The old district stretched before them, a graveyard of forgotten structures and collapsed infrastructure. Neon signs flickered weakly against the darkness, remnants of a city that had moved on. The coordinates Cassandra left pointed them deeper, beyond the skeletal remains of what had once been a thriving sector.
Ethan moved first, his steps controlled, his gaze scanning every corner. Lyra followed, monitoring her console. "Signal's weak, but it's still active. If she's here, she's not staying in one place."
Ethan's voice was low. "She knows she's being hunted."
They passed through an abandoned marketplace, overturned stalls and rusted metal littering the ground. The air was thick with silence, unnatural in a place that once held life. Ethan's instincts sharpened. They weren't alone.
Lyra stiffened. "Something's wrong."
Ethan already knew. The signal had shifted. It wasn't coming from a fixed location anymore. It was moving.
He exhaled slowly. "She's running."
Lyra's fingers moved over her console. "Or someone else has her beacon."
Ethan's pulse remained steady. Either they were being led to Cassandra, or they were being pulled into a trap. Either way, they had no choice but to follow.
They moved deeper, cutting through collapsed alleys and broken corridors, following the fading signal. The ruined buildings cast long shadows, twisting under the dim artificial glow from the city above. Every step felt like a countdown.
Then Lyra froze.
Ethan caught the shift in her posture. "What?"
She turned her console toward him. The signal had stopped. Fixed. A single location, just ahead.
Ethan's jaw tightened. "We end this now."
They advanced carefully, weapons drawn. The destination led them to an old substation, a structure still partially intact, hidden beneath layers of debris. The door was slightly ajar. Someone had been here recently.
Ethan stepped inside first.
The room was dark, illuminated only by the faint glow of a single terminal at the center. Wires snaked across the floor, connected to old surveillance nodes that shouldn't have been operational. The air was still.
Then, a voice.
"You took your time."
Ethan turned.
Cassandra Voss stood in the shadows, watching him.
Alive. And waiting.