Iris knew something was wrong the moment the birds stopped singing.
She was standing at the edge of the greenhouse rooftop, watching fog curl around Vanguard's towers like a ghost looking for a body. Ava stood behind her, silent.
Neither of them spoke for several minutes.
Then Ava said quietly, "He's alive."
She turned. "Who?"
She didn't look at her. "Your father."
Her breath vanished.
The ground didn't shake. The sky didn't crack. But something inside me splintered.
"You're lying."
She handed her a drive. "This came from the archive breach. Sub-Level 3. They're keeping him in the medical wing. Sedated. Monitored."
Her hands trembled.
He was supposed to be dead.
I watched them kill him.
Flashback – Ten Years Ago
The gunfire echoed off the marble walls.
Blood sprayed across a white piano. Her father lunged for her, took the bullet meant for my head.
She remember screaming.
Then silence.
Then fire.
Then Genevieve's face, eyes hard, voice cold: "Run."
And she ran.
PRESENT
She didn't cry.
But something changed.
"Why didn't the Circle finish him?" she asked.
"They tried," Ava said. "But someone intervened. Maybe Genevieve. Maybe someone worse."
"We need to see him."
"We need to stay alive."
She grabbed her jacket. "You said we'd take everything back. That includes the truth."
Vanguard Medical Wing – Late Night
They snuck in through the laundry tunnels. Ava disabled the security feed with a magnetic pulse. Iris picked the door lock by feel. They moved like we had rehearsed it a hundred times.
But nothing could have prepared her for the sight of him.
Karl Voss.
Alive.
His face was gaunt. Tubes in his arms. But the scar on his chest was real. He'd been shot. He'd survived.
He opened his eyes.
Saw her.
Whispered, "Ingrid...?"
She froze.
Then he said something else. Something that shattered everything.
"They lied to you."
Jonas's Room – Same Night
Jonas stared at a wall of photos. Ava at the gala, Iris in Berlin, Melanie talking to someone off-camera.
He connected the dots.
Then got a message.
Unknown Sender: "You're not the only one the Circle lied to. Meet me in the tunnels. Midnight."
He stared at the message.
Below it: a blurry image of his own face.
In the background… Karl Voss.
Melanie's Observation File
Ava and Iris have gone dark. Suspected infiltration of Med Wing confirmed. Subject 017 is awake. All players are in motion. Jonas is wavering. The Circle is cracking.
Now it's just a matter of who makes the first real cut.