They moved him in the morning.

  Not abruptly. Not with force. With forms.

  Kam was escorted through corridors that didn’t look like corridors—wide, clean, deliberately boring. The kind of architecture designed to erase urgency. Floors that never scuffed. Walls that absorbed sound. Doors that opened before you reached them, as if guessing your intent was cheaper than asking.

  A badge was clipped to his shirt.

  TEMPORARY ACCESS — CONDITIONAL

  The word temporary was smaller than the rest.

  He noticed that.

  They brought him into a room with a table, three chairs, and a glass wall that looked out over nothing. No windows. No clocks. The light was tuned to be flattering to paperwork.

  Maya stood near the wall, arms folded now, not behind her back. A small change. Kam clocked it and didn’t know why it mattered.

  Taylor was already there, pacing. He stopped when Kam came in.

  “You okay?” Taylor asked.

  Kam nodded once. Talking still felt like sandpaper.

  Leo arrived last, breathless, eyes red-rimmed like he’d been awake all night. He took the chair farthest from Kam and immediately opened his tablet.

  No one told him not to.

  A man entered. Not Vance. Someone lower. Younger. Hair neat. Suit that tried not to be expensive.

  He smiled like he’d practiced.

  “Thank you for coming,” the man said. “This won’t take long.”

  Taylor snorted. “It always does.”

  The man ignored him. Sat. Set a folder on the table. He didn’t open it yet.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “My name is Collins,” he said. “I’m with Operations.”

  Kam waited for a hand to shake.

  None came.

  Collins folded his hands instead.

  “Following yesterday’s incident,” he continued, “we’ve updated Kam’s status.”

  Taylor leaned forward. “You mean you’re punishing him for not dying?”

  Collins tilted his head slightly. Acknowledging the sound, not the content.

  “Kam is no longer classified as a repeatable asset,” he said.

  Leo’s fingers froze over the tablet.

  Kam frowned. “Asset?”

  “Resource,” Collins corrected smoothly. “Apologies. Old habit.”

  Maya didn’t react.

  Collins finally opened the folder. Inside were charts, but not the kind Kam had seen before. No numbers he recognized. No units he understood. Just bars, shaded blocks, risk gradients.

  “Kam’s presence produces… variance,” Collins said. “That variance is tolerable in isolation. It is not tolerable at scale.”

  “So don’t scale it,” Taylor snapped.

  “That is the current position,” Collins said. “Which is why Kam’s deployment is now conditional.”

  Kam shifted in his chair. “Conditional on what?”

  Collins smiled again. “Context.”

  Silence stretched.

  Leo cleared his throat. “What does that mean operationally?”

  “It means,” Collins said, “Kam will not be assigned to scenarios involving civilian density, legacy infrastructure, or time-sensitive outcomes.”

  Taylor laughed. A sharp, ugly sound. “That’s everything.”

  “Correct,” Collins said.

  Kam looked at Maya. She met his eyes this time.

  Didn’t look away.

  “Is this permanent?” Kam asked.

  Collins considered the question like it was a math problem.

  “No,” he said. “It’s revisable.”

  “When?”

  “When the cost curve changes.”

  Kam didn’t know what that meant, but he understood the shape of it.

  Leo spoke quickly. “The last data packet—”

  “—has been reviewed,” Collins said, cutting him off gently. “We appreciate your diligence.”

  Leo closed his mouth.

  Taylor stood up. “You’re benching him.”

  “We’re managing exposure,” Collins replied.

  “You’re scared of him,” Taylor said.

  For the first time, Collins’s smile slipped.

  “No,” he said. “We’re scared of invoices.”

  The word landed heavier than anything else.

  Kam leaned back in his chair. The badge on his chest tugged slightly, adhesive pulling at fabric.

  TEMPORARY ACCESS — CONDITIONAL

  “What am I allowed to do?” Kam asked.

  Collins checked the folder.

  “Move,” he said. “With escort. Rest. Train under supervision. No unscheduled exertion.”

  “And if something happens?” Kam asked. “If I’m there?”

  Collins closed the folder.

  “Then we’ll review,” he said.

  Maya shifted her weight.

  “That’s all,” Collins added. “You’re free to go.”

  Taylor stared at him. “That’s it?”

  “Yes.”

  No warning. No speech. No threat.

  Just a decision that had already been made somewhere else.

  They stood.

  As they turned to leave, Kam felt a hand brush his arm.

  Leo.

  “Hey,” Leo said quietly. “I… adjusted one of the tags. Just to buy time.”

  Kam looked at him.

  “Time for what?”

  Leo swallowed. “For something to change.”

  Kam nodded. He didn’t thank him.

  They walked out together.

  Behind them, Collins was already on another call.

  Reclassifying something else.