The Pull
1116 Words
No one spoke for a long moment after the scientist’s declaration.
The generator hummed overhead, steady and indifferent, filling the silence where questions should have been. Iris felt it pressing in on her chest, the weight of what had just been confirmed settling into her bones. Proof. Continuation. Black Talon hadn’t stopped—they’d just learned how to hide better.
Ashton was the one who finally moved.
He cleared his throat and straightened, as if remembering his role in the room. “Everyone—this is Dr. Mara Vale.”
The scientist glanced at him, one brow lifting slightly.
“Mara is fine,” she said. “Doctor tends to make people nervous.”
Alex snorted under his breath. “That’s because it usually should.”
Mara ignored him, pushing her glasses up as she glanced around the shelter again, already assessing exits, gear, resources. “You’ve got a tight operation here,” she said to Ashton. “Considering.”
“Didn’t have much of a choice,” he replied. “Mara’s the one I told you about. She knows more about Black Talon robotics than anyone still breathing.”
Her mouth twitched at that. “Low bar. But accurate.”
Her gaze drifted back to Iris—quick this time, almost careful—before she turned back to the table. “Now,” she said briskly, “tell me where to put my stuff down.”
Ashton blinked. “Your—”
“Equipment,” Mara clarified. “Scanners. Tools. Field kit. I didn’t come all this way to look at one piece of metal and theorize.”
She snapped her case shut and slung it back over her shoulder. “I want to go where this came from.”
“There’s nothing left there,” Sadie said. “We cleared it.”
“You cleared threats,” Mara replied. “Not evidence.”
She turned to Iris then, fully this time. “If there are more pieces, they’ll be scattered. Missed. Buried. I want to see if anything else survived the blast.”
A beat passed.
Then Elias stepped slightly closer to Iris without realizing he was doing it. “That area isn’t secure,” he said. “We don’t know if Black Talon—”
“I know,” Mara cut in. Not unkindly. Just firm. “Which is why I won’t be going alone.”
Her eyes flicked to Iris again. A question without words.
Iris felt that hum stir beneath her skin, sharper now. Louder.
“I’ll go,” she said before anyone could object.
Elias turned to her. “Iris—”
“I found the link,” she said calmly. “If there’s more, I’ll feel it.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Elias turned to her, concern sharpening his voice. “How would you feel it?”
Iris hesitated. The hum beneath her skin pulsed again, subtle but undeniable. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just… feel the energy. Like it’s calling to something in me.”
Ashton rubbed a hand over his face. “Alright. Fine. Small team. In and out. Alex, Sadie—you prep perimeter sweeps here. Elias—”
“I’m going,” Elias said immediately.
Ashton hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I figured.”
The group began to move, plans forming in low voices. Maps were adjusted, routes marked. For a moment, Iris found herself standing slightly apart, the noise fading as her thoughts turned inward.
She felt Elias beside her before she saw him.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “I think so.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I’m not.”
They stood there, close enough now that Iris was acutely aware of him—his warmth, the steady rhythm of his breathing. It felt different than before. Not guarded. Not distant.
Honest.
“I don’t like you going back there,” he said. “Not after last time.”
“I know.”
“I mean it,” he added, softer. “What if they really were robots—and they’re still out there? It would explain how Black Talon keeps moving so precisely.”
Iris huffed a quiet breath, a faint smirk tugging at her mouth. “I’m fine. And I’m not a robot.”
Elias’s lips twitched, but his gaze stayed serious. “You know what I mean, Iris.”
That made her look up at him.
His expression wasn’t hardened or guarded. It was open—vulnerable in a way that twisted something deep in her chest. She’d seen that look before on soldiers, on civilians, on people right before everything broke.
But this was different.
This was for her.
“I don’t know how to do this,” Iris admitted. The words slipped out before she could stop them.
“Do what?”
She hesitated, the feeling rising again—unfamiliar, overwhelming. “This. Whatever this is.”
Elias didn’t interrupt. He just waited.
“One minute it feels like you hate me,” she said quietly, “like you don’t trust me at all. And the next… you look at me like I’m something you’re trying to protect. And I don’t know how to make sense of that.”
He smiled faintly. He stepped closer—slow, deliberate, giving her time to pull away.
“Im confused too, but you don’t have to understand it right now,” he said. “You don’t have to name it. Just—don’t shut it out.”
His hand lifted, hesitating near her cheek.
His fingers brushed her skin, light as if he were afraid she might disappear. The sensation sent a sharp rush through her—heat, awareness, something dangerously close to longing.
Her breath caught.
This is what it feels like, she realized distantly. This confusion. This pull.
He leaned in slightly.
The space between them narrowed until she could feel his breath against her lips.
Almost.
The world seemed to hold its breath with them.
“Iris?” a voice called.
They froze.
Mara stood a few steps away, watching them with an unreadable expression. Not surprised. Not judgmental.
Just observant.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
Elias pulled back first, jaw tight, eyes still locked on Iris’s. She felt the absence immediately—like something had been taken from her without warning.
“Yes,” Iris said after a beat. “I am.”
Mara nodded once. “Good. Then let’s go see what Black Talon left behind.”
And as they turned toward the exit, Iris knew one thing with certainty—
Whatever she’d felt just now?
It wasn’t going to let her go.
- Writer
