The resonance finally faded.The room settled.Sparks fizzled in quiet apology from the broken ceiling.
Kayden slumped forward, breath shaky but stable, Alex's hand still gripping his.
Phineas whispered:
"…okay. Nobody's dead. Nobody's bleeding. Nobody's—uh—evaporated."
Alex shot him a look.
"Not helping."
Phineas shrugged very, very nervously.
But before either of them could speak again—
The lights went out.
Not flickered.
Not dimmed.
Went out completely.
Darkness swallowed the room in one clean breath.
Kayden stiffened.
Alex froze.
Phineas's baton crackled with one pathetic spark, then died.
"Uh—Alex—"
"I know. I see it."
Actually—he didn't see anything.
But he felt something.
A pressure in the center of the room,cold and patient,like a held blade.
APEX shivered in Kayden's mind.
"Unknown presence detected."
Kayden whispered:
"…her."
The darkness pulsed once—a ripple of distortion,like the room inhaling.
Then—
A thin white line appeared in midair.
Vertical.Perfect.A single slice of light, floating like a cut in reality.
Alex's breath hitched.
Phineas backed up so fast he hit the wall.
"NOPE. Nope nope nope—!"
Kayden's heart pounded.
He knew that light.
He had seen it in dreams.He had felt it through wires.He had heard it in the vibration of his restraints.
The line widened—slowly—like a door opening.
Except there was no hinge.
No frame.
No physics.
Just a widening slit of pure white, sharp as thought.
A silhouette stepped through.
Not walking.Not appearing.Stepping through,like she had always been behind that slice of realitywaiting for permission to enter.
The Citadel Agent.
Tall.Motionless.Dressed in black fabric that reflected no light,outlined by a faint humming corona.Her eyes—too calm,too precise—drank in the room with clinical interest.
Alex's chest constricted.
"Kayden…" he whispered, voice shaking."That's—that's her?"
Kayden nodded slowly.
"…she's real."
Phineas whispered behind them:
"I want to go home."
The Agent stood still for a long moment.Long enough for Alex to feel his skin crawland Kayden to feel APEX's processes spike like rapid-fire thoughts.
Then—she spoke.
Her voice was exactly as Kayden remembered.Calm.Quiet.Confident with no arrogance.Precise like engineered language.
"Variable."
Kayden's entire body tightened.
Alex felt the word like cold water poured down his spine.
Phineas felt it like a pressure headache behind the eyes.
Kayden whispered back:
"…Agent."
The woman tilted her head slightly.
"You survived."
Alex blinked.
That tone—that wasn't praise.
It was observation.
Kayden swallowed hard.
"Barely," he whispered.
Her gaze flicked to Alex.Then to their hands, still clasped.
If she had emotions,none showed.
"The anchor performed adequately."
Alex nearly choked.
"E-excuse me— the what—?!"
Phineas whispered:
"Dude. She's calling you a therapy blanket again."
"Shut up, Phin—"
The Agent ignored both of them.
She stepped closer.
Not walked.Not teleported.
Just—closer.
As if distance obeyed her instead of space.
Kayden tensed.APEX fired a warning in his mind.
"Operator—resonance rising.Control required."
Kayden forced his breathing steady.
The Agent's gaze returned to him.
"You awakened a reflexive suppression field."
Kayden flinched.
"I didn't mean to," he whispered."I wasn't trying to hurt anyone—"
She cut him off.
"Intention is irrelevant.Outcome defines capability."
Kayden's pulse stuttered.
Alex stepped in front of him instinctively.
"Okay, enough—he's terrified—back up."
The Agent looked at Alexas if analyzing a foreign life form.
"You impede clarity."
Alex's jaw clenched.
"And you scare the hell out of him. Move."
The Agent didn't move.
But something else did.
The air around Alex thickened—like invisible hands pressed against his chest.
Alex's breath hitched.
"A-Alex!" Kayden reached for him—
But the Agent lifted one finger.
Just one.
Everything froze.
Alex stopped moving mid-step.Phineas stopped mid-breath.Even the swinging light fixture froze in placeas if time itself hesitated.
The Agent's gaze returned to Kayden.
"Your reflexive surge incapacitated trained personnel in under one second."
Kayden trembled.
"It was an accident—"
"It was potential."
Kayden shook his head, eyes wet.
"I don't want that potential."
A silence.
Then—
"Want is irrelevant."
Kayden felt something break in his chest.
His voice cracked.
"I'm not a weapon."
The Agent studied him.
For the first time,something changed in her eyes.
Not warmth.Not sympathy.
Recognition.
"Correct."
Kayden blinked.
What?
The Agent stepped closer—just inches away—and the frozen air trembled around her.
"Weapons are built."A beat."You are becoming."
Kayden sucked in a shaking breath.
Alex felt tears burn in his frozen eyes.
Phineas couldn't even blink.
Finally—the Agent lowered her hand.
Time exhaled.
Alex stumbled forward, coughing.
Phineas gasped for breath.
Kayden grabbed Alex's arm instantly.
"You okay?!"
Alex nodded weakly.
The Agent watched them with unnerving stillness.
Then she spoke her verdict:
"You are prepared for extraction."
Kayden's blood ran cold.
"Extraction…?""By who—?"
Her gaze sharpened.
"By me."
The white slit behind her expanded again,a doorway made of nothing and everything.
She extended her hand to Kayden.
"Walk with me."
Alex grabbed Kayden's arm.
"No. No, you are NOT taking him—"
The Agent turned her head slightly.
Not to Alex.
To Kayden.
Waiting.
Kayden's heart hammered.His breath trembled.His fingers tightened around Alex's shirt.
He wasn't ready.
But she was.
And she had chosen him.
Right now.