The air inside the hideout was heavy with the scent of metal, old stone, and distrust.
Evan stood at the head of the battered war table — an old Academy relic, now cracked and scarred — as the members of Solaris Reach and his own group circled around it.
Maps and scattered datachips littered the surface.
But the real battle wasn't over maps.
It was over trust.
---
> "Let's get one thing clear," Evan said, voice cutting cleanly through the murmurs. "I'm not here to play nice."
> "No one asked you to," Mara replied evenly.
Good. She was sharp.
Evan liked that.
---
He turned his gaze to the others — Aidan, Sera, the Solaris team.
All of them waiting for his next move.
> "Gravemind knows every trick the Academy ever taught me," Evan said. "It knows how to weaponize fear, how to fracture loyalties, how to turn a victory into a curse."
> "Because it is you," Sera added softly.
Evan didn't deny it.
Not fully.
---
> "I'll lead the assault teams," Evan continued. "But no one — no one — moves without my say. You think you're doing the right thing on your own?" He smiled coldly. "You're already playing into Gravemind's hands."
There was a ripple of discomfort.
Aidan, however, simply nodded — a quiet, unwavering support at Evan's side.
---
> "And what's your endgame, Reaper?" Mara asked bluntly. "You planning to erase Gravemind... or crown yourself king of the ashes?"
The question hung there.
Heavy.
Weighted.
---
For a long moment, Evan said nothing.
Then:
> "I'm cleaning up my mess," he said simply.
And for once, the room seemed to believe him.
---
Plans were drawn.
Strike teams formed.
Targets marked: old laboratories, underground bunkers, ruined cities that Gravemind's influence had begun to twist and warp.
All of them bleeding into the world like an infection.
---
Later, as night fell and the others dispersed to prepare, Aidan found Evan standing alone outside — staring up at the stars through the broken ceiling.
The wind stirred Evan's coat, but he didn't seem to feel it.
---
> "You're different," Aidan said quietly, stepping up beside him.
> "Am I?"
> "Yeah," Aidan smiled faintly. "You're still a little scary. But you're not... gone."
---
For a heartbeat, Evan let down the mask.
A glimpse of the man beneath the Reaper's shadow.
Tired.
Determined.
Human.
---
> "You gave me a second chance," Evan said without looking at him. "Now I have to make sure there's a world left for you to live in."
Aidan just bumped his shoulder lightly against Evan's.
Simple.
Uncomplicated.
Real.
---
And for the first time in a long, long time...
Evan almost believed he could win.
---
End of Chapter 18