POV: Nat
⸻
I slam the door behind me harder than I mean to.
Stupid.
Why do I care?
I should be used to this. Cold missions. Cold partners. Cold people who only reach for you when they need something destroyed.
But Max...
Max reached for me when he didn't have to.
And I don't think he's ever done that for anyone.
So when he said "You're my mission", it didn't just sound like a lie.
It sounded like a goodbye.
I drag my hand down my face and pace the hallway of the safehouse. The lights flicker overhead, cheap and old — like everything DMD builds just well enough to function before it breaks you.
He's right, though.
I didn't have control back there.
And he bled for me.
That should terrify me. That he took a bullet and didn't flinch. That he can lie to my face and still make me want him to speak again.
I lean against the wall.
Try to breathe.
My comm device vibrates.
A new message.
Encrypted.
Top-priority.
FROM: DMD Command.
I tap it open.
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URGENT DIRECTIVE: AGENT NAT
Due to breach in protocol and repeated emotional interference,
you are hereby REASSIGNED.
Effective immediately.
Your new mission begins at 0600 hours.
Do not engage with Agent Max.
Further contact is unauthorized.
⸻
My chest goes still.
They're separating us.
I reread the message twice, hoping I misunderstood.
But it's there. Black text. Cold screen. Final.
They know.
They saw what happened. The hesitation. The crack in Max's armor. The look in my eyes.
And they're trying to break it before it becomes something they can't control.
Before we become something they can't control.
I grip the wall to stay upright.
Not because I'm scared.
But because this time...
It's not just about the mission anymore.