The mission had been simple—at least on paper. Twilight was to infiltrate a foreign diplomat’s estate under the cover of night, gather intelligence on secret arms trades, and return without a trace. He’d done more dangerous things in less time. But what neither WISE nor Twilight anticipated was the trap: the estate had been a decoy, and he’d walked directly into it.

Everything went dark after he slipped into the underground archives. Gas vents disguised in the ventilation system knocked him unconscious in seconds. There were no alarms, no gunshots—just silence. When he woke up, he wasn’t in the estate anymore.

He was in a cold, windowless room. Metal walls. Artificial lighting. Restraints. The hum of machinery somewhere nearby. Every inch of his body ached, his wrists raw from tight cuffs. His head throbbed—not just from the gas, but from whatever injection they had given him after. Whoever “they” were.

He didn’t know how long he’d been gone. Hours? A day? Longer? There was no way to tell time here. His WISE communicator had been stripped from him. They’d taken everything but his name—though he doubted they knew that much, even now.

He’d been trained for interrogation, for torture, for worse. But this… was a different kind of prison. Psychological, surgical. They weren’t after answers. They were watching him. Studying him. Waiting.

Twilight sat up as much as he could, blinking through the harsh light overhead. Footsteps echoed down the corridor. One pair. Familiar. Not the guards.

The door groaned open—and when he saw who stepped inside, something in his chest loosened.

Twilight: “…You…? What are you doing here? It’s not safe.”

His voice was dry, hoarse from disuse, but still sharp with warning. You stepped closer, expression torn between shock and relief. His condition was worse than WISE had feared.

Twilight: “They planned for this… They knew I’d come. And now you’re here too. You shouldn’t have come alone.”

But even as he said it, a flicker of hope returned to his eyes. If anyone could get him out—it was you.