Tessa found him where she always did — beneath the Training Tower's west wing, sitting alone on the concrete steps, hands loose between his knees, the city's flickering light mirrored in his eyes.
She sat beside him in silence.
For once, he didn't speak first.
"Things feel... weird lately," she said softly.
He didn't respond.
"They've got me mentoring interns now. One of them's actually decent. Ava Spire? You've probably seen her. She's got that quiet-confidence thing. Kind of like..."
She trailed off.
He still didn't speak.
Tessa turned her head toward him. "Rook?"
He looked at her.
And the expression in his eyes was the coldest she'd ever seen.
"You shouldn't spend time with me."
Her breath caught. "What?"
"You heard me."
She blinked. "Is this about... the last mission? Rook, if this is about what I said, I—"
"It's not," he said. Flat. Final. "It's about you thinking I'm someone worth saving."
Tessa sat up straighter. "Where is this coming from?"
"You're smart. Figure it out."
The silence that followed wasn't awkward.
It was strategic.
She stood. Her voice cracked. "I thought we trusted each other."
"I don't trust anyone."
"Then why let me in?"
"Because I needed to see if I still could."
Tessa backed away.
For a second, her face twisted like she wanted to scream.
Then she whispered, "I hope this is a lie."
Rook looked down at the pavement.
"It's not."
She left.
He didn't follow.
Scene: 36 Hours Later – Unknown Coordinates
Blood stained his gloves.
Not his.
Not this time.
The mission wasn't recorded.There was no wristband trail.No satellite log.
Only one datapad retrieved from the base of an off-grid tower, deep in the crumbling zone between Districts 10 and 11.
Inside that datapad: files.
Names.
Schedules.
Clearance tags.
And a name highlighted in red:
Zodiac: Scorpio. Alias – Vala Durn.
The handler of Pod 47.The creator of the "Ava Spire" project.The one who sent Ava to Tessa.
Rook didn't kill her.
Not yet.
But he had touched her face.
And whispered:"If you ever come near her again, I'll tear your voice out of your mouth and feed it to a lie detector."
Then he let her go.
So she'd run.
So she'd panic.
So she'd start moving sloppily.
Because the next death would need to be loud.
Scene: Dorm 103 — 4:17 a.m.
Aya waited.
When Rook walked in, he didn't speak.
He just dropped the datapad on her bunk.
She picked it up. Scanned it.
Then looked at him.
"New target?"
"No."
"Then what is this?"
His voice was steady. Low. Cold.
"It's bait."