Long-press a paragraph to send danmaku
"Drop the card, Vance, or I cut your hand off." The armored enforcer drove Jesse's wrist against the concrete floor, crushing the black card between his fingers.
Jesse grinned through the blood in his mouth. "You brought a knife to a card fight? That's adorable."
The enforcer twisted harder. Metal plates scraped over Jesse's coat. His shoulder screamed, but he kept the card hidden under his palm. Three red targeting dots crawled across his back. A fourth hovered over his temple.
"Last warning."
"You said that two warnings ago. Pick a personality."
The blade pressed into the side of his hand.
Jesse stopped smiling.
Not because of the knife. The kill-squad had already burned through the warehouse doors. He could hear their boots spreading out, six soldiers taking angles, two heavy rifles charging with a rising electric whine.
Eight against one.
His deck had two cards left.
His soul-counter had twelve points.
And the man pinning him down worked for the syndicate Jesse had spent six years bleeding for.
"You should've stayed dead," the enforcer said.
"Funny. I keep hearing that from people who can't finish the job."
Jesse slammed his forehead into the man's visor.
The visor cracked. The enforcer cursed and jerked back. Jesse ripped his wrist free, rolled under a rifle burst, and felt hot aether chew through the concrete where his ribs had been.
"Fire!" someone shouted.
"Watch the deck!"
"Forget the deck. Put him down!"
Jesse kicked the enforcer's knee sideways. Armor buckled. The man dropped with a hard metallic thud, and Jesse snatched the black card from the floor.
The card was warm.
It pulsed against his skin like a second heartbeat.
A thin red number appeared above his wrist.
SOUL INTEGRITY: 12%
Jesse glanced at it. "Still got twelve."
The card whispered in his head.
DRAW.
"Yeah," he muttered. "I heard you."
A rifleman stepped through the smoke. His helmet bore the silver teeth of the Veyr Syndicate. Jesse knew that mark. He had carried orders for them. Collected debts for them. Put men in the ground because a silver-toothed bastard had stamped a name on a piece of paper.
Now they had stamped his.
The rifleman raised his weapon. "Jesse Vance. By order of the Black Ledger, your contract is terminated."
Jesse rolled behind a broken loading crate. "Tell the Ledger it can kiss my ass."
"Your contract includes surrender of all registered cards."
"Then it can kiss my ass twice."
The rifle fired.
The crate exploded into splinters. Jesse threw himself through a gap between two rusted support beams. A round tore across his upper arm. Warm blood ran beneath his sleeve.
The counter dropped.
SOUL INTEGRITY: 10%
"That one cost me two points?" Jesse yelled. "You people are charging robbery rates."
"Stop running!"
"Give me one good reason."
"You're surrounded."
"That's not a reason. That's a group project."
He hit the wall at the far end of the warehouse. No door. No window. Just cracked concrete behind him and six armored soldiers closing in.
The squad leader lifted a short-barreled rifle. A blue coil spun around the muzzle.
"Kneel," the leader said.
Jesse pressed his bleeding hand against the wall. "You always talk this much before shooting?"
"Kneel."
"No."
The coil brightened.
Jesse looked down at the card in his palm.
It had no face, no number, no symbol. Just a smear of black ink that moved whenever he tried to focus on it. The Wraith Deck had never behaved like a legal deck. It had no clean interface, no neat status panel, no safe draw limit.
It ate cards.
It ate a little bit of him every time it did.
The card pulsed again.
DRAW.
"Fine," Jesse said. "But if this goes bad, I'm haunting all of you."
The squad leader fired.
Jesse tore the card in half.
Black fire burst from his hand.
It did not spread like normal flame. It snapped forward in a narrow whip, crawling over the floor and climbing the nearest enforcer's boots. The soldier screamed. His armor glowed red, then split along every seam.
"Back!" the squad leader shouted.
The rookie flailed. "Get it off me! Get it off—"
The black fire folded around his chest.
His scream cut short.
The armor collapsed empty onto the floor.
For one sharp second, nobody moved.
Then every rifle in the warehouse swung toward Jesse.
His soul-counter plunged.
SOUL INTEGRITY: 6%
Jesse stared at the red number. "Six? For one draw?"
The deck answered with another pulse.
CONSUME AVAILABLE.
The dead soldier's chest plate cracked open. A bright card rose from the wreckage, spinning inside a cage of black sparks.
One of the enforcers took a step back. "He consumed the rookie's card."
"He's using a forbidden deck."
"No kidding," Jesse said. "The screaming usually gives it away."
The floating card shot into his palm.
Heat punched through his fingers. His bones felt too tight for his skin. The black fire raced up his arm, stopping at his throat.
He nearly dropped to his knees.
The squad leader pointed at him. "You don't control that thing."
Jesse breathed through clenched teeth. "Still looks like I'm winning."
"You're at six percent. One more draw will kill you."
"Then I better make it count."
The leader fired again.
Jesse slapped the new card against the floor.
The warehouse vanished beneath a burst of blue-white lines. A dozen glowing symbols spread across the concrete, each one locking around an armored boot. The enforcers stumbled as invisible weight dragged them down.
Jesse moved before they understood what happened.
He grabbed a fallen shock baton and drove it into the first soldier's throat plate. The man spasmed. Jesse hooked his ankle, pulled him down, and slammed the baton into his helmet.
"One," Jesse said.
A second soldier hacked at him with a charged blade. Jesse caught the wrist. Sparks snapped between their gloves.
"You know," Jesse grunted, "I remember training you."
"You taught me to kill."
"I taught you to aim. Clearly, I failed."
Jesse twisted the blade away and drove his shoulder into the man's chest. They crashed into a stack of cargo boxes. The soldier raised his fist, but Jesse smashed the shock baton across the visor.
"Two."
A rifle butt slammed into Jesse's ribs.
He hit the floor hard enough to taste copper. The third enforcer planted a boot on his chest.
"You burned my brother," the soldier said.
Jesse grabbed the boot and pulled. "Your brother tried to burn a whole block. I stopped him."
"You followed orders."
"So did you. Don't act special."
The soldier raised his rifle.
A gunshot cracked from the upper catwalk.
The soldier's weapon flew from his hand. His gauntlet spun away, trailing sparks.
Everyone looked up.
A woman stood behind the railing with a long silver pistol resting against one shoulder. She wore a dark coat over fitted armor, clean enough to make the rest of the warehouse look worse. A narrow metal badge hung at her throat.
The High Board seal.
Auditor.
Jesse had seen that badge before. People with it did not arrest you. They erased you from the records, seized your property, and sent the bill to your family.
The woman lowered the pistol toward him.
"Jesse Vance," she called. Her voice was calm, almost bored. "You have three seconds to put the Wraith Deck on the floor."
Jesse pushed the soldier off his chest. "You must be the friendly option."
"Three."
"Do Auditors come with instructions, or do you all sound like broken clocks?"
"Two."
Jesse threw the shock baton at the catwalk.
She shifted one inch. The baton missed her face and smashed against the railing.
Her pistol flashed.
The round struck the floor beside Jesse's hand. A circle of white heat burned through the concrete.
"One," she said.
Jesse lunged for cover as the squad opened fire.
The Auditor moved first.
She stepped off the catwalk.
For half a breath, she hung above the smoke. Then a pale card flickered beneath her boots, slowed her fall, and vanished when she landed on a cargo crate.
Jesse stared. "That was a rare card."
"You're dying and still stealing with your eyes?"
"Professional habit."
She fired twice without looking. Two rifles sparked and died.
The squad leader turned on her. "Auditor Voss, this execution is syndicate property. Stand down."
"Your order is counterfeit."
"You don't have authority here."
Valerie Voss stepped down from the crate. The pistol stayed level. "I have authority wherever the High Board finds a lie."
The leader's visor turned toward Jesse. "He murdered a registered handler."
"Name the handler."
"Jesse Vance."
"That isn't a name. That's a target. Try again."
The leader hesitated.
Jesse saw it. So did Valerie.
She tilted her head. "You don't have the handler's file."
"The Ledger gave us the order."
"The Ledger isn't the Board."
"It speaks for the Board."
"Then why are you wearing counterfeit seal plates?"
The soldiers looked at one another.
Jesse crouched behind a crate, one hand pressed to his side. "I was going to mention that, but I didn't want to interrupt the flirting."
Valerie's eyes snapped toward him. Gray. Cold. Too focused for a woman standing in a firefight.
"You think this is flirting?"
"You shot around me three times without hitting me. That's either flirting or terrible aim."
"I can fix both problems."
She fired at the crate beside his head.
Concrete dust slapped his cheek.
Jesse grinned despite himself. "Okay. Little hostile."
A soldier rushed Valerie from behind.
Jesse saw the reflection in her pistol. He grabbed a loose steel hook from the floor and threw it.
The hook caught the soldier's belt and yanked him sideways. Valerie spun, drove her elbow into the man's visor, and pinned his wrist against the crate.
Her coat brushed Jesse's shoulder as she passed. He caught a clean scent beneath the gun smoke, sharp soap and something metallic. Her heat reached him for one quick second.
Then she shoved the soldier into the floor.
"Don't help me," she said.
"You looked busy."
"I wasn't."
"You were on the ground."
"I was choosing the angle."
"Sure. Very tactical."
She turned the pistol on him.
Jesse raised both hands. "Relax. If I wanted you dead, I'd have let him keep sneaking up on you."
"You don't want me dead."
"I don't know you."
"You noticed my card. You noticed my aim. You noticed my scent."
Jesse's jaw tightened.
Valerie stepped closer.
The pistol touched the center of his chest. Not hard. Just enough to make the point.
"What else did you notice?" she asked.
The heat from the weapon seeped through his coat. Her face was close now, close enough that he could see the tiny cut beneath her lower lip. Her breathing stayed even. His did not.
Jesse glanced at the muzzle. "That your trigger finger is tense."
"Wrong."
"That you hate being called friendly."
"Wrong again."
"That you really want me to keep looking at you."
Her eyes narrowed.
For the first time, her control slipped. Just a fraction. Her thumb pressed harder against the pistol grip.
"Keep talking," she said. "I want to hear what you say right before I put you down."
"You don't want to put me down."
"Don't tell me what I want."
"Then stop standing so close."
That made her pause.
A rifle round struck the crate behind her. Valerie caught Jesse by the collar and dragged him down with her. They hit the floor together, her shoulder against his, her hand still locked in his coat.
Jesse's palm landed against her armored waist to keep from crushing her.
The contact lasted one breath.
Her body went still beneath his hand.
His did too.
"Move your hand," she whispered.
"I'm trying to keep us from getting shot."
"Try harder."
"You pulled me down."
"And you grabbed me."
"You have a better idea?"
"Yes. Get off me."
"The bullets are voting no."
Another burst chewed through the crate. Valerie rolled, came up on one knee, and fired through the splintered gap. The squad leader's rifle exploded in his hands.
He staggered back, yelling.
Jesse rolled the other way and came up beside a steel pillar.
"You missed his head," Jesse said.
"I wasn't aiming for it."
"You should."
"You want to volunteer?"
"Not today."
"Then stay behind the pillar."
"You giving orders now?"
"I'm keeping you alive long enough to interrogate you."
Jesse looked at her. "That almost sounded personal."
"You have information about the Wraith Deck."
"Everybody wants the deck. Nobody asks nicely."
"I didn't ask."
"No. You pointed a gun. Very persuasive."
Valerie's gaze dropped to the black lines crawling under his skin. The Wraith Deck's fire had left dark marks up his wrist.
"How many draws?" she asked.
"What?"
"How many times have you used it tonight?"
"Why? Worried about me?"
"Answer."
"Two."
"Your counter is at six."
Jesse looked down. The red number flickered.
SOUL INTEGRITY: 5%
He swallowed. "It was six a second ago."
"The deck is consuming you."
"You got a point, or are we doing small talk?"
"One more draw and you'll lose motor control. Two, and the deck takes your heart rhythm."
"Nice speech. You practice it for every target?"
"I've executed men with less damage than you've already done to yourself."
"Then you should know I'm hard to kill."
"No. I know you're bad at math."
The remaining soldiers regrouped near the loading doors. The squad leader pulled a red ampoule from his belt and crushed it against his armor.
A heavy pulse rolled through the warehouse.
The glowing symbols around their boots shattered.
Valerie's face changed. "That is not syndicate equipment."
"What is it?" Jesse asked.
"A Board-grade breach charge."
The leader raised his damaged arm. "Auditor Voss, your interference has been noted. Leave the premises."
"Who issued the charge?"
"Leave."
"Who issued it?"
The leader's rifle came up. "Kill them both."
Valerie grabbed Jesse's sleeve and hauled him toward the side corridor.
He stumbled after her. "You said you weren't helping me."
"I'm not. You're evidence."
"Evidence usually gets carried in a box."
"Keep talking and I'll make one."
They ran between stacked crates as the breach charge began to scream.
Jesse's ribs burned. His wounded arm shook. Valerie moved fast, boots striking hard against the concrete, one hand holding her pistol and the other locked around his sleeve.
She did not let go.
He noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
"Don't make that face," she said.
"What face?"
"The one where you decide this means something."
"I was deciding whether you'd shoot me if I pulled you into a corner."
"Try it."
"That's not a no."
She stopped so suddenly Jesse nearly crashed into her.
The corridor ended at a sealed security door. Valerie slapped a card against the reader. Red light. Locked.
Behind them, armor thundered closer.
"Open," she ordered the door.
The reader stayed red.
Jesse leaned over her shoulder. "Maybe it doesn't like your attitude."
"It recognizes Board clearance."
"Then your clearance is fake."
She turned and shoved him against the door.
His back hit metal. Her forearm pressed across his chest. The pistol rose beneath his chin.
"Say that again."
Her face was inches from his. Her breath brushed his mouth, steady and warm despite the gunfire behind them.
Jesse's hands stayed at his sides. "Your badge is real. Your clearance isn't."
"How would you know?"
"Because the Board doesn't send one Auditor to a kill site. It sends a cleanup team."
"Maybe I don't need one."
"Maybe you're lying."
Her eyes tracked over his face. "You spent years inside the Veyr Syndicate. You know their weapons, their orders, their chain of command."
"And you spent years reading files from a chair."
"I read the file on you."
"Then you know I don't like being cornered."
"I know you killed twelve people in the North Dock purge."
"Eleven. One of them was already dead."
"That correction is supposed to help?"
"It helps me sleep."
The first soldier appeared at the end of the corridor.
Valerie kept the pistol under Jesse's jaw. "Who sent them?"
"The Ledger."
"Who sent the Ledger?"
"You're the Auditor. Audit it."
"Answer me."
Jesse looked at her finger on the trigger. "You want the truth?"
"I want the name."
"Open the door first."
"You don't bargain from under my gun."
"You don't bargain with a dead man."
The soldier shouted, "Voss! Step away from the target!"
Valerie's eyes flicked toward the corridor.
Jesse used the moment.
He drove his forehead into hers.
She hissed and loosened her arm. Jesse caught her wrist, turned under it, and pressed her back against the security door. The pistol ended up trapped between them.
Valerie's free hand struck his shoulder. He caught that wrist too.
Now both of them were locked against the door, her body between him and the advancing squad, his hands around her arms.
Her pulse beat fast beneath his fingers.
"Let go," she said.
"You first."
"I will break your fingers."
"You can try."
"I am trying."
She twisted hard. Jesse felt the movement travel through her shoulders. He tightened his grip, not enough to hurt, just enough to stop her.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and snapped back up.
Jesse saw it.
So did she.
"Don't," she said.
"Didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
"Your face started it."
For one dangerous second, the corridor narrowed to her breath, his hands, and the heat trapped between their coats.
Then the soldier fired.
Valerie shoved Jesse aside. The round hit her shoulder plate and threw her into the wall.
"Valerie!" one of the soldiers called. "Last warning!"
Jesse caught her before she dropped.
Her armor was hot beneath his palm. A thin line of blood ran from her ear.
She blinked once, shook off his grip, and raised the pistol.
"Don't call me by my first name," she said.
"You just got shot. I figured we were past formalities."
"You figured wrong."
She fired. The corridor filled with white flashes.
Jesse ducked, grabbed a dropped rifle, and slammed the stock into the nearest soldier. Valerie shot the second through the knee plate. The man crashed down, screaming.
The breach charge screamed louder.
Jesse looked toward the warehouse. "We have maybe ten seconds."
"Seven."
"You always count down like that?"
"Only when people waste time."
"Then stop wasting it and open the door."
Valerie shoved her badge against the reader again. The red light flickered. A thin line of pale energy ran from the badge to the black marks on Jesse's wrist.
The Wraith Deck reacted.
Jesse felt the pull before he saw the card rise from his palm.
Valerie saw it too.
Her eyes widened. "Don't draw."
"Door's still locked."
"The deck will kill you."
"Then shoot the door."
"That won't open it."
"You said it was Board-grade."
"It will scatter the charge through the corridor."
"So we die standing here. Great plan."
The card hovered between them, black at the edges and bright in the center. Valerie reached for Jesse's wrist.
Her fingers closed around him.
The moment she touched the marks, the card stopped spinning.
A line of light snapped from her palm to his.
Both of them jerked.
The security door unlocked with a heavy click.
Valerie stared at their joined hands. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"The deck linked to me."
"Maybe it has good taste."
"Break the connection."
"Working on it."
"Now."
Jesse pulled his wrist free. The light did not break. It stretched between them, thin and trembling.
A new message appeared in the air.
RESONANCE DETECTED.
UNAUTHORIZED PARTNER.
SHARED DRAW AVAILABLE.
Valerie read it. Her face went cold. "No."
"I don't like that word in your mouth."
"You can't use my deck access."
"I don't have your access."
"The Wraith Deck says otherwise."
The warehouse doors blew inward.
A wave of force ripped down the corridor. Jesse and Valerie were thrown through the security door as metal, smoke, and burning armor filled the space behind them.
Jesse hit the floor and rolled. Valerie landed beside him, her hand still locked around his wrist.
The door slammed shut.
For three breaths, neither of them moved.
Then Valerie pushed herself up and pressed the pistol against Jesse's ribs.
"What is the tether?"
Jesse coughed. "You always ask questions with a gun?"
"What is it?"
"A bad idea."
"Try again."
"The deck found a second pulse."
"Why mine?"
"Maybe it likes auditors."
She pressed the muzzle harder. "You have five seconds before I test whether the tether survives a bullet."
Jesse caught the barrel and pushed it away from his ribs. Valerie leaned in, close enough that her hair brushed his cheek.
"Don't touch my weapon," she whispered.
"Then don't point it at me."
"You are a wanted murderer carrying a forbidden weapon."
"And you're a fake Auditor with a dead squad outside. We both have problems."
"My badge is real."
"Your orders aren't."
She held his gaze.
The pale tether pulsed between their wrists.
Somewhere beyond the sealed door, metal scraped across concrete.
Valerie's expression tightened. "They're alive."
"That charge should've flattened them."
"It wasn't meant to kill us."
"Then what was it meant to do?"
She did not answer.
Jesse rose, pulling her with him because the tether would not stretch far. Their shoulders bumped. Her hand remained around his wrist, and his fingers were still wrapped around the pistol barrel.
"You know something," he said.
"I know several things."
"Start with the one that gets us out alive."
"The squad wasn't here for you."
Jesse stared at her. "They shot at me."
"They were clearing the site."
"Why?"
Valerie's eyes moved to the black card hovering between them.
"Because someone wanted the Wraith Deck erased before the Board could see what it became."
The sealed door buckled.
Jesse tightened his grip on the rifle. "What did it become?"
"I don't know."
"That's the first honest thing you've said."
"Don't get comfortable."
The door buckled again.
A jagged crack opened down the center. Red light spilled through it. The surviving enforcers were cutting their way inside.
Jesse's card pulsed.
DRAW.
His soul-counter flashed.
SOUL INTEGRITY: 4%
Valerie saw the number. "No."
"We need a way out."
"There may be another option."
"You have one?"
"The tether can share the cost."
Jesse looked at her hand around his wrist. "Share what cost?"
"The draw."
"You said no."
"I said I wouldn't let you use my access."
"What's the difference?"
"If we draw together, the deck takes from both of us."
"And if we don't?"
"It takes all of you."
The crack widened. A rifle barrel pushed through.
Valerie lifted her pistol with her free hand and fired. The barrel sparked and vanished behind the door.
"You have three seconds," she said.
"You really love that number."
"Jesse."
It was the first time she had said his name without contempt.
The sound hit harder than the rifle.
He looked at her. Her face was inches away again. Her breath caught once, and her fingers tightened around his wrist.
"If we do this," he said, "you stay linked to me."
"For as long as the tether lasts."
"Forced proximity. That's ugly."
"You are not my type."
"You keep saying that while holding me."
"I am holding the problem."
"Sure you are."
The door started to tear open.
Valerie shoved her palm against the black card.
"Draw," she said.
Jesse grabbed her hand before the card could bite.
"Wait."
Her eyes flashed. "What now?"
"If this kills you, I need to know who to blame."
"Blame yourself. You brought the deck."
"I was hoping you'd say the Board."
"Draw, Vance."
He pressed his palm over hers.
The card split between their hands.
Black fire erupted around their wrists.
Valerie sucked in a sharp breath, and Jesse felt the burn travel through both of them at once. Her shoulder slammed into his chest. He caught her before she fell, one arm locking around her back.
"Don't let go," she said.
"Wasn't planning to."
"If the tether breaks—"
"I heard you."
"No, you didn't. If it breaks, it doesn't just kill us. It tells whoever built the deck exactly where we are."
Jesse looked past her at the door.
The metal split from top to bottom.
A heavy chain smashed through the ceiling.
It punched into the corridor between them and the enforcers, scattering concrete and sparks. The chain was thick as Jesse's arm, wrapped in glowing red links. It snapped once, then tore through the floor with enough force to shake the walls.
The soldiers screamed behind the breach.
Valerie shoved Jesse back and raised her pistol toward the ceiling.
"Who the hell—"
A second chain crashed down.
Then a third.
Something heavy moved through the smoke above them.
Jesse's soul-counter flickered from red to black.
SOUL INTEGRITY: UNKNOWN
The Wraith Deck went silent.
Valerie stepped in front of Jesse, pistol steady, her back brushing his chest. "Stay behind me."
"That is the worst order I've heard tonight."
"For once, follow one."
A shape dropped through the broken ceiling.
It landed in the smoke hard enough to crack the floor. The remaining soldiers stopped firing. Even the red chains went still.
The figure rose slowly.
Black armor. Long coat. A silver mask with no eye slits, only a narrow red line across the face.
Valerie's grip tightened around her weapon.
Jesse felt the tether pull her hand against his.
The masked figure turned toward them.
A voice came from inside the mask, distorted and calm.
"Auditor Voss. Step away from the deck."
Valerie did not move. "Identify yourself."
"You already know."
Jesse leaned close enough for his mouth to reach her ear. "Friend of yours?"
"Shut up."
"That's a yes, then."
The masked figure lifted one gloved hand.
The chains around the corridor rose off the floor and aimed at Jesse's chest.
Valerie shifted in front of him. "You want the deck, come through me."
The figure tilted its head. "That is not your decision."
"It is now."
Jesse felt the tether burn hotter. Valerie's pulse hammered against his fingers.
He reached for the black card.
Valerie caught his wrist. "Don't draw."
"You just told me to stay behind you."
"I changed my mind."
"You do that a lot."
The masked figure raised its hand higher.
The largest chain pulled back, links grinding against the broken ceiling. Its hooked end pointed straight at Jesse's heart.
Valerie stepped closer until her shoulder pressed against his chest.
"Jesse," she said, low and fast, "if you have another trick, use it now."
He looked at the chain.
Then at the card.
Then at the woman holding his wrist like she had already decided he was hers to arrest, save, or kill.
"I have one trick," he said. "But you're not going to like the price."
Valerie's eyes cut to his. "What price?"
The chain snapped forward, and she raised her pistol as Jesse started to say, "You have to—"