The Alps were white and silent, a silence that suffocated rather than soothed. From the ridge above, I could see the old Hollowpoint Station buried into the mountainside like a scar. Once a covert Overwatch relay during the war, now it looked like a graveyard of satellites and half-collapsed domes, the blue emblem still visible beneath frost.
The transport Cain arranged left me a kilometer out, engines cutting low to avoid radar. The mask filtered my breath into fogless whispers, the Dagger persona alive again.
> Retrieve the scientist. Recover the data. No witnesses.
Cain's voice still echoed in my ear, calm and deliberate.
Snow fell sideways as I descended the ridge. My boots crunched on shattered solar panels half-buried in ice. The storm covered sound, but not light, every flicker in the snowfield could give me away.
Thermal scans showed three heat signatures near the compound's entrance. Not Talon. Overwatch.
They'd beaten me here.
Through the visor, the outlines of familiar shapes appeared: Virginia with steady rifle aim, scanning the perimeter. Marco was moving between crates, checking sensors.
Spencer covering their flank, eyes fixed through a scope.
My team. The Rose's Thorns.
For a second, I froze, the world narrowing to the heartbeat thudding in my chest. If they recognized me, it would all unravel. If I didn't act, Talon would suspect betrayal.
I whispered into the modulator. "You put me in hell, Cain."
Then I stepped into it.
Inside the station, the air was thin, electric hum still running through dormant systems.
Old Overwatch consoles flickered weakly, their power rerouted through jury-rigged cables that led deeper into the base.
That's where I found him—Dr. Koren, Elise Meret's surviving assistant.
Gaunt, shivering, eyes darting between monitors like a man haunted by what he'd made. A datapad glowed beside him, Meret's serum research, unfinished and pulsing with danger.
"Don't move," I said, modulator flattening my tone.
He spun, hands raised. "Talon sent you, didn't they? You'll kill me before they let me explain..."
"Not if you cooperate."
Behind us, a door creaked open. "Hold it right there!"
Virginia's voice. Sharp. Controlled. I'd trained her well from the meek, young woman who didn't even know how to manually check a heart rate.
My stomach dropped.
Three of them entered. Virginia at the lead, Marco to her left, Spencer covering the right flank with a scoped sidearm. Snow still clung to their shoulders, breath clouding in the freezing air.
She didn't recognize me beneath the mask. Not yet.
"Talon operative," she said. "Step away from him. Slowly."
Koren bolted behind her, using the moment to clutch her sleeve like salvation. "You don't understand! They'll take it all! They'll finish what Meret started!"
"Then talk to us," Virginia said as her eyes remained trained on me. "You're safe now."
I took a step forward. "Bold of you to assume he's safe with that data."
Her eyes narrowed. "You know what this is?"
"I know enough to know you're out of time."
Spencer caught movement in the corner of his eye. "Virginia, he's holding something..."
I released the first pulse. A concussive burst of light exploded from my glove, disorienting them as I was unaffected. I rushed over, knocking him into wall. His body fell to the ground hard, unmoving.
"Contact!" Marco shouted, lunging forward. He never changed. His movements were sloppy and predictable as always. I sidestepped, sending out three rapid, precise jabs that struck his pressure points. His legs shook as his body refused to drop, but he was fighting a losing battle. Seconds later, he fell, twitching.
Virginia fired twice, both rounds hitting me. One striking my shoulder while the other hit me dead on in the chest. I wasn't wearing armor, because I didn't need it. They weren't using armor piercing rounds, we weren't in a war anymore, so there was no danger of it actually harming me. She watched as both bullets clanked to the metal floor.
"Who the hell are you?!" she demanded.
"They call me Dagger." I drew a short baton from my belt and met her head-on.
I went for her pressure points, like Marco, however, Virginia blocked each attempt. I haven't kept track of her training these past months since the war ended, but she was faster than I remembered.
As I went for her head, she ducked, then switched from defense to offense. She struck out at my chest with a taser. I stepped back, not wanting to take unnecessary damage. But movement from below caught my attention. The barrel of a gun aimed at my face.
I knew that even at point blank, the most damage her gun would do is bruise that I could easily heal. However, I was wearing a mask and I did not want that damaged. I couldn't afford to be recognized here. By pure instinct, my body leaned back as three shots went off.
I grabbed her wrist, yanking it to the right. Her rifle clattered to the floor.
"Good try," I said quietly, the modulator crackling.
She froze as she understood what just happened. "Wait.. how did you..."
I didn't let her finish. I struck her with the butt of the baton, catching her jaw just hard enough to knock her unconscious.
The silence afterward hurt more than the wound in my shoulder.
Dr. Koren stood trembling by the console, clutching the datapad to his chest. "Are they—are they dead?"
"No," I said. "But they'll wish they were when they wake up."
He backed away. "You're one of them. Talon."
I grabbed his collar. "You're coming with me. Now."
He shook his head. "If you take me, the world burns. You don't understand what this is!"
"I understand exactly," I said, tightening my grip. "You made a weapon that pretends to heal."
He flinched. "And you think Talon won't use it?"
"I don't think," I said. "I know. That's why I need you alive."
Outside, the extraction craft roared through the snowstorm, its engines low and hidden. I dragged Koren toward the landing pad, leaving three motionless shapes in the snow behind me.
When I looked back one last time, Virginia's hand twitched.
I turned away before my conscience could.
Cain was waiting when the transport returned to Vulturis. He didn't speak as the guards escorted Koren into containment. The datapad glowed faintly in his gloved hands, the unstable serum formula now Talon's property.
Finally, Cain turned to me. "You fought Overwatch?"
"They arrived first," I said. "I neutralized them."
He smiled faintly. "Neutralized. Not eliminated."
I didn't answer.
He clasped his hands behind his back. "Word spreads fast. Higher command is impressed. You've proven you can act without hesitation, even against your own. That kind of loyalty is rare."
Loyalty. That word had started to taste like ash.
Cain continued, voice smooth. "I'll see to it your rank is adjusted accordingly. You'll report directly to me and the board. Congratulations, Dagger, you're no longer a knife. You're a hand."
He gestured toward the lab where Koren was taken. "Interrogate the doctor when he wakes. Extract everything. Leave nothing unsaid."
"Yes, sir," I said.
The mask hid the tremor in my voice.
Later, alone, I stood by the window overlooking the storm outside the facility. The snow fell heavier now, thick enough to erase the world below.
I replayed the fight in my mind: Virginia's eyes wide in confusion, Spencer's shout cut off mid-word, Marco's body convulsing under the current.
My team, my family, left broken in the snow while I dragged away the man they came to save.
The communicator on my wrist blinked. A message from Cain.
> Promotion confirmed. New designation: Talon Operative – Rank 3.
I switched it off.
Outside, lightning crawled across the clouds. And in its reflection on the glass, the mask stared back at me. Not Shawn Rose. Just Dagger.
A weapon in the dark.