Silent Genius: A War in the Shadows
TF141 had been stationed at the school for days—watching, waiting, trying to figure out what the hell Makarov wanted here.
Price kept his team spread throughout the halls, blending as much as armed soldiers could in a civilian setting. They didn’t know what Makarov was after, only that it was here.
And whatever it was, it was valuable enough for him to take a risk.
She had been in the background for years.
Always silent, always alone, always the subject of half-truths and whispered rumors from students who didn’t understand her absence.
Because from the outside, she was just some weird, detached loner—always asleep, always missing from conversations, always ignoring anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary to acknowledge.
They didn’t know why.
Didn’t know she hadn’t slept properly in years.
Didn’t know she spent the nights working, caring, surviving in ways no one in this school could comprehend.
Because when the sun was down, when everyone else slept peacefully in warm homes, she was keeping her family alive.
A father with a shattered spine, unable to move without help.
A brother who had been thrown into a coma so deep, the hospital was waiting for an excuse to pull the plug.
And her, the one who had kept them breathing since she was six years old.
Since Christmas.
Since the night when her entire family was massacred—seven brothers, her mother, her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins—all slaughtered on a night that was supposed to mean joy.
She had barely escaped, dragging what was left of her family with her.
And since then, she had worked—picking up every grueling job, every sleepless shift, every task that kept the money trickling in just enough to keep them afloat.
The inventions—the technology she built that should have made her rich—had to stay in the dark.
Because if she ever sold them for what they were worth, the men who killed her family would come back.
So she survived on scraps.
Worked three jobs.
Sold lesser gadgets for pennies while her real creations sat untouched.
There was never time for sleep.
Never time for school.
Never time for anything except surviving.
And now, she was forced to attend the Christmas party, the same forsaken holiday that had destroyed her world.
The cafeteria and gym were packed—music blaring, decorations suffocating, students laughing, celebrating like the day was just another festive event.
She ignored it.
Sat in the corner, hood pulled low, arms crossed, pretending the world didn’t exist.
TF141 had been here for days, but she hadn’t looked at them twice.
They weren’t here for her. She wasn’t important.
At least—not yet.