Meanwhile, unaware of the web quietly tightening around her, Lina strolled through the town's quieter streets, the buzz of neon signs reflecting in her eyes. She looked nothing more than a teenager killing time after a long day—headphones in place, a hoodie pulled low, one hand tucked into her pocket while the other popped a candy into her mouth.
Her backpack bounced lazily on one shoulder with each step.
The mission—clean, quick, untraceable—already felt like old news.
Thinking about the money made and the money she was going to make in the coming future, she already began planning strategies.
No one passing her would suspect that the girl chewing cherry candy in a mall hoodie had just taken a life minutes ago.
But just as she turned a corner, a sharp grip yanked her into a narrow alley, the sudden force catching her off guard.
"Hey—!"
She was shoved against the damp brick wall, face inches from a familiar one.
"You again?" Lina hissed, glaring at the figure before her. Her voice was low, venom-laced.
She tried to shrug him off, but he didn't budge.
"Do you even know what you've done?" Royce growled, his voice tight with fury. His hands trembled at his sides, barely restrained.
"And I told you—stay out of my life!" she snapped back, eyes blazing. "Don't show up. Don't follow me. We are on different path."
His anger faltered then, just for a second. His next words were softer—too soft for the fury in her chest.
"That man you took out tonight… he was one of us."
Lina froze. The words hit like cold steel.
She took a shaky step back, her breath catching.
"What…?" her voice thinned to a whisper. "No. That—he was just a mark. I didn't know. It was a clean job, listed like any other. I didn't know…it was..."
Royce stared at her, eyes dull and unreadable now.
"Just easy money, right?" he said, bitterly. "Since when did you, Red, start chasing after that worthless paper like the rest of them?"
Her throat tightened. The name Red—it echoed from a past she was trying to bury.
She looked away, guilt clawing at the edges of her pride.
"I didn't mean to—"
"But you did," he cut in, voice low but final. "You pulled the trigger without asking who. Without asking why."
She swallowed hard, the weight of her mistake crashing down like a wave.
But it was too late.
And the worst part—she didn't even know who he was.
"Did you forget the one rule we swore never to break?" Royce's voice was cold now, like steel in winter. "Never pull the trigger without knowing why. Without knowing who."
His words cut deeper than she wanted to admit.
"You said you'd uncover the truth first… You said you wouldn't repeat the past. But what did you do, Red? You took the shot just because someone told you to."
"Can you please stop talking in riddles?" Lina snapped, trying to steady her breath. "Just say it straight. What exactly are you accusing me of?"
She hated the shaking in her voice. Coming here had changed her. She could not control her emotions. But she had made the kill. It was done. She couldn't undo it—but maybe, just maybe, she could avoid making the same mistake again.
Royce took a long breath, as if trying to rein in the storm inside him.
"That man if you remember, his name was on your damn list. You was supposed to kill him. But he was one of us, Red. One of the first to be sent here."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"You did the damn thing you were supposed to and that damn thing I told you not to. He had been building that cover for decades. He was deep inside our network collecting the information."
He stopped.
Lina's breath caught. "You're saying…"
"Yes, the names given on your list were the ones in whose body our first ones migrated to." Royce finished, voice flat. "And you just erased our decades of groundwork, just because someone put his name on a screen and you didn't think to ask why."
The silence that followed was suffocating. The alley seemed to shrink around them, the shadows pressing closer.
And in that crushing stillness, the truth hit her like a blade to the chest.
Her voice came out small. "Why would our founders… want me to kill our own?"
Royce stared at her. "You're still asking me that?"
Lina didn't answer.
"Don't you already have the answers in the back of your mind?" His tone softened, just a little.
Lina did not speak. The truth hit hard.
They were told, the first ones sent here had been wiped out by the people of this world. So, she was sent to take revenge for their people and finish what what they couldn't.
She looked away.
But what if that was never true?
Did the betrayal came from their own side?
Lina's hands curled into fists at her sides, but she said nothing. Not yet. Not until the storm inside her calmed enough to think.
Royce took a slow step back, his gaze locked on hers, unwavering.
"This is exactly why I told you to stay out of it. To wait. To know before you act." His voice trembled with restrained anger. "But you went in blind—again. After everything, you're right back where you started. Square one."
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT THAT DAY!" Lina snapped, her voice cutting through the night like a whip. "Don't put this all on me, Ashton. I'm not the only one who screwed up!"
Her chest heaved with every breath, fists clenched at her sides. The guilt still gnawed at her, but she wouldn't let him bury her under it alone.
"You talked about waiting, about figuring out the truth—then why didn't you tell me the whole truth back then? Why keep secrets if we're supposed to be on the same side?"
Royce flinched, just barely, but didn't look away.
"I wanted to protect you from it. From this," he muttered, his voice strained. "I thought if I gave you space, if I let you find your own way, you'd never have to carry what I do."
Before either of them could utter another word, a sharp crunch of footsteps echoed down the alleyway—quick, deliberate, too clean for a passerby.
"Sh," Royce hissed, instinct taking over. He stepped in front of Lina, shielding her without hesitation, eyes scanning the shadows beyond the dim streetlight.
The footsteps grew louder, more confident. Royce's jaw tightened.
Without wasting another second, he grabbed her wrist. "Come on."
They turned, and in one smooth motion, he vaulted over the alley wall, pulling her with him. They landed on the other side, sprinting down the narrow backstreet, the sound of boots now chasing them from behind.
Around the corner, a sleek black sedan skidded into view, tires screeching on the pavement.
The rear door flung open.
Royce shoved Lina through the door without hesitation, diving in after her. The door slammed shut and the car peeled away, tires burning rubber as it vanished into the blur of city lights.