====== ACE 37 — Predictable Damage (Act 4: Distributed Pressure) ====== The hallway didn’t fight them anymore. That was worse. ---- Ace slowed as they moved. Not because she had to. Because nothing //forced// her not to. “…I don’t like this,” she muttered. Mai didn’t look up. “You didn’t like it before either.” “Yeah,” Ace said. “That was different.” A beat. “…that was him.” ---- Shammy’s gaze drifted ahead. Not focused. Listening. “He’s not gone,” she said. ---- Mai nodded once. “No.” A pause. “He just stopped needing to be close.” ---- That landed. Harder than anything else so far. ---- They reached the junction. Three paths. All clear. All viable. All wrong. ---- Ace glanced left. Then right. Then forward. “…okay,” she said slowly. “That’s new.” Mai stepped forward just enough to see all three angles. “Before,” she said, “he constrained outcomes.” A beat. “Now he’s expanding them.” ---- Shammy exhaled. The air didn’t settle. It spread. ---- “…he’s giving us choices,” she said. ---- Ace grimaced. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s worse.” ---- A crackle in the comms. Not theirs. Again. ---- “Unit 2 reporting—” Static. “…no contact, but—” Cut. ---- Mai froze. “Repeat that.” Nothing. ---- Ace tapped her own comm. “Say again.” ---- Silence. ---- Shammy tilted her head slightly. “They’re still talking,” she said. Ace frowned. “We’re not hearing it.” “No,” Shammy replied. “They’re not talking to us.” ---- Mai’s eyes narrowed. “…segmented communication,” she said. A beat. “He’s splitting the field.” ---- Ace exhaled sharply. “Great.” ---- Movement. Left corridor. Not fast. Not hidden. Just— Present. ---- Ace shifted toward it immediately. Then stopped. Forced herself to. “…too obvious,” she muttered. ---- Mai nodded. “Yes.” A pause. “Which means…” ---- “Which means we still check it,” Ace said. ---- Shammy didn’t argue. ---- They moved left. Not together. Not aligned. ---- The corridor narrowed slightly. Lights dimmer. Sound tighter. ---- At the far end— A body. ---- Ace stopped. “…again.” ---- This one wasn’t clean. Not like before. ---- He was alive. ---- Barely. ---- “Don’t—” the man rasped as they approached. “Don’t listen to—” He choked. Coughed. Blood this time. Real. ---- Ace crouched beside him. “Easy,” she said. “Who did this?” ---- The man’s eyes flicked past her. Behind. ---- “…you already know,” he whispered. ---- Ace didn’t turn. “…yeah,” she said. “Humor me.” ---- His breathing hitched. “You’ll… you’ll go right next,” he said. A pause. “Because this feels like a dead end.” ---- Ace didn’t react. Didn’t move. ---- Mai did. Just slightly. ---- The man smiled. Weak. Broken. Certain. ---- “…see?” ---- Shammy stepped forward. The air tightened. ---- “No,” she said quietly. ---- The man’s expression faltered. Just for a second. ---- Ace saw it. ---- “…you didn’t come up with that,” she said. ---- The man blinked. Confused. ---- Mai leaned in. “He did,” she said. “Earlier.” A beat. “You’re just following it now.” ---- The man’s breathing sped up. Panic. Real this time. ---- “I didn’t—” he started. ---- “Doesn’t matter,” Ace cut in. ---- She stood. Slow. ---- “…we’re not finishing it.” ---- The man grabbed her sleeve. Desperate. “You have to—” ---- Ace pulled free. “Yeah,” she said. “We don’t.” ---- They stepped back. Left him there. Alive. Unresolved. ---- The corridor held. ---- Nothing triggered. ---- No shift. No trap. ---- Mai exhaled. “…that’s new.” ---- Shammy nodded. “Yes.” A pause. “He expected completion.” ---- Ace rolled her shoulder. “Yeah,” she said. “Too bad.” ---- A faint sound echoed from the other corridor. Right. ---- Not movement. Not voice. ---- Something else. ---- All three of them felt it. ---- “…there,” Shammy said. ---- Mai’s eyes sharpened. “That’s not the same pattern.” ---- Ace didn’t hesitate this time. ---- She moved. Right corridor. Fast. Wrong. ---- And for the first time since they’d entered— Something reacted immediately. ---- The lights flickered. Hard. ---- Sound snapped out of sync. ---- And the air— Compressed. ---- Shammy’s head snapped up. “…no,” she said. ---- Mai’s voice cut in. “That’s not him.” ---- Ace didn’t slow. ---- “…good,” she said. ---- “Then it bleeds.”