"Oh, don't mind ME."

Y/n barely had time to react before Miko, in a burst of reckless panic, knocked her crutches out from under her.

Her balance, already fragile, gave way instantly. With a sharp exhale, she crumpled to the ground, her knees hitting the pavement with a dull thud.

And then, to add insult to injury— zap!

A jolt of electricity shot through her from a small stun device Miko had pulled out, shocking her just enough to momentarily shock her. Y/n's body twitched involuntarily. By the time she managed to regain conciseness, they were gone. Jack, Miko, and Raf had bolted, sprinting out of sight before she could even lift herself up.

She sat there for a moment, blinking slowly.

Then, with a sigh, she muttered, "Annoyance."

Pushing herself up, she awkwardly reached for her fallen crutches, grumbling to herself. The unpleasant tingle of the shock still lingered in her limbs, making her movements slightly jerkier than usual.

She rolled her shoulders, adjusting her stance once she was upright again. Her eyes narrowed behind her dark expression.

"They are cowards," she mused aloud. Then, with an almost lazy motion, she began making her way forward.

She wasn't angry. But she was persistent. And she would be getting her answers.

3:12am

Y/n lay sprawled out on her bed, staring up at the chaotic web of drawings, symbols, and scribbled writing that covered her ceiling and walls. The dim lighting in her room cast jagged shadows over the pages, making them look even more erratic.

The most prominent sketch was a strange, sharp-edged emblem—something that she kept drawing over and over again, though she didn't fully understand why. It felt familiar. Like something clawing at the edge of her subconscious, just out of reach.

Surrounding the symbol were several crude, unsettling sketches of faces—each one marked with an X over their eyes. Some looked humanoid. Others... less so.

Lines connected them all, forming a tangled mess of thought patterns and questions, scrawled in uneven, almost frantic handwriting:

"Why do they all act so strange?"

"Why do their cars feel like they're watching me?"

"What does this mean?"

"Familiar. Recognizable. Why?"

"I am missing something."

Her fingers twitched slightly against the fabric of her oversized sweater. Something didn't add up. The strange behavior of Jack, Miko, and Raf. Their nervous glances. The vehicles that never seemed normal. The way her instincts kept screaming that she was circling something big.

Her wings shifted slightly against the blankets as she let out a slow breath.

"Solving needed..." she muttered under her breath.

Something was happening. Something important.

And she would figure out what it was.

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