Florence – Dr. Mirella's Safehouse, 12:10 P.M.
Something felt off since morning.
Ariella had noticed it — no sounds from outside. No birds. No crickets. Not even the trees were rustling, though the southern wind was still moving. The silence felt too clean. Too precise.
Like the world had paused.
Kael sat against the stone wall near the front door, his hand still pressed against the wound on his ribs. His black shirt was soaked in blood. But he said nothing. He just watched. Like a predator who sensed its rival circling but hadn't struck yet.
In the adjoining lab, Dr. Mirella was quietly organizing old files and compact drives into a tactical bag. Her hands moved steadily, but her body betrayed tension she was trying hard to suppress.
"Do you think this place is still safe?" Ariella asked, standing between the two of them.
Mirella didn't answer immediately. She looked up, studied Ariella for a moment.
"What is safe anymore when Salvatore decides to step onto the field himself?"
Kael clenched his jaw. "We should move now."
He tried to rise, but his body wavered. Ariella rushed to his side, catching his arm, steadying him with her smaller frame still trembling. Not from fear — but from the adrenaline that hadn't subsided since Siena.
"Is there another way out?" Kael asked.
Mirella nodded. "Behind the steel rack. Narrow passage. You'll have to crawl."
Before they could move—
Click.
The overhead lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then darkness.
Every system shut down.
The fan went silent. The lab screens went black. The air filter gave a final hiss.
Ariella turned sharply. "What just happened?"
Kael was already upright. His breath short. Eyes sharp.
"They're here."
ROME – Tactical Operations Room, 12:14 P.M.
The low hum of industrial fans filled the fortified command room. A digital map of Florence glowed against the wall, outlining every inch of underground territory — including old sewage lines, abandoned metro tracks, and one blinking red dot pulsing slowly: SUBJECT 03F.
Salvatore stood like a shadow in metal. The original LUNA suit clung to him with mechanical precision. His mask was lifted halfway, revealing a clenched jaw and eyes that didn't reflect exhaustion, but total focus. The kind of focus only a man willing to burn the world for one name could possess: Kael.
Beside him, Giovanni scrolled quickly through his tablet. Fingers sharp. Eyes sharper.
"Bravo team has reached perimeter. Approaching from three directions — upper, side, and drainage. Ariella's tracker is still active. Location: Florence sub-level service zone, near an old metro junction."
Salvatore nodded once.
The mood in the room shifted. The air thickened.
Everyone present understood — this wasn't a recovery.
It was an erasure.
"I don't want mistakes," Salvatore said. His voice was soft but struck like a bullet. "Kael is an open target. Shoot on sight."
He paused. Turned toward the screen showing a still of his daughter just hours earlier — sweat on her brow, her eyes sharp, confused, but burning.
"Subject 03F..."
He chose his words like choosing weapons.
"Capture alive. But if she resists..."
He faced the room. Every officer stood at attention.
"I won't let her become a symbol. If she chooses to burn our legacy, I'll make sure she leaves no ashes."
FLORENCE – The Safehouse, 12:19 P.M.
The first explosion hit without warning.
BOOM.
The world trembled.
The underground lab felt like it had been struck by a quake. Metal shelves bounced. Vials shattered. Glass from test tubes exploded like tiny bullets across the floor. Smoke and dust poured from the ceiling, and a small fire licked the edges of the wooden desk filled with fragile papers.
Ariella crashed backward into a bookshelf. Her chest tightened. It felt like the air had frozen inside her lungs. Everything blurred — too loud, too bright, too sudden.
Despite his injuries, Kael moved fast. He grabbed Ariella from the ground, pulling her behind a bookshelf. He reached into a hidden wall compartment and retrieved a compact pistol with electro rounds.
He looked at her. His gaze was steel, but something beneath it remained unchanged — the shield that had always protected her.
"They'll breach in seconds," he said hoarsely. "Whatever happens, don't let them take you."
Ariella nodded. Her mouth was dry.
From the lab, Mirella had opened a vault and was rushing over with an old tactical bag.
"Everything about your mother's research is in here," she said, panting. "Original schematics. Implant data. Her journal. If I die, you get this out."
DUM. DUM. DUM.
Heavy footsteps pounded down the concrete staircase.
Ariella tried to breathe. Her hands trembled.
But what stirred inside her now wasn't just fear.
It was something older. Something angrier.
From the white fog of dust, three soldiers emerged — clad in upgraded LUNA 2.0 armor. Matte black. Unmarked. Their shoulders bore rippling digital camo. Their weapons pulsed with biometric locks.
"Surrender," one said. His voice metallic. Filtered. Cold. "Final warning."
Kael rose from cover. Blood oozed from his side again. But he stood tall — a man who still chose principle over survival.
"I never followed your orders."
And he opened fire.
Two shots.
One to the helmet.
One to the chest.
One of them fell — helmet cracked, blood seeping through the edges.
The others retaliated. Bullets tore through the walls.
Ariella screamed. Kael shoved her behind the rack again.
Amidst the chaos, she grabbed the pistol from Kael's side. Her hands trembled. Her lungs burned. But her eyes —
— they began to change.
She remembered the white room. The overhead lights. Salvatore's voice on the intercom:
"Emotion weakens. Obedience is survival."
Today, she chose differently.
Click.
She pulled the trigger.
The bullet slammed into a soldier's knee. Blood exploded onto the floor. The man howled, collapsing.
Ariella stared.
She'd just shot someone.
And it wasn't a simulation.
It wasn't training.
It was real.
And she didn't regret it.
Mirella pulled her arm. "Move! Now!"