It was all over the city by morning.
Not newsfeeds—those were still locked.
But back channels. Cracked drone footage. Tower cams. Broken surveillance satellites that had been left online for years.
Someone pieced it together.
And they saw them.
Four figures. Armored. Moving as one.
Juno saw it first.
She walked into the shelter holding a burner terminal, screen glitching with a grainy loop.
It showed Kael slamming the replica into a wall. Mira triggering a blast point. Ryke cracking pavement. Juno herself in mid-strike.
No audio.
Just images.
Kael looked over her shoulder.
His face stayed neutral.
"Where'd this come from?"
"Forum. Tagged under 'ghost units.'"
Mira pulled it up on her own screen. "No origin trail. Just a title."
VALIANT.EXE // Four confirmed
They sat around the table again.
No helmets. No tension. Just silence.
Until Ryke spoke, low.
"They've seen us."
Kael nodded slowly. "They're going to give us a name."
"They already did," Mira said, turning her screen around.
A newer video. A crowd scene.
Blurry faces. Panic. Civilians running. And then—
Someone points up at a rooftop.
"It's them—those four. The ones who stood."
The room went quiet.
Juno leaned forward.
"'The ones who stood'… is that all?"
"For now," Mira said. "But the tags are picking up. People are talking. Not just civilians. Old military threads. Abandoned watchdog networks. Obelisk trackers."
Kael looked at the screen again.
He didn't feel pride.
He felt the countdown ticking louder.
"We're not ghosts anymore."
Outside, the city started shifting.
Word was spreading.
Some were calling them survivors.
Some called them threats.
But most?
Most just whispered one thing:
VALIANT.