All Chapters of RED LABEL: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Nobody continued walking. He had no reason to hurry, but he had every reason to choose his route carefully. Redstone Tower was still a considerable distance away.He could have walked the entire way. Under different circumstances, he probably would have. Walking gave him the greatest control, the least exposure to surveillance, and the freedom to change direction whenever he wanted. It also gave him time to think, to catalog every threat and possibility before it became real. But he didn't have the luxury of thinking only about himself anymore.Because Rosie was seven.She had already spent hours frightened, confined, and exhausted. He could feel it in the way she clung to him, the way her small body had gone slack with a tiredness no child her age should have to carry.Nobody wasn't going to make her endure an unnecessary journey simply because he preferred the anonymity of his feet.He reached the next intersection and looked across the avenue. Below the traffic, beneath the sidewa

There was no anger in Nobody's eyes, nor any visible threat, yet something about the man's expression made the driver feel as though he had just asked a question he had no business asking.Nobody spoke quietly. “You do not have the clearance to know my identity.”The driver's eyes widened. “What?”Nobody turned back toward the window as though the matter had been settled."Just drive," Nobody concluded. The driver said nothing more. He kept driving, but his hands had tightened around the steering wheel, and every few seconds his eyes drifted toward the rear-view mirror. He watched Nobody whenever he thought he could do so without being noticed, trying to make sense of the man sitting behind him with a kidnapped child sleeping against his side.The military-looking attitude Nobody displayed earlier was still bothering him. So was the man's refusal to show identification. And now there was that strange statement about clearance, delivered with the calm certainty of someone who genuin

The driver stared at the highest skyscraper in New Avalon as they approached. Redstone Tower stood like a monolithic titan among the megacity structures around it, its glass façade catching the late-afternoon sunlight and throwing fractured reflections across the avenue.“That’s Redstone Tower?” he muttered.“Yes,” Nobody replied.The driver glanced at him through the rear-view mirror. “You really know people there?”Nobody looked down at Rosie, who was still sleeping against him. “I did after foiling the kidnapping spree.”The driver followed his gaze toward the sleeping girl and nodded slowly. “You work there?”“I do now,” Nobody replied matter-of-factly.“I guess that's what matters,” the driver said. “Considering that you rescued the most powerful woman in New Avalon from the bad guys.”Nobody shrugged. “I didn't do it for the job.”The driver scoffed. “Then why the hell are you working there?”Nobody also scoffed, like a man denying an accusation after being caught in the act. “G

Nobody took Marcus's phone, scrolled through the contact list, then froze mid-scroll, a sheepish expression wrinkled on his face. He glanced at the sleeping child on the couch as though doing so might correct the fix he was in."Do you, by any chance, have her mother's number," he asked Marcus. Of course, there was no way Marcus could have, because Marcus didn't know Rosie's mother. Marcus looked at Nobody with a faintly puzzled expression. "Oh, man, don't tell me you don't have her number?" "Have her number?" Nobody echoed. "I don't have a phone." Marcus scoffed. "Great!" He glances toward Rosie, then back at Nobody. Marcus gave him a look, equal parts exasperation and reluctant affection. "I keep forgetting that. That must be convenient in this 21st century, don't you think?""Very convenient," Nobody replied. "So, how do you intend to let her know that her daughter is back and safe?"Nobody shrugged like a man resigning to fate. The call had come through Evelyn's phone earlie

Nobody's attention was fixed on Evelyn with an unnerving stillness. He let the weight of her demand settle between them before he answered."The short version is that I found Rosie, extracted her, and brought her back."He deliberately omitted the part where Storm-Eye handled the actual heavy lifting—the extraction of Rosie herself—while he provided technical distraction. This omission had nothing to do with denying Storm-Eye her due credit and glory. Rather, it had everything to do with protecting her secret identity. And safety.Evelyn stared at him, blinking twice, as if she were waiting for the rest of the sentence to materialize. When it didn't, she let out a breath that was almost a laugh, but not quite. "The short version," she repeated, her voice climbing just slightly at the end. "That's what you're giving me after disappearing for hours? After I woke up on the couch of my own security room with a headache and no idea whether you were dead or alive?""You asked me to start