"Hey." Zara called his attention. "No pressure, literally."
Aegon turned back to the wall, using his phone to guide his sight over and over but found nothing.
But he kept on searching.
Sweat beaded Zara’s brows, her hair ran down her forehead obscuring her sight. "How’s it going Aegon?" She said with a weary voice.
"I don’t see any monofilant strand..." He turned to her. "What does a monofilant strand look like?"
"Aegon," she spoke softly but the way her arms tensed up told a different story. "That’s what the flashlight is for. The strand is invisible so when you wave the light you should see a glint of a wire—"
"Then what?"
She sighed through her nose. "As long as there’s a wire it ans that there’s actually sothing in the unit and it’s not just a bomb."
With a breath, he faced the wall again and flashed the phone with squinted eyes until he finally found the glint of the wire.
"I see it." He whipped back to her. "What’s next?"
"Then..." She wiggled her fingers underneath the sheet, exhaustion wobbling her knees. "I need you to check the aisle for the cart I saw. I can’t hold this thing any longer."
Rolling out swiftly from underneath the sheet, he moved to find the cart and after a while rolled it back.
"I have it." He said, watching the sweat pool beneath Zara. "What am I looking for?"
She swallowed hard before answering, shut her eyes to stop the sweat from running into them. "Get the wire cutters and the rubber gloves."
Rummaging through the cart, "why? What are they used for?"
"They’re supposed to be insulated cutters but we don’t have that so I need you to wrap the gloves around the edge of the cutter and cut the monofilant strand to disable the lift trigger."
"Okay..." He nodded rapidly, already with the tools.
"Before that," she continued. "I need you to place the hairpin on this door, and balance it because I can’t do this anymore... my arms are turning to gello."
"Yeah, sure." He moved to her, dropped to his knees and fastened the pin to the best of his ability.
She slowly let go of the door and collapsed to the floor, arms lying limp at her sides. "Wrap the gloves around the cutter, cut the monofilant and draw the sheet up."
He followed her instructions, tearing the rubber and wrapping it around the cutter. He dropped to knees and finally cut the wire.
With the wire finally cut he drew a last breath and dropped to the ground next to Zara.
With her chest rising and dropping, she turned to him. "You owe for this."
His breath matched hers, erratic. "Definitely."
After a few more breaths, they finally stood up and dragged the sheet up and saw the explosives line the wall of the unit.
"Why are we here Aegon?" Zara asked stepping into the oddly simple room apart from the nurous bombs.
A dirty old mattress sat in the corner, beside it was a generations old computer atop a wooden desk.
"I have to find out sothing," he said, already moving for the chair in front of the computer.
"What?" She spread out her arms. "What are you looking for? Because normal people don’t just go to hitns’ storage units."
"Before he died he told to find the truth for myself and then he tossed a bunch of keys." Aegon answered quickly, trying to boot up the computer.
Zara’s hands moved to massage her face. "And you decided to go there with , why?"
Glancing back at her for a second, he turned back to the computer. "Because we’re friends."
"Bullshit." She caught on quickly. "You have a bunch of people who you could’ve asked to do this with you but you didn’t, why?"
"Because I don’t trust them right now," he faced her. "... Because at the end of the day, I can only trust people I don’t know. Now would you help start up this computer."
Sighing through her nose, she placed her hands on her waist. "It’s not gonna be in there."
"Why?"
"Old hitman trick." She moved to the bed, removed the sheets and revealed a subtle but long cut along the side. "You don’t drop your secrets, you hide them in plain sight." She stuffed her hand into the foam and drew a file. "That’s what you’re looking for."
"Thank you." He took the file from her hands. Placed it along the table and opened it.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
C.A.A. – CONTINENTAL AETHER AUTHORITY
EYES ONLY // LEVEL S-9 CLEARANCE REQUIRED
INTERNAL MORANDUM – UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE PUNISHABLE BY TERMINATION
From:
Director E. Verrick, Continental Oversight Bureau (COB)
To:
Aether Enforcent Division (AED) – Internal Ethics & Compliance Unit
ARC – Anomaly Research & Containnt
VICD – Veil & Information Control Division
Subject:
TA-ABILITIES ABUSE REPORT – CONSOLIDATED OFFENSE LOG
(Classified Summary: Do NOT circulate outside approved channels.)
---
I. OVERVIEW
The following entries summarize confird or high-probability incidents involving Awakened individuals.
All cases fall under Aether Misconduct Tier Black—offenses severe enough to trigger continental ergency protocols if released to the public.
Proceed under assumption of leaks.
Assu every hero is a PR ti-bomb.
Assu nothing stays buried forever.
---
II. PRIORITY OFFENSES (REDACTED FOR OPERATIONAL SECURITY)
1. AETHERIC COERCION ( Mind-Forge.)
Subject weaponized psychic influence to override victims’ free will.
Incidents include forced compliance, forced sexual acts, and emotional manipulation.
VICD recomnds heavy redaction in all press-facing materials.
---
2. CHRONO-LOOP ENTRAPNT ( Warp.)
Offender confined individuals in repeated micro-ti segnts ("loop boxes").
Victims reported psychological collapse.
Loop data unrecoverable. AED suspects intentional deletion.
---
3. MOLECULAR TAMPERING ASSAULT ( Beastkin.)
Subject altered biological structures of multiple civilians.
Forensics confirm forced organ displacent and bone restructuring.
ARC insists this qualifies as a "tiered biological catastrophe."
---
4. GRAVIKINETIC TORTURE ( Newton.)
Localized gravity spikes recorded in abandoned industrial zones.
Evidence suggests bones crushed via external force, no physical contact.
No survivors.
---
5. SPECTRAL VOYEURISM ( Invisiman.)
Intangible ta breaching private hos undetected.
Subjects exploited phasing/invisibility during night cycles. Sexual assaulted multiple won and n whilst invisible.
---
6. REVERSE BESTIALITY ( Animan.)
Allegedly, responsible for transforming in animals and forcefully engaging in sexual acts with won. (While in form.)
---
7. VOID ABDUCTION ( Realms.)
Several civilians transported to an unregistered pocket dinsion.
Holding period: Unknown.
Ti dilation confird.
Two victims returned weeks older.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
As he flipped through the pages his face twisted in disgust. "What the fuck is this?" He muttered.
Zara leaned in over his shoulder. "Those are the heroes on your governnt’s payroll. Welco to the real world."
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