The doctor was tied to a chair, his wrists bound tightly. The dimly lit room smelled of sweat and urgency. Adam stood over him, fists clenched.
"Doctor Yan—if that's even your real name," Adam said, voice hard. "We just want answers. Why are they after me?"
Yan smirked. "Ask her." He tilted his head toward Shuxeta.
Adam and Hezme turned to her.
Shuxeta's expression remained blank. "I don't know what he's on about."
Adam narrowed his eyes, then turned back to the doctor, ready to hit him.
"Wait," Yan blurted, flinching. "I'll tell you. We want to study how you duplicate. Do you understand the applications? No more understaffed hospitals. Clones can go to war while soldiers stay home with their families—"
Adam slapped him hard across the face.
"They're not clones," Adam growled. "They're more than that."
Hezme, standing in the corner, wasn't sure what they were talking about—but the idea of clones fighting wars for others? That made sense to her.
"Oh," Shuxeta murmured. "The Gray Goose Project. I thought that was shut down."
Hezme frowned. "What's that?"
Shuxeta exhaled. "During our war with the Zenonites, we encountered a force—Sern. At first, the war was even. Then Sern turned the tide. He was already a force to be reckoned with… then he started making copies of himself. Inferior copies, but still dangerous."
She paused, her gaze distant.
"A special task force was formed to stop him. The Thunderbolt Brigade. My team and I fought him, but we lost. Every time we killed him, more of him would show up. Still, we managed to recover a DNA sample. That sample led to the Gray Goose Project."
Adam and Hezme listened in silence.
"The Brigade changed after that," Shuxeta continued. "It became less about winning and more about collecting DNA. Soldiers stopped fighting to defeat Sern. They started dying just to get samples. In the end, human trials failed, and the project was shut down."
She swallowed hard, then looked away. "On one of my last missions, I faked my death. By then, it felt like Sern was the only one left from my team. In the middle of all that chaos… we fell in love. Or at least, I thought we did."
Adam's jaw tightened.
"We were supposed to get married," Shuxeta whispered. "But he left me at the altar."
A thick silence followed. Then, without warning, Shuxeta broke down in tears. Hezme shot Adam a look. Hesitantly, he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Shuxeta, letting her cry into his chest.
Then—
The bathroom door swung open.
A man stepped in, belt buckle undone. He froze when he saw them all staring at him.
"Uh… sorry. I'll come back later."
He turned and hurried back inside.
The room remained silent for a long moment.
"…Who the hell was that?" Adam finally asked.
Adam blinked at the bathroom door, still slightly ajar. "Who the hell was that?"
Yan scoffed. "What do you mean, who the hell was that? We're in a fucking restroom. He probably just wanted to take a shit."
Adam turned back to him, unimpressed.
But Yan wasn't done. He jerked against the ropes, his frustration boiling over. "And what the hell is this?" He gestured angrily toward Shuxeta. "There are no patriots anymore. She betrayed her own people! She literally slept with the enemy. She should be beheaded. At least scolded! But no—you're over here comforting her."
Hezme exchanged a glance with Adam.
Then, in perfect unison, they both turned back to Yan—
And ignored him completely.
Yan let out an exasperated groan. "Unbelievable."
Adam still holding on to Shuxeta. "So how did you end up in Shiroki tied up in a dark room?"
Shuxeta didn't hesitate. "I tried to kill him for leaving me at the altar. And I lost."
Yan groaned. "Oh, come on. Now we're way off-topic."
Hezme shot him a look. "Shh."
Adam tilted his head. "So why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?"
Shuxeta shrugged. "He apologized."
Adam blinked. "…That's it?"
Yan let out a sharp laugh. "Really?"
He scoffed, but Hezme silenced him with a glare.
Yan muttered under his breath, shaking his head. "Unbelievable."
"If we're done here, can I go now?" Yan asked.
Once again, he was ignored.
Adam glanced at Shuxeta and frowned. "We need to find you something to wear. The hospital gown isn't doing you any favors." Without thinking, he reached out and covered her exposed back.
She didn't argue.
A moment later, both Adam and Shuxeta turned to Yan.
The next time members of the Brigade found him, he was still tied to the chair—wearing nothing but his underwear.
Meanwhile, Shuxeta was now in Yan's shirt, the buttons barely holding together with fraying threads. It was tight, pulling across her chest. Adam tried—really tried—not to stare.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one.
As they ran down the street, people turned to look. Even Hezme.
She glanced down at her own chest, still in her pajamas.
"…I really should have changed ," she muttered.