The command center smelled like hot wiring and fear.
Not the loud kind. The quiet kind. The kind that sat behind clean screens and polished orders, pretending it was reason.
Aria stood near the glass wall that looked out over the operations floor. Technicians had returned, moving carefully now, as if the building might bite them if they stepped wrong. The anomaly map still pulsed, but it no longer screamed. It breathed. Uneven. Alive.
Kai stayed close, his hand resting lightly at the small of her back. Not possessive. Protective. A reminder that she wasn't alone in a room built to make people feel small.
Viktor remained by the console, shoulders rigid. He hadn't raised his voice since the test. That alone told Aria how deep the shock ran.
The data had said what he didn't want to hear.
Her humanity wasn't the weakness.
It was the lock on the monster he kept trying to find.
A low rumble rolled through the building. The lights flickered once, then steadied.
