Ward didn’t answer.
Not immediately.
And that silence told Bianca everything she needed to know.
Her stomach dropped anyway.
The cafeteria noise faded into the background while she stared at him across the table.
Snow drifted outside the windows.
Kids talked quietly nearby.
Somebody dropped a spoon somewhere across the room.
Normal sounds.
Meanwhile Bianca suddenly felt sixteen again, sitting alone in some half-packed apartment waiting for her mother to come home three hours late with another weak excuse and tired eyes.
Ward finally spoke carefully.
“We couldn’t confirm her status.”
Bianca laughed softly.
A bad sound.
“So she’s either dead or missing. Awesome. Great options.”
“Bianca—”
“No, it’s fine,” she cut in quickly.
“Apparently my life’s entire theme is unresolved trauma.”
Maya looked uncomfortable now.
Not because Bianca was joking.
Because she wasn’t.
Ward leaned forward slightly.
“There’s a possibility she went underground.”
“Meaning?”
“She disappeared intentionally.”
Bianca stared at him.
“That’s your comforting version?”
Ward sighed.
“It means if she’s alive, she may still be hiding.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Because for one stupid second— hope appeared.
Tiny.
Fragile.
Dangerous.
Bianca hated it instantly.
Hope got people killed.
The system flickered quietly.
[ Emotional Instability Detected ]
“Yeah yeah,” Bianca muttered.
“Join the club.”
Ward’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You do realize talking to invisible things isn’t helping your case.”
Bianca pointed at him lazily with her fork.
“And yet somehow I’m still the most emotionally stable person at this table.”
Maya frowned.
“That feels unlikely.”
“Wow. Betrayal.”
A tiny smile tugged at Maya’s mouth again before disappearing.
Good.
Bianca preferred that over the hollow empty expression the girl used to wear underground.
Ward stood slowly from the table.
“I need to make a few calls.”
“Cool. I need therapy. We all have tasks.”
He ignored that entirely.
Professional to the bitter end.
Before leaving, Ward paused slightly.
Then looked directly at Bianca.
“Don’t wander too far.”
Bianca narrowed her eyes immediately.
“See? Prison language.”
“It’s a secure mountain facility during an active investigation.”
“That’s just prison with extra steps.”
Ward looked exhausted already.
Good.
Character development.
He left the cafeteria afterward while speaking quietly into an earpiece.
Bianca watched him go for a second before shoving more pancake into her mouth aggressively.
Stress eating counted as self-care now.
Probably.
Maya looked down at the photograph still resting near the table.
“Your mom looks tired.”
Bianca followed her gaze.
The picture hurt to look at now.
“She always was.”
Memories kept surfacing the more Bianca thought about it.
Small things she ignored before.
Her mother constantly checking windows.
Teaching Bianca how to recognize if someone was following her.
At the time it felt weird.
Now it felt terrifying.
Maya tilted her head slightly.
“You miss her.”
Not a question.
Bianca swallowed slowly.
“…I was mad at her.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
God.
When did Maya get emotionally smart?
That was rude.
Bianca rubbed tiredly at her face.
“The last time we talked we had this huge fight.” She laughed weakly.
“I told her she was paranoid and needed help.”
Maya stayed quiet.
Bianca stared down into her coffee.
“She cried.”
The words came out softer now.
More fragile.
“I’d never seen her cry before.”
Something heavy settled inside Bianca’s chest.
Because suddenly she remembered something else.
That night.
The last thing her mother said before Bianca slammed the apartment door and left.
> “If they ever find you first… run.”
Bianca froze.
Maya noticed immediately.
“What?”
Bianca slowly sat upright.
“That wasn’t normal.”
“No kidding.”
“No,” Bianca whispered.
“I mean before. Back then.”
Her pulse quickened slightly.
Because now that memory sounded less like paranoia— and more like a warning.
The system flickered.
[ Correlation Increasing ]
[ Horizon Probability Rising ]
Bianca groaned quietly.
“I swear if my childhood turns into a conspiracy documentary I’m gonna lose my mind.”
Maya blinked slowly.
“…what’s a documentary?”
Right.
Still depressing every time that happened.
Bianca leaned back in her chair.
“Okay. New mission.”
Maya immediately looked suspicious.
“That sentence usually causes problems.”
“Accurate.” Bianca pointed at her.
“You need normal human experiences.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means movies. Music. Internet. Memes. Junk food. Emotional damage through entertainment.”
Maya looked deeply confused.
Bianca grinned slightly for the first time all morning.
“We’re fixing your tragic backstory.”
Before Maya could answer— the cafeteria lights flickered once.
Very briefly.
Bianca went still immediately.
So did the system.
[ Anomaly Detected ]
Ah.
Fantastic.
The lights stabilized again.
Nobody else reacted much.
Most people probably thought it was normal electrical issues.
Bianca knew better.
Because for half a second— she saw faint blue cracks spread across the window beside her.
Tiny fractures in empty space.
Gone instantly.
But enough.
The cold feeling returned immediately.
Like something pressing against reality from the other side.
Watching.
Waiting.
Bianca’s appetite vanished completely.
Maya noticed her expression shift.
“What happened?”
“I need air.”
“We’re inside a mountain.”
“Then I need aggressively recycled air.”
Maya looked like she wanted to follow.
Bianca shook her head slightly.
“I’ll be back.”
Hopefully.
The hallway outside the cafeteria was quieter now.
Large glass walls overlooked endless snow-covered forests beneath pale gray skies.
Beautiful.
And somehow deeply isolating.
Bianca shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets while walking slowly through the corridor.
The system remained unusually quiet.
Which honestly worried her more.
She stopped near one of the observation windows overlooking the mountain cliffs outside.
Snowstorms rolled through the distance.
Cold.
Empty.
Silent.
For the first time in days— she was alone.
And unfortunately that meant thinking.
Bianca leaned lightly against the glass.
Her reflection stared back at her faintly.
Dark circles under her eyes.
Healing bruises.
Shoulders tense like she expected a fight every second.
She looked older somehow.
The Red Room did that to people apparently.
Then quietly— a voice spoke behind her.
“You carry guilt like armor.”
Bianca nearly threw herself into the ceiling.
She spun around instantly.
An old woman sat calmly near the corner seating area beside the hallway window.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Book resting in her lap.
Bianca had no idea how she missed her before.
The woman looked completely unbothered by Bianca’s near-heart attack.
“…Jesus Christ,” Bianca snapped.
“Do old people naturally spawn out of nowhere?”
The woman smiled faintly.
“Interesting reflexes.”
Bianca narrowed her eyes immediately.
Oh no.
No no no.
Not another mysterious cryptic person.
She was reaching her emotional limit for wise strangers.
“You work here?” Bianca asked carefully.
“In a manner of speaking.”
Suspicious answer.
Very suspicious answer.
The old woman closed her book softly.
Her eyes settled on Bianca calmly.
Sharp eyes.
Too sharp.
“You’ve been touched by something ancient.”
And there it was.
Bianca immediately sighed toward the ceiling.
“Cool. Awesome. Love hearing that.”
The woman tilted her head slightly.
“You joke when afraid.”
“People keep saying that like it’s new information.”
The woman stood slowly.
Despite her age, something about her presence felt… heavy.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Bianca’s instincts immediately screamed caution.
The system flickered sharply.
[ Unknown Entity Detected ]
[ Threat Assessment Failed ]
Oh THAT was bad.
Very bad.
The woman stepped closer toward the window.
Snow reflected softly in her eyes now.
“Tell me,” she asked quietly, “when the sky broke… what looked back at you?”
Bianca’s blood ran cold instantly.