Location: Zenith Gala – Garden Balcony
Time: 10:01 PM
Vashti's eyes froze on the screen.
"Enemy at the Gala. One of you is marked. Move. Now."
She looked up slowly. "Shabd…"
He'd already read it over her shoulder.
"We need to disappear," he said calmly.
But even as he grabbed her hand, a laser dot flickered across his tux collar.
Sniper.
"DOWN!" Vashti yelled, yanking him to the marble floor as a glass panel behind them shattered with a silenced shot.
They rolled.
Security screamed.
Guests panicked.
But the enemies—they moved like ghosts, blending into the chaos.
---
Back Hallway – Behind Gala Stage
They ran. Hand in hand. Breathing sharp. Gun in her garter. Syringe in his jacket.
"Did they mark me or you?" she shouted.
"Does it matter?" he shouted back. "We go together."
"You're lucky I'm fake-engaged to you," she muttered, kicking a door open.
"You kissed me like it was real."
"You bled on me like it was poetry."
They skidded into the staff hallway—
—and ran into two agents dressed as waiters.
No time to think.
Vashti shot first.
One down.
Shabd tackled the second.
Slammed him into a steel door.
"Where's the sniper?" he growled.
The agent sneered. "You think this is about you two?"
Vashti walked forward, calm and deadly. "You marked us. Why?"
The agent chuckled darkly. "Because one of you… holds the code."
"What code?" Shabd snapped.
But the agent bit into a poison cap and dropped.
Dead.
---
Abandoned Medical Wing – Minutes Later
They locked themselves in. Blood on Vashti's shoulder. Shabd's jaw bruised.
Silence.
Just heaving chests and the distant sounds of sirens.
"You okay?" she asked, pressing a cloth to his wound.
"I will be when I know what code they want."
"You think it's in me?" she whispered.
Shabd looked at her—slowly. Deeply.
"Do you remember anything from your dad's old research?"
Vashti flinched.
"My father's lab… he said something once about 'Project Mirage'… but I thought it was just about memory manipulation."
Shabd leaned forward. "What if your memory holds the key? What if they're not after us—they're after what's inside you?"
Vashti went cold.
"I thought we were running for our lives… but we might be running from my past."
---
She stood. Hands trembling.
Shabd took her wrist gently.
"Fake engagement or not… I'm with you."
She looked at him.
"I don't want fake anymore," she whispered.
Then she stepped forward and kissed him again.
Real. Fierce. Final.
Because the storm was coming—
And love, once again, was on the battlefield.
---