Eve was te.

  The hallway of Aegis Academy buzzed with students and operatives hurrying to their respective training blocks, but Eve was in a full sprint. She clutched a stack of books and data pads awkwardly to her chest, her energy monitor bracelet fshing gently with her elevated heart rate. The sleek floor offered little traction against her boots, and her already clumsy tendencies were only made worse by the rush.

  "Sorry! Excuse me!" she called out as she weaved between taller operatives and uniformed instructors.

  Her hair was slightly frizzed from the humidity and her cheeks were flushed with a mix of exertion and embarrassment. She was on her way to meet Arel at the arena for training. As she hurried along, she fumbled for her phone with one hand to send Arel a quick message: "On my way—be there soon!"

  In the split second she looked down to send her message, Eve felt a sudden thud and was knocked completely off bance. Books, papers, and data pads flew from her grip in a ctter of pages and glowing screens. Her phone skidded across the floor, nding several feet away. Dazed, she blinked up from the ground, confused—only to find a familiar tall figure standing over her, equally stunned by the collision.

  Eve blinked up, mortified.

  The man's blue eyes flicked down at her, unreadable but glinting faintly with amusement. He was in full tactical gear, fresh from the training field, his bck combat coat still slightly dusted from earlier drills. She noticed the faint hum of energy around his gauntlets—he hadn't powered down yet.

  "I—sorry, I didn't see you," she stammered, bending quickly to retrieve her scattered materials. Her fingers scrambled clumsily over the floor.

  He crouched down beside her, effortlessly scooping up two of the heavier data pads and handing them to her.

  "You okay?" he asked, casual but cautious, watching her carefully.

  Eve nodded as she scrambled to gather her things. "Yeah, just—really clumsy- so sorry for bumping into you."

  As she reached for the st data pad, her eyes flicked up and widened slightly with recognition. "Wait... you're the soldier that saved me, right? I remember you from the hospital. I never got to thank you."

  Levi blinked, then gave a small, awkward smile. "Yeah... that was me." His voice was quiet, and he didn't say much more, as if unsure how to engage further. He gnced away briefly, letting the silence settle.

  He stood and offered her the st notebook. Eve took the book gently, her fingers brushing his.

  Something sparked.

  Her energy fred for a second—a faint static charge lifting her hair slightly before the bracelet dimmed it. Levi noticed. His gaze lingered just a little longer.

  "You should get that checked," he said, voice lower now. "Your output's rising."

  She nodded, too flustered to say much more.

  Just then, a familiar voice rang out across the corridor. "There you are!" Arel came bounding around the corner, hair bouncing, expression bright. "I thought you might have been lost! Your location said you were all the way over here, so I came to get you..."

  She stopped short when she saw Levi. "Oh! Levi! Hey! You're back from the mission! How was it? Did you run into any more of those shadow crawler things? Did Nyra's tech actually hold up this time? Did you get stuck in another rain zone?"

  The questions came rapid-fire. Levi opened his mouth once—twice—but couldn't get a word in.

  He just ughed awkwardly and gave her a small smile.

  Arel blinked, then turned to Eve. "Oh! Eve—this is Levi! I don't think you've met yet, have you? Were you just talking? Oh no, did I ruin something?"

  "Arel, no one can answer between your ramblings," Levi said in his usual cool tone.

  "Right," she grinned unapologetically and stepped to Eve's side. "Soooo, introductions. This is Levi Bck, team leader of Unit 2 Portal Containment."

  She turned to Levi with a teasing tilt of her head. "And this is Eve, from the other world—you know, the one from the portal! I’ve been training with her. Remember I told you about her?"

  Eve and Levi both smiled awkwardly at each other.

  "Nice to meet you again, Levi," Eve said with a small smile.

  Levi gave a polite nod in return and replied quietly, "You too."

  "Right, we're so te," Arel suddenly gasped, snapping back to urgency. "I think Nyra will kill me—she's waiting for us to try some of her upgraded weapons."

  With that, she started lightly pushing Eve from behind. "Come on, let's go—bye Levi! See you ter for Dax's party, right?"

  Levi gave a soft smile and nodded, his eyes lingering on Eve just a moment longer as they turned to go.

  As they hurried off down the corridor, Arel turned to Eve. "You're coming too, right? It'll be fun. Dax managed to snag snacks from the Ignaran exchange market—real spicy stuff. And Kael actually agreed to show up, which is like... a miracle."

  Eve blinked, still processing everything. "Um... I don't know. I wasn't really pnning on—"

  "Oh no, you are definitely coming," Arel said, looping her arm through Eve's as they walked. "It's your first squad hangout. You'll love it. We'll keep it lowkey—unless Dax spikes the drinks again, but I'll handle that. Promise."