After Ryan dropped them off at the edge of the street and turned back toward the Boardwalk, Cindy and Daisy made their way inside together. The area was quiet in the way it only got late at night , settled, most of the noise of the day packed away somewhere out of reach. The torches were keeping things at a low burn, scattered at careful intervals and doing just enough to push the dark back without wasting what couldn’t be replaced. Out at the barricades, the watch shifts would keep them going through the night, ready to flare up at the first wrong sound. They had enough batteries stockpiled to keep that going for a while yet, one of the smarter calls that had been made early on, prioritizing that particular resource before everything else ran dry.

They found Rachel almost immediately, standing outside in easy conversation with Margaret, their voices low and hushed.

Both women looked up when Cindy and Daisy came through.

"You’re back," Rachel said. "What took you so long, did you two stop for a five-course meal while you were over there?"

"I wish," Cindy said, coming to a stop beside them. "We weren’t exactly enjoying ourselves, Ryan just decided to disappear for hours without telling anyone he was alive. Same as always."

Rachel laughed, soft and knowing. "You’ve known him long enough at this point."

"We have," Cindy said, sighing. "Doesn’t make it less infuriating."

Margaret tilted her head toward them. "How did it seem over there? The Boardwalk, what did you make of it?"

Cindy thought about it for a moment before answering. "Honestly? Better than I expected. Much better. Once you get inside and actually look around, it’s, it feels almost normal. People moving around, doing things, looking out for each other. If you didn’t know what the streets looked like outside those walls, you could almost forget." She paused. "It surprised me. In a good way."

Margaret’s expression shifted into something quieter and more thoughtful. A little wistful, maybe.

"That sounds like something worth having," she said.

"We could get there," Cindy said, optimistically. "Honestly. If we work at it, a month, maybe less. We have more space than they do." She glanced sideways at Daisy. "Right?"

Daisy considered it and nodded too. "I think so, yes. The Municipal Office was already functional and this place has so much more room to work with. There’s real potential here if it’s organized properly." She said it quietly, like she was still thinking it through as the words came out.

Margaret smiled at that. "You’re both right. We have a lot to build with." She glanced between them, her voice shifting into something gently firm. "But for now, both of you need to sleep. I hear tomorrow is going to be a full day."

She left them with that, her footsteps fading quietly.

Rachel looked at Cindy and Daisy for a moment, then tilted her head in the direction of the hotel.

"Come on. Ryan told you about Mei, I assume?"

They both nodded.

"Then we’re all on the same page. We’re moving a little after noon tomorrow, that should time it right for the exchange." She started walking and they fell into step alongside her. "Make sure you get actual rest tonight. We need to be sharp."

"What about Penny?" Cindy asked as they moved through the corridor toward the stairs. "The woman Ryan brought in, how is that being handled while we’re all gone tomorrow?"

"Already sorted," Rachel said. "I spoke to Kunta about it and she agreed to let Sonny watch over her." She paused to let that land. "That machine went up against both Ryan and me and held its own doing it. It was built specifically to deal with Symbiote hosts, if anything can keep Penny contained safely while we’re out, it’s that." She glanced at Daisy specifically as she said the next part. "You and Rebecca should stay close to Kunta while we’re gone though. Keep an eye on things, make sure she has what she needs."

Daisy straightened almost imperceptibly. "I...I will!" She said, and she meant it entirely with how enthusiastic to be useful she seemed.

Rachel smiled at her. Then her eyes moved to Daisy’s face more precisely noticing the new glasses.

"You finally got your glasses sorted."

Daisy giggled and reached up to push them up her nose with one finger. "Finally yes. I cannot tell you how wrong everything looked through a cracked lens. I’d almost gotten used to it and then the moment these went on I realized how badly I’d been managing."

"You looked very terrible with that broken lens," Rachel said, chuckling. "I’m glad that’s been fixed."

Daisy was still smiling when they reached the hotel. She took the the stairs quickly, already moving ahead, and disappeared upward.

Rachel and Cindy followed at a slower pace.

"Is Christopher still in with Lucy?" Cindy asked, dropping her voice now that it was just the two of them.

"Still there, yeah," Rachel said, and some of the ease went out of her expression. "And now Penny too. He’s been at it all day."

"Is he alright?" Cindy asked, concerned. "That’s a long stretch for one person."

"I’ve been wondering the same thing," Rachel admitted. "He’s running on stubbornness at this point, probably. But he doesn’t want anyone without abilities and seriousness taking over the watch while Penny’s in there, not knowing what she can do so he’s staying put." She exhaled. "Sydney is in there with him, at least. So he’s not alone."

Cindy’s expression shifted. A complicated look passed across her face that wasn’t quite concern and wasn’t quite amusement but was doing its best to be both at once.

"Christopher and Sydney," she said slowly. "Together. Watching over two hostages. One of whom works for Callighan." She pressed her lips together. "Is that actually a good idea?"

Rachel opened her mouth. Then closed it.

And then she laughed because there really wasn’t anything else appropriate to say about it. Christopher was the calmer of the two, yes, but Lucy’s connection to Callighan had been chipping away at that calm steadily since the moment she’d arrived, and every hour that passed seemed to be shaving a little more off his patience.

He was pissed off after Gaspar took Mei and also the precious Tri Core Matrix Bow they had recovered along the three stones they had obtained after death fights against Starakians bio technologies.

And Sydney had never in her life held her tongue when she could be using it instead.

Whatever was happening in that room right now, it was almost certainly not quiet.

After a quick, quiet exchange with Rachel, Cindy peeled off toward her own room. The day had been long and it had been harder for her after she awakened her Dullahan Ability.

Rachel, meanwhile, turned toward the stairs and kept going up.

She’d been meaning to check on Kunta since earlier in the evening and hadn’t managed it until now. The upper floor was quiet as she climbed. She moved through it without hurrying, following the thin line of light that slipped out from under one of the doors ahead of her and painted a pale stripe across the hallway floor.

She pushed the door open gently.

Kunta was on the bed, propped up against the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her, and Sonny was right there beside her, the mechanical animal curled close. The blue glow escaped its body, casting the room softly. Clara was sitting nearby in easy conversation with her too.

Rachel stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the scene and smiled.

"I see you’ve fully come around to having an alien on the top floor, Clara," she said.

Clara looked up and laughed. "I mean, honestly? She’s not that different." She leaned forward slightly. "Did you know they don’t actually speak our languages? They have some kind of device, installed, apparently that picks up whatever language they’re hearing and translates it in real time, straight through the vocal cords. Perfectly. From our side it sounds exactly like English but she’s not actually speaking a word of it."

Rachel blinked, turning toward Kunta with a dumbfounded expression. "Really?"

Kunta’s mouth curved into smirk. She reached up and tapped the side of her neck, just below the jaw. "How did you think you understood me this whole time?" She said. "It’s inserted here. It catalogues every language in our database and runs translation through the vocal cords in real time. From where you’re sitting I’m speaking English. From where I’m sitting I have not said a single word of it."

Rachel stared at her for a moment, trying to detect some trace of it and found nothing. It was seamless. Completely, disturbingly seamless.

"That is amazing," she said.

"What did you think we were?" Kunta replied, the smirk shading into something closer to quiet pride.

Rachel smiled at that. She let her eyes move briefly to Sonny, the soft blue pulse of it casting the whole room in that clean, otherworldly glow and felt the same small wave of wonder she always did when she looked at it for more than a second. It never quite got ordinary, no matter how many times she saw it.

"Thank you," she said, looking at Kunta properly. "For letting us use Sonny tomorrow. I know it’s not a small thing to ask."

Kunta shrugged. "Just keep whatever you’re dealing with up here on this floor and Sonny will handle the rest." She gave the mechanical animal a single pat on its flank and Sonny’s glow shifted very slightly in response, like a breath.

"I’m completely done," Clara said, uncurling herself from her seat and standing. "I’m going to sleep before I fall asleep sitting up." She looked at Rachel. "Night."

"Good night, Clara. Thank you for keeping her company."

"Don’t mention it," Clara said, and waved a hand loosely behind her as she disappeared out the door. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The room settled back into quiet. Sonny’s glow moved gently, that slow blue pulse filling the space between them.

"So," Kunta said, her eyes on Rachel. "What’s happening tomorrow? You wouldn’t all be planning something if it wasn’t significant."

Rachel considered for a moment. There wasn’t much reason to be opaque about it.

"We might have a way to get one of our people back," she said. "Someone Callighan’s group took. We’re working an exchange, we give them something they want and we get our person home. It’s as straightforward as those things ever get."

Kunta was quiet for a beat.

"What about Zakthar?"

Rachel looked at her and didn’t pretend.

"Kunta..." She exhaled slowly. "I don’t think they’re going to let a Starakian walk out of there without getting something significant in return. Not yet. I’m sorry."

She watched Kunta’s face move through something. Just a quiet dimming, like a light turned down a few degrees. The understanding was already there in her eyes before Rachel had finished speaking, which was almost harder to watch than if she’d argued.

She knew. She’d known.

"I understand," Kunta said.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

Then—

"Big sister!!"

The door crashed open.

Rebecca came through it at speed, breathing hard, her face a shade of pale that had nothing to do with the light in the room. Her expression was twisted up in panic.

Rachel was already on her feet. "Rebecca—"

"I..It’s Christopher!" The words came out broken and breathless, Rebecca’s chest still heaving from the run. "Something happened."