Chapter 15 - Rafael
“Pixie here.” Her voice breaks over the soft jazz humming through the medtruck’s cabin.
Rafael glances up as she straightens and mutes the music with a swipe across the dashboard. After a pause, she adds, “Understood. We’ll be there shortly,” and turns the wheel. The HOV tilts up, weaving between buildings.
“Everything okay?” He tightens his grip on the seatbelt, his other hand hovering near the medkit. They just treated a recruit who fell through a ceiling onto a rusted pipe, one of the many hazards of patrolling Shreveport, according to Pixie.
She nods. “Baron wants to see us.”
His fingers tighten around the seatbelt.
They haven’t spoken since Kane helped him in the mess yesterday, but the memory hasn’t quite settled.
The easy conversation, the brief curve of a smile he almost missed.
Maybe it was nothing. Kane’s been less guarded lately. Anyone would notice a shift like that.
He shakes his head.
No matter how familiar this place starts to feel, it isn’t home. Midtown is. Every message from Lian, every VitaCorp news ping lighting up his wristlink, reminds him.
His gaze drifts to the window. At this hour, and in this part of the city, Shreveport looks nothing like the markets or crowded blocks he’s come to know. The streets are deserted, with blocks of old factories and clusters of Kane’s enforcers on every corner.
When they turn the next corner, a shiver runs through Rafael.
A red holographic wall separates the road, almost ten feet high.
On the other side, guards march with bows and knives, their robes identical to those worn by the girl who started the fire.
Kane’s people face them, some patrolling the ground while others watch from abandoned rooftops.
He can’t tear his gaze away from the wall, even as Pixie leads them out of the medtruck.
It’s like nothing he’s ever seen before, here or in Midtown.
Is this one of the borders Kane mentioned?
Are barriers like this common in the Outer Districts or unique to their neighborhood?
Rafael doesn’t ask any of this, following her along the red glow.
Across the street, Kane stands among a cluster of his crew outside a gutted convenience store. His deep voice cuts through the street noise, and yesterday’s words surface instantly.
Call me Kane.
Maybe it was nothing. It just caught him off guard. Still, he stills when Pixie clasps his shoulder and says, “Baron wants to speak with you.”
“Alone?” Will this be more bad news about the doctor?
She offers a sympathetic smile. “I’ll be back at the truck when you’re done.” Pixie steps back, gesturing toward the street.
Rafael takes a breath and trudges toward Kane with his crew. Facing their leader, the others don’t notice his approach, but Kane catches his gaze over their shoulders. He freezes, fingers twitching, until Kane looks away.
“You have your orders!” Kane calls out. “Back to your positions!”
The crew disperses in all directions, between the buildings and through dim alleyways.
A few pass Rafael, offering him silent nods.
When he turns back to Kane, the man leans against an abandoned HOV, swiping through projected diagrams on a holopad.
He doesn’t look up until Rafael is only a few feet away.
“There you are.” Expression unreadable, Kane slides a box across the hood. “Take these.”
“For me?” Rafael raises a brow.
Kane sets his tablet down and flips open the box. Inside are twelve perfectly baked donuts, each topped with a smear of purple icing. His mouth waters. But what does this mean? Where did Kane get these?
“Didn’t have time to bake them myself,” Kane says, mouth twitching. “Had Mariam follow my recipe, step by step. So it’s basically mine. You can trust they’re better than whatever Terra’s serves.”
Warmth stirs in Rafael’s chest. He can’t remember a time anyone gifted him anything. “I—this is so unexpected.” He gapes. “Thank you, Kane. I can’t wait to try them.”
“You’ve been pulling long shifts. Figured you deserved something decent for once,” Kane mutters, but even with the excuse, the sincerity under his words leaves Rafael off balance.
Before he can respond, Viper appears beside them.
“Baron.” He nods to where Echo is chatting with two strangers across the street.
One is an older woman in a white lab coat, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail.
The other is a younger, dark-skinned man with neon green braided hair and arms full of medkits.
Kane’s shoulders tense. “Wait right here,” he says to Rafael, voice clipped. Their eyes meet only for a moment before he turns and walks off with Viper toward the newcomers.
Rafael looks down at the box of donuts, turning it slightly in his hands. The gesture sits with him longer than it should.
He forces his attention back to the strangers instead.
Kane stands beside them, caught in easy conversation, every movement calm and deliberate.
When he lifts a hand to the back of his neck, the streetlight highlights the line of his jaw, and Rafael’s breath falters before he can stop it. He looks away.
He shouldn’t be noticing details like that. Not about Kane.
As the conversation drifts on, the past few days press in the back of his mind.
Their bonding over food in the kitchen, the easy silences between them, the way Kane nudged him back toward cooking instead of more nursing.
The tension between them doesn’t feel the same anymore.
It’s somehow softened into something harder to place.
His gaze fixes on the street while his feet shift. Whatever this is, it doesn’t belong here—not any more than Rafael does outside Midtown.
“Rafael!”
Kane’s voice calls out, interrupting his thoughts. He runs toward the man before his mind can catch up.
“Yes?” Rafael breathes.
“This is Dr. Hayashi and her assistant, Jamal.” Kane’s voice is sharp and formal. “They’re here to…” Jaw tight, he gestures to the blonde woman and the younger man. “Take over for you.”
For a second, Rafael doesn’t move.
Flashes of his old life rush back to him. His apartment in Midtown, his office at the hospital, Lian smiling with their friends at the club.
He’s going home. He’s free. Finally.
Relief comes first, his shoulders easing. Then something heavier settles in his gut.
After this, there will be no more marketplace visits. No more laughing at stories from Echo. No trips to the Glass Alley. Or a reason to see Kane again.
Right. That’s how it’s supposed to be.
Echo, Wren, Pixie—they were kind to him while he was here, and the neighborhood isn’t as bad as he imagined. And Kane is—
It doesn’t matter.
This was temporary. Just a pause before he heads home and returns to his old life. Where everything makes sense.
“So I’m leaving, then?” Rafael’s voice wavers only slightly.
Kane nods.
A frantic shout erupts from above.
Below, the ground shudders, then lurches beneath them. A deafening roar rips through the street, and Rafael stumbles backward as the world flashes white. He gasps for air, ears ringing with a piercing buzz.
His balance fails, but before he can hit the ground, a strong arm hooks around his waist. The fall is broken by a chest against his side and a cool hand cradling the back of his head with another braced between his shoulder blades.
Slowly, the ringing fades, replaced by crackling wires and distant shouts.
Shapes emerge through a haze of dust until his vision clears with a few blinks.
Above him, Kane crouches with his visor knocked askew and his eyes squeezed shut. Rafael inhales, coughing almost instantly.
When his breathing steadies, he shifts to move a rock digging into his back. Kane’s eyes snap open.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moves. Rafael’s pulse thrums in his throat. Then Kane’s gaze drops, just slightly to his mouth.
Is Kane about to—
The thought barely forms before warmth surges through Rafael’s face. No, he can’t be. Not here.
He goes still, breath hitching, eyes falling shut, and then—
“You need to leave,” a rough voice murmurs.
Rafael jerks back, eyes snapping open. “W-what?”
“You need to leave.” Kane’s brows knit together, lips set in a line.
An ache settles in Rafael’s chest.
Whatever this is between them, it doesn’t matter anymore.