BLOODCAPE

The lock on Hernan’s door clicked shut with a finality that made the silence heavier.

No lights. Just the glow from his portable screen.

He’d disabled every smart sensor in the room — unplugged his comm-band, flipped his wall console to manual mode, even draped a towel over the tiny surveillance orb in the ceiling corner. It wouldn’t stop a real watcher. But it would give them shadows instead of smiles.

He sat at the desk. Placed the flash drive in his palm like it was something sacred.

Or radioactive.

He slid it into the port. The screen flared.

One file.

CAM_DRN_D4-WNDMAIN-R01.UNEDITEDTimestamp: 17:32:44 — District 4 main corridor.

He hit play.

The video crackled — then settled. A wide-angle drone shot of the District 4 firefight unfolded in real time. No music. No commentary. Just the ugly roar of chaos.

Flames licked across vehicles. Civilians scattered. Hernan watched himself enter the frame — small and fast, flanking Ashvein in that signature left-angle sweep Virex had whispered mid-fight.