Sasha continued through the city, feeling the faint buzz of electricity in the air like a shark. She honed in on a spot that was completely dead—no electrical currents or signals running through the area. Confident that no one would be able to track her there, she ducked into an alleyway and shifted back into her normal human form, the transformation fluid and seamless. Her body morphed effortlessly, biomass reforming until she appeared as her unassuming self.

From there, she made her way toward the TV station where Dallas should have still been hiding. The journey was uneventful—at least outwardly—but Sasha remained hyper-aware of her surroundings, knowing she was deep within enemy territory. When she reached the station, it looked abandoned, but she sensed movement within. Her lips curled into a smirk as she shifted her hands into deadly clawed forms, her dark transformation making her fingers resemble a twisted amalgamation of bone and black tar. With a single swipe, she shredded the door, the steel collapsing into a heap as she stepped through.

The TV station was eerily quiet, the kind of silence that always preluded chaos. Her steps were soundless as she navigated the building, heading toward the room where she knew Dallas was hiding.

As she pushed open the door, a shot rang out, echoing through the narrow hallways. The bullet whizzed past her head, but Sasha didn’t even flinch. She locked eyes with Dallas, who was holding a gun with trembling hands. He looked terrified, his face pale as he realized he had missed. Sasha, unfazed, crossed her arms and gave him a flat stare.

"I'm here to take you to meet the guy you saw last time," she said, her voice cool and matter-of-fact.

Dallas, still uncertain and shaken, pointed the gun at her again, though his grip was unsteady. "How do I know I can trust you?" he demanded, his voice wavering. "You could be here to kill me."

Sasha raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to move. "If I were here to kill you, you'd already be dead," she said, her tone bored. "Especially after trying to shoot me."

Dallas swallowed hard, lowering the gun slightly. Her calm demeanor, combined with the fact that she hadn't retaliated after the shot, seemed to convince him. Still, his instincts screamed caution.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sasha stepped forward, her gaze never leaving his. "I don't have time to play games. If you want to survive, come with me. If not, stay here and wait for the First Sons to find you. It's your choice."

Dallas hesitated for only a moment longer before sighing in defeat. "Fine. Lead the way."

Sasha glanced back at Dallas as he awkwardly shuffled behind her, lugging two suitcases filled with equipment. She said nothing, her mind was already focused on the challenging problem— how to cross the bridge. As they neared it, Dallas finally spoke up, his voice low but laced with anxiety.

“How are we going to get across the bridge?” he asked, eyes darting to the checkpoint ahead, already imagining the potential threats that awaited them.

Sasha didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she turned to him, placing a hand on his forehead. With a quiet, almost indifferent tone, she simply said, “Quietly.”

As she spoke, a thin layer of her black tar seeped from her fingertips, spreading across Dallas’s skin. His eyelids drooped instantly, and before he could register what was happening, he collapsed into a deep sleep. Sasha caught him effortlessly, lowering him gently to the ground. She only needed him out for a couple of hours; it was easier to handle things without him constantly questioning her.

Now that the annoyance was dealt with, Sasha stood over his unconscious body and surveyed the area. The bridge was heavily guarded, with DARPA agents patrolling the perimeter. Getting across with Dallas was going to be tricky, but she had options.

The simplest method would be to just kill them all—efficient and direct. But that would likely cause a huge commotion, and Sasha preferred subtlety when possible. Something so drastic could affect how things play out. DARPA still has the option of bombing all of Empire City, so better to not give them a reason to take such an option. Plus, cleaning up afterward would take too long.

Mind control was another possibility. She could enslave their minds with her tar and order them to let her through, but controlling that many people at once would drain more of her energy than she wanted to expend right now. It was a temporary solution, and the risk of discovery increased if too many people saw her powers in action.

Then there was the third option: setting DARPA and the First Sons against each other. If she could orchestrate a confrontation between the two factions, their attention would be on the fight, giving her an opportunity to slip through unnoticed. However, this would require some kind of diversion, something big enough to provoke a full-scale battle.

Sasha considered her options carefully, her mind racing through the possibilities. A confrontation would give her the best chance to avoid detection, but she'd need a distraction... and she had just the thing.

She crouched down beside Dallas, rummaging through one of the suitcases until she found a device that looked promising— what seemed to be a small, portable homemade EMP generator. It wasn’t powerful enough to take down the entire checkpoint, but it should disable some of the surveillance equipment and radios long enough to create chaos.

Sasha smirked as the plan began to come together in her mind—a mix of subtle manipulation and carefully orchestrated chaos. She wasn’t one to rely on brute force when other methods could achieve the same result more efficiently. The idea of using DARPA and the First Sons against each other appealed to her, especially since it meant they would be too preoccupied fighting each other to notice her slipping through with Dallas. All she needed was to kick-start the conflict and let it escalate.