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Night City didn’t change.

It never did.

Not for this.

Traffic moved.

Lights shifted.

Voices layered over each other—messy, constant—

alive in a way that didn’t ask questions.

The tower behind them—

just another line cutting into the skyline.

No markers.

No warnings.

Nothing to separate it from everything else.

It stood—

functional—

and just slightly off.

Ace moved through the street.

Not leading.

Not following.

Just—moving.

Mai stayed beside her.

The photograph—

not put away—

not carried openly—

held.

It hadn’t reacted.

Not once.

That was worse.

Shammy tilted her head.

The air moved freely again—

uneven in all the right ways.

Alive.

“…it didn’t stay behind,” she said.

Mai didn’t look at her.

“I know.”

Ace didn’t respond.

She didn’t need to.

V walked a step behind them.

Quieter than usual.

“…you’re not going to explain that, are you.”

Mai didn’t answer.

Because explaining it—

would give it edges.

And this—

didn’t have any yet.

Ace slowed.

Just enough.

The city flowed around them.

Didn’t notice.

Didn’t care.

“Next.”

Mai adjusted her grip—

not on the photograph—

on whatever it was trying to be.

“Rogue will have something.”

Shammy exhaled.

The air shifted—

then settled—

then shifted again.

Somewhere below—

buried in systems that were still trying to function—

something misfired.

Corrected.

Then misfired again.

Small.

Repeatable.

Unnoticed.

V glanced at them.

“…you’re going to fit in here way too well.”

Ace didn’t smile.

“Good.”

That word again.

Mai’s fingers tightened—

just slightly.

For a moment—

the surface of the photograph felt wrong.

Not texture.

Not temperature.

Something else.

Like it didn’t quite agree

with being where it was.

She didn’t look at it.

Didn’t need to.

And the city—

unaware—

unconcerned—

kept moving.

Because in Night City—

things didn’t have to make sense.

They didn’t have to belong.

They didn’t even have to be right.

They just had to keep going—

long enough—

that no one stopped to ask

what they were becoming.

—

© 2025-2026. “World of Ace, Mai and Shammy” and all original characters, settings, story elements, and concepts are the intellectual property of the author. All rights reserved.
Non-commercial fan works are allowed with attribution.
Commercial use, redistribution, or adaptation requires explicit permission from the author.

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