Noah found himself facing the two Ascendants.

The station hall was almost empty, but the space suddenly felt too narrow.

Far away, a loudspeaker crackled with muffled announcements no one was really listening to.

In front of him, Victor slowly cracked his fingers.

"So ?"

The man’s smile was thin. Not exactly joyful. More like that of a predator that had just found isolated prey.

"You hand over the crystal, and everything will go smoothly."

Noah kept silent for one second.

'There are two of them.'

'I’m injured.'

'And both of them look stronger than me.'

He observed Fred.

The second man did not speak. His eyes remained fixed on Noah with abnormal intensity. A dry tension ran across his cheekbones, as if his pupils were struggling to stay stable.

Noah inhaled slowly.

'Getting out of here is the only option.'

He raised his head and let a thin smile appear.

"If you want the crystal, come get it yourself."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"I don’t know where you’re getting that courage from."

Fred took another step forward.

"Don’t do anything stupid."

Their pressure closed in all at once.

Noah felt his heart strike harder against his ribs. Not panic yet. Not completely.

He slid his hand into his bag.

Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"What do you think you’re going to do with that ?"

Noah pulled out a small vial.

"Molecular Decomposition."

The vial vibrated, then its surface blurred.

The glass bonds gave way in a fraction of a second.

Pshhhh.

The container vanished into a cloud of pale gas and dust.

"Cough... cough !"

Victor stepped back, raising a hand to his mouth.

"What the hell is this ?"

Fred moved closer immediately, but too late.

The cloud spread between the pillars of the hall, cutting the lines of sight for a brief instant.

When the air cleared, Noah was already gone.

"He ran."

Victor turned his head in irritation.

"Urgh... What was that gas ? I feel shaken."

Fred blinked.

"Some kind of soporific."

His voice was low, almost cold.

"I wonder what his Ascendant ability is."

Victor spat on the floor.

"Forget that. That rat escaped us again."

Fred’s eyes shifted color slightly. A yellow tint briefly crossed his irises, like a chemical reaction beneath the surface.

"Don’t worry. Nothing escapes my eyes."

He lifted his chin.

"I’ll get some height and flush him out. Stay in contact with your phone."

"Understood."

The two men immediately left in two different directions.

Noah, meanwhile, had locked himself inside the station restroom.

He leaned against the tiled wall, inhaled once, then again, until his breathing finally stopped breaking in two.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

His leg throbbed.

Fred’s dagger had left a deeper cut than he had thought in the moment. The fabric of his pants stuck to his skin. Under the white light, the blood looked almost black.

'I got lucky. He didn’t reach an artery'

'But I’m not out of danger.'

He opened his bag and pulled out a new vial.

Cyan liquid.

The prototype.

He remained still for a second, watching the substance glow between his fingers.

'Good thing I brought it.'

Noah poured the liquid over the wound.

The reaction was immediate.

His skin prickled.

The tissues contracted.

A gentle warmth rose through his thigh, then spread around the cut. The bleeding slowed almost at once. The edges of the wound began to draw together slowly, as if pulled by an invisible force reorganizing matter instead of replacing it.

Noah lowered his eyes.

'Fortunately, no artery was hit. But the healing process is rather slow, around two minutes.'

A little lower, the pain disappeared.

He straightened and inhaled deeply.

The next question was far more problematic.

'Fred can see through objects.'

'Victor’s invisibility probably isn’t total invisibility. He must camouflage himself in some way.'

Holes had taught Noah one thing : most abilities had limits. Range, duration, consumption, blind spots. No one was perfect. The question was not whether a flaw existed, but where it was hiding.

'I only escaped because they underestimated me.'

The station remained silent.

Practically empty.

A few passengers dozed on benches, heads tilted forward. A woman clutched a bag against her chest. A man stared at the black screen of his phone without really looking at it.

Noah left the restroom carefully. His steps remained slow. His shoulders low.

His gaze slid from one pillar to another, from one window to another, from one reflection to another.

'I don’t see them.'

'Victor has probably reactivated his camouflage.'

'Fred... where is Fred ?'

He moved forward again, then the loudspeakers crackled.

A train was approaching.

The metallic noise swelled all at once, rolling like a vibration through the bones of the platforms. Noah turned toward the line.

It did not matter.

He had to leave.

If he missed this train, he risked being trapped in the middle of a concrete snare with two Ascendants capable of hunting him in the dark.

He walked to the platform without hurrying too much.

Rushing was often the best way to die.

The train finally stopped with a hiss of brakes.

Noah froze at the edge of the platform.

'Wait.'

'If they board at the same time as me, I’m trapped. But there are cameras here, they won't act rashly'

Sweat was already sliding down his temples. His heartbeat filled his skull louder than the public announcements. He watched the closed doors like one watches a scalpel placed on an operating table.

Then they opened.

A few passengers stepped out, dragging their feet. Others boarded without hurry, eyelids heavy, gazes empty.

Noah watched the human flow.

No Victor.

No Fred.

A little longer.

The doors began to close.

'Now.'

He launched himself forward.

One stride.

Two.

Three.

His injured leg protested, but he forced it anyway. The platform ran beneath his shoes. The train door drew closer.

Then something pulled his ankle.

Noah fell brutally.

"Ouch !"

The impact tore the air from his lungs. He turned at once, his hand already searching for the source of the attack.

Resistance. Invisible. Firm.

Like a clamp wrapped around his ankle.

His gaze slid toward a pillar.

The light there seemed slightly distorted. Not much. Just enough to disturb the lines of the background. As if a piece of air had thickened behind the concrete.

'Victor.'

'He positioned himself behind the pillar.'

'Blind spot.'

'Passengers.'

'Cameras.'

'Everything is calculated.'

Victor had used the structure of the station to his advantage. Noah could not see his body, but he already understood the logic : invisible or nearly invisible, he remained hidden behind the pillar to avoid direct attention and reduce the risk of being spotted by surveillance systems.

And that grip around his ankle was no simple outstretched arm.

'It’s elastic.'

'He can stretch his limbs.'

The pull increased by a notch.

Noah slid across the smooth platform floor.

Shit.

If Victor dragged him behind the pillar, the rest would be simple. A blind spot. A handful of seconds. A blade, a knee strike, a chokehold, anything. Trains left. The crowd did not look. Cameras had limits.

'If they pull me off this platform, I’m finished.'

He tried to strike the invisible hand gripping his ankle.

Nothing.

The grip held.

"LET GO OF ME."

Victor’s voice slid out from behind the pillar.

"You’re not going anywhere."

Noah groaned and forced again.

The train emitted a warning tone. The doors began to close.

Panic rose all at once inside Noah’s chest.

'If I miss this train, I’m dead.'

He had neither the strength to stay here, nor the endurance of a real fighter, nor the luxury of playing hero.

So he stopped pulling on his leg.

Victor hesitated for a brief instant then the pressure increased again.

'He thinks I gave up.'

Noah brutally grabbed the invisible arm.

His hand landed on something rough.

Scales.

His skin paled slightly.

A voice came from behind the pillar

"Stop this pointless resistance; I possess the abilities and resilience of a chameleon. You have no chance of getting away."

'Chameleon?'

The other one had a bodily modification too.

Scaly skin. Camouflage. Elasticity. Maybe even reinforced resistance in his limbs.

Noah did not have time to analyze further.

The closing doors accelerated.

Metal groaned.

Passengers were still boarding.

The platform was beginning to empty.

Noah felt his first Node vibrate.

The migraine woke up.

Gray Astra rose anyway, obedient, icy, heavy. A tiny heat pulsed in the depths of his palm. His body was already protesting against the effort. He forced the flow to concentrate in his fingers regardless.

'This is going to hurt.'

'But he isn’t giving me a choice.'

"You really think you can keep me here ?"

Victor’s answer was more a growl than a sentence.

"Shut up."

Noah clenched his teeth.

Then he gripped the invisible matter with both hands.

'Decomposition!'

Victor’s arm immediately changed texture.

A fine vapor escaped from it.

The skin dried out.

The scales lost their shine.

The limb began to bleed through the matter, as if the internal tissues had aged several years in a few seconds.

"AAAAARGH !"

Victor screamed from his hiding place.

The camouflage flickered and vanished. The hand appeared clearly, green, scaly, deformed by tension.

He tried to pull his arm back.

"Let go of me, damn it !"

Noah did not let go.

"No. You started this. You fucker"

He increased the pressure. Decomposition climbed a notch. Astra sank deeper into the structure of the limb. The flesh retracted. The fibers disintegrated and turned into fine dust. The bones began to separate beneath the skin.

"Decomposition!!"

Victor screamed again, louder, a raw, torn sound full of pain and rage.

The arm finally ruptured at the tissues already eaten away. The grip on Noah’s ankle gave way at last.

Noah sprang to his feet. His breathing whistled.

'Move. I have to move now!'

He ran.

The train door was already closing.

A shadow burst out behind him.

Fred. At last.

A dagger split the air.

Fuiiiish.

Noah threw himself forward and slipped between the doors at the very last instant.

Clang.

The blade struck the glass with a sharp sound.

The train started moving.

Noah turned around, panting.

"Huff huff ouf..."

On the other side of the glass, Victor was on his knees, one deformed arm hanging miserably along his side. Fred had reached him and was helping him stand, but both men wore the same hatred across their faces.

Victor raised his head.

"Bastard..."

His teeth almost ground together.

"I’ll kill you if I see you around here again."

Noah remained still for one second.

Then he let a venomous smile appear.

He raised his middle finger high.

"Hasta la vista, assholes."

The train gained speed. The platforms drew away.

Victor and Fred’s silhouettes shrank behind the glass, swallowed by the dirty light of the station.