CHAPTER 38: TRUST ISSUES

The fog in Swakopmund wasn’t lifting, it was just sitting there being annoying and grey, which fit Rin’s mood perfectly. They stood on Vex’s porch, the investigator looking like she hadn’t slept in a week, handing Rin a USB stick that looked suspiciously like a piece of chewed gum.

"This is the copy," Vex said, rubbing her eyes. "Sanitized, I scrubbed the metadata so it doesn’t trace back to my rig, meaning if you hand this to Tau, he can verify the files without immediately sending a hit squad after me."

"Appreciate it," Rin said, pocketing the drive. "You staying put?"

"For a few days, then I move again," she said, glancing at their battered Corolla parked down the street. "Try not to die on the way back, it’s bad for business if my best clients get eaten by sand beetles."

"We’ll try," Sable said. "No promises though."

They walked back to the car, the dent in the hood from Rin’s jump looking like a permanent grimace on the metal.

"I am not sitting in the back again," Jax announced. "My legs fell asleep three hours ago and they still haven’t filed a return to work form."

"Shotgun rules apply," Sable said, already reaching for the handle.

"I fought a giant beetle," Jax countered. "I earned legroom."

"Rock, paper, scissors," Rin sighed, unlocking the doors. "Winner gets shotgun, loser has to listen to my playlist without complaining."

Jax won with rock, so Sable groaned and slid into the back.

As they pulled away from the coast, leaving the mist for the harsh sun of the desert, the mood in the car shifted, the adrenaline of the fight fading into the heavy reality of what they knew.

Krell was farming people.

Kael was murdered for finding out.

The Architect was building an army.

And Nyx...

Rin gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white.

"You’re thinking about her," Sable said from the back seat, not making it a question.

"She’s on the list, Sable, ’Recruited’ isn’t ’Observed’ or ’Potential,’ it means she’s on the payroll."

"She told us about the Collective," Jax pointed out, fiddling with the AC vent. "She warned us about the breach creatures, why help us if she’s working for the bad guys?"

"Double agent?" Sable suggested. "Gain our trust, monitor our progress, report back to Vance? It makes sense, she’s always around, always ’training’ Rin, always asking weird questions about his power."

[Analysis: Probability of Nyx being a double agent: 64%]

[Probability of Nyx being a triple agent who serves only herself: 35%]

[Probability she just likes violence: 100%]

’Helpful stats, thanks.’

"We have to talk to her," Rin said. "Before we go to Tau, because if we hand over this drive and her name is on it, the Association will hunt her down, and if she’s actually on our side we’re screwing her over, but if she’s an enemy..."

"Then we need to know before she stabs us in the back," Jax finished.

Rin watched the endless road stretch out ahead. "Yeah, we’re going straight to Sector 9."

---

They hit the city by late afternoon, the transition from empty desert to bustling streets feeling jarring, people commuting and shopping and living normal lives while completely unaware that a few hundred kilometers south a secret organization was plotting to turn them into biological batteries.

Rin dropped Sable and Jax off a block away from the warehouse.

"This is a bad idea," Sable said, leaning through the window. "Let us come in, three against one is better odds."

"If I bring backup she’ll think I’m attacking," Rin said. "I need to talk to her, man to sociopath."

"If you’re not out in an hour," Jax said, checking his smartwatch. "We’re calling Yumi."

"Deal."

Rin drove the final block, parked the beat-up Corolla, and walked to the warehouse entrance, finding the door unlocked as always.

Nyx was inside, not training this time, just sitting on a mat in the center of the room with her eyes closed, meditating or napping, which were basically the same thing for her.

Rin walked in, letting the heavy door slam shut.

Nyx didn’t flinch. "You’re back early, did the beach trip get rained out?"

"We didn’t go to the beach," Rin said, stopping ten feet away, keeping his energy pooled and ready to burst. "We went to see a friend."

Nyx opened one eye. "Vex, did she crack the drive?"

"She did."

"And?"

"And it’s quite a list, Nyx, thousands of names, classifications, status updates," Rin said, watching her carefully. "My status is ’Priority Acquisition,’ Kael’s was ’Terminated.’"

Nyx opened both eyes now, standing up with fluid, relaxed movements. "And mine?"

"Tier 1, Recruited."

Silence stretched between them, the warehouse air feeling heavy, and for once it wasn’t because of gravity manipulation.

"I see," Nyx said, not denying it or looking surprised. "And now you’re wondering if I’m going to kill you and take the drive to my ’boss’."

"Are you?"

Nyx laughed, a sharp sound that bounced off the metal walls. "Rin, if I wanted to capture you I would have done it during the exam, I could have crushed your legs and dragged you to a pickup point, but I didn’t."

"Why not?"

"Because I hate them."

The air around her shimmered, dust motes beginning to orbit her like tiny moons.

"The Collective approached me six months ago," Nyx said. "Offered me resources, knowledge, freedom from the Association’s rules, told me I was special and that the Association was stifling my potential."

"So you joined."

"I accepted their resources," she corrected. "I took their data, their training manuals, their money, and in exchange I gave them... nothing."

"You’re playing them."

"I’m using them, just like I use the Association and just like I use you," she said, stepping closer. "Everyone wants to own us, Rin, the Association wants soldiers and the Collective wants lab rats, but I choose to be neither, I take what I need from both sides and wait for them to kill each other."

"That’s a dangerous game."

"It’s the only game," she said, holding out a hand. "The drive, does it have the location?"

"It does."

"Where?"

"The Sperrgebiet, deep desert."

Nyx nodded, a hungry look in her eyes. "Their main base, good, that means we can hurt them."

"We?" Rin asked. "Or you?"

"Us, you need allies and I need chaos, it’s a partnership."

"You’re on their payroll, Nyx, how do I know you won’t sell me out when the price gets high enough?"

Nyx smiled. "Test me."

She raised her hand.

Gravity didn’t just increase, it collapsed, slamming into Rin with a crushing, violent force meant to flatten him into a pancake, 10Gs hitting him instantly.

Rin hit the floor, his knees cracking against the mat.

"Fight back!" Nyx shouted. "Prove you’re not just another asset waiting to be collected!"

Rin gritted his teeth, the pressure immense, his vision swimming.

’Burst.’

He didn’t try to lift the weight, he tried to cut it.

He focused fracture energy into his fingertips, digging them into the mat.

Pulse.

A wave of purple energy ripped outward from his hand, destabilizing the gravity field, the pressure wavering for a second.

Rin used that second, launching himself forward, staying low and moving under the weight.

Nyx swept her hand sideways, shifting gravity so up became left.

Rin went flying toward the wall.

He didn’t panic, pulsing energy from his feet to create a platform in mid-air to catch himself, pushing off and using the momentum to rocket back toward her.

"Better!" Nyx laughed.

She clenched both fists, a singularity forming in front of her, a tiny black hole pulling everything in.

[Warning: Gravitational singularity detected]

[Spaghettification imminent]

[Do not touch the black ball]

’Thanks, I figured!’

Rin was mid-air, being sucked toward the void, unable to dodge.

So he attacked.

He extended both hands, not shooting a beam but pushing raw space itself.

Burst.

A massive concussion of fracture energy slammed into the singularity.

The two forces—infinite density vs. reality tear—collided.

BOOM.

The explosion blew the windows out of the warehouse, glass raining down outside.

Rin was thrown backward, tumbling across the mats while Nyx skidded back, her heels carving grooves in the floor.

Dust settled.

Rin groaned, pushing himself up, his tracker probably screaming but he didn’t care.

Nyx stood up, brushing dust off her shoulder, looking... happy.

"You passed," she said.

"I hate you," Rin wheezed.

"The Collective thinks I’m their asset," Nyx said, walking over to him and offering a hand up. "They think I’m monitoring you, waiting for the order to bring you in, which is why they haven’t sent a kill squad for me yet."

Rin took her hand, her grip strong.

"So you’re undercover."

"I’m positioned," she said. "When you go to Tau, when you launch this raid on the desert base... I’ll be there, but I won’t be on the front lines with the Association grunts."

"Where will you be?"

"Inside," Nyx said. "I’ll use my ’Recruited’ status to walk right in the front door, and when the fighting starts... I’ll open the gates for you."

Rin looked at her, realizing it was insane, risky, and exactly the kind of play she would make.

"If you screw us," Rin said, "I won’t hold back next time."

"If I screw you," Nyx smirked, "you’ll be dead, now get out of here, go see Tau, start the war."

---

Rin stumbled out of the warehouse, Sable and Jax running toward him from down the block.

"We heard an explosion!" Sable yelled. "Are you okay? Did you kill her?"

"I’m fine," Rin said, leaning against the wall. "She’s... she’s on our side, I think, in her own twisted way."

"She tried to blow you up," Jax noted, looking at the shattered windows.

"That’s her love language," Rin said. "Come on, we have a Director to visit."

---

Director Tau’s temporary office was in the secure wing of the Association HQ, the lights still burning at 8 PM.

Rin, Sable, and Jax stood before his desk while Yumi stood to the side, looking slightly better than the day before even though her arm was still in a sling.

Rin placed the drive on the desk.

"This is everything," Rin said. "Krell’s network, the list of compromised Hunters, and the location of the Architect’s main base."

Tau picked up the drive, not plugging it in immediately, just looking at Rin with tired eyes.

"You understand what this is?" Tau asked. "This isn’t just evidence, it’s a declaration of war, because if we act on this, if we mobilize against a target in the Sperrgebiet, we are acknowledging that we have lost control of our own territory, and the international fallout will be severe."

"People are dying," Sable said. "They’re being harvested."

"I know," Tau said. "I’m not saying we won’t act, I’m telling you that once we start this there is no going back, the Association will purge itself and blood will be spilled, not just monsters but Hunters."

"It’s already happening," Rin said. "Krell started it, the Architect is continuing it, we’re just finishing it."

Tau plugged the drive in, scanning the files, his expression remaining stoic though his knuckles turned white as he gripped the desk.

"Tier 0," he muttered, reading Rin’s file. "They think you’re the key."

"Key to what?"

"To stable artificial dungeons, to controlling the fractures." Tau looked up. "If they capture you, Mr. Matsuda, they won’t kill you, they will turn you into a battery."

Rin felt a chill. "Good to know."

Tau stood up. "Yumi, initiate Protocol Zero."

Yumi’s eyes widened. "Sir? That’s... that’s full mobilization, S-ranks."

"Call them in," Tau ordered. "Get Jin’s old team back from leave, get the Heavy Assault Division, contact the Namibian Defense Force for perimeter support, we are going into the Sperrgebiet."

He looked at Rin, Sable, and Jax.

"You three found this, so you have a right to be there, but I cannot guarantee your safety, in fact I can almost guarantee you will be targeted."

"We’re going," Rin said immediately.

"I figured," Tau sighed. "You’re D-rank on paper but you’re knee-deep in S-rank problems, fine, you’ll be attached to the vanguard team."

"Who’s leading the vanguard?" Jax asked.

Tau smiled, a grim, humorless expression.

"I am."

---

Later that night, back at the mansion, Rin sat on his roof.

The city lights twinkled below, looking peaceful and normal.

[Analysis: Cortisol levels elevated]

[Heart rate elevated]

[You are anxious]

"We’re going to war," Rin said. "Actual war, not a dungeon raid, people versus people."

[Correct]

[However, the enemy classifies you as a resource, not a person]

[Do not extend them courtesy you would not extend to a goblin]

"That’s dark."

[That is survival]

His phone buzzed with a message from Nyx.

Leaving for the desert tonight. See you on the other side. Don’t be late.

Rin looked south, toward the darkness of the desert where the Architect was waiting, where the answers about Kael were buried.

He touched his shoulder, the tracker finally quiet.

"Let’s go break some stuff," Rin whispered.

[Quest Accepted: The Glass Fortress]

[Objective: Destroy the Architect Collective]

[Difficulty: Lethal]

Rin smiled, thinking about the XP. Finally, a quest worth doing.