Scene 9

“Alright, again—why am I doing this?”

Benjamín clung to a set of bars, his feet balanced on beams that looked ready to give way at any second.

For anyone else, certain death.

For him, it was no more dangerous than swinging from a handrail.

“Because you’re the one who can teleport,” Rose replied through the communicator. “Besides, nothing’s going to happen to you if—”

“Yeah, I know. You don’t need to explain my own abilities to me.”

Green, red, and blue. Three wires. One answer.

And in Benjamín’s hands—pliers.

But there was nothing lethal about it. No bomb. No timer.

Just a small puzzle he had to solve to open a door.

“Rose, there are three wires—red, green, and blue. Which one do I cut?” he asked.

Rose had no idea. “Cut all of them. We don’t have time.”

Benjamín let his head fall back. We have all the time in the world, damn it.

He cut them anyway—one after the other. A few sparks snapped in the air.

The doors slid open.

“Oh. Perfect,” he muttered.

With a thundercrack, he was already standing in front of them.

He walked toward the railing. Rose was supposed to be below. “Hey, I’m here.”

She wasn’t.

“What?”

A light touch on his shoulder.

A prickling sensation spread across his skin.

“SHIT!”

Benjamín had already raised his fists—then dropped them at once.

It was just Rose.

She flashed him a sharp grin.

“If you’re not even going to laugh, don’t do that,” he said.

Her smile only sharpened. “Nah. I like watching you suffer.”

He watched her walk through the newly opened door, his brows knitting. “Damn…”

Rose stepped into the room. The paint was worn, the walls scratched, the metal floor rusted.

And right in the center—

a console.

“I think this is what we’re looking for,” she said, pointing.

Benjamín moved in quickly. “You think?” he replied, his tone dripping with the obvious.

“I’m the one who bullies,” Rose shot back.

He let out a small laugh. “Sure. It was the disk he wanted, right?”

She nodded.

Perfect.

He approached the console and, without hesitation, took the disk. “No risks, no complications—that’s how I li—”

And just as Benjamín thought it would be easy—

it wasn’t.

Multiple masked figures emerged.

Rose and Benjamín moved back-to-back, ready for whatever came next.

“The hell is this?” Benjamín said.

Rose nudged him with her elbow. “Your time to shine.”

“I don’t—ugh.”

One of the masked men lunged at Benjamin with a heavy strike. He slipped past it cleanly—time was tightening around them. A blow came from behind—

The space around him warped, folding inward as he vanished.

He reappeared at the attacker’s back, his hand clamping around the man’s throat, cutting off his breath in an instant.

Across the room, Rose moved like a storm, driving kicks into anyone who came within reach. Blood from the masked men had already begun to stain the walls. One of them managed to land a hit—her jaw snapped out of place.

She staggered.

For a moment, her eyes lost focus. One foot steadied her. Then the other.

“You’re going to regret that, bastard,” she said, her gaze burning as she spat to the side.

She spun sharply—

A crack rang out, echoing through the man’s jaw. He collapsed, his body giving out before it even hit the ground.

Benjamin seized another attacker by the throat. Someone rushed him from behind—he hurled the man backward, sending both of them crashing down like bowling pins. Another came at him from the left.

He drew in a sharp breath.

His chest snapped with a dry, splintering sound—and with a violent shout, he drove the man straight into the wall.

His organs burst free on impact.

“Shit!” Rose shouted from several meters away.

Benjamin’s hand flew to his mouth.
“…That was an accident.”

Footsteps, behind him—

And like a whirlwind, he spun—fast as a snap. The man’s jaw gave way without resistance, abandoning him at once.

The sound of his collapse was the only thing that lingered in the air.

Benjamin turned, sweeping his gaze across the room, scanning every corner.

No one else.

“I suppose… we can leave now,” he said, a hint of triumph in his voice as he raised his hand. “And here we ha—”

Empty.

“Where is it?” he muttered, eyes darting across the floor.

His steps grew sharper, more restless the longer he searched—until he stopped in front of Rose and met her gaze.

His heart stalled.

“I missed that,” Rose admitted, biting her lip.

“I didn’t. Not one bit,” Benjamin replied.

She tilted her head, offering him a daring smile. “Give me another chance… pleeease…”

“No.”

Rose let out an exaggerated groan. “Ugh… fine. Here.” The disk rested in her hand.

Benjamin snatched it from her and headed for the door without another word.

Rose watched him go, her eyes fixed on his back—

And at the very last second, her smile shifted.

What remained was a crooked, unsettling trace of it.