analysts I've ever worked with."He turned to Kayden."But Kayden… all this intelligence, all this planning… it won't matter if the Citadel sets their sights on you."
Alex grabbed Kayden's sleeve tightly.
"We're not letting them take you."
Hale stepped back into the shadow, voice low, urgent, breaking.
"Kayden… listen to me.The Citadel doesn't take people by force.They take them by inevitability."
Kayden's eyes hardened.
"Not me."
Hale winced, like those words physically hurt him.
He whispered:
"Then God help you… because they've already begun."
A loud metallic echo rang out in the distance — SRD or something worse.
Hale jerked his head toward the far tunnel.
"Go. NOW. I'll misdirect them as long as I can."
Kayden hesitated — just a moment.
"Hale—"
Hale forced a smile, broken but real.
"I made a promise to protect you.Even if the whole damn world decided otherwise."
And then he disappeared into the shadows the same way the Citadel agent had — silently, tragically, completely.
Kayden exhaled.
Alex clung to him.
Phineas steadied himself.
APEX whispered like a trembling child:
"Commander…Operator Initiation sequence is accelerating."
Kayden looked forward — into a future he never asked for.
"Then we move," he said.
And they ran.