The driver stepped out of the car before Neo had even crossed half the distance from the building.

He was enormous.

Not simply tall. He had to be a little over two meters, broad through the shoulders, heavy through the chest, the kind of man who made the sidewalk feel smaller just by standing on it.

Neo stopped for a beat and studied him.

The giant reached him in a few long steps and dipped his head just enough to pass for respectful.

"Please get in," he said, voice low and flat. "Miss Vivienne is waiting for you."

Neo trusted the whole scene about as far as he could throw the car.

A rich family girl sending a giant in a luxury car to pick him up sounded exactly like the sort of thing that got people found in rivers later. Even so, she had the kind of background where this probably counted as normal. Maybe this was her version of sending a taxi. Maybe in families like the Mournes, every simple thing had to come wrapped in ten layers of money and inconvenience.

He clicked his tongue softly and climbed in.

The door shut by itself the moment he was seated, soft and expensive, like even the sound had been taught manners. The giant returned to the driver’s seat without a wasted movement. Up close, his face gave away nothing. He had the emotional range of stone carved into a servant. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Neo leaned back and let the car move.

The inside was absurd.

The leather alone probably cost more than his entire apartment. The stitching on the seats looked hand-done. The glass darkened the city outside just enough to turn everything into a cleaner, more distant version of itself. Even the air smelled expensive.

’How much does something like this cost?’

That was a real question.

He could probably get a license now if he wanted. Not because he suddenly cared about driving, but because not needing to walk or squeeze onto public transport all the time would be nice. Especially if he was going to keep moving around the city, hunting grounds, Breaches, and whatever else came next.

His thoughts turned where they always did eventually.

’Speaking of money...’

He didn’t have much left.

Two months. Maybe a little less if he kept spending without thinking. Food. Rent. Transport. Gear. Training. Everything peeled credits away faster than he liked. One of the reasons he had agreed to meet Vivienne at all sat right there in his messages from last night. When she had offered to pay for his time and sent the number, Neo had accepted almost instantly.

A hundred thousand Origin Points.

That was a ridiculous amount for a conversation.

Almost as much as what he had gotten from selling his first Soul Relic.

That alone would have dragged him here even if curiosity hadn’t already done half the work. And curiosity was there, whether he liked it or not. Why did someone like Vivienne Mourne want to talk to him personally? What was she really after?

From everything he had seen so far, she didn’t come across as rotten. She had sent reinforcement toward the Breach when it closed, which meant she had at least tried to stop the worst outcome, even if it hadn’t changed much in practice. That counted for something.

The messages from yesterday sat on the other side of that.

Neo frowned faintly.

He still didn’t like her tone.

Maybe she was just playing with him. Maybe she liked poking at people and seeing what they did. Maybe it was habit from growing up above everyone else and assuming the world would adjust around that. Whatever the reason, he had little patience for it. People acting like they stood over him had always been the fastest way to make his temper rise.

The city shifted outside as the car climbed through richer districts.

People here wore clothes that looked simple until you thought about how much simple cost when the fabric sat that well. Neo knew the area by name. Seeing it from inside a car like this gave it a different shape.

By the time the vehicle slowed again, his mood had not improved much.

The restaurant sat high inside a tower of glass and black steel, so far above the street that it looked less like a place for food and more like somewhere executives went to decide who would become miserable next. Neo stepped out and tilted his head back just enough to take in the height.

’Fuck.’

He had known the place.

Actually seeing it like this was different.

A uniformed guard at the entrance took one look at him and approached with a smile so polite it became insulting.

"Sir," the man said, one hand already extended toward the side corridor near the lobby, "if you would come with me for a moment."

Neo’s suspicion rose at once.

"For what?"

The guard’s smile didn’t move. "A minor adjustment."

That sounded exactly as bad as it should have.

Neo got two steps into refusing before the whole thing stopped being optional. The giant driver appeared behind him like a moving wall, another staff member arrived from the side with the speed of someone who had done this before, and within seconds Neo found himself marched down a private corridor into a room that smelled of fabric, perfume, and expensive irritation.

Hands were on him immediately. His jacket disappeared first, then the shirt, then someone pushed a dark one at his chest while another person adjusted the sleeves as if he were a display mannequin that had started complaining. Neo clicked his tongue, twisted once, got a flat "Please cooperate, sir," from somewhere near his shoulder, and realized that fighting a miniature dressing squad in a side room of a luxury tower would make him look far more ridiculous than he was willing to endure.

So he let them finish. By the time they were done, his cheap clothes had vanished, a fitted dark outfit sat on him far better than it had any right to, and the giant driver was already holding the door as if none of this had been even slightly deranged.

Neo stepped back into the main hall in a worse mood than before.

The guard gestured toward the elevator with the smooth confidence of a man who knew the building itself would crush any complaint before it traveled far.

"Right this way."

Neo entered without answering.

The elevator climbed in near silence. One side was nothing but glass, and the city kept dropping lower beneath them until it no longer felt like a place people lived and more like a spread of lights laid out for someone richer to enjoy. The giant stayed behind him without making a sound. Neo could feel the man’s presence anyway.

When the doors opened, the whole upper floor was empty.

The restaurant had been cleared out for a single person, and that single person stood near the vast windows at the far side, with the city burning gold and pale fire beyond the glass.

Vivienne Mourne had changed too.

The last time he had seen her, she had been all sharp lines and aftermath, red hair and blood-bright presence in the chaos outside the Breach. Here, in the height and quiet of that floor, she looked almost unreal. The dress she wore was red enough to make the city behind her seem duller for trying to compete with it. A silver pendant rested at her throat, catching the last clean pieces of daylight. One hand held the stem of a glass she had not touched in a while. She turned at the sound of him arriving.

A smile touched her mouth as if she had been expecting exactly this picture.

"Oh, you finally made it, white-haired boy."