CHAPTER SIX: THE GIRL WHO STOLE THE SEAL
[Storms don't always come with thunder.]
It had been three days since Zareina delivered the message in the alley. The city had resumed its cold breath—the kind that snakes through wires and across silent rooftops.
Zareina moved through the rooftops like a whisper in the wind. The city beneath her pulsed faintly with sirens and broken neon. Her mask was lowered, hoodie casting her face in shadow. Her mismatched eyes—one golden, one violet—shifted with subtle fire. She wasn't patrolling.
And tonight, it carried a new shadow.
---
Somewhere inside the underground fortress of Icarus.
The central vault was a masterpiece of paranoia—biometric locks, heat sensors, live guards, and encrypted doors.
She arrived without sound.
An elevator that didn't beep. A hallway where motion sensors conveniently failed. A security door that unlocked itself without a code.
In a sealed, heavily guarded penthouse belonging to one of Icarus's regional lieutenants, an invitation seal vanished.
Not with a bang. Not with a bullet.
With a whisper.
And a smile.
Aspen.
---
Aspen moved like someone who rewrote the rules the moment she stepped into the room.
A sleek black suit beneath a tattered bomber jacket. Violet eyes scanned everything—the left one glowing faintly red. Her dark caramel hair, wild and chopped into a wolf-cut, framed a face that dared the world to look closer. Tattoos crept from beneath her sleeves like secrets hunting for daylight.
In her gloved hand: a small, ornate seal, inked with an insignia known only to those within Icarus's innermost circle.
She twirled it once and tucked it into her belt. Then, she looked directly into the security camera... and winked.
---
A few hours later, Zareina stood alone in the dim light of an underground passageway.
Her mismatched eyes shimmered beneath the flickering glow of an old bulb. Gold and violet. Emotion and silence.
She wasn't on a mission. Not this time.
The deal had been set. Icarus's man would bring the next puzzle piece to her hands tonight. But the man never arrived.
She had sensed it—like a change in the current. Someone watching. Testing.
A low metallic thunk echoed behind her. Not loud—but purposeful. Like someone wanted to be heard.
Then came the voice.
"Fancy place for a loner."
Zareina didn't turn.
From the shadows, Aspen emerged—perched casually on a half-crumbled wall like it was a throne. She flipped a coin in her hand, then let it vanish mid-air.
Her eyes gleamed.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to fight. Not unless you want me to."
Zareina finally turned. Her golden eye dimmed slightly. Curious. Not threatened.
Perched casually on a rusted rooftop beam was a girl leaning back against an old air duct. Her posture was relaxed, legs swinging over the edge like a child watching clouds.
Dark caramel hair. Wolf cut. Purple eyes—left one shimmering red when she tilted her head.
Aspen.
No mask. No fear.
Just that lazy, dangerous grin.
"Sup, hoodie girl," Aspen called, toying with something between her fingers. "You dropped this. Or maybe… he did."
She then tilted her head. "I stole this."
Aspen tossed the seal to the air. Zareina caught it effortlessly.
Zareina looked at the seal. It was the same seal that "Boss" and Icarus kept giving her, but this one was metallic.
Aspen's grin widened. "Yeah. That seal. Belongs to someone you were probably gonna meet soon. Big name. Big shadows."
Pause.
"I want a meeting," she said simply. "With Icarus. The real one."
Zareina didn't move. Didn't respond.
Aspen sighed and crossed her arms, the wind fluttering her jacket open—revealing holstered custom weapons strapped under her arms. Not for show. These were hers. Built, tuned, and blood-tested.
"You see, I didn't just find that seal," Aspen said. "I earned it. Broke in, didn't kill anyone. Left his system cleaner than I found it."
Another Pause.
"Tell your boss that if he's got a brain under that smug little throne of his, he'll take the meeting.
Zareina wrapped her fingers around the object and then looked at Aspen with her blue-golden eyes.
Aspen could feel it—something behind those eyes wasn't just watching; it was learning her, unpacking her.
"He is not my boss. I do not belong to anyone."
"Damn…" Aspen murmured, her voice low. "You're something else."
Zareina's voice was quiet, velvet and cold, slipping between them like smoke. "Why do you really want this deal?"
Aspen blinked and then tilted her head, suddenly interested.
She leaned in too, her voice barely above a whisper. "Because you move like war, but he moves like a king. And I…" She smiled wider. "…I make weapons meant for both."
She stepped back, the seal now forgotten between them.
"Besides," she added, her dimple showing, "I have questions. Big ones. Like why you're not on any database, or why your eyes pulse when you're angry, or why the air shivers when you think."
Zareina said nothing, but her fingers curled, just slightly.
Aspen grinned. "Didn't think so."
Aspen stepped closer. "I want a seat at the table. Or... whatever shadowed corner you lot whisper in."
A beat.
"But I didn't come here to beg."
She stopped a foot away.
"I saw what you did. That alley. That look in your eyes."
She leaned in, voice dropping to something almost reverent.
"You're not just a messenger, hoodie girl. You're the kind who makes kingdoms kneel without lifting a weapon."
Zareina's violet eye shimmered. Emotion flickered across her face like a passing storm.
Aspen smirked. "You're not working for anyone yet, are you?"
Silence.
"Didn't think so. But whatever game you're in... I want in. Through you. Beside you. Doesn't matter."
She stepped back, slipping her hands into her jacket pockets.
"I've danced through warzones, turned rifles into art, built systems that collapse empires. I thrive in chaos. And you..."—her eyes flared again—"you are chaos."
Zareina didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
Aspen grinned like a fox with a secret.
"I'll find you again. Or maybe you'll find me."
And then—she was gone.
---
Inside the surveillance van, Cipher's fingers danced across her keyboard.
She had seen everything. Tracked the signals. Captured the voice.
Her eyes narrowed.
She called Icarus.
"She made contact."
"With Ravyn?"
"Yes. But it wasn't hostile. It was... curiosity."
Cipher paused.
"She knows about the seal. She wants something."
"She mention me?"
"No. But she's circling the edges. She's not looking for a leader. She's looking for a reason."
A long silence.
Then Icarus replied, "Let her look. Let her wonder."
Cipher stared at the frozen frame of Aspen's smirk.
"And Ravyn?"
She whispered, mostly to herself:
"She didn't flinch."
---------
After ending the call,
Icarus looked at the outside. Then, he smirked slightly and murmured,
"Just as the boss said... she is more interesting than I imagined."
------
In her room, Zareina sat silently, eyes fixed on the seal now resting on her desk.
An invitation.
A test.
She hadn't decided.
But the city was moving again.
And now... so were the pieces.
A whisper slipped from her lips, soft and rare:
"Let's see who comes to play."
-----
Meanwhile…
Aspen sat alone on a high balcony overlooking the city, legs draped over the railing, fingers running along the hilt of a hidden blade.
Behind her grin, behind her mischief, a thousand gears were turning.
She didn't just want to work with Icarus.
She wanted to look beneath his empire.
And behind Zareina Ravyn.
Because something in those eyes told her—
This wasn't just a mission.
This was war dressed in silence.
And Aspen?
She was ready to build the perfect weapon for it.
(To be continued)