They gathered in Tube-Eva's room that night—all of them. Chad leaned against the wall near the door, his weathered face a mask of quiet vigilance. Theo stood beside him, young and alert, his eyes occasionally drifting to Lily who sat close to Maya. The others arranged themselves around the glass tube, a semicircle of broken people facing the face in the fluid.
Eva stood at the center. Her short hair was still mussed, her eyes holding a light that hadn't been there before—something sharp, something dangerous. When she spoke, her voice cut through the hum of machinery like a blade.
"I want to kill them. Now."
The words hung in the air. Even the machines seemed to pause.
Maya felt a chill run down her spine—not from fear, but from recognition. The look in Eva's eyes was the same look Wolfen got before he did something catastrophic. It was the look of someone who had stopped caring about consequences.
And deep in the recesses of her mind, the Omega stirred.
This is getting out of hand. The voice was calm, clinical, utterly detached. She's becoming unstable. You'll have to look after them yourself. I won't help her.
Maya's jaw tightened. She answered in the silence of her own skull: Fine. I don't need your help.
A pause. Then, dry and faintly amused: We'll see.
"So what's the plan?" Eva asked, her gaze fixed on Wolfen.
Wolfen's lips curved into a smile. Not his usual sardonic grin—something sharper, hungrier. "Let me worry about that." He glanced at Tube-Eva, his golden eyes glinting in the dim light. "It's already in motion. The Superiors are coming to a location your sister here gave them."
Tube-Eva's floating face nodded slightly, a ripple passing through the fluid.
"I sent a help transmission," she said, her voice soft through the speakers. "Gave them a fake location. A tempting one—a rumored cache of pre-collapse military tech, unguarded, just waiting for someone to claim it." A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "They'll send the twins there. And Wolfen will be waiting."
Wolfen picked up the thread. "328 has been feeding them fake intel from sources they trust. Sources that have been reliable for years." His smile widened. "What they don't know is that I killed those sources. Every single one. The information they're acting on is coming from ghosts."
Eva's expression didn't change, but something in her posture shifted—a relaxation, a settling. "Good," she said simply. She looked at the blank wall, at the void, and for a moment she looked almost like Wolfen—ancient, patient, utterly dangerous.
Derek shifted uncomfortably. "The twins? Who are they?"
Wolfen's smile faded. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"Two Omega-level hybrids," he said, his voice flat. "Sisters. They helped the Architects bring down my maker. Absolute-Five." He paused, letting the weight of the words settle. "I thought he was dead. I've thought that for a very long time. But recently..." He glanced at Tube-Eva. "I learned he's still alive. Weak. Hiding. But alive."
The revelation hung in the air like smoke.
Chad spoke for the first time, his voice rough. "Absolute-Five is alive? The one who created you?"
"Yes." Wolfen's golden eyes were fixed on something none of them could see. "And the twins are the key to finding him. They know where he is. They helped put him there. And now..." His smile returned, but there was no humor in it. "They're going to lead me right to him."
Leo cracked his knuckles. "So we're going after these twins? The ones who helped kill your... maker? Father? Whatever he was to you?"
"Creator," Wolfen corrected. "And yes. We're going after them. But first—" He looked at Eva. "First, we let them come to us. We let them walk into the trap. And then we ask them nicely to tell us everything they know."
"And if they won't talk?" Maya asked, her voice quiet.
Wolfen's eyes met hers. For a moment, just a moment, the mask slipped—and she saw what lay beneath. Something old. Something hungry. Something that had been waiting a very long time for this.
"Then I'll be less nice."
The room fell silent. Even the machines seemed to hold their breath.
Tube-Eva's voice cut through the quiet, soft and tired. "The transmission is sent. They'll mobilize within hours. You should be in position before dawn."
Wolfen nodded. He turned to leave, then paused, looking back at the face in the glass.
"Thank you," he said quietly. It was the simplest, most human thing any of them had ever heard him say.
Tube-Eva's smile was small, but real. "Go. Be the monster they made you. And when it's over..." She trailed off.
Wolfen waited.
"Just come back," she finished. "All of you."
He nodded once. Then he was gone, the door hissing shut behind him.
One by one, the others filed out—Leo, Derek, Jordan, Maya, Chad, Theo. Lily lingered, looking at the face in the tube with something between fear and wonder.
"You're really her?" she whispered. "Another Eva?"
"In a manner of speaking," Tube-Eva said gently. "Go. Your sister needs you. And I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere."
Lily nodded slowly. Eva took her hand and led her out.
The room was quiet again, filled only with the hum of machines and the soft gurgle of circulating fluid. Tube-Eva watched the closed door for a long moment.
"Be the monster," she murmured to the empty air. "And then come home."
The fluid continued its endless cycle. The heart beat on. The wires pulsed with colored light.
And somewhere in the darkness, a trap was springing shut.