Chapter 200: Humanly hunted
The base hadn’t even had time to die before another life was grafted onto it.
Only a few days had passed since Pilaf’s troops had been evacuated, dislodged, exterminated—the word didn’t matter. The place had changed hands, but not its scent. The dried blood had been scrubbed away, not forgotten. The walls still sweat the old hierarchy, the old orders, the screams of before.
But Martissant’s men moved through it with confidence, as if it were conquered territory. It was no longer an enemy base. It was their base.
Maggie, however, didn’t feel any safer.
She noted silently how swiftly the elite soldiers had reclaimed the place, organized the barracks, sealed the weapon caches, locked down the communication networks. Not even a speck of dust escaped them.
And not a single emotion, either.
Élisa, meanwhile, had been assigned to a mobile response unit, but her posting mostly suggested they wanted to keep her under watch—ready to be used without letting her too close to the real circles of power.
She let herself be managed. She trained sometimes.
And she waited for orders.
That morning, the walls were quiet.
When Maggie entered the encrypted comms room, she didn’t expect to hear her name spoken with urgency. The crystal pulsed softly at the center of the table, its bluish light dim, almost reverent.
"Maggie?"