Siena – Abandoned Metro Line, 11:04 A.M.
The air inside the tunnel was dead.
It wasn't just the silence—it was something older. Ancient. A kind of stillness that made Ariella's skin crawl like her bones were walking over a grave.
Each step echoed too loud.
Each breath felt borrowed.
Kael limped beside her, one arm pressed tightly against his ribs. His shirt was torn, blood soaking through the side—darker than ink, but still warm. He hadn't said a word since they entered the tunnel. But she could feel it.
He was in pain.
Bad pain.
"Kael," she whispered, trying to steady him, "You're bleeding too much."
His eyes flicked to her—sharp, but calm. "If I stop moving, we die."
The words weren't meant to scare her.
They were just true.
Ariella bit her lip. The weight of Kael's laptop dug into her back, and the USB was still tucked into her bra, pressing against her chest like it was fused with her heartbeat. Her mind reeled with the images she had seen—her father's voice, the documents, her own name listed under Project LUNA.
And beside it: "Designed for obedience. High-risk variable: emotional unpredictability."
She looked at Kael again. Even wounded, even running—he was still her anchor.
Still the only thing that felt real.
"How long to Delta Point?" she asked, voice barely a breath.
Kael glanced down the tunnel. "Forty minutes if we don't run into any patrols."
"And if we do?"
He gave a bitter smile. "Then I hope you're ready to be a ghost."
ROME — DeLuca Command Center, 11:08 A.M.
The control room felt colder than usual.
Matteo stood in the middle, surrounded by screens, maps, and terrified men who refused to meet his eyes. He watched the footage on loop—Kael slipping through shadows, Ariella sprinting through gunfire, both of them surviving when every calculation had said they wouldn't.
He dragged his hand down his face. He hadn't slept in two days. And now he wasn't sure if the war was outside—or inside him.
"You had a clear shot," Salvatore's voice crackled through the command walkie still clipped to Matteo's vest. "Why didn't you take it?"
Matteo clenched his jaw.
Because he couldn't.
Because something in Kael's eyes looked too familiar. Too broken.
"I'm asking you a question, son," the voice said, cooler now.
Matteo turned toward the nearest monitor.
"A question deserves an answer, doesn't it, Papa?" he muttered, cold. "Then tell me—what did you do to her?"
The room went silent.
No response.
Only static.
And the faint sound of Ariella's recorded voice bleeding from a corrupted file on the edge of the screen.
"Please don't take Kael away…"
Matteo looked away.
His hands trembled.
SIENA – UNDERGROUND METRO LINE, 11:16 A.M.
Ariella collapsed to her knees.
Her body gave out so fast, she didn't have time to cry out. Kael spun toward her, wincing as his own wound tugged with the movement.
"Ariella—"
"I'm fine," she gasped. "I just—needed a second."
But she wasn't fine.
She felt like she was unraveling. Her muscles shook, and her stomach turned over like something inside her was dying and being reborn at the same time.
Then came the flash.
The memory.
White walls. A bright lamp overhead. The sound of water dripping onto metal.
She was small. Cold. Barefoot.
A man in a white coat stood behind the glass.
"We increased the serum. But Subject 03F keeps rejecting memory erasure."
Then another voice. A woman this time. Familiar.
"She keeps asking for Subject 07M. They were only supposed to be paired in combat, not emotionally bonded."
Ariella's small voice echoed back.
"Where's Kael? Please don't hurt him—please—"
She clutched her head, crying out in the tunnel.
Kael was beside her in an instant, hands on her shoulders, his touch steady and warm despite the chill.
"You're remembering," he said softly.
"I don't want to," she whispered. "I can't. It hurts."
"I know," he said. "I know."
And for the first time in years, she let herself break.
Not as a weapon.
Not as a creation.
But as a girl who was never allowed to be anything but obedient.
Kael's arms wrapped around her. He pressed his forehead to hers. Blood dripped between them. Their breaths mixed in the cold dark.
"I should've taken you sooner," he said.
"And gone where?" she asked, hollow. "There's no world for people like us."
Kael's voice was low. Fierce.
"Then we build one."
UNREGISTERED SURVEILLANCE ROOM — FLORENCE OUTSKIRTS
Giovanni slammed the keyboard.
Every camera feed inside the Siena underground just went black. All motion trackers, heat sensors, comms—gone. Wiped clean.
"Someone's jamming us," he barked into the radio. "Or worse. Someone's inside the system."
One of the techs paled.
"Look at this," she whispered.
A line of code blinked on one of the side monitors. Old. Modified.
From a private terminal Kael once used years ago.
A distorted voice came through—synthetic, layered.
It was young.
Feminine.
"Hello, Salvatore."
Then the files began to delete themselves.
One by one.
Blood tests. Implant records. DNA maps. Training schedules. Ariella's entire childhood… gone in seconds.
A final message scrolled across the screen in red.
"You built me. Now I'll rebuild myself."
TUNNEL EXIT – FLORENCE BLIND ZONE, 11:49 A.M.
Kael nearly collapsed as he pushed open the rusted hatch. Sunlight hit his face like a slap. The city loomed far in the distance, but here—beneath the earth, at the edge of the Florence blind zone—they were invisible.
Ariella climbed out behind him. Her hands were shaking. She wiped blood from her nose. Her voice was flat.
"Where are we?"
Kael pointed toward a narrow path between crumbling walls.
"A place that doesn't exist. Not on paper. Not in maps. And not to DeLuca satellites."
She blinked at him.
"And who lives here?"
Kael turned to her.
"Someone who used to work on LUNA. Someone who knew your mother."
FLORENCE – MEDICAL SAFEHOUSE, 11:58 A.M.
The door opened before they knocked.
A woman stood in the doorway, her silver braid long, her face sharp as needles. Dr. Mirella hadn't aged well—but her eyes… they still burned with something raw.
She froze when she saw Ariella.
"My God," she breathed.
Kael stepped in front of Ariella.
"We need your help," he said. "And answers."
Mirella ignored him. She stepped forward, cupped Ariella's cheek with a trembling hand.
"You look just like her."
"Like who?" Ariella asked, her voice cracking.
Mirella didn't answer. She walked to a drawer and pulled out a sealed folder. Inside—an old photo.
A woman.
Same eyes as Ariella. Same stubborn mouth. Standing beside Kael, who looked barely sixteen. Behind them—
Salvatore.
Arm wrapped around both of them.
Like a father.
Ariella stared at it, chest rising and falling.
Mirella spoke softly.
"Your mother was a scientist. Not a soldier. She designed you… not as a weapon. But as a cure."
Ariella shook her head.
"I don't understand."
Kael closed his eyes.
"We were the disease, Ariella. You… were supposed to be the antidote."
ROME – PRIVATE DECONTAMINATION ROOM, 12:04 P.M.
The suit hissed as Salvatore stepped inside it. The original LUNA prototype fit like a second skin—metal, polymer, bone memory coating. Designed to withstand bullets. Fire. Betrayal.
He looked into the mirror.
Not at his face.
At the mask.
And smiled.
Giovanni approached behind him, cautious. "Sir, Beta Team just failed extraction. Gamma's been wiped. Ariella's disappeared."
Salvatore's voice was like steel cutting ice.
"She hasn't disappeared. She's finally awake."
He lifted the helmet.
Slid it into place.
A robotic chime activated inside.
LUNA SYSTEM SYNCED. COMMAND ACCEPTED.MISSION: RECAPTURE SUBJECT 03F.AUTHORISATION: SALVATORE DELUCA
He turned toward the door.
"Prep the jet. I'm going to Florence."