Everything was silent.
Kaela stood frozen in the dim, flickering corridor, her weapon slack in her grip. Her breathing slowed, no longer gasping but eerily steady. The red emergency lights dimmed until they pulsed like a heartbeat—hers, or something else's, she couldn't tell.
"Kaela."
Her mother's voice again.
But it wasn't coming through the comms.
It was inside her mind.
The metallic floor beneath her feet faded. For a heartbeat, the corridor dissolved into black mist, and Kaela stood in a space of nothingness, surrounded by red threads of light floating in the void. Each one pulsed with a memory.
Images shot past her: a bloodied lab coat. Her mother's tear-streaked face behind security glass. A cradle filled with wires instead of blankets.
She clutched her head. "What is this?!"
"The NeuroNet was never just a weapon," her mother's voice whispered, softer now. "It was a failsafe... built into your blood. You are the key to rebooting the world—or ending it."
Kaela's hands trembled. The red light from her pupils grew brighter, casting long shadows across her face. She blinked—and the hallway snapped back into view.
The Guardians were frozen mid-strike, their limbs hanging like puppets with cut strings. One stood a breath away from her, claws extended, yet unmoving. Its optics flickered between red and white, confused... waiting.
Kaela turned slowly, her expression shifting from confusion to cold focus.
"I don't know what's happening to me," she muttered, "but I'm done running."
Her mind pulsed again—another voice, not her own, deeper, ancient.
"Initiate override protocol. Alpha designator: Kaela Vire. Code: Echo."
Her body moved on instinct. She raised her hand. The threads of red light from the void began to spiral around her wrist, like circuitry coming alive.
And then—chaos.
The Guardians convulsed, their lights bursting into white as if purged by a divine flame. One by one, they collapsed to the ground, the sound of metal hitting steel echoing like war drums.
Kaela fell to her knees, eyes still glowing, chest heaving.
Ava's voice crackled through the earpiece.
"Kaela? We heard something—like a sonic quake. Are you okay? Where are you?"
She swallowed, still catching her breath. "I'm not sure... but something's changing. In me. In them."
"What do you mean 'them'?"
She stared at the bodies. "The Guardians. They didn't attack. They obeyed."
—
Elsewhere in the compound, Deren stood before a control screen. Alarms blared. Red error codes scrolled.
"Override detected.""Alpha Signal Identified: Kaela Vire.""System Hierarchy Compromised."
He stared at the screen, then at the silhouette of the black obelisk behind him—the core of the NeuroNet.
"She's waking up," he murmured, a cruel smile touching his lips. "Then let the real game begin."