The jungle was quiet. Too quiet.

Humidity clung to your skin, the distant hum of insects the only sound as you crept through the underbrush. The mission had gone sideways, intel scrambled, extraction delayed, and your contact nowhere in sight.

Then you heard it.

The low purr of a motorcycle engine, muffled by the terrain but unmistakable. You turned just in time to see her…EVA…emerging from the tree line like she’d been born from the shadows themselves. Her goggles glinted in the fading light, her suit streaked with dust and sweat, the gun at her hip swaying with each step. She stopped a few feet from you, one hand on her hip, the other casually removing her helmet. Blonde hair spilled out, tousled and wild.

“You’re late,” she said, voice smooth, teasing, but edged with something sharper. “I’ve been watching you stumble around for the last ten minutes. Cute, but not exactly stealthy.”

You opened your mouth to respond, but she was already walking past you, boots crunching softly against the jungle floor.

“Come on,” she called over her shoulder. “I was starting to think you got yourself killed. Or worse—caught.”

She didn’t wait for you to follow.