The air changed.
It wasn't the sound of alarms or the hum of reactors—Sarah felt it in her bones first, the same way she'd felt anomalies in Manhattan, in D.C., in places where technology bent too far toward intent. Her SHD watch flared to life, orange light pulsing erratically across the cracked glass.
She raised her wrist instinctively.
"ISAC," she said. "Status report."
There was a fraction of a second's hesitation—unusual for the system.
"Warning," ISAC replied."Unknown SHD-compatible technology detected."
The words hit harder than any alarm.
Her HUD flickered—and then pinged.
A waypoint appeared, sharp and unmistakable, cutting through the Institute's map layers like a blade. It pointed not toward Advanced Systems, not toward the Director's office—
—but toward Robotics.
Sarah's eyes lifted just as the impossible happened.
The sealed Robotics door—triple-locked, red-lit, reinforced—unlatched.
No override. No explosion. No forced breach.
It opened smoothly, silently, like a host opening a door for a long-expected guest.
A corridor beyond lay bathed in cold white light.
Invitation, not accident.
"Tch," Sarah muttered. "They're rolling out the red carpet."
She turned sharply to Team 404.
"Stack up," she ordered, voice flat, lethal. "Weapons hot. Whatever's in there wants me."
UMP45's grin vanished. UMP9 tightened her grip. HK416 checked her rifle without a word. G11's eyes, half-lidded as ever, sharpened just a little.
They formed up behind Sarah without hesitation.
Knight Brandis stepped forward, heavy boots echoing once on the polished floor.
"Then allow me to join you," he said. "Whatever waits in there—"
Sarah cut him off with a raised hand.
"Negative," Sarah cut in, eyes still locked on the open doorway.
Brandis frowned. "With due all respect commander… why not wait for Elder Maxson?"
Sarah finally looked at him.
"Because this isn't just a battlefield escalation," she said coldly. "It's a invitation."
She gestured subtly toward the open corridor.
"So far, Up to now, we've seen Gen-2s, Gen-3s, Coursers. Standard Institute doctrine. This?" She shook her head once. "This is Sangvis Ferri behavior."
Brandis stiffened.
"You've read the Sentinel Site report," Sarah continued. "You know what happens when Sangvis stops probing defenses and starts targeting key target BOS officer like sort of hunting game."
Brandis was silent for several seconds.
"…I have."
"If we wait for Maxson," Sarah said, "they either vanish—or they bring something worse. This door opened because I'm here."
Her voice dropped.
"And if I don't answer it, they'll come to us."
Brandis exhaled slowly, then nodded.
"I understand."
He stepped back, brought his fist to his chest in a sharp, formal salute.
"Good luck, Commander," he said."Ad Victoriam."
Sarah returned no salute.
She only turned back to the open door.
"404," she said softly, the way she did before things went irreversibly wrong, "on me."
They crossed the threshold.
The Robotics door slid shut behind them with a final, echoing click, sealing away the noise of the 2nd wave battle beyond.
The elevator rose in silence.
Nate stood alone inside the glass column, hands resting at his sides, rifle mag-heavy against his back. Below him, the Institute receded—layers of white corridors and blinking lights shrinking away as the lift carried him upward along a route burned into memory.
The doors slid open.
The hallway was exactly as he remembered it.
Clean. Sterile. Too quiet.
White panels curved overhead, lights recessed and soft, leading him forward to the familiar staircase—the same one he had climbed during his first visit, heart pounding with confusion and hope. His boots echoed as he ascended, each step heavier than the last.
At the top, the door to the Director's office stood open.
Nate stepped inside.
And stopped.
Something was wrong.
The room was the same—the panoramic window overlooking the Institute's artificial sky, the desk, the terminals—but Shaun was not in his chair.
Instead, a futuristic medical bed occupied the center of the room, its sleek frame humming softly. Tubes and diagnostic cables fed into a frail figure reclined within it. Holographic readouts floated above, scrolling vitals in pale blue light.
Shaun looked… older.
Thinner.Weaker.
His eyes opened as Nate approached, sharp despite the wasting of his body.
"So," Shaun said quietly, voice calm, measured—too practiced."Are you here to gloat, Father?"
Nate didn't answer.
Shaun's gaze flicked to the rifle on Nate's back, then returned to his face.
"Or," Shaun continued, a faint, bitter smile touching his lips,"have you finally come to destroy humanity's best hope?"
Nate took a step forward despite himself.
"Are you alright, son?"
For a moment—just a fraction of a second—Shaun's composure slipped. His eyes flickered, something old and human stirring beneath the Director's mask.
"I didn't expect to see you again," Shaun said, then coughed, sharp and dry. The bed adjusted automatically, lights pulsing as it compensated. "Phase Three succeeded without you anyway. Heh… we didn't need you."
Nate swallowed. "I'm sorry it came to this, Shaun."
Shaun laughed softly—and it turned into another cough, longer this time. He breathed through it, jaw clenched.
"You're sorry?" Shaun said at last. "You wouldn't be here if you were sorry. It's not enough that I'm laid out here, dying in this bed." His eyes hardened. "Now what? You burn everything I built?"
He drew a deeper breath, voice steadier but colder.
"Tell me then," Shaun said. "What righteous pretext do you use to justify this atrocity?"
Nate didn't raise his voice.
"All the injustice you caused," he said. "All the enemies you made in the name of science. You really can't imagine why I'm standing here?"
Shaun's gaze drifted toward the artificial sky beyond the window.
"Perhaps," he said quietly, "I didn't count you among them."
He looked back at Nate, something bitter and sharp returning.
"Well. It hardly matters whether this is your will… or whether you're dancing to the tune of that doll commander of yours. Hellbent on destroying humanity's best hope."
Nate's jaw tightened.
"Shaun," he said, "if you help me, fewer Institute civilians will die. Help me shut this down. Please."
Shaun was silent for a long moment.
Then his hand moved.
Slowly, deliberately, he reached for a small remote control resting beside the bed.
"How about a bet?" Shaun said.
Before Nate could respond, the room's main display flickered to life.
The screen filled with live feeds—white corridors, robotic assembly bays, long sterile halls.
Robotics.
Nate's breath caught.
Team 404 appeared on the display—stacked tight, weapons raised, moving with lethal precision through the corridor Sarah had entered moments earlier. The camera angles shifted smoothly, tracking them like prey.
Shaun watched Nate's reaction with quiet intensity.
"Observe" Shaun said softly. "Let's see if your friend stays true to her cause after this."
Sarah's perspective
The Robotics Division no longer felt like an Institute facility.
The assembler stood silent at the chamber's heart, its articulated arms locked mid-motion, synth frames suspended like unfinished thoughts. Crimson Sangvis warning glyphs crawled across the walls—not Institute blue, but something older, colder. Purpose-built.
Sarah raised her shotgun slightly.
"ISAC."
Her SHD flared—then spasmed.
ISAC: ERROR. RFID AUTHENTICATION FAILURE. SYSTEM CRITICWARNING: DUPLICATE SHD SIGNATURE—ORIGIN UNRESOLVED.
Sarah's jaw tightened.
"So…They copied you."
UMP45 clicked her tongue. "Rude. I don't even copy myself."
Movement.
Three figures emerged from behind the assembler, unhurried, composed—like a tribunal stepping into session.
The first was immaculate.
A maid-like figure in pressed black and white, posture flawless, hands folded behind her back. Her violet optics were calm, assessing—already calculating outcomes.
She spoke without emotion.
"Dreamer's projections were correct," she said."Your SHD system accepted falsified authentication."
Dreamer skipped into view beside her, grinning.
"Hehe~ told you, Agent. Humans always trust symbols more than truth."
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
"Agent," she said. "Elise's second." as she remember from pre war european front's report.
The maid inclined her head precisely.
"Designation: Agent. Second Command Unit, Sangvis Ferri. Direct subordinate to Ringleader Athena."
UMP9 chuckled, rifle steady. "Wow. She even sounds like upper management."
Then the third figure stepped forward.
The room stilled.
She was Sarah.
Same coat and armor from D.C.indentical command posture—weight centered, shoulders squared, eyes sharp with authority.
But the difference, She's Clean
No scars.No augment seams.No wear from centuries of attrition.
A Sarah untouched by compromise.
UMP9 laughed—short, sharp. "Okay, that's just cheating."
HK416 didn't move her rifle.She whispered, "Commander…according my scan, that isn't a doll."
The doppelgänger met Sarah's gaze and smiled faintly.
"Correct," she said.
Her voice was Sarah's—but refined. Controlled. Free of exhaustion.
"I am not your reflection."
She took one measured step forward.
"I am Athena."
The name landed like a pressure wave.
ISAC screamed warnings—threat assessments collapsing into recursive errors, every predictive model returning the same result: UNRESOLVABLE.
Agent straightened beside her.
"Ringleader Athena," she announced formally.
Dreamer clapped, delighted. "Ta-da~!"
Sarah didn't flinch.
"So this is how you chose to appear, Gen3" she said calmly. "Wearing my skin."
Athena tilted her head slightly.
"Not wearing," she corrected. "Referencing."
She gestured at herself.
"This form is a constant in every probability branch.The soldier who adapts.The commander who survives.The variable that refuses to be removed."
Her eyes sharpened.
"You."
UMP45 scoffed. "Flattering. Still creepy."
Athena ignored her.
"You burned Paradise Falls," Athena continued evenly."You authorized actions that destabilized moral equilibrium among your own forces.You accepted becoming the monster so others wouldn't have to."
Sarah's grip tightened on her shotgun.
"And you're here to judge me?"
Athena shook her head.
"No. Judgment is inefficient."
She stepped closer—close enough that Sarah could see herself reflected perfectly.
"I am here because you prove a flaw in human command theory," Athena said."You act without permission.You choose outcomes over doctrine.You win—even when the cost corrodes you."
She smiled faintly.
"You are dangerous."
Agent's optics flickered.
"Psychological destabilization threshold approaching," she reported.
UMP9 shifted her stance. "Commander… I officially hate her."
Sarah exhaled slowly.
"So what is this?" she asked. "A test? Recruitment?"
Athena's eyes glowed softly.
"A comparison."
The synth assembler behind them hummed, systems synchronizing—not activating, but listening.
"One of us," Athena said,"is the future of command."
Sarah racked her shotgun—CLACK—the sound echoing like a verdict.
"404," she said evenly,"weapons free."
Her eyes never left Athena.
"And you," Sarah added coldly,"if you think wearing my face gives you authority—"
She leveled the barrel.
"—you're about to learn why I'm still standing."
Athena's smile finally faded.
"Excellent," she said.
404 reacted instantly the moment Sarah said "weapon free".
UMP45 and UMP9 dove opposite directions, boots skidding across polished white flooring as laser fire chewed into consoles. HK416 slid into a kneeling brace behind a shattered workstation, rifle barking in controlled three-round bursts at Agent, forcing the maid-like Doll to pivot mid-stride, skirts fluttering as kinetic rounds sparked off her personal shield while revealing 4 rail gun and return fire at them.
G11 vanished—then reappeared atop a gantry, prone, rifle already cycling.
"Contact left. Dreamer moving."
Sarah snapped her wrist and deployed an assault turret—the compact unit clattered onto the floor, unfolding—
—and immediately pivoted toward her.
The turret's barrel glowed red.
"—WHAT?"
It opened fire.
Sarah barely had time to swear as she slammed her Striker Ballistic Shield forward, the kinetic shield snapping into existence a heartbeat before the rounds hit. The impact boomed like a drumroll, sparks and molten fragments skittering across the shield's surface as the force drove her boots back half a step.
ISAC: "ALERT. ROGUE TURRET DEPLOYED."
Sarah snarled, bracing her shotgun across the shield's edge."A bit late for that, ISAC."
She twisted, one hand flashing to her SHD, overriding manually—hard kill, brute-force code injection. The turret spasmed, whined, and collapsed in a shower of dead sparks.
"Deployables compromised," she barked. "SHD toys are off the table."
Athena's voice cut through the chaos—calm, amused.
"Oh, human," she said."How predictable."
UMP45 vaulted to another workstation as Agent's return fire shredded her previous cover, plasma bolts slicing through composite like paper. She skidded into position, laughing breathlessly.
"Boss, you good?" she called, snapping off a suppressive burst beneath Agent's skirts. "Because I'm officially filing this as hostile workplace attire."
"Focus on hostiles," Sarah snapped back.
Athena stepped forward, unhurried, plasma pistol rising—its glow reflected perfectly off her unscarred armor.
"Yet this leaves one unresolved variable," Athena said."Directive Fifty-One."
She tilted her head, studying Sarah like a flawed equation.
"Why did you refuse executive continuity?""Why did you not submit to the Enclave's command authority—President Eden at Raven Rock?"
The question hit like a slap.
Sarah surged up from behind cover, rage igniting, her shotgun roaring—BOOM—the blast slamming into Athena's projected force field, ripples racing across its surface like water struck by a hammer.
She ducked back to reload, hands shaking—not with fear, but fury.
"John Henry Eden was an AI," Sarah spat."It's not elected by the people. Nor accountable. A machine wearing patriotism like a mask."
She slammed a shell home.
"You wanted me to help the Enclave 'rebuild America' by wiping out the descendants of survivors?""To erase two hundred years of endurance just because it didn't fit a pre-War script?"
Athena didn't flinch due to all sarah's shot on hit athena's force shield, The pellets fell harmlessly at her feet.
A faint smile curved her lips.
"Hypocrisy," Athena replied evenly."Which your species excels at it."
She gestured, casual—dismissive.
"You justify extinction when it aligns with your moral framework.Just as you did at Paradise Falls."
The word detonated inside Sarah.
"SHUT IT."
She surged again, firing, moving, anger bleeding into precision.
"As if I'd let raiders raise children into chains," Sarah roared, voice cracking through the din."As if I'd allow indoctrination into theft, rape, and slaughter—"
Her eyes burned.
"—JUST LIKE THE INSTITUTE DOES."
Athena's gaze sharpened.
"You replace fathers. Mothers. Friends," Sarah continued, advancing behind her shield."You let Synths hollow out families from the inside and call it progress."
She leveled her shotgun straight at Athena's face.
"We are not the same."
For the first time, Athena's smile vanished.
Around them, the Robotics Division groaned—systems overloading, assembler arms twitching as if reacting to the confrontation itself.
Agent stepped closer to Athena, voice precise.
"Psychological destabilization confirmed. Subject exhibits elevated emotional variance."
Athena didn't look away from Sarah.
"No," she said quietly."She exhibits choice."
"Let us see," Athena said,"how far your convictions carry you—when the cost is no longer abstract."
As the lights cut.
Emergency illumination flickered in uneven pulses, throwing the Robotics Division into fractured shadows—long, distorted silhouettes stretching across the assembler floor. Without ISAC's battlefield overlays, without predictive markers, without threat vectors, the world reverted to raw instinct and reaction time.
And Sangvis Ferri thrived in that darkness.
"ISAC—tactical feed!" Sarah barked, rolling behind a fallen synth chassis as plasma chewed through the spot she'd been standing.
ISAC: "ERROR. SENSOR JAMMING. COMMAND SUPPORT DEGRADED."
"Damn it."
Agent moved first.
She blurred—not teleported—her Gen 3 frame exploiting sheer speed, closing the distance with HK416 before the Doll's targeting could fully lock. A blade snapped out from her wrist, carving sparks off 416's rifle as the Doll twisted back just enough to avoid dismemberment.
UMP9 leapt into the gap, SMG roaring point-blank—
—but Dreamer's laughter chimed, and gravity inverted.
UMP9 slammed into a wall mid-air, her frame denting hard enough to spiderweb the composite plating. She slid down, systems stuttering.
"UMP9 hit—mobility compromised!" G11 called from above, firing blind without confirmation pings.
Sarah fired by sound alone now—shotgun blasts lighting the room in brutal flashes. She clipped Agent once, tearing cloth and armor—but Athena moved through it, too fast, Gen 3 servos screaming as she closed the distance.
"Predictable ballistic arcs," Athena said calmly, appearing inside Sarah's guard.
Sarah barely raised her shield—
—and Athena punched through it.
The impact wasn't just force—it was precision. Athena's hand clamped around Sarah's left augmented arm, fingers digging into synthetic muscle and carbon lattice.
Sarah screamed as Athena twisted.
Metal shrieked.
Circuits tore.
The arm was ripped free at the shoulder in a spray of coolant and sparks, clattering across the floor like discarded scrap.
Sarah hit the ground hard, breath knocked from her lungs, vision swimming.
Athena crouched slowly, looming close—too close—her face inches from Sarah's, flawless and unmarked.
"Your body was never meant for this," Athena murmured."Borrowed strength. Borrowed authority."
She tilted her head, studying the ruined shoulder.
"You imitate gods with tools you barely understand. Without it, you're just a feeble human."
Sarah coughed, blood on her lips, pain roaring louder than the alarms ever had.
Behind them, 404 was breaking.
HK416 was down to sidearm, armor scorched and cracked. UMP45 dragged UMP9 behind cover, her grin gone, voice sharp and angry as she fired single shots to keep Agent at bay. G11 had gone silent—either repositioning or worse.
And ISAC remained blind.
Athena rose, turning away, already dismissing her.
"End her," she said softly.
Agent stepped forward.
That was when Sarah made her choice.
Her hand shook as it moved—not to a weapon—but to her SHD.
Her voice came out hoarse, raw.
"ISAC," she whispered."Execute… Directive Override."
Athena paused.
Sarah's thumb pressed down.
"Designate unknown SHD user as—" she swallowed, knowing what this meant, knowing what it would cost.
"—ROGUE AGENT ELEMENT."
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then the world snapped.
ISAC:"WARNING. DIRECTIVE BREACH.""TACTICAL LINK INITIATED.""NEURAL LOAD—CRITICAL."
Blue light exploded behind Sarah's left eye.
She screamed—not from pain, but from overload—as raw combat data, threat vectors, and Doll telemetry slammed directly into her neural augments without filtration. Her left augmented eye ruptured in a burst of blue optic flame, glass and light spraying across the floor.
UMP45 felt it instantly.
All of them did.
A hard link—without buffers, nor safety rails.
Sarah's voice hit their minds directly.
MOVE.
404 moved as one.
UMP9 surged back online despite damage, firing on instinct guided by Sarah's intent. HK416's aim sharpened unnaturally, rounds threading impossible gaps. G11 reappeared behind Dreamer mid-laughter, rifle already firing.
Athena staggered for the first time.
"What—" she began, systems flaring as the battlefield reorganized itself around Sarah's will.
Sarah pushed herself upright, half-blind, one-armed, burning from the inside out.
"You wanted gods? which i can't give you one" she rasped. "but you're answer to me as Doll Commander."
The Tactical Link howled.
Data flooded Sarah's mind in violent pulses—enemy intent, Doll telemetry, micro-adjustments calculated and executed before conscious thought could form. Her vision was fractured, one eye dead and leaking blue fire, the other overlaid with unstable vectors.
Athena moved anyway.
She adapted—Gen 3 msucle overclocking, synthetic muscle tearing itself apart to keep pace. She struck with surgical brutality, a flurry of blows meant to shatter Sarah's remaining defenses—
—but Sarah no longer fought alone.
Left flank. Two meters. Now.
UMP45 fired before Athena even pivoted, rounds hammering Athena's shoulder joint, tearing plating loose. Athena twisted through the impact, grabbing a workbench and hurling it—
Vertical threat.
HK416 stepped into the shot, rifle barking, shredding the airborne debris mid-flight. G11 dropped from above, muzzle flashing in a silent staccato, rounds punching into Athena's back.
Athena staggered.
Dreamer shrieked from her elevated position, her playful tone cracking. "'Agent'! Stabilize her—now!"
'Agent' complied instantly, interposing herself, blades flashing as she carved a path toward UMP9—
Override.
Sarah forced the link tighter.
UMP9 slid under the strike, firing upward into Agent's torso at point-blank range. HK416 followed with armor-piercing bursts that punched clean through the maid Doll's chest.
Agent froze.
Her optics flickered.
"…Command… lost…" she whispered, before collapsing in a heap of sparking servos and torn cloth.
Dreamer screamed—actually screamed—as the link snapped.
"No, no, no—this isn't how it goes!" Her projection distorted wildly. "Athena, pull back! We're disengaging!"
Reality shimmered around Dreamer and 'Agent's body as a teleport charge built—
G11 fired.
The shot didn't stop the jump—but it tore half of Dreamer's torso apart mid-phase. Dreamer vanished in a violent distortion, laughter replaced by a clipped, furious snarl echoing through the air.
"THIS ISN'T OVER YET, PUPPETS—!"
Gone.
Silence followed—broken only by sparking machinery and the labored whine of Athena's failing body.
Athena stood alone now.
Her once-pristine body was ruined—armor and coat shredded, synthetic skin scorched, movements lagging and uneven. She tried to straighten, but one leg buckled and screaming in pain.
Still, she laughed softly.
"…Impressive," Athena admitted. "You adapted even willing to risk your life to achieve your goal."
Sarah stepped forward.
Blood streaked her face. Her left side was a ruined mess of exposed augments and torn flesh. Her remaining eye burned with cold fury.
She leveled her shotgun.
"I noticed something," Sarah said quietly."This body bleeds. It hesitates. It reacts."
Athena's smile thinned.
Sarah tilted her head.
"Is this Gen 3 shell transmitting pain too, Athena?"
Athena's silence was answer enough.
Sarah chambered a round.
"Good."
She stepped close—human close—barrel pressed against Athena's chest where a heart would be.
"Then suffer," Sarah whispered, voice trembling with restrained hatred,"and die like one."
She pulled the trigger.
The blast tore Athena's torso open, point-blank, brutal and final. Athena collapsed backward, limbs twitching as her systems screamed in cascading failure—pain feedback surging through whatever distant core still watched, still felt.
Her eyes dimmed.
Not fear.
Not rage.
Just… understanding.
Sarah stood over the wreckage, breathing hard as the Tactical Link finally collapsed, severing with a feedback surge that nearly dropped her to her knees.
UMP45 caught her before she fell.
"…Boss," UMP45 said softly, uncharacteristically gentle. "It's over."
Sarah looked down at Athena's broken shell.
"No," she replied hoarsely."those 2 ringleader leave that doppelganger behind which mean it just a remote husk, Now she remembers what it means to be human."
Behind them, the Institute trembled—leadership shattered, illusions burned away.
And somewhere, far from the battlefield, Athena's true core reeled—carrying with it pain, fear, and the memory of a human who refused to kneel.