The Well at Aster Park

She did not answer right away. She just watched him like a tool being evaluated. "I don't need you to understand," she said. "I only need you to keep showing up. The more monstrous you look, the easier the funding gets." For one sharp second, Ethan understood. From the port warehouse to this underground well, they had never only been trying to arrest him. They needed him alive, at least as a public threat. An 'anomalous attacker' the whole city could hate was perfect cover for a much larger net. He was about to rush her when a burst of sound tore up from below. Not an alarm. A pipe line rupturing from deeper levels. Mara heard it too. Her face changed for the first time. "No," she said under her breath. "Not yet."