Jack's POV
I found her in the atrium.
Kai stood beneath the holographic forest, her face tilted upward as digital leaves rained light across her skin.
She looked small here, swallowed by the cold geometry of my world. Her fingers brushed the scar on her wrist, that nervous tic she didn't know she had.
For a heartbeat, I let myself pretend this was normal. That we were just two people standing in the glow of something beautiful.
Then she turned, and it vanished.
"Hey," she said, too bright, too fast. "How did the missile talk go? Start World War III yet?"
I smiled.
"Not for lack of trying." I shoved my hands into my pockets, my knuckles still raw from the shed wall I'd punched after fighting with Jarvis. "Walk with me."
She fell into step beside me, her boots scuffing the immaculate floor. "Where are we going? Secret villain lair? Underground fight club?"
"Better."
The elevator doors slid open. I hesitated, eyeing the mirrored walls like they'd bite.
