I didn't expect to see her again.
Not so soon.
Not like this.
It was early—barely sunrise—and I was walking back from a supply run with Echo. We'd picked up batteries, burner phones, and a bag of canned food from a guy who didn't ask questions as long as the credits were real.
We were almost back to the alley entrance when Echo stopped cold.
"Don't move," she said.
My body went still.
Then I saw her.
Agent Delryn.
The League enforcer who'd tried to net me in front of a crowd.
She was standing alone.
No armor this time.
No squad.
Just dark jeans, a black coat, and a hard expression.
Her blonde braid hung over one shoulder like a memory.
Echo stepped forward, already crackling with power. "You've got ten seconds to explain why I shouldn't light you up."
Delryn didn't flinch.
"I'm not here on official orders."
I raised a brow. "That makes me feel so much better."
She held up her hands. "I'm here alone. I'm not armed."
"Everyone's armed," Echo said.
Delryn's gaze landed on me. "Can we talk? Alone?"
I laughed. "You think I'm dumb enough to be alone with someone who tried to trap me in a sonic net?"
She didn't laugh.
"I didn't have a choice," she said. "You don't know what's happening inside the League."
Echo stepped between us. "And you don't know what happens when you push people like us into a corner."
Delryn sighed. "Just five minutes."
"No," Echo said.
I touched her shoulder. "Let her speak."
Echo stared at me like I'd grown a second head.
"I'll be fine," I said quietly.
"You've got three minutes," Echo told Delryn. "Then I come back with fire."
We moved to the edge of the alley.
Delryn didn't stand too close.
Smart.
I leaned against a dumpster. She leaned against a lamppost.
We watched each other like old rivals with too much history for comfort.
"You're not like the others," she said.
"Nice line. You use that on all your suspects?"
She exhaled. "You were supposed to be easy. Caught. Processed. Done."
"But I wasn't."
"No."
She reached into her pocket slowly—deliberately—and pulled out a photo.
Folded.
Worn.
She handed it to me.
I opened it.
It was a younger Delryn.
Smiling. Standing next to someone with short hair and soft eyes. Another recruit?
No—herself.
Before the armor.
"I joined the League to protect people," she said. "Not to follow orders that put them in danger."
I looked up at her.
She wasn't acting.
Not right now.
"What changed?" I asked.
"They did," she said.
She talked fast after that.
The League was splitting.
The public didn't know yet.
But inside?
Tension. Factions. Whispers of corruption.
"Some of the higher-ups are planning something big," she said. "They're recruiting new powered people faster than ever. Not training. Conditioning."
"For what?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "But it's coming. Soon."
I stared at her.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I saw what you did. With the kid. With DelTech Tower. You could've killed us. You didn't."
"Doesn't mean I trust you."
She nodded. "I wouldn't either."
"Then why?"
"Because I still believe in what the League could be. And if it falls apart now, people like you will be hunted in the chaos."
She handed me a flash drive.
"This has intel. Internal memos. Names. Access points."
"And what do you want in return?"
She hesitated.
Then: "Help me find proof. If we bring the truth to light, maybe we can stop this before it gets worse."
Echo wasn't happy.
She waited just around the corner, eyes already glowing when I stepped back into view.
"She tried to arrest you," she snapped.
"She brought information."
"She brought bait."
I handed her the flash drive.
"She also gave me this."
Echo narrowed her eyes.
"Doesn't mean it's real."
"I know."
"You trust her now?"
"No. But I don't trust anyone else either."
Echo looked at the drive.
Then at me.
Then walked off without a word.
Back at the underground hub, the others gathered as Echo plugged in the drive.
It was encrypted.
Tightly.
But not beyond their skills.
Riven—tech genius, resident cynic—cracked it in an hour.
What we found?
Scary.
Not proof. Not yet.
But enough smoke to know something was burning.
Training logs with redacted recruits.
Private emails with code names and vague timelines.
Shipment records of enhanced armor tech not listed on public ledgers.
Echo stood beside me as we read through it.
"Something's coming," she whispered.
"And they want to use us to do it."
Later that night, I walked alone through the old tunnel paths.
Trying to think.
Trying to breathe.
This wasn't just about powers anymore.
It was about systems.
Control.
Truth.
And maybe Delryn was right.
Maybe the League was rotting from the inside.
I sat under an old ventilation shaft, looking up at the moon through rusted grates.
My power buzzed lightly in my fingertips.
Like it was waiting again.
Not for a fight.
For a choice.
And I was getting close.
Because power without purpose is chaos.
But purpose without freedom?
That's a different kind of prison.
And I wasn't ready to wear chains.