Above the base, the sirens wailed just as the clouds split apart and vast wings broke through them. Lili fell from the clouds. Rain lashed her face, soaked her hair, streaked down her wings as thunder cracked close. Lightning flared again, white-hot, and for a heartbeat the entire courtyard was frozen: soldiers below, weapons half-raised, eyes wide; floodlights shaking under the wind.
She hit the ground hard, knees buckling, shadows slamming outward to absorb the impact. Water splashed high around her, rain mixing with Cova’s blood and dark between Lili’s fingers as she clutched her tighter. Cova didn’t stir. Her head lolled weakly against Lili’s shoulder, her breath thin and uneven, her uniform torn and soaked crimson along her side. Lili’s arms shook not just from the weight, but from fear clawing at her, from the terror of feeling Cova’s pulse flutter.
“Help,” Lili rasped, her voice nearly swallowed by the storm. Then louder, breaking, furious: “HELP!”
Figures emerged through the rain. Lukas was first. His face hardened the instant he saw her. Adam was beside him a second later, eyes blazing, jaw already set.
Behind them, soldiers poured in—some raising guns, others hesitating, confusion rippling through the ranks as they took in the scene: the wings, the blood, the girl bleeding out in Lili’s arms.
“Put her down!” Lukas shouted, his voice cutting through the sirens, through the rain. “Now!”
Lili took a step forward instead, boots slipping on wet concrete. “Don’t,” she said, breath tearing from her lungs. “She’s dying. Get a medic—now!”
“Stand down!” a soldier yelled from the side, lifting a hand toward Lukas. “We don’t even know what happened yet!”
“You see what happened,” Adam shot back, pointing sharply at Lili. “She’s here. Cova’s bleeding. Draw your own conclusions.”
A murmur surged through the crowd:
“Is that her?”
“That’s Lili—”
“Jesus Christ, she’s got wings—”
“Why is Cova in her arms?”
“She’s dangerous,” Adam continued, voice rising with conviction, with something ugly beneath it. “You really think this is a coincidence?”
“That’s bullshit,” another soldier snapped back, stepping forward. “Look at Cova—she needs help, not accusations!”
Lili’s chest heaved. Her shadows writhed low and restless, responding to her fear, her fury, her desperation. “I flew her back here,” she shouted, eyes blazing, rain streaking down her face. “Through a fucking storm and enemies. If I wanted her dead, she wouldn’t be breathing!”
“You expect us to believe that?” Adam scoffed.
“Enough!” another voice cut in. “Are you all insane? She’s bleeding out in front of you!”
Then Lili felt it. The sudden drag in her veins. The heavy, crushing resistance blooming inside her limbs, turning movement into agony.
“No—” she gasped.
Her knees buckled violently as her blood betrayed her, slowing, thickening, locking her body from the inside out. She cried out, clutch tightening reflexively around Cova as her strength failed.
“Lukas, stop it!” someone yelled. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“She could snap at any second!” Lukas snarled back. “I’m not letting her—”
That was when Adam raised his hand and Cova’s body moved from her grasp.
“No!” Lili screamed. Lili stumbled forward, reaching, fingers grasping at empty rain. “Don’t you touch her!” Her voice cracked wide open, raw and feral.
When Adam’s powers hurled Lili backward, her body lifted clean off the ground before smashing into the concrete wall of the gate. The impact drove the breath from her lungs in a violent, choking rush. Pain bloomed white-hot across her spine as she crumpled, wings shuddering, shadows flaring and then faltering. Rain soaked into her hair, her clothes, her skin as she groaned and tried to push herself up.
“Restrain her!” someone shouted.
“She’s down—now!”
Her shadows surged instinctively, coiling, reaching—
And then a sharp sting pierced her neck.
Lili gasped, the sound broken and helpless as her vision blurred, the world tilting violently. She felt it immediately—the awful, hollow sensation of something vital being ripped away.
Her shadows peeled back from her body dissolving, retreating, leaving her exposed and empty in a way that made panic claw up her throat.
“No…” she whispered, limbs going slack, strength bleeding out of her faster than the rain washed blood from the ground.
The last thing she saw before darkness closed in was Cova being rushed toward the base entrance, soldiers shouting over one another, and Lukas standing rigid in the rain—staring down at her with grim certainty. Then the storm swallowed her whole…
***
Rafael moved fast through the medical wing. Mike was half a step behind him.
“They were on a free day,” Mike said tightly as they rounded the corner. “City clearance. Civilian clothes. No operation, no engagement, no reason to be anywhere near a hot zone.”
“And they were due back hours ago,” Rafael replied, eyes sweeping the corridor.
They reached the doors.
Cova lay on the central bed, blood soaked through hastily cut fabric, her skin an alarming shade between pallor and gray. Machines hummed and beeped in tight, nervous patterns. Tubes ran from her arm. Bandages bloomed red faster than anyone liked.
Margherita stood over her, gloves slick with blood, hands moving, her face carved into concentration so deep it bordered on fury.
“Impact injuries,” she said without looking up, as if she had felt them arrive rather than seen it. “She lost a dangerous amount of blood before she got here.”
Rafael stopped dead. Mike swore under his breath.
“How?” Rafael demanded, voice controlled but cutting. “She wasn’t deployed. She wasn’t cleared for anything remotely dangerous.”
Margherita finally looked up then, eyes sharp behind exhaustion. “Then someone better explain why she was flown through all this cold and rain.”
That was when Rafael saw them.
Lukas stood near the far wall, arms crossed, water still dripping from his sleeves, posture rigid with something that looked like righteousness and smelled like guilt. Adam was a few steps away, pacing, hands flexing, jaw tight, eyes darting from Cova’s bed to the doors as if expecting the situation to explode again at any second.
Rafael’s gaze hardened.
Mike didn’t bother hiding his reaction. “You,” he said, pointing sharply at Lukas. “And you.” His finger shifted to Adam. “Start talking. Now.”
Adam opened his mouth first. “She came back like that,” he said too quickly. “Out of the storm. Lili had her.”
Rafael’s head snapped up. “Lili?”
“Yes,” Lukas added, voice cold. “Carrying her. Bleeding. Unconscious. Wings out. Full display.”
“Wings,” Mike repeated quietly.
Margherita’s hands stilled for half a second.
Rafael didn’t blink. “And you didn’t think to call it in.”
“There was no time,” Adam shot back. “She landed in the courtyard. Sirens were already up. Soldiers panicked.”
“And you?” Mike pressed. “What did you do?”
Lukas’s spine straightened. “What was necessary. She’s a known risk. She shows up out of nowhere with an injured operative in her arms? I restrained her.”
Rafael’s eyes cut to him sharp. “You restrained her.”
“She wouldn’t put Cova down,” Lukas said, a flicker of something defensive slipping into his tone. “Shadows active. Power flaring. It could’ve gone bad.”
“So you froze her blood?” Mike asked, voice dangerously calm.
“Yes.”
“And Adam?” Rafael asked without looking away from Lukas.
Adam’s jaw flexed. “I pulled Cova clear. Lili resisted.”
Rafael exhaled slowly through his nose.
“She’s not one of us,” Lukas snapped. “You know what she is. Who she worked for. You know what she’s capable of.”
“And yet,” Rafael replied, voice low and lethal, “she brought one of our people home alive.”
Margherita cleared her throat sharply. “If you’re done debating ethics,” she said, eyes flashing, “I need to focus. She’s stable for now, but barely. Another ten minutes without intervention and we’d be having a very different conversation.”
Before anyone could answer—
The doors slid open again.
Notori walked in.
His jacket was still damp, eyes already locked on the bed before anyone had a chance to speak. The relief that flashed across his face when he saw Cova breathing was immediate and then it shattered into something raw and ferocious when he took in the blood, the machines, the stillness. He crossed the room in three strides.
“Cova,” he breathed, stopping short of touching her, fists clenched uselessly at his sides. “What the hell—”
Then he turned. His gaze landed on Lukas, Adam, Mike and finally Rafael. And finally, his eyes sharpened with sudden, terrible clarity. “Where is Lili?”
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