Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 106: - Fault Lines and Frequencies

Chapter 106: - Fault Lines and Frequencies

Ava couldn’t get comfortable.

She shifted again—blanket bunched beneath her shoulder, back pressed to the cold wall, muscles tight from days of constant movement. Everything felt too quiet. Too warm. Too close.

Lucas lay across the room, sprawled sideways on the cot like he’d been poured there, breathing even and slow.

But Ava knew him.

And this? This was not sleep.

He hadn’t twitched once. No real movement, no subconscious shifts. His body was relaxed, but not sunk. His fingers curled just enough for control, not comfort.

Fake sleeping.

He was alert. Resting his body while his mind spun like a locked vault with a broken hinge.

He’d nap in the car tomorrow—that was his usual game. Let Ava take a shift while he "recharged." Then wake like nothing happened, already five steps ahead.

Ava rolled onto her side, closing her eyes for five seconds. Ten. Nothing. Her system was offline—set to alert only for mid-tier threats or higher, the way she always adjusted it when she needed real rest.

But rest didn’t come.

Not because of the floor. Not the cold.

Because something was off.

Lucas’s behavior tonight... it hadn’t been wrong exactly, but it hadn’t been right either.

Too smooth. Too agreeable.

He was still charming, still sharp—but his edges weren’t in the usual places.

He hadn’t argued once since the meeting ended. Not about the plan. Not about the medic. Not about the exit.

That wasn’t like him.

Lucas Bai never let a plan go unchecked. Not without poking holes. Not without some smug remark about the price of failure.

Which meant one of two things:

Either the exit strategy was better than she realized...

Or something went wrong and he was covering it.

Ava clenched her jaw.

She couldn’t sleep like this.

She tapped her temple—faint flicker of blue lighting across her left eye as her system partially reactivated.

[SYSTEM REBOOT: PASSIVE MODE — ALERT THRESHOLD: CLASS C THREATS OR HIGHER]

The room lit with data overlays—heat signals, heartbeat readings, and synced vitals from the upgraded bracers.

Her gaze shifted to Lucas.

He hadn’t moved.

Still sprawled, shirt twisted slightly from turning onto his side, one leg crooked over the edge of the cot. His chest rose and fell in a rhythm that was too precise to be unconscious.

Ava narrowed her eyes.

"Alright, Bai," she muttered under her breath, activating a direct scan.

[SCAN TARGET: LUCAS BAI]

[STATUS: WAKE-STATE CAMOUFLAGE – LOW MUSCLE TENSION, HIGH NEURAL ACTIVITY]

[HEART RATE: RESTING (SLIGHTLY ELEVATED)]

[BODY TEMP: 1.3° ABOVE BASELINE – CORE SPIKE IN SHOULDER REGION]

[SYNCHRONIZATION RATE: 84.6% → 87.2% (INCREASING)]

[PHEROMONAL PROFILE: VOLATILE – OXYTOCIN AND ADRENALINE SPIKES DETECTED]

Ava blinked.

What.

She expanded the scan—full-body readout this time, down to vascular pressure and sweat gland response.

Lucas’s system was reacting to her.

His sync rate was climbing—slow but steady—and the hormonal bleed from their paired bracers was enhancing feedback in both directions. He wasn’t just faking sleep. He was using it. Testing it.

Letting his system adjust to her presence in the room like it was an environmental variable.

"You arrogant bastard," she muttered under her breath.

She glanced at his face. Still calm. Still blank.

But a half-smile twitched at the corner of his mouth—barely there.

Ava sat back against the wall, arms crossed over her knees, gaze narrowed.

He was syncing to her. Slowly. Letting their systems calibrate in the dark while she squirmed on a cold floor and he pretended to dream.

[UNSCHEDULED LINK RESPONSE – PROXIMITY PHASE REACHED]

[RECOMMENDED ACTION: ALLOW – SYSTEMS ALIGNING NATURALLY]

Ava closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts, tried to pull apart the knots in her chest before they strangled her.

It wasn’t just the sync.

It was him.

Lucas Bai, who flirted like it was currency. Who could disarm a room with a smile and ruin it with a sentence.

He wasn’t just close to her now—he was under her skin.

Before Ava could follow her thoughts, Lucas shifted.

Not much—just a slow roll onto his back, a half-turn of his torso like gravity had made the decision for him. But it was smooth, practiced, intentional. One arm slipped down, dangling off the edge of the cot.

Then, in a move that could only be described as audacious and sleep-drunk criminal, Lucas stretched—and pulled her in.

Ava let out a sharp breath as his arm hooked lazily around her waist and drew her across the floor with one fluid tug.

"Lucas—"

He didn’t open his eyes.

Didn’t even smile.

He just buried his face against her shoulder like this was the most natural thing in the world, his voice low, raspy with fake sleep and infuriating peace.

"Sleep, Beauty..."

Lucas’s voice was low—rough around the edges like it had just rolled out of some too-easy dream. His arm was already around her, pulling her in with the kind of casual confidence only someone wide awake could fake.

Ava stiffened against his chest.

Lucas just breathed, slow and steady. His face pressed into the side of her hair like she was his favorite pillow.

She muttered, half-annoyed, half-aware she lost the fight,

"You’re not even asleep."

"Didn’t say I was." His lips brushed the words just above her ear.

"Lucas..."

"Shh," he murmured. "Keep your voice down. Room might still be listening."

Ava narrowed her eyes. "You dragged me into a cuddle under surveillance?"

He chuckled softly. "Exactly. No one questions synced couples if they’re curled up like this. Makes us look boring."

"You’re the least boring thing in this room."

"Flatter me later. Right now, I need you to pretend I’m warm and trustworthy and not thinking about six different routes we might need to take if Elias lied about tomorrow’s access."

Ava paused. Blinked.

There it was again—the crack in his tone. The part of him that wasn’t teasing. The part that was already five steps into the next crisis.

"You think something’s wrong?" she asked quietly.

Lucas didn’t answer immediately.

Then—"I think something’s off. Not wrong yet. Just... humming under the surface."

She felt the rise and fall of his chest as he spoke. His system was calm, but she knew him too well—his thoughts were moving fast, pulling pieces together.

"You’re over-processing." Her voice was softer now, laced with fatigue she didn’t want to acknowledge.

"I’ll sleep in the car," he said. Then, after a beat:

"But I needed a reset point tonight. This—" he nudged her gently with his chin, "—this counts."

Ava rolled her eyes, but her breathing was slower now. Her body was starting to melt against his—infuriatingly warm, maddeningly comfortable.

"I’m not your weighted blanket."

"No. You’re better. You talk back and upgrade my gear in your sleep."

A tired laugh caught in her throat before she could stop it.

"You’re impossible."

Lucas shifted slightly, his fingers curling more securely around her side.

"Hey." His voice was quiet now. Different.

She blinked, eyes heavy, but she hummed in response.

"If something does go sideways tomorrow..."

A pause.

"...I want you to do what you always do. Adapt. Don’t wait for me."

Ava’s brow furrowed. "Don’t say that."

"Just covering angles," he murmured. "And besides—if I do something reckless, I need you to outdo me just to spite me."

She didn’t respond right away. The weight of his words pulled at her in places she didn’t like to examine.

Then—

"You’re not dying on my watch, Bai."

Lucas smiled against her hair.

"That’s the idea, Beauty."

Her body relaxed, slowly. Her system dimmed.

[VITALS STABILIZING – USER ENTERING LIGHT SLEEP PHASE]

[SYNC PULSE: SUSTAINED – 88.4% LINK STABILITY]

Her breath evened out. Her fingers curled near the fabric of his shirt.

Lucas didn’t move. Not yet.

But he watched the shift happen—the moment her armor dropped, just slightly. The moment her body gave in.

"Good," he whispered, barely audible. "Sleep first. I’ll keep watch."

And he did.