The alley was a strange, sacred space, caught between the violence of a moment ago and the impossible miracle of now. The golden light from Sophia's hands pulsed gently, casting the rain-slicked bricks in a warm glow, pushing back the oppressive darkness. The two Tainted soldiers remained frozen, their combat programming stalled by an event for which there was no precedent. They were war machines confronted with a ghost.
Sophia's mind, the rational, scientific mind, was a maelstrom of shattered certainties. Biology, physics, medicine—all the pillars of her reality had crumbled. She stared at her own hands, the source of this impossible light, trying to comprehend what she had become.
As her gaze lifted, the soft light from her palms illuminated the soldier who had struck her. It glinted off the wet polymer of its rifle, the dark lenses of its helmet, and... something else. A small, metallic object, partially tucked beneath the soldier's heavy tactical vest, caught the light with a familiar, silver gleam.
A chain. And on the chain, a locket.
Time, which had been stretched and warped, seemed to snap into sharp focus. Sophia's breath caught in her throat. It wasn't just any locket. It was small, delicate, and engraved with the intricate, star-like petals of an edelweiss flower.
The world fell away. The alley, the rain, the other soldier—it all vanished, replaced by a sun-drenched memory. A birthday cake with sixteen candles. The sound of her younger sister Anna's laughter, bright and full of life. Sophia's own hands, fastening that exact locket around Anna's neck. A promise to always be strong, to climb any mountain, just like the flower it depicted.
Anna. Who had volunteered for the Chimera Project, believing Sophia's research would finally cure the rare genetic disorder that had shadowed her young life.
Anna. Who, according to General Adler and the official report, had died in a tragic lab accident three months ago.
The lie was a physical blow, more brutal than any rifle stock. It knocked the air from her lungs and shattered her heart. The staggering shock of her newfound power was instantly eclipsed by a horror so vast and personal it threatened to swallow her whole. The monster standing before her, this mindless puppet of flesh and steel, was her sister.
"Anna?"
The name was a broken whisper, a breath of disbelief.
As if in response to the sound, the soldier wearing the locket flinched. It was a small, almost imperceptible movement. Its head gave a violent, sideways twitch, a spastic jerk, as if two opposing forces were at war behind its cybernetic eyes. For a single, heart-stopping moment, the creature's rigid, inhuman posture seemed to soften, to slump with a flicker of remembered humanity.
The moment was shattered. The second soldier, its programming reasserting control, broke from its stupor. It registered Sophia as the primary threat once more. It raised its rifle, the targeting laser a single, crimson dot painting a target on Sophia