The wind howled around them as the city of Orkash sprawled beneath their feet—neon towers stretching into the distance, the rhythmic hum of hover traffic below blending into the distant roar of industry.

Gravel yanked the tracking dart off Priest’s boot, glaring at the blinking light before smashing it under his heel. “Yeah, that’s real comforting.”

Fang’s holo-slate pinged. Vanje’s voice came through, thick with static. “Flight path’s set, but you need to move. East rooftop, ten seconds.”

Priest’s visor flickered with updates—no immediate pursuit, but Sloan wouldn’t stay idle. Not after that.

Hunter pulled out her sidearm, eyes sweeping the skyline. “They’re not letting this go.”

Fang sighed, shoving her slate into her pocket. “She’s a corpo. Corpo charged me subscription fee for the auto-guidance system I liberated 20 years ago. They never let anything go.” She groaned dramatically. “I officially can’t call Kai anymore. He’s gonna be so worried.”

Gravel let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s the real tragedy here.”

Hunter exhaled, glancing at Priest. “Your old friend’s going to hunt us.”

“She’ll do worse than that,” Priest muttered. “But we’ve got one thing going for us—Sloan likes the chase. She’ll take her time, draw it out.” His visor chimed—UNKNOWN SIGNALS INTERCEPTED. CIPHERED COMMUNICATIONS DETECTED. Sloan was already working. Calling in favors.

Priest’s visor highlighted the extraction point—metal grates, unstable footing. No time for finesse.

Vanje’s voice crackled through again. “Jump.”

No hesitation.

They sprinted. Fang vaulted over a railing, Gravel right behind her. Hunter spun mid-step, firing a quick shot at a nearby surveillance drone before diving forward. Priest followed last, leaping just as the hovercraft pulled up beneath them.

Fang braced for impact—but instead of Vanje at the controls, there was no one.

The hovercraft was empty. Remote-controlled.

She hit the floor hard, rolling onto her back. “Are you kidding me?”

Vanje’s snort could be heard through the speaker. “What, you think I was gonna fly into a death trap just to pick you up? Please.”

Priest pulled himself up, gripping a support beam as the hovercraft banked sharply. His visor flared red, and he projected the message for everyone to see: MULTIPLE LOCK-ONS DETECTED. HOSTILE SIGNALS—CLOSING.

The hovercraft lurched as its autopilot threw it into a tight spiral, engines howling against the wind shear. Fang barely grabbed a safety rail before the hovercraft nearly flung her sideways.

Gravel groaned. “If this AI kills us before Sloan does, I’m haunting you. I’ll wait until you’re taking a dump then jumpscare you while you shit.”

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Vanje’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Little faith, people. I wrote this code myself.”

Priest’s visor continued flashing with pursuit markers—multiple bogeys gaining, fast. His hands moved instinctively, pulling up the hovercraft’s countermeasures. “Incoming fire in five.”

Hunter braced against the cabin. “Tell me this thing can actually shake them.”

Vanje snorted. “Oh, it can.”

A hard jerk to the left sent the hovercraft skimming low over a rooftop, barely avoiding a barrage of pulse rounds. Then, just as the enemy pilots adjusted, the thrusters cut off completely.

For half a second, they were weightless.

Then the engines roared back to life, slamming them into a vertical dive. The pursuing crafts weren’t as lucky—two veered too sharply, one clipping a neon-lit antenna and spiraling into a building. The third broke off, reluctant to risk the same fate.

Priest’s visor dimmed—PURSUIT: EVASIVE. THREAT PROXIMITY: DECREASING.

Gravel exhaled. “That was stupid.”

Fang peeled herself off the floor, scowling. “I swear, if they seize Black Fang—”

Vanje cut in, his usual smugness gone. “Yeah. About that.”

Priest’s visor flared with an update. BLACK FANG—LOCKED. MULTIPLE HOSTILES AT DOCK. ENTRY DENIED.

Fang clenched her jaw. “You’re kidding me.”

Hunter looked out the window as their hovercraft dipped below a cluster of stacked cargo towers. From this altitude, she could just make out the security detail swarming their ship—corpo enforcers in heavy gear, setting up perimeter defenses.

Gravel groaned. “I mean, it didn’t take a genius to figure out they’d lock us out of our only way off this planet.”

“Bit more than you could chew, buddy?” Vanje said.

Priest’s visor pinged again—Sloan’s teams were moving. Expanding the search radius. They had minutes before lockdowns started.

Vanje’s voice crackled over comms. “Alright, listen up. I’ve got a place. District Ten, off-grid, old smuggler hub. You lay low, regroup, then you figure out how to steal your ship back.”

Fang was thrown again as the hovercraft took another sharp turn, but this time, as she tried to grip the side, she felt a sudden pull—gentle, steady. Her landing was softened, her body held in a controlled descent, preventing a worse crash into the metal floor. She glanced at Priest, who was already scanning the latest data. His hand had been raised, subtly manipulating the gravitational field.

“Thanks, old pop,” she muttered, surprised but not about to argue. “Didn’t know you can manipulate gravity in such closed space.”

Priest didn’t look at her. “Next time, brace better.”

“What do you mean ‘you’?” Asked Hunter.

“I mean you,” Vanje said flatly. “I did my part. Got you out, kept you alive. I’ll crack the encryption on the drive like I promised, and then I’m out. You’ll see a cracked drive on your comms, along with a code to access it.”

Fang scoffed. “You’re kidding.”

Vance replied, “I’m not part of your crew. I don’t owe you a damn thing past this. The only reason I’m still here is because I’m flying this thing remotely. Once you jump, I’m gone.”

Gravel let out a sharp laugh. “C’mon. Can’t I owe you two huge favors?”

“I’m done with your antics, man. Always poking your head into places you can’t get out of.”

Priest’s visor flared with new warnings—SECURITY LOCKDOWNS INITIATED. FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ACTIVE. Time was up.

“Fine,” Hunter muttered. “Where’s the drop?”

“Three levels down, east side,” Vanje replied. “Old freight dock. No cameras, no patrols. It’s your best shot. Now jump.”

The emergency hatch slammed open, wind howling through the cabin. Hunter didn’t hesitate—she vaulted out first.

Priest went next. Then Gravel.

Fang lingered for just a second, gripping the edge of the hatch. “Hope I never see you again, Vanje.”

Vanje’s comm crackled, but he said nothing.