The smoke wafted in Mika's periphery, covering his mother's face before he grew tired of it. The urge to walk away from this meeting had never been this strong. But for his crew's sake, he must. If it wasn't for Andra Monaldi promising to never make the ZENITH case public, Mika would have ran back to HQ with his stash of Ida Widdman's money, living a life of luxury like the mother he no longer knew.

"Put that away before you kill yourself," Andra clicked her tongue and waved her hand in front of her nose to swat the smoke away from her system. "And before you take me with you."

Mika shrugged and took a long drag. The bitter taste burned down his sinuses, but he welcomed it. He's used to burning, anyway. "Don't be so dramatic," he said. "It's just a little smoke."

Andra's lips curved down into a thin line. "You've been blasting me in the face for half an hour," she said. "That's more than enough smoke."

"I'm not the one who dragged my ass out here," he answered, his tone sharp. "In this heat."

His mother, if she still daydreamed about him calling her that once more, crossed her arms over her elaborate business suit. Sitting inside the cramped space of an outdoor cafe probably didn't sit well with her. No. She's way above doing such normie things.

"This is the only place we can talk without being eavesdropped on," Andra said. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Oh, he did. Didn't mean he'd indulge her his thoughts though. Instead, he smoothed the last huff of the zooroo and flicked it to the ground. His boot delivered the final judgment, smearing ash and embers against the sparkling pavement. Andra must have winced, along with the flinch she delivered, making her chair squeak.

She cleared her throat, relief sagging down her shoulders in the absence of the zooroo's smoke. What the hell was everyone's problem with it? "I have questions. And pleas," she said, adjusting the wide-brimmed hat on her head to cover the impromptu style Mika gave her. "Let's start with what happened in the penthouse. In my office."

"That," Mika scratched his chin and pretended to think, to recall the finer details of the things that whizzed across his mind. He didn't need to. It's as clear as day—how the bullet from his pistol sailed in silence across the air, how it snipped a chunk out of Andra's hair, and how it drilled into Janos Kairon's forehead. For all his yakking, the prick went down without a squeak.

Mika inclined his head in Andra's direction. "What about it?"

"You killed a man," she pointed out as if it's something he missed.

"Yeah, so?" he said, his fingers itching to light another zooroo. Unfortunately, he was running low and still had to drop by the nearby store for a new box. "He was about to gut you like a fish. I'd appreciate a little more gratitude than that."

Andra scoffed. "Why did you let me live, then?" she asked. "If you're that cross with me, you shouldn't have."

He stuck a lip out. Saying he did it because she's his mother sounded like utter bullshit coming from his mouth, so he said, "You have something I want," he said. "The code."

After the debacle, Mika's only focus was to escape the ZENITH. And he did, but not without knocking the shell-shocked woman out of the way. Without Camreen ordering the repair code keeping the synthetic materials around the building without blemish, he threw the last bulb in his belt and made glass shatter. Then, he jumped.

Janos' men didn't see Mika coming when he dropped into the pod where they're holding Cam and Kabe. The EM pistol did its job, and soon, four more people lay bleeding on the streets. Using the cloak of night, he yelled at Kabe to drive and get Laien. They arrived just in time for the Blackcross people to work out the artist wasn't wearing their real face. Kabe leaped out of the pod, tackling the private soldiers to the ground and pummeling them senseless. Mika helped out with the outliers until the magazine ran out.

Zooming back to HQ while making sure they weren't followed, they spent the rest of the dawn sleeping like the dead. By morning, it became clear to Ida: they didn't complete the mission. It's another one of her stupid clauses. If the client met their unfortunate end in the middle of the assignment, the contract wasn't deemed valid until they presented the target in which Ida would be the one who would acquire it.

That's why Mika kept Andra alive. He didn't want to deal with the hassle of the succession and figuring out who the rightful Monaldi heir was. Of course, he could just come out as her son despite her taking all the precautions to declare him dead. That way, the code would still be in his possession. But why would he do that? He's happy to be out of the spotlight, no matter how big Camren claimed his ego to be. If he was to replace his mother, he would have to throw away things important to him too, just like she did.

Andra blew a breath after a period of silence. "I see," she said. "You don't have any intentions on going back?"

"Why would I?" Mika raised an eyebrow. "You want me out of your life back then. Did you change your mind?"

"I did what I could to protect you," she ducked her head as if in apology. "You would have been a target by my enemies before I established myself permanently in the group."

A crappy reason, but a valid one. Mika couldn't say he understood every nuance of it, but she had made her choice back then. He's making one now. "I'll be fine on my own," he said.

"Just so you know," Andra continued. Apparently, she's not done. "I am aware of everything you've done under Ida's guidance. I know you're the one behind the residence thefts over the last half a decade. The people you've helped and avenged—I know about all of them."

Mika leaned back against his chair and studied the pedestrians milling about in the ZENITH's lobby and the landscaped hedges beyond. "What will you do with that information?" he asked. Depending on her response, he would plan his next steps in retrieving the code, if not for Ida, then for himself. The price it would fetch in the black market would be insane.

"Even if we're not related on paper," Andra said. "I still want to try and be a good mother to you. I hope you won't deny me that."

Mika slipped forward in his seat, planting his feet on the ground as he leaned forward. His chin almost touched the table. Of course, silver glinted amidst the leaves. "That time has come and passed," he said. "I don't need you anymore."

Andra deflated. Mika decided to remedy that. "But we can keep in touch," he said. "You know how to get my attention, at least."

"Of course," his mother said. "You won't have a lot of places to hide where you're going."

Before Mika could have the last word, footsteps erupted in a storm around him. Black shields chugged to view, closing in on their table from every direction. A smile played on his lips as he pulled the lid of a smoke bulb. As thick plumes of pink-gray rose from the ground and chaos ensued, Mika slipped through the line of shields.

Pulling on the mask they wore, Laien's face flashed in the open. They blended with the pedestrians with a quick outfit change, leaving the frantic crowd battling with the smoke behind them.

"Good job, Lai." The real Mika's voice crackled through the comms. "Head back to the pod. It's time for the next part of the plan."

As Laien climbed back to the pod, Mika didn't stop the small smile playing on his lips. His mother just tried to trap him, claiming she's doing him good by trying to take him out of a life of crime. Well, too bad for her, she was already in one by hiding the fact that Janos Kairon died by Mika Monaldi's hands.

But mothers would be mothers, and this time, it would do Mika better to use that to his advantage.