Maya Rios had never feared an enemy like she feared Mantis.
Not because Mantis was stronger — Maya had faced stronger.
Not because Mantis was faster — Maya had chased faster.
Not because Mantis was unpredictable — Maya herself was unpredictable.
No.
She feared Mantis because the woman didn't just aim to kill.
She aimed to take things.
Take advantages.
Take weaknesses.
Take lives.
Take people.
And tonight, for the first time, Maya watched someone look at Jack — her rookie, her responsibility — with the same hunger a predator reserves for prey that has already bled.
The image burned in her mind long after the alarms fell silent.
Mantis's glowing eyes.
Her mocking bow.
Her knife hovering inches from Maya's throat.
Her voice echoing like poison.
"I only came to see him."
Maya replayed the moment over and over as she walked Jack and Rafael through the secured tactical corridor toward the debriefing room.
Jack was quiet — too quiet.
And that terrified her more than Mantis ever could.
The Debrief Room
Director Ward was already waiting inside, armed guards at her back, expression forged from steel.
"Maya. Rafael. Report."
Rafael delivered the facts like bullets from a gun.
"Mantis infiltrated the south corridor. Zero casualties. Zero traps. Zero failed breaches. She came silently and left silently."
Ward's jaw clenched. "Her message?"
"She wanted Jack to see her," Rafael said.
Ward turned to Jack. "Did she touch you?"
"No," Jack whispered. "But she… she knew things. About me. About the training. About you."
Ward closed her eyes.
Maya watched something like guilt flicker through the director's expression.
"She's closer to Mercer than anyone else," Ward said. "He told her everything."
Jack swallowed. "She called me Alpha."
Maya felt his hand shake at his side.
And before she thought about it, she moved closer.
Not touching — but close enough that he could feel her presence.
Ward folded her arms. "We knew Helix would escalate. We didn't expect it this soon."
Rafael muttered, "They never follow a predictable timeline."
Maya didn't speak.
Her mind was still on the way Mantis moved — liquid, boneless, graceful. A shadow with intent.
And on what Mantis had said.
"The pet wolf guarding the lamb."
Maya's hand curled into a fist.
She wasn't a wolf.
She wasn't a pet.
She wasn't someone's toy or rival in this sick game.
She was a protector.
Jack's protector.
Ward pulled up surveillance logs. "Jack, describe exactly what you felt during the interaction."
Jack hesitated.
Then said, haltingly, "It was like… she knew me. Not from reports. Like she'd been studying me. Watching me."
Maya stiffened.
"From where?" she demanded.
Jack shook his head. "I don't know."
Rafael tapped the table. "She must've been inside Astra longer than we realized. She could've planted sensors. Micro-cams. Hell — she could've been watching from the rooftops."
Maya felt a jolt.
"Rooftops."
She remembered the moment earlier.
When she had felt… something.
A presence.
A shadow.
Her instincts screamed at her that someone had been watching them.
She hadn't been wrong.
Ward looked at Maya, reading her expression. "You sensed her?"
Maya nodded once. "Earlier. Before the breach."
Ward exhaled sharply. "Then we're out of time."
Jack blinked. "Out of time for what?"
Ward leaned forward.
"Your first real mission."
Jack nearly stumbled backward. "I'm not— I'm not ready."
Maya's eyes widened. "Director, that's reckless. He barely survived a simulation—"
Ward cut her off.
"And now he has to survive reality. Helix won't wait for us to prepare him."
Jack's breathing quickened. "I don't even have basic field skills—"
"You will," Ward said.
He shook his head. "You don't understand—"
Maya stepped in front of him.
"Stop," she whispered. "Breath. Look at me."
Jack met her eyes.
Frantic.
Young.
Human.
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not going into the field alone."
He swallowed hard. "But I'm not a soldier."
"No," she said firmly. "But you're not a victim either."
His shoulders sagged.
"You'll have me and Rafael," she added.
He blinked. "Both of you?"
Rafael shrugged. "Quality protection doesn't come cheap."
Jack huffed out something like a laugh.
Ward watched with calculating eyes.
Human connection was a liability in intelligence.
But sometimes — the right connection saved lives.
"Maya," Ward said. "Tell him what he needs to hear."
Maya straightened.
Her voice softened.
"You survived Mantis."
Jack blinked. "She didn't try to kill me."
"She could have," Maya said. "But you didn't freeze. You didn't collapse. You stayed alert. You moved."
Jack looked down at his hands.
They still trembled slightly.
"I was terrified," he whispered.
"That's good," Maya said.
He frowned. "How is that good?"
"Because fear means you care about surviving," she said. "And people who care about living are more dangerous than people who don't."
Jack stared at her.
He knew she meant it.
He felt steadier — because she believed he could be steady.
Rafael walked around the room, restless.
"We need to move fast," he said. "Helix is observing. Testing Astra's defenses. Testing Jack's reactions."
Ward nodded. "Exactly. Mantis wasn't here to retrieve Jack. She was here to learn him."
Maya's stomach twisted.
"She analyzes her prey before she hunts."
Jack's face drained of color.
"That's what she wants," Maya said. "To study you. To get inside your head."
Jack whispered, "It already feels like she's in there."
Maya's voice firmed.
"No. She isn't. Not yet. Not if we get ahead of her."
But she didn't say the rest aloud:
You don't know what Mantis does to people she hunts.
She remembered the reports.
The bodies.
The absence of bodies.
Helix's silent strike.
Rafael broke the tension with a harsh sigh. "Ward, we need details. What mission?"
Ward tapped a console.
A map projected itself.
Coordinates glowed red in Utah.
"A Helix drop point," Ward said. "Supplies. Data. Possibly personnel. We intercepted a message hours ago. Something is being transferred."
Jack blinked. "And you want me there?"
Ward met his eyes.
"Yes."
"But why?!"
"Because Helix will sense you," she said. "Your presence will draw out the operatives or trigger their sensors. That gives us intel."
Jack froze.
Maya glared at Ward. "So you're using him as bait?"
Ward's silence was answer enough.
Maya stepped forward, voice low and dangerous.
"If anything happens to him—"
Ward cut her off. "That's why YOU are protecting him."
Maya clenched her jaw.
Hard enough that her teeth hurt.
Ward continued.
"You are the best operative Astra has. Rafael is the best strategist. Together, you can keep him alive."
Jack stared at the floor.
Maya felt an ache in her chest.
An emotion she hated.
One she wasn't supposed to feel.
Fear.
Fear for him.
Rafael finally spoke again. "What's the timeline?"
Ward tapped another file.
"Wheels down in eight hours."
Jack's head jerked up. "Eight hours?! That's not enough time to prepare!"
"It's all the time you have."
Maya exhaled slowly.
Her mind was already in mission mode.
Weapons checks.
Supply lists.
Communication channels.
Route maps.
Backup plans.
Emergency evac.
But beneath all the planning, something heavy sat in her chest:
Mantis's words echoing like a cold wind.
"The pet wolf guarding the lamb."
She wasn't Jack's wolf.
She wasn't anyone's anything.
But she knew one truth tonight:
She would kill Mantis before she let Mantis touch him.
Ward's final words echoed like a verdict.
"Prepare yourselves. Helix moves fast."
Maya touched Jack's shoulder again.
He looked at her — pleading for reassurance she wasn't sure she had.
But she forced herself to be steady for him.
"We'll get through this," she said.
Jack's voice was barely a whisper.
"Will we?"
"Yes," she said. "Because you're not alone. And you never will be — not as long as I'm here."
She didn't realize she'd said too much until Rafael raised an eyebrow.
Maya shot him a glare that said say a word and die.
Rafael wisely shut his mouth.
Ward dismissed them.
As they walked out, Maya glanced over her shoulder.
She could swear she saw something move in the shadows.
Not Mantis.
Something worse.
Destiny.