Nova strolled down the corridor, still getting used to the way her new jacket felt on her shoulders. Fresh stitches across her side tugged with every step, but she played it cool. Vera walked beside her, quiet, probably giving her space to adjust. The place felt different now. Still cold, still wired with tension, but this time, it wasn’t fear buzzing under Nova’s skin. It was something else.
She turned the corner and nearly bumped into someone.
A tall dude leaned against the wall, flipping a silver coin lazily through his fingers. White-blond curls peeked from under a slouched hood, and his Vault number, #060, was half-faded on his collar. His mask looked like it was smiling. Not in a friendly way, though, more like it knew something nobody else did.
He gave her a once-over, eyes shadowed behind the slits.
“Nice jacket,” he said, smooth as butter. “You earned it.”
Nova raised an eyebrow, giving him the side-eye but keeping it pushin’.
“Yeah. One Butcher later,” she said. “You blockin’ the hallway or just here to compliment folks?”
The guy chuckled, flipping the coin again.
“Nah. I just wanted to congratulate you personally. Catch ya later, Rose.”
Nova froze for half a step. Nobody called her that but her crew.
She looked over her shoulder, but he was already walking off the other way, coin still dancing.
“Who that?” she muttered.
Vera shrugged, just a little too quick. “Dunno his name. People call him Grin. Don’t usually talk to people like us though. Creepy, right?”
Nova nodded slowly, eyes narrowing.
“Yeah… real familiar energy.”
She kept walking, but something about the way he said her name scratched at the back of her mind like a warning she couldn’t quite place yet. But she knew she would have to deal with it later, eventually.She had now earned a break day every saturday and she was about to enjoy it no matter what. Meanwhile, just around the corner a coin was flipped on heads all splattered with old blood. And a sinister intent, boiled over.
The break-day lounge overlooked the rink like a box seat in hell. Nova sat with her crew, Vera to her right, Dez tapping his foot like he couldn’t sit still, Petal curled up with her arms around her knees, and Mute standing behind them, sketching something quietly.
The match below had just begun.
And X was already moving.
He shot across the ice like a shadow caught in headlights, fluid, fast, and damn near untouchable. His twin blades gleamed in the spotlight, slicing air and blood with the same grace. Three enemies surrounded him. Ten seconds later, only one was still breathing, and barely.
Nova leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “He don’t waste a damn movement,” she muttered. “It’s like he already know what they ‘bout to do.”
Dez let out a low whistle. “Man’s a ghost. Ain’t as good as I am buuuut...”
“I used to think he was all hype,” Vera said quietly. “But that’s surgical.”
Petal nodded. “Dez please. He doesn’t fight to show off. He fights to finish.”
Nova’s jaw clenched as she watched him flip, strike, and pivot like it was a dance. Controlled chaos. Art with a body count. “He’s… scary good,” she said. “Like, I see it now. Why they all scared of him.”
Mute held up his notebook, a quick sketch of X in mid-motion, blades crossing like wings. One word below: Silentstorm.
Nova’s chest tightened for a second. She didn’t say it, but she felt it.
She'd survived hell. But if she ever had to face him...
Would she survive him?
They watched a bit longer.
Nova and her crew were locked in a different kind of silence, the focused kind. No one was eating. No one blinked.
Just watching.
X moved like smoke across the ice, he’d bait a hit, vanish, then come back slicing from the blind spot. Every motion was calculated, no flash. Just efficiency. Death on skates.
“I guess he got the game on lock,” Nova murmured, arms crossed tight over her chest. “He don’t even breathe heavy.”
Dez leaned forward, lips curled. “He’s a sissy. I would’ve finished this already.”
“Dez,” Petal said softly. “Please shut up.”
Nova tilted her head, eyes narrowing, watching his moves closely almost predator like. “Les see what you got.”
Down below, the last remaining fighter, a tanked-up bruiser with reinforced pads and a flame-edged stick, charged at X with a scream.
X didn’t flinch.
He spun once, blades splitting mid-motion into twin sabers, and ducked under the swing. In one single sweep, he kicked out the guy’s knee, rolled behind him, and dragged both blades upward in an X-shaped arc across the back of his neck.
The guy dropped. Lights dimmed. Match over.
Nova blinked. “Damn.”
Dez exhaled, laughing nervously. “Bro didn’t even try to flex.”
“Didn’t need to,” Vera muttered, wide-eyed. “That last move… that’s what they call Zero Slash, right?”
Mute nodded, holding up a finger like exactly one second.
Nova shook her head snapping out of it, exhaling slow. “Whole match took what, two minutes?” She looked at the blood-slick ice and then back at the figure skating away without looking back.
“Fast,” she whispered. “Precise. Cold.”
Then under her breath, just for her:
“A perfect match.”
The crew had scattered, laughter echoing down the hall as Vera waved at her. “You sure you good, Rose? We gon’ grab some street bites we’ll bring you some. Won’t be long.”
Nova gave her a lazy nod. “I’ll be here. Y’all enjoy the freedom.”
Her boots echoed against the cold metal floor, the halls quieter than usual on break days. She stretched her arms, cracked her neck, and took a turn toward the rec wing, until she saw him.
Skater X.
At the end of the corridor. Leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting.
Her body tensed. Instinct kicked in. Hands hovered near her sides, eyes narrowing. But he didn’t move to attack.
He lifted one gloved finger, slow, deliberate, and curled it once.
Come here.
Nova blinked. “Man, you serious?”
She looked behind her. Empty hall.
Looked back at him. Still waiting. Not pushing. Just... existing like smoke. Her jaw tightened. Curiosity won over caution.
She followed.
No words were exchanged as he turned and led her down an access stairwell, up a flight she didn’t know existed. Steel doors, old signage. Emergency exit.
Then, cold wind.
The rooftop.
Vault-0 looked different from up there. The blood and grime washed out beneath the floodlights. The stars, barely visible, blinked through the city smog. Distant sounds of chaos muted.
Nova stepped out, arms crossed against the wind, hair whipping across her face. It felt great to breath fresh air. “You bring all your victims up here?”
X didn’t respond.
He just stood at the edge, helmet glinting in the light, watching the city like it whispered secrets only he could hear.
Nova approached slowly, standing beside him. They stared out at the city for a while. Watching free people roam about laughing and talking.
The silence was heavy, but it wasn’t awkward.
Nova kept her eyes on the skyline. The wind tugged at her hoodie, and for a second, she just breathed it in. Then, voice low, steady:
“…I got the letter.”
She didn’t look at him yet, just spoke into the wind.
“And… thanks. For that. For what you did. For the letter. For the… y’know, the moment.”
Still no words from him, but she could feel him listening.
She went on. “I ain’t stupid. I know what this place is. What we are.” Her voice dipped softer. “We enemies. Opponents. You might have to come for me one day… and I might have to do the same.”
She finally turned her head, met the glow of his X’s.
“But that don’t mean I ain’t grateful. You didn't have to do what you did. I know that.”
There was a pause. The kind that hums in your bones. She gave him a faint smile, tired, but honest.
“I just wanted you to know that.”
X shifted, the wind brushing against his coat as he finally spoke, voice low, clear, like a blade sliding from its sheath.
“I never said we were enemies.”
Nova blinked, startled by the calm certainty in his tone.
“We’re just two people…who met in the wrong place. At the wrong time. Caught up in someone else’s game and bitter circumstances.”
She stared for a beat, lips parting slightly, unsure what to say. Then, slowly, she nodded. “Yeah… I feel that.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, a little amused now. “So you do talk.”
He gave a small, deliberate nod.
But then his posture changed. He turned slightly, eyes scanning the rooftop like he was calculating something. Then he looked back at her, this time more direct.
“ That guy you met in the hall…is dangerous.”
“ You mean the guy with the crazy clown mask?”
“Grin.”
Nova frowned. “I don’t care what his name is.”
“You will…,” X said. “He runs deep. Multiple gang members in here roll with him. They work as a team on ice to kill their victims. He’s not just brutal, he plans. He recruits. He takes out threats before they grow. You and I, are that threat right now.”
He paused, then lifted a hand to the collar of his shirt and tugged it down slightly.
A scar. Ugly, raw-looking. It ran from just under his jaw down to his collarbone, jagged like it was done with a blunt blade.
“He gave me this.”
Nova’s face changed. She stepped a little closer, instinctively. “Damn…”
“He’ll come for us both,” X said simply. “You’re rising. I’m a problem he hasn’t solved yet. If we want to make it out of here…” he locked eyes with her, “we work together. We take him down.”
Nova tilted her head, eyeing him with that same sly look she always had when she was thinking about something.
“And how do I know you ain’t gonna turn on me after this?” she asked, her voice casual but with an edge of suspicion. “How do I know you’re not just playing me, waiting for the right moment to take me out?”
X’s gaze didn’t waver. He stared at her, his expression unreadable.
“If I wanted you dead,” he said, voice steady, “I’ve had a million chances.”
She stood there, her thoughts moving quickly, but she couldn’t deny there was truth in his words. He could’ve ended it so many times. Hell, he'd had the perfect opportunities, especially when he held her in that hospital room. She couldn’t shake the fact that he hadn’t. He had covered her eyes and hugged her instead.Come to think of it what did he have to hide? Maybe…
She looked at him for a long moment, weighing his words.
Then, a smirk played at the corner of her lips.
“Alright, I’ll work with you,” she said. “But you’re gonna do one thing for me first.”
X raised an eyebrow under his mask, waiting.
Nova stepped forward, her confidence smooth as ever, leaning in just enough to make the moment feel serious. “You gonna show me what’s under that mask.”
For a second, X didn’t move. The dimmed shine of his eyes flickered down to her from under the black protective net underneath, and she saw something in them, a hesitation, maybe even a silent warning. He shifted, looking around the rooftop, making sure no one was close by. Nova could feel the tension build in the air. She didn’t break eye contact with him.
Finally, with a sigh, he reached for his helmet.
But just as he was about to pull it off, a voice echoed from down the hall.
“Hey, you two! It’s dinner time!”
Both of them froze, and Nova’s heart skipped a beat. The guard’s shadow moved closer, and she could hear the sound of footsteps.
X cursed quietly under his breath, looking back at Nova for a split second before he let his hand fall from the helmet.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Nova said with a smirk, clearly enjoying the little bit of power she had in the moment.
X just nodded, turning his attention to the door.
And with that, the two of them headed toward the mess hall, the unspoken deal hanging in the air like a promise. They were allies now, but only for as long as it served them both.
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