The abandoned streets stretched before them like a graveyard of normalcy. Broken windows stared down at them like hollow eyes, and overturned cars littered the sidewalks. But as they walked deeper into the western commercial district, Mateo felt something twist in his chest that had nothing to do with the mission.
He knew these streets.
They passed a faded sign for "Underground Fitness" hanging at a crooked angle, its neon letters dark and cracked. Mateo's steps slowed involuntarily.
"That's where we first met," Alex said suddenly, following his gaze. Her voice was softer than usual, lacking its typical bravado.
"Yeah." Mateo swallowed hard. It had only been a week since everything changed, but it felt like a lifetime. He could still remember the first time he'd seen Alex at that gym. He felt so vulnerable, like he'd never reach her level. Now here they were, fighting side-by-side.
They continued walking, and Mateo's eyes caught sight of the old arcade wedged between two storefronts. The metal security gate was pulled down, covered in rust and graffiti.
For two years, he thought. Fixing broken machines, dealing with angry customers, saving up money for an admission ticker I never got to buy. The normalcy of that life seemed almost surreal now.
"You worked there, didn't you?" Akira asked, noticing his lingering stare.
"For a while." Mateo kept walking, but the memories followed. "Before all this happened."
A few blocks later, they passed a narrow alleyway between two collapsed buildings. The bricks were stained with old blood—some of it probably his. Mateo unconsciously touched his ribs, remembering the sharp crack of Brett's elbow connecting with bone.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked, catching his expression.
"Nothing. Just..." He shook his head. "Brett and I got into a fight here."
"Brett?" Henrik raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he at the academy too now?"
"Yeah." Mateo almost laughed at the irony. "Same guy who broke two of my ribs is now supposedly learning to be a hero. Life's weird like that."
They were moving deeper into the district when Henrik suddenly held up a hand, stopping the group. "Do you hear that?"
Everyone froze, listening. At first there was only the sound of wind through broken windows and distant debris settling. Then Mateo heard it—voices, low and muffled, coming from somewhere to the east.
"Definitely multiple people," Akira whispered, Dong coiling tighter around her arm. "Maybe two blocks away."
A metallic clang, sharp and deliberate, echoing from the opposite direction—west, toward the old shopping center.
"That's not natural," Henrik said, his arm already beginning to shift subtly. "Someone's moving through the buildings over there."
Mateo's mind raced. Two distinct sources of activity, roughly equidistant from their position. They could try to investigate both, but splitting up went against their orders. Then again, trying to handle both locations as a group would mean potentially losing one set of targets while dealing with the other.
"We should contact Reeves," Akira said, echoing Mateo's own thoughts.
"By the time she gets here, they could be gone," Alex pointed out. "Besides, what if it's just other hero teams? We'd look like idiots calling for backup because we heard some voices."
Henrik was studying the area with tactical precision. "The voices to the east sound like they're stationary. Probably a meeting or some kind of setup. The noise to the west is sporadic—movement patterns suggest someone searching or patrolling."
"So we split up," Alex said, as if it were obvious. "Cover more ground."
"Reeves said—" Mateo started.
"Reeves said don't engage unless necessary," Alex interrupted. "She didn't say don't investigate. Besides, we stay in radio contact."
Mateo looked at his teammates. Akira seemed nervous but determined, Dong flickering his tongue anxiously. Henrik appeared calculating, probably already running scenarios in his head. And Alex... Alex looked eager, like she'd been waiting all day for something like this to happen.
"Alright," Mateo said finally, his tactical mind overriding his caution. "Alex and I take the western sector. Henrik, you and Akira check out the voices to the east. But we maintain constant radio contact, and if either team encounters hostiles, we regroup immediately. No heroics."
"Speak for yourself," Alex muttered, but she was already moving.
"Every ten minutes," Henrik said, checking his watch. "If we don't check in—"
"We come running," Mateo finished. "Got it."
As they separated, Mateo couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a mistake. But Alex was right about one thing—they couldn't afford to let potential threats slip away while they waited for orders. Still, as he watched Henrik and Akira disappear into the maze of ruined buildings, he wondered if this was how Ben had felt before volunteering for his mission. That sense of stepping into something dangerous because it was the right thing to do, even when every instinct screamed otherwise.
"Come on, boss," Alex said, using that unofficial nickname they'd given him during team exercises. "Let's see what's making all that noise."
They moved carefully through the debris-strewn streets, heading toward the source of the metallic sounds. Mateo kept one hand near his earpiece and the other ready to deploy his slime tendrils. The familiar weight of responsibility settled on his shoulders—not just for the mission, but for keeping Alex safe. She might be the stronger fighter, but he knew her tendency to rush headfirst into danger.
As they approached the old shopping center, the sounds grew clearer. Definitely human movement, deliberate and searching. Mateo signaled for Alex to slow down as they crept closer to get a visual on whoever was making the noise.
That's when they saw them.
It was a man in a white flowing cloak, pale skin and smooth black hair that fell to his shoulders. He stood backing them, so Mateo couldn't see his face.
The woman next to him was less casually dressed. She stood encased in sleek, form-fitting armor that gleamed like polished chrome under the flickering light. The suit hugged her frame with segmented plates that moved fluidly with each step, white and silver panels interlocking seamlessly across her torso, arms, and legs. Dark underlayers showed through the joints, creating stark contrasts that emphasized the armor's technological precision.
'Could they just be heroes like us?' Mateo thought as they were engaged in an animated discussion Mateo couldn't overhear because of the distance between them. The woman seemed a little agitated as she spoke to the man in the white cloak, but his body language showed no sign of concern.
"What do you think we should do?" Alex asked, surprising him. She almost never asked for his opinion.
"Okay," He sighed through the mask. "There are two possibilities.
"One, the woman is wearing some high-tech costume, so she might be a hero, maybe even a top-thirty or twenty. The man's clothes don't look dirty or rugged, so he might be her partner.
"Two, the woman might still be a villain. Not any alley-thug because of her tech suit, but she might have access to military designs and have someone build them for her. Or even worse, she might be a defected hero."
Alex crinkled her nose. "I've never heard or seen of any hero like that. So what do we do now?"
Mateo and Alex kept observing them as they never left their position. Mateo didn't know if they were on their side or the other's, but still, he felt a creeping suspicion to the latter.
"I don't know." He admitted. "The best course of action should be to contact Reeves and the others. . ."
"Nah," Alex dismissed. "They could be busy with their own stuff. And when they come back, they could be gone by then."
"So what better plan do you have?" Mateo said, raising his eyebrow.
She cracked her knuckles. "I'm going to confront them directly."
She said that as she stood up, confidently going to do just that. Mateo widened his eyes as he pulled her back down by the arm so their position wouldn't be given away.
"What?" She said, a little too loud, looking at Mateo all confused. Mateo winced and looked at the two people, still talking. Must have been something important, since they haven't left for the past five minutes and didn't hear Alex.
"I'm contacting Henrik and Akira now." Mateo said, tapping the earpiece on his temple. "Plus Reeves. Rushing in there without a plan will do us no good! If they move, we tag them, we just have to-"
"I have a better, more straightforward plan." Alex said, completely dismissing Mateo's thoughts. "If I go there and they're on our side, we have some new allies. If they're the bad guys, then I'll beat them up."
"That's so stupid! Reeves said no one should try engaging with a threat alone!" Mateo said angrily.
"But I'm not alone." She said simply with a small smile that startled him momentarily. And before he could say anything else, Alex took off, her boots making a crunching sound on the loose sand on the floor, alerting them of her presence.
The two mysterious people swiveled around to see Alex waving her hand and Mateo cursed under his breath, quickly hiding behind the ruined building, hoping they didn't spot him.
Alex had just lost them one of the only advantages they had. The element of surprise! Or wait, if Alex had recklessly charged in, maybe they wouldn't expect anyone else to come in too, assuming she kept her big mouth shut. He used his slime tendrils to climb up the building and get a higher vantage point to strike when the time was right, if things went sour. Alex was strong. He was sure she could last for a couple of minutes even against the strongest opponents.
Tapping the earpiece on his gear, he turned the control mechanism to align radio waves with Akira and Henrik, since they were the closest to their positions. Commander Reeves would take too long to come since she would be securing their makeshift HQ.
As he scaled the building, simultaneously stretching out slime tendrils and tapping the headpiece to get a connection, from the corner of his eye where the two strangers stood with Alex bounding towards them, she suddenly stopped and fell on the floor.
Mateo immediately stopped, shock overwhelming him. Alex was lying down on the concrete floor, unmoving.
Could she be... dead?