The night was darker than usual.
Seo-jin adjusted his jacket, pulling the hood tighter around his face as he followed Min-ji through the twisted ruins of Sector Ten. They moved quickly, silently, sticking to the shadows, the broken city sprawling endlessly around them.
Ahead, the remnants of an old metro station loomed — their target.
A rumored supply cache hidden underground. If Crimson Shield was stocking up for a bigger move, this would be where it started.
Min-ji slowed as they approached the crumbling entrance, signaling Seo-jin to stop.
She tilted her head, listening.
Nothing but the low whine of the wind scraping across broken glass.
Seo-jin leaned closer. "Clear?"
Min-ji hesitated, then nodded.
They slipped inside, descending crumbling stairs two at a time.
The station below was a tomb — silent, soaked in stale moisture, walls peeling under the weight of decay.
Fragments of old posters flapped weakly in unseen drafts.
Rusting rails split the cracked floor.
Empty.
Or so it seemed.
**
They moved carefully, weapons ready.
Halfway down the platform, Min-ji froze.
Seo-jin caught the movement instantly — a faint scuff of a boot against concrete ahead, barely audible.
He followed her gaze.
Three figures, crouched near a half-buried crate.
Crimson Shield.
Seo-jin felt Min-ji tense beside him, muscles coiling like a loaded spring.
She glanced at him — a silent question.
Fight or sneak?
Seo-jin considered quickly.
If they fought here, they risked attracting more patrols.
If they snuck closer, they could find out what the cache contained.
He gestured subtly — wait.
Min-ji grimaced but nodded.
They edged closer, using the broken columns as cover.
Seo-jin strained to catch the conversation between the Crimson Shield soldiers.
"…shipment's late again," one grumbled, kicking the crate.
"Orders say we wait. Boss won't be happy if we screw this up," another muttered.
Seo-jin narrowed his eyes.
A shipment. Supplies. Maybe weapons.
Maybe something worse.
He turned slightly toward Min-ji, whispering, "We need to see what's inside."
She rolled her eyes but followed him as they crept along the side of the platform, edging closer to the crate.
**
Suddenly — a sharp clatter echoed from deeper inside the station.
Both Lotus fighters froze.
The Crimson Shield soldiers jerked upright, weapons raised.
From the darkness, a figure stumbled into the weak light — slim, fast, wrapped in a ragged cloak.
Not Crimson Shield.
The stranger cursed loudly as the soldiers shouted, raising their guns.
Min-ji reacted instantly.
"Now!" she hissed.
Seo-jin didn't hesitate.
He unleashed a quick fracture, splitting the ground under the soldiers' feet.
Min-ji surged forward, a compressed burst of wind knocking one gunman sprawling.
The fight was brief, brutal.
Seo-jin ducked under a wild swing, fracturing the attacker's wrist with a precise strike.
Min-ji dropped the second with a spinning kick that echoed sharply in the hollow station.
The third tried to run.
The cloaked stranger moved like a blur — slipping behind the fleeing man and knocking him unconscious with a solid crack of a staff across the skull.
Silence fell again.
Panting, Seo-jin straightened slowly.
The stranger lowered his hood.
A boy — maybe a little younger than Seo-jin — grinned at them, wide and cocky despite the tension.
"Thanks for the assist," he said brightly.
Seo-jin kept his guard up, frowning. "Who are you?"
The boy shrugged, shouldering a battered satchel. "Name's Jae-hwan."
He jerked a thumb toward the fallen soldiers.
"And before you ask — no, I'm not with them."
Min-ji wiped blood from her knuckles, studying him warily.
"Then what the hell are you doing here?"
Jae-hwan smirked.
"Same thing as you, probably. Looking for supplies. Surviving. Having fun."
Seo-jin narrowed his eyes.
There was something unsettling about how relaxed this kid was.
Too calm. Too fast.
A survivor — but a dangerous one.
"You're alone?" Seo-jin asked.
Jae-hwan flashed a grin. "Always."
Min-ji folded her arms. "You just happened to crash our party?"
He shrugged again. "Wasn't planning on it. But hey — free entertainment."
Seo-jin sighed.
This wasn't what they needed right now.
But the kid had skills — and information.
"Fine," Seo-jin said. "But you're sticking close."
Jae-hwan gave a mock salute. "Yes, sir."
Min-ji muttered something under her breath about bad luck, but she didn't argue.
They turned back to the crate.
Seo-jin pried it open carefully.
Inside — supplies, as expected. Food. Ammo. Fragment cells.
And something else.
A small, sealed case, humming faintly with suppressed fragment energy.
Seo-jin exchanged a glance with Min-ji.
Dangerous tech.
The kind that could shift the balance if Crimson Shield deployed it.
He closed the crate carefully.
They needed to get this back to Lotus.
Fast.
**
Their exit wasn't clean.
More Crimson Shield patrols flooded the area faster than they could move.
Jae-hwan darted ahead, scouting paths like he was born in ruins.
Seo-jin and Min-ji fought side-by-side, moving through collapsing tunnels, fractured railways, burning alleys.
At one point, they were pinned down behind a derelict train car, bullets shredding the rusted metal.
Min-ji panted heavily beside him, blood trickling from a cut above her eyebrow.
"This day sucks," she muttered.
Seo-jin gave a grim smile. "Just another Tuesday."
Jae-hwan slid into cover beside them, grinning wildly.
"You guys are fun," he said, throwing a makeshift smoke bomb into the enemy ranks.
Seo-jin didn't bother answering.
They used the cover to sprint across the broken station, fracturing the ground behind them to slow pursuit.
By the time they finally stumbled back into Lotus territory, the sun was rising in a sickly haze.
They collapsed inside the gate, dragging the crate with them.
Ko was waiting.
His expression unreadable as he looked them over — bloodied, bruised, exhausted.
And successful.
He nodded once.
"We'll debrief later. Get cleaned up."
Seo-jin just nodded, too tired to argue.
As he staggered toward the medic bay, Min-ji fell into step beside him, still breathing hard.
Behind them, Jae-hwan trailed casually, whistling a tune completely at odds with the chaos they'd just left behind.
Seo-jin didn't know yet if they could trust him.
But for now, Jae-hwan was part of the story.
And they had bigger battles to worry about.