[Katherine's PoV]

  Katherine stood in the alley as she surveyed the dead end ahead. The walls were smooth, and the faint hum of energy behind them suggested hidden systems at work.

  “They went beyond this?” she asked, her tone skeptical but controlled.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Timothy replied, his voice quick and eager. The young officer was already at the far end of the corridor, running his hands along the wall. “I’m certain of it. I saw them turn down this way.”

  Katherine folded her arms, glancing toward the other officer beside her, a grizzled veteran with a face carved by years of service. “Did you see anything?”

  The older man shook his head. “No movement, my lady. If they came through here, they vanished.”

  Katherine sighed, her frustration barely contained. 'They were up to something.' She knew it in her gut. This had been her best chance to catch a thread of it.

  “Alright,” she said finally, turning back toward the main street. “See if there are any surveillance feeds in this sector. Maybe the Dardanus have something.”

  “Maybe,” the older officer said, falling into step behind her. “But they’ll want to know why we’re asking. And the Dardanus don’t like being left out of anything.”

  “Forget it,” Katherine muttered. “We’ll head back. I don’t want to raise suspicion.”

  She had just started to walk away when a voice called out behind her.

  “Wait! One moment!”

  Katherine turned sharply.

  Timothy was at the far end of the alley, his face half-buried in the wall.

  Her mind froze for half a second. “Is he—stuck?” she asked aloud, incredulous.

  The older officer blinked. “Looks like it.”

  But then Timothy moved. His body rippling strangely, his arm phasing into the wall like liquid sliding through glass. A faint shimmer surrounded him, distorting the air around his body.

  Katherine stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “What in the he-?”

  Before she could finish, there was a soft click.

  The wall shuddered and then split open, a panel sliding aside with a hiss of pressurized air. Behind it, a narrow staircase descended into the depths below.

  Timothy pulled his head and arm free, his body flickering briefly before solidifying again. He grinned, a mix of embarrassment and pride on his face. “There’s space to go down,” he said, gesturing toward the opening. “Looks like a maintenance passage.”

  Katherine stared at him, equal parts impressed and exasperated. “What kind of Boon was that?”

  Timothy blinked. “It’s not in my file?”

  She frowned, trying to recall his personnel record. She hadn’t bothered to memorize every detail, assuming he was just another watchdog sent to report on her movements.

  “I haven’t had time to read your file yet,” Katherine admitted, her voice low but steady as they descended.

  Timothy’s tone was almost sheepish. “It’s… complicated,” he said. “My Boon, it lets me turn into something like a ghost. I can pass through walls, floors, and even solid alloy structures. But there’s a limit. I can’t stay intangible for long, and I can’t phase my entire body at once.”

  Katherine glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “Not easy to use in combat, maybe,” she said, “but that’s one hell of a tactical advantage.”

  The young officer smiled awkwardly, but she meant it.

  “Come on,” she said, quickening her pace.

  They reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the three figures disappearing into a building across the narrow street.

  “There!” she hissed, pointing. “They went inside!”

  She took a step forward, ready to follow, when a firm hand gripped her shoulder.

  “Wait!”

  The older officer’s voice was low but urgent. When she turned, his expression was caught somewhere between duty and embarrassment.

  “Princess,” he said carefully, “I might be stepping out of line, but I don’t think this is a… proper environment for you.”

  Katherine frowned, confusion flickering across her face, until she looked up.

  Only then did she realize what kind of establishment it was.

  The building’s facade was bathed in pulsing red and violet neon. The air was thick with perfume, smoke, and the faint hum of low, rhythmic music. Men, most of them rough-looking, none of them bearing the insignia of any House, moved in and out of the entrance in steady streams.

  The windows along the front were lined with dancers. They waved and smiled at passersby, their gestures slow and deliberate, their eyes gleaming with enhancements. One of them even pointed toward Katherine, her lips curling into a knowing smirk.

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  Katherine coughed into her hand, her cheeks burning. “Damn it.”

  “If anyone saw you here, it would be an absolute scandal for the Yorks,” the officer said, his voice tight. “It’s already risky enough that we’re even in this district.”

  He wasn’t wrong. The York crest carried weight, too much weight for a place like this. Even the faintest rumor of her being spotted here would ripple through the Houses like wildfire.

  Yet Katherine’s mind was already racing. 'If they slip out another way, I’ll lose them.'

  She turned sharply toward Timothy.

  “Go in,” she said quietly, her tone measured but sharp. “Offer a good amount of credits. Ask what they’re consuming and if there’s another exit.”

  Timothy nodded without hesitation. “Understood.”

  He moved quickly. The young officer’s confidence worried her; he seemed too calm for someone entering a place like that.

  As the door slid shut behind him, Katherine exhaled slowly. 'And where exactly am I supposed to wait?'

  The older officer beside her gestured toward a smaller establishment across the street. “There. It’s quiet, and we’ll have a clear view of the entrance.”

  Katherine followed his gaze. The place looked modest. An old bar, its holo-sign barely flickering, its windows fogged from the inside. The patrons visible through the glass were the type who wanted to be left alone.

  “Fine,” she said.

  They crossed the street quickly and slipped inside. The air smelled faintly of smoke and alcohol, the lighting dim and uneven.

  They found a booth near the front that offered a perfect view of the Endless Dream across the street. Katherine slid into the seat, folding her hands on the table, her eyes never leaving the door opposite.

  'What are you doing in there, Mr Atlas?' she thought, her mind racing through possibilities. 'Meeting someone? Making a deal? Paying after an attack?'

  It was a good place for it, she had to admit. In a place like this, no one cared what you did as long as you paid. Too many eyes, too many secrets, and the anonymity of vice protecting everyone.

  “Disgusting,” the older officer muttered, his voice low but full of disdain. “How could someone from a Great House even step foot in a place like that?”

  Katherine didn’t answer. She barely blinked, afraid to miss even a second.

  Minutes passed. Slow, each one stretching longer than the last. Then the door opened.

  Timothy stepped out, the red light washing over him as he crossed back toward them. His expression was one of pride, almost triumphant.

  “I got it,” he announced as soon as he reached their booth. “Cost a few thousand credits, but she talked. They’re in room thirteen. Hired a girl.”

  Katherine’s stomach tightened. “A girl?”

  The young officer nodded, still catching his breath. “They were very specific. She had to be human, a certain height, and have dark hair. No tattoos.”

  The older officer made a sound halfway between a scoff and a growl, his lip curling in disgust. “Filthy,” he muttered. “How could nobles indulge in something like that?”

  'Why someone so specific?' she wondered, her thoughts sharp as a blade. 'Even if he came here for pleasure, why request someone with such exact traits?'

  The question gnawed at her. She wasn’t interested in judging Atlas’s desires. She’d seen far worse among the Great Houses. But his choices, his patterns. They were keys to understanding him. Understanding him meant knowing what he was truly after.

  'The sooner I figure out how he thinks,' she told herself, 'the sooner I’ll know what he’s planning.'

  Timothy leaned forward, his voice low but steady. “They should only have a few minutes left in their session. Maybe longer if they decide to stay.”

  The older officer shifted beside her, his discomfort barely masked. “My lady, perhaps we should return. You were walking with Lady Helen earli—”

  Katherine cut him off with a firm shake of her head. “No. We wait.”

  The two men exchanged a look but didn’t argue.

  Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. Katherine’s patience thinned, her fingers tapping against the table in a steady rhythm.

  At last, the door slid open, and three figures emerged.

  “There,” she hissed, rising from her seat. “Quickly, follow them.”

  They slipped out of the bar into the neon-soaked street. The crowd was thick, but Katherine’s eyes tracked the trio with precision.

  Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone.

  She stopped short, scanning the streets. They split into three directions, each one winding deeper into the station’s lower sectors.

  “Each of them went a different way,” Timothy reported, his voice tight. “Who do we follow?”

  Katherine swore under her breath. “Damn it.”

  She turned in a slow circle, trying to catch even a glimpse of movement, a shadow, a clue. The crowd had swallowed them whole.

  “They must have noticed something,” she muttered, frustration seeping into her voice. 'Maybe the girl tipped them off.'

  This time, she didn’t wait for someone to stop her.

  The attendant barely had time to register her before Katherine vaulted over the counter in one fluid motion.

  The girl’s eyes widened in surprise, the faint blue circuitry beneath her synthetic skin pulsing brighter in alarm.

  Katherine’s hand shot forward, gripping the attendant by the throat and lifting her clean off the ground.

  “You tipped them off, didn’t you?” Katherine’s voice was low, dangerous. “Tell me the truth, or I’ll have to extract from your pieces, Android.”

  The android’s eyes flickered, her artificial lungs whirring as she tried to form words.

  “My lady—please!” The older officer’s voice came from behind her, strained with panic. “Patience! Your image, remember!”

  Katherine ignored him. The girl’s hands clawed weakly at her wrist, her voice coming out in a faint, mechanical rasp.

  Then the android nodded, slowly, trembling.

  Katherine released her.

  The girl fell to the ground in a heap, the impact making a hollow clang against the metal flooring. Her movements were jerky as her internal systems recalibrated.

  “What did they want here?” Katherine demanded, her tone hard as steel. “What did they do in that room?”

  The android’s voice was shaky, her tone flickering between human fear and machine precision. “Th-they hired one of the girls,” she stammered. “Just to record. That’s all.”

  Katherine wasn’t convinced. Her eyes narrowed, the gears of her mind already turning.

  She’d seen this before—schemes buried beneath scandal, traps disguised as vice. Nobles didn’t risk exposure for pleasure; they risked it for power.

  "Did they have a Digital Mask?" Kathrine asked with something clicking in her mind.

  "I-I don't know." The attendant answered.

  Her mind raced through possibilities, the threads of politics and deceit weaving themselves into a pattern.

  'Who are they trying to impersonate? Worse, who are they deceiving?'

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