They stepped out of the restaurant into the cool night air. The city lights cast long shadows across the pavement, and the hum of distant traffic mixed with the soft chatter of pedestrians passing by.
Vespera adjusted her coat and glanced at the group. "It's time to leave."
Kaiden looked at her and asked, "Would it be possible for us to take a short walk in the city? Just for a bit."
Vespera paused. Her eyes swept across the street, calculating risks and variables in the span of a heartbeat. Then she lifted one hand and snapped her fingers once.
The response was immediate and overwhelming.
Figures dropped from rooftops with practiced silence, landing in perfect formation around them. A man in a casual business suit who had been walking past suddenly stopped and fell into line. A woman pushing a stroller turned sharply and joined the perimeter. Then the ground itself rippled, and three more operatives emerged from beneath the pavement as if stepping through water.
