Nova hissed through her teeth as the medbot sprayed antiseptic on the cut above her brow. Her knuckles were swollen, skin split from where she'd fought for the puck. Her legs felt like noodles, her chest still tight from running like hell and nearly dying five different times in one game.
She stared at the cold floor.
"Damn," she was all she could say to herself.
"Congrats, you have survived day one in hell"
Nova flinched. Then she turned her head sharply.
Vera stood in the doorway, arms crossed over her black tank, eyeliner dark and flawless even under the flickering lights. She leaned against the wall with that same chill, gothic vibe, like she was here for a funeral and didn't care whose it was.
Nova scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Tch. Barely. I ain't gonna lie, I thought Butcher had me. Dude was breathin' down my neck like I was his last damn meal."
Vera smirked. "He probably thought you were. You should've seen your face."
"Oh, I'm sure I looked real cute while fightin' for my life," Nova said playfully in a very light girly voice,with one hand under her chin. "But I got the shot, didn't I?"
Vera pushed off the wall and walked over, sitting beside her on the bench. "Right before he swung, too. Real dramatic. You timed that goal like a movie."
Nova leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "I ain't even know I had it in me. Felt like I was in Neonfall again, runnin' from the heat, you know? My senses kicked in, I stopped thinkin', I just moved."
"That's when it happens," Vera said coolly. "At the brink of death, humanity has to decide either to swim or drown. It's your only choice."
There was a beat of silence.
Then Vera added, "I guess you met him?"
Nova froze. "...Who?"
"Don't play dumb. That shadow you ran into near the goal. The one who sliced the butchers blade right out of his hands like it was nothing then stood in front of you like some kind of reaper."
Nova swallowed. The image of those glowing blue X-eyes cutting through the rink hit her hard. "Yeah... I saw him. Who is he?"
"That's Skater X. Or just X, if you wanna sound like the rest of the crowd. He's a ghost. Shows up, wrecks people, disappears. Doesn't talk. Doesn't miss. Doesn't care."
Nova raised an eyebrow. "Then why didn't he slice me?"
Vera tilted her head. "That's the million-cred question, ain't it?"
"He just stood there and then took off like he didn't want nothin' to do wit me at all. What's his story?"
Vera shrugged. "No one knows his story. Just that he wasn't sentenced. Word is he came here on purpose. Looking for something. Or someone."
Nova frowned, eyes narrowing. "That's stupid. Ain't nothin' down here but musty prisoners and death."
Vera stood up and stretched like it was just another boring day in hell. "Exactly. So what does that say about him?"
Nova didn't answer. Her mind was already spinning. She clenched her jaw, flexing her aching fingers.
Vera turned back before leaving. "Nice goal, "Rose". You surprised a lotta people out there. Probably even him and he's the best out there."
The door clanked shut behind her. After that Rose was escorted to her cell.
Nova slid down the cold wall, back hitting metal, legs folding until she was sitting on the floor. The hum of electric locks clicked into place. Silence followed, except for the dull throb in her arms and the pounding in her ears. Vera wasn't here, she had earned her freedom with her performance. So it was just her and the darkness all alone.
Her heart was still racing.
She looked down at her hands, scratched, scabbed, wrapped in cheap bandages. She flexed her fingers, wincing. Blood still dotted her skin, not all of it hers. Her head tilted back until it hit the wall with a thunk.
" I just want a damn shower..."
She breathed in deep, then let it out slow. The image of her mother flashed before her eyes.
"...I ain't supposed to be here," she whispered, voice low. "This ain't me.A killer ain't what my Mama raised me to be."
The image of the puck sliding toward her came back in flashes, her skates cutting hard against the ice, the world blurring, the roaring crowd, Butcher's blade, and then that boom, the goal siren blaring as she slammed it in.
She'd done it. Barely. She laughed under her breath, bitter and quiet.
"They really dropped me in a pit with monsters for trying to save my mother's life, and said 'Good luck.'"
Nova wiped at her face with her sleeve, smearing sweat and dried blood across her cheek. Her eyes burned but she didn't cry. She wouldn't cry.
Instead, she thought of home.
Of Sector 12.
Of how she used to outrun the patrol drones on busted foot for leftover food. How the city treated her like trash. Like she wasn't worth nothin'.
Now they tossed her in this place. Vault-0. Like she was just another number.
#047. Rose.
"Rose," she muttered again, spitting the name like it was a joke. "What a joke."
Her fingers traced the bruise on her side where someone had slammed into her. She could still feel the buzz of her chip, like it had rewired her whole body. She didn't understand how yet, but it made her fast. Sharp. Dangerous. Maybe even deadly.
And then there was him. Skater X.
She remembered the way he stood between her and Butcher. Silent. Blue X glowing through the fog. Those blades at his side. He could've ended her when she went for the puck. But he didn't.
"Why you let me live, huh?" she muttered to the empty air. "You one of these psychos, or somethin' else?"
She didn't have the answer. Not yet.
But she had a point on the board. And that meant immunity.
For now.
Nova pushed herself up slowly, limping to the edge of her cot. She sat there, staring at the metal door. She'd survived her first match.
But next time? She wouldn't just survive. She'd show them what a "Rose" could really do.
The flickering lights buzzed louder than the silence in Nova's head. Her whole body was still buzzing, like her nerves couldn't tell if they were celebrating or grieving. Butcher's blade, that puck, that boy. It kept looping. You should've died, she told herself.
Then,
Bang bang!
"Let's go, Rose," Vera said, kicking the bottom of Nova's bunk. "You earned meat paste and awkward socializing."
Nova groaned. "Girl what the hell, I could eat in here."
Vera grinned. "Too bad. Crew wants to meet the girl who snatched immunity from under Butcher's rusty cleaver. Don't keep 'em waiting."
Nova dragged herself up, tossing on her jacket like armor. "Fine. But if any of them touch my tray, "
"I'll stab 'em," Vera said sweetly. "Now move."
The mess hall was chaos as always, cracked concrete, flickering lights, the scent of something edible adjacent. A fight broke out near the front line. No one flinched. Vault-0 normal.
Vera led her past the worst of it to a back table where five figures sat like a weird, violent version of a family dinner.
Vera threw up a hand. " Guys, this is Nova. Y'all can call her Rose. Girl of the hour."
Nova stiffened at the spotlight. "Don't call me Rose."
"She says that now," Vera said, smirking. "Give it a week."
They were all looking at her, eyes sharp in different ways. Vera jerked her head toward the girl with the purple braid and glowing red eyes, sharpening her chain-blade like it was a nail file.
"This gloomy ray of sunshine is Jinx, codename Scythe. Resident goth. Chain-blade wielder. Doesn't talk much unless you piss her off."
Jinx stood up and offered her fist. "Hey, Chip."
Nova blinked. "Again with nicknames?"
"You move like a glitch in the system," Jinx said with a shrug. "Like a virus software."
Nova tilted her head to that, but they bumped fists anyway.
Vera moved to the pale guy with cybernetic eyes and a beat-up notebook in hand.
"This is Kade. We call him Mute. He don't speak, but he sees everything. Writes better than most people talk."
Kade flipped his notebook and showed a scribble:
Clean shot today. You read the ice well.
Nova nodded, surprised. "You watch everyone that close?"
Kade didn't nod. Didn't need to.
Next, Vera slapped the helmet of a dude with a flame-tinted visor and rocket-knee pads. He was leaning back with his feet up on the table like he owned the place.
"Dez. Codename Blitz. Fastest on skates, loudest in the room, and the biggest pain in my ass."
Dez pulled up his visor and gave Nova a once-over. "You got lucky, Rose. But I like the fire. Bet I could out-skate you blind."
Nova snorted. "Bet you trip on your own ego."
"Ooo!" Jinx laughed quietly. "She's spicy."
"She's mine," Dez said dramatically.
"She's not," Nova and Vera said in sync.
Vera moved on before that could get worse. The last girl at the table smiled softly, hands wrapped around a cup of steaming pink tea. Tattoos like cherry blossoms crawled up her neck and arms.
"This is Ayu, but we call her Petal. Don't let the flower vibe fool you. She's a bio-hacker and can make weapons outta air."
Ayu offered the drink across the table. "Rose tea. Calms the nerves."
Nova hesitated. "You always give strangers ...tea?"
"I give warriors tea," Ayu said gently. "And you fought today."
Nova took it. Warm. Sweet. Strange.
She sat down slowly, like the chair might bite. Vera plopped beside her and tossed her a ration bar. Everyone went back to their weird little chaos-family routine, arguing, eating, doodling strategies, sharpening weapons.
"You all always sit together like this?" Nova asked.
"Vault-0's a meat grinder," Jinx said. "Gotta hold on to what we can, right?"
"Even if it's just dinner," Ayu added.
Kade slid her a napkin with another note:
You survived the first game. That means you're one of us now.
Nova stared at the note, then slowly folded it up and slipped it into her jacket.
Suddenly, forks clattered. Loud conversation dulled to a hush.
Nova turned, a pit in her stomach forming before she even saw him.
There he was.
Skater X.
Still suited in black, helmet glowing. Blade boots silent on concrete. That glowing blue "X's" marked his mask like a death flag. He didn't make eye contact. He didn't need to.
The line parted wordlessly as he walked straight up to the counter, grabbed a tray, and left.
Not a word. Not a glance.
Like a shadow through flame.
The silence lingered like smoke even after he was gone.
"...That was him," Vera said, low and sure.
Dez broke the tension with a long whistle. "Damn. Cold as ice. You sure he didn't mark you, Chip?"
Nova blinked back to the moment, her fists clenched under the table. " What the hell does that mean?"
Jinx's glowing contacts narrowed. "He didn't kill you. That's not normal."
Kade scribbled fast on his pad and spun it around:
He always goes for the kill.
Then underlined the word "always".
"Wonder what made him stop, what made him save you right at the end?" Petal asked softly, frowning.
Nova leaned back, arms crossed in deep thought.
Dez raised a brow. "Maybe he likes you."
Jinx snorted. "That's not how liking works in Vault-0. Or with X, he doesn't "like" anyone idiot."
"Y'all are overthinking it," Nova muttered, jaw tense. "Maybe I wasn't worth his time."
"Nah," Vera said, serious now. "Everyone's worth his time if he steps on the ice. The second you got that puck, he could've ended it. But he didn't."
"Then what?" Nova asked, hating the unease curling in her gut. "What's his angle?"
Vera shrugged. "Nobody knows. He's a mystery wrapped in blades. But trust, if he left you breathing, it wasn't mercy. It was strategy."
Kade underlined something again.
He sees something, the question is, what?
Nova looked toward the door where he vanished. Something in her chest twisted, not fear. Not exactly. She was a bit nervous now.
Nova pushed her tray away.
"I'm not hungry."
Jinx looked up, concerned. "Chip..."
But Nova was already standing, jaw tight, eyes cold.
"Guards," she muttered, voice dry and cracking just a little, "get someone to lock me back in."
No one stopped her.
The guards didn't question it. Just shoved her back into her cold little cell with a grunt and slammed the door.
The moment the lock clicked, Nova collapsed.
Back against the wall, knees to her chest.
She buried her face in her arms.
Not because she lost.
Not even because she won.
But because she felt like a target.
Why did he let her go?Why did Butcher choose her?Why did she steal in the first place?
She should've felt strong. Alive. She scored the puck. Earned immunity.
But all she felt was... like prey that escaped a predator too smart to chase.
Nothing prepares you for a ghost with blades who looks right through you and decides, "Not today."
Tears hit her knees before she could stop them.
"...Damn you," she whispered. She didn't know who it was aimed at.
Butcher.
X.
The guards.
The system.
Or Herself.
She didn't sleep that night. Just sat there in the dark, holding the silence like a blade to her own chest, daring it to cut deeper. Even when Vera returned she stayed there silent. And as Vera turned in and all the lights were out. She sat there, thoughts eating her alive, and the world cold and lonely.