The deeper they went, the more the lab felt like a tomb.
The hallways pulsed with dim red emergency lighting. Pipes creaked behind the walls like distant whispers. Aria's boots echoed on the metal floor, her fingers twitching near the small blade strapped to her thigh.
They found the archive room behind a biometric lock.
Xander's fingerprint worked.
He hadn't expected it to.
"Why does it let you in?" Aria asked.
He didn't look at her as the door hissed open.
Inside were rows of servers, old hard drives, and sealed evidence crates. Amara went for the filing cabinet. Xander went for the back panel.
Aria stood frozen.
Then she saw it.
A wall of photographs—surveillance shots, lab reports, blood charts—all tracking her.
There were notes in her father's handwriting, coded messages about sequences, injections, side effects. And then… dates.
Recent ones.
"They've been testing the serum again," she said. "On others."
Xander spoke from behind her. "Not just others."
She turned.
He held out a vial.
Her name was printed on the label.
Expiration date: next week.
She stared at it. "They were planning to use this?"
"They still are."
Xander's voice was low.
"I found another one. With my name on it."
Aria's mouth went dry.
"What are you saying?"
"I was a test subject too."
Aria felt the floor shift beneath her.
"You knew?" she whispered.
He hesitated. "Since I was a teenager."
"You lied to me—"
"I was trying to protect you."
"By becoming one of them?"
The silence that followed was heavier than any scream.
Amara stepped between them, holding a folder. "I think we need to go."
But Aria was already walking away.
From the room.
From him.
From everything.