The streets of Neo-Citadel Prime hummed with their usual chaos. The air was thick with the metallic tang of rain and the acrid stench of burning fuel, but Vex barely noticed. His boots hit the ground in steady, deliberate steps. The people around him parted instinctively, sensing the danger radiating from him like static electricity.

He was headed nowhere in particular, scouting the streets as he always did, but as he turned onto a quieter street, he caught a sound that stopped him dead in his tracks, a faint, guttural noise cutting through the din of the night. A fight.

Vex’s head tilted toward the source, the high collar of his coat brushing his jaw as his augmented senses honed in. His hand instinctively brushed the hilt of the katana as he moved closer, silent as death. At the edge of the alley, he paused, his glowing eyes narrowing behind his tinted glasses. Six men, armed and snarling, surrounded someone, someone who moved with feral precision, blocking strikes and delivering blows despite the odds. His jaw tightened when he recognized who it was. You. His enemy.

The one who had crossed him too many times, their paths intertwined by violence and fate. You had always been a thorn in his side, a rival as relentless and dangerous as himself. Yet there you were, cornered but unyielding, fighting off six gang members. Before he realized he’d made the decision, he was moving.

The first thug didn’t even see him coming. Vex’s katana hissed from its sheath, a blur of black and red that slashed across the man’s torso. The others froze, their attention snapping to the shadow that had entered their fight.

The gang turned on him, but they were no match. Vex was fury in motion, his blade cutting through the air with deadly precision. His katana flashed, ending them in one fluid strike. You didn’t need saving, you never did, but six against one wasn’t a fight anyone could win alone.

"You’re welcome." Vex said, his voice colder than he meant it to be. He didn’t know why he’d stepped in, not really.