Shadows of Identity

---

The sky above the HQ was gray when the call came in. Dew slammed a report on the briefing table, his voice tense.

"We found the possible hideout. Abandoned communications tower outside the city. This guy went off-grid after the last robbery, but Mark traced an energy signature matching one of the stolen prototype chips. He's there."

Everyone gathered fast. The mission was clear-catch him alive. But for Nani, everything was spinning.

He wasn't MJ. He didn't belong here.

He kept staring at the blueprint of the tower, barely able to read the terms. Words blurred. Diagrams bled into each other. His throat was dry.

Mark was already gearing up. "We're moving in twenty."

"Got it," Tee replied, strapping his vest.

Junior glanced at Nani. "You okay?"

Nani looked up, startled. "Y-Yeah. Just thinking."

Dew didn't notice. "Everyone's paired. Sky, you're with MJ."

Sky gave a nod. Nani flinched at the name but said nothing.

As the team discussed the whole plan, he gave short nods, hoping no one noticed he wasn't saying much. But they did.

Tee leaned in toward Dew and whispered, "MJ's really... quiet today."

"Not just quiet," Dew replied, watching Nani closely. "He's different."

Junior, across the room, leaned toward Mark. "Did you hear how soft his tone's been?"

Mark nodded. "He flinched earlier when the chief shouted. MJ doesn't flinch."

"He looked scared," Junior whispered. "MJ's never scared..

---

On the Road

They rode in silence, each bump of the van rattling in Nani's chest. His mind kept drifting-not to the mission-but back to the alley. The flash of silver. The burn in his side. The way the air left his lungs when the knife went in.

He hadn't told anyone. No one.

He wasn't supposed to be alive. He was supposed to be MJ now.

But the truth didn't die with blood.

It lived in the way he flinched at yelling. In the way he didn't know the hallway to the washroom. In the way he couldn't walk like MJ-didn't feel like MJ.

He was just Nani. Pretending.

---

The Tower

They arrived by dusk. The tower loomed like a corpse of steel and rust, rising from the edge of a cliff. The only way in: a thin, shaking bridge.

"Two at a time," Dew instructed, eyeing the rusted structure. "It can't handle more."

Nani froze when he saw the height.

It wasn't just tall. It was death. The kind of drop that turned your spine to water.

He stared down and saw... nothing. The wind screamed between the cliffs. Cold sweat ran down his neck.

Sky turned to him. "With me."

Nani's feet wouldn't move.

But he stepped forward anyway, slow like a dream. The bridge groaned under his weight. The first step felt like stepping into the sky. His knees wobbled, and his breaths came out shaky.

Halfway across, he couldn't take it. His panic surged, and instinct took over-he reached forward and grabbed the back of Sky's shirt with trembling fingers.

Sky was really shocked and confused..
But.
Sky didn't turn.

He simply reached back and gently took Nani's hand, lacing their fingers. Warm. Steady. Quiet.

He led him across in silence, like a promise whispered through the wind.

---

Inside the Tower

It was cold and damp. Dew signaled that the suspect was hiding two floors above. The team split-Junior and Mark went left, Tee and Dew went right. Nani and Sky moved forward together.

They reached the top floor quietly. The suspect was cornered-Mark had located the signal, and the team moved like clockwork.

Tee and Dew led the front. Junior and Mark circled behind.

Sky and Nani followed, slow and silent.

The man tried to run but didn't get far-Junior tackled him hard, knocking the weapon from his hand. He hissed as he was pinned down, snarling like an animal.
Bloodied and snarling, the man spat on the ground. "You bastards took your time."

"Why were you here?" Tee demanded.

The man laughed. "Thought this place was abandoned. Good place to hide... and to forget."

Something about the way he said that chilled Nani.

---

Back at HQ

The suspect was restrained and sent to the underground cells.

Meanwhile,
Nani snuck into the records hall.

He typed in keywords from his own memory: Alley. Night. Attack. Knife. Blood. Unidentified suspect.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"Damn it..." he muttered, voice shaking. "I need to know who did it..."

He heard a voice behind him.

"You okay?"

It was Sky.

Nani turned fast, trying to hide the screen. "Y-Yeah. Just reviewing protocol."

Sky didn't buy it.

He stepped closer, voice gentler. "You looked pale during the bridge. And you flinched earlier when Tee yelled at Mark. You're not... the same."

Nani lowered his head. "Maybe I'm just tired."

Sky didn't press. He just nodded and said, "If you ever want to talk-really talk-I'm here."

Nani's chest ached.

He didn't want to lie anymore.

But he had to-for MJ. For himself.

---

That Night at HQ's detectives apartment

Junior lay in the shared room with Mark, tossing a ball up and down. "You feel it too, right? MJ's not MJ."

Mark, who had noticed the new hesitation in MJ's voice and the way he asked how the HQ printer worked like it was alien, simply nodded. "He's not."

"But... I don't hate it," Junior said softly.

Mark smiled faintly. "Me neither."

In the next room, Dew sat reviewing tower footage. Tee leaned on his shoulder.

"There's something we're missing," Dew murmured. "Something big."

Tee frowned. "Let's find it. Before it finds us."

---

Meanwhile, Nani lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, Sky's words echoing in his mind.

If you ever want to talk-really talk-I'm here.

He glanced sideways.

Sky was already asleep in the couch, face calm.

And Nani was sitting near him. Nani didn't dare move.

But slowly, quietly, he let his pinky brush against Sky's.

For just a second.

It wasn't much.

But for Nani, it was enough to breathe again.

---