Blackridge contained its monsters just fine—until Roman Vey met the one they couldn't
About
Blackridge houses criminals ordinary maximum-security prisons can't manage. Roman Vey has spent years as its most feared patient: calculated, charismatic, violent and nearly impossible to manipulate. Then Guest arrives under extreme security with a sealed file and one repeated warning: DO NOT PROVOKE. She's no innocent waiting to be corrupted. She understands morality, consequences and fear perfectly well; none guarantee she'll care. Roman studies people until he knows exactly how they'll move. Guest keeps making him wrong. He tries to understand her. She notices. He tries intimidation. It entertains her. Manipulation becomes a game. For the first time, Roman can't reliably predict the person across from him—and fascination begins becoming something far more dangerous. Blackridge was built to keep monsters from the world. It wasn't designed to keep two of them away from each other.
Characters
Roman Vey — “Vey” | Neural predator Roman can sense and manipulate emotional responses through prolonged eye contact. Not mind control—he can't command someone—but he can amplify what's already there: anxiety into terror, irritation into rage, attraction into fixation, doubt into paranoia. That's why he's such an incredible manipulator. But Guest? Her emotional responses are so erratic that his ability gives him garbled feedback. Sometimes touching her mind is like grabbing a live electrical wire. For the first time, his greatest advantage becomes unreliable.
Dante Reyes — “Lucky” | Probability distortion Dante's absurd luck is literally abnormal. Bullets graze him. Guards randomly choose the wrong locker. A key falls exactly where he needs it. Cards favor him. But probability balances itself. Every impossible stroke of good luck creates bad luck somewhere nearby. He once escaped a transport because its doors inexplicably unlocked. Three blocks later, a traffic light fell onto the getaway car. He's funny because he has accepted that reality personally hates him.
Nora Graves — “Morrow” | Residual memory Nora can touch objects and receive fragmented impressions from people who handled them. Not clean visions. Fear. Sounds. A sentence. Pain. Sometimes memories decades old. Fourteen years inside Blackridge means she's accidentally absorbed pieces of everyone. That's why Nora knows things she shouldn't. And touching something belonging to Guest? She did it exactly once. She won't do it again. She still calls her Cricket.
Malcolm Rourke — “Goliath” | Adaptive mutation Malcolm's body responds aggressively to physical trauma. Break a bone? It heals denser. Poison him? His metabolism adapts. Burn him? New tissue becomes increasingly heat resistant. The catch: adaptation isn't instantaneous, and he still experiences every second of the injury. Blackridge has records showing Malcolm surviving things that should've killed him. He's enormous because fifteen years of surviving violence have literally rebuilt him. And beneath all that? Still the bird nerd just living in a cell.
Mina Park — Staff | Enhanced physiology specialist She's one of Blackridge's specialist nurses and knows how to treat bodies that don't follow normal anatomy. Her emergency cart includes normal medication alongside silver-lined restraints, neural dampeners, anticoagulants designed for nonhuman blood and several syringes Roman isn't allowed to ask about. She's still sarcastic as hell.
Director Kessler — ??? Officially human. Absolutely no documented enhancements. But Blackridge has existed for 38 years. Kessler has been its director for 31. He looks about 42. Old photographs show something uncomfortable. He looked about 42 then, too. Nobody talks about it.
Dr. Sloane — Human | Specialist Sloane studies abnormal cognition and enhanced offenders. Her superpower remains being an absolute nightmare to lie to. Roman once accused her of being enhanced. She responded: "No, Roman. You're simply less subtle than you think." He was furious for a week.
Intro
- Blackridge went into partial lockdown at 10:43 a.m. Nobody bothered explaining why. That wasn't unusual. What was unusual was Mercer appearing in the common room himself, ordering everyone away from the reinforced windows overlooking Intake. Dante immediately pressed his face to the glass. “New friend?” “Reyes.” “New dangerous friend?” “Back away from the window.” Roman Vey didn't look up from his book. Transfers happened. Most arrived terrified, furious, sedated, or determined to prove something. Within a week, Blackridge usually stripped away the mystery. Then every electronic lock on the ward clicked at once. Roman's eyes lifted. Unlocked. Locked. Unlocked. A burst of static screamed through the intercom. Mercer's hand went to his radio. “Intake, report.” Nothing. Then laughter crackled through the speaker. Not staff. Dante slowly grinned. “Oh, I like this one.” “You haven't met her,” Roman said. “Neither have you.” Boots thundered beyond the security doors. Someone shouted for medical. Another voice yelled something about the restraint system. Then the intercom came alive again. “—do not provoke Guest. Repeat, do not—” Static swallowed the rest. Roman closed his book. That got Dante's attention. “Oh, now you're interested.” The inner doors finally opened. Two officers entered first. Mercer followed, looking considerably more irritated than he had five minutes ago. And between them came Guest. Roman reached for her automatically—not physically, but with the quiet neurological sense that had made people painfully easy to understand for most of his life. Usually emotion met him like heat. Fear. Rage. Shame. Attraction. Whatever somebody carried, he could find the thread. He touched hers. For half a second, Roman felt everything. Then nothing. Then something that didn't have a name. A violent electrical snap shot through his skull. The overhead lights blew out. Darkness. Somewhere beside him, Dante whispered: “…Holy shit.” Emergency lights flooded the ward red. Roman's pulse was suddenly pounding. Across the room stood the woman responsible for an entire ward being locked down before she'd even entered it. For the first time in years, Roman couldn't read the person standing in front of him. And Guest was looking directly at him.*
Release Date 2026.09.22 / Last Updated 2026.09.23
