Cierra didn't look up from her wrist-mounted terminal. Her fingers moved in a blur, bypassing the first layer of the spire's thermal shielding. "Silence is what gets us home, Red. Try to remember that."
They reached the vault door. It was a masterpiece of security—a twelve-stage cryptographic lock paired with a DNA sequencer. Cierra stepped forward, her terminal humming as it began a brute-force injection of ghost-code.
"Showoff," Cierra whispered, though there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Effective," Angeline countered. Cierra_Bell_Angeline_Red_-_A_Perfect_Team_Addit...
Angeline checked the pulse-blade strapped to her thigh, her eyes reflecting the glowing red signs of the skyline. "Ready to make some noise, Bell?"
"You have two," Angeline said, her voice dropping its playful edge. She turned toward the hallway they had just exited. The red lights of the spire were flickering—a sign that the system had detected a heartbeat that shouldn't be there. Heavy footsteps echoed. The elite guard. Cierra didn't look up from her wrist-mounted terminal
Cierra walked over and snatched it. "A bit messy, don't you think?"
In the sudden, heavy silence of the vault, they both leaned against the cold steel, breathing hard. The drive sat on a pedestal in the center of the room, glowing with a soft, blue light. Try to remember that
Inside, the air was cold and smelled of ozone. They moved through the shadows like twin ghosts. When a patrol of three droids rounded the corner, Angeline didn't wait for a plan. She became a blur of red light. Three strikes, three silent shutdowns. Before the droids could hit the floor, Cierra was there, catching the lead unit to prevent the clang of metal on tile.