Safehouse — 6:17 a.m.
Isabella stood at the mirror, watching her reflection like it might blink first.
Adrian was asleep in the chair beside the bed, gun still in hand. Cain sat on the windowsill, silent and still, like a panther waiting for the hunt.
She touched the glass.
The same face.
But not the same girl.
Not anymore.
She wasn't engineered to obey.
She wasn't a clone born to replace.
She was something else entirely.
And for the first time since Julian's death… she wasn't afraid of it.
Council Archives — 12 Minutes Earlier
Red klaxons flashed through the compound.
"Isabella Morello-Romano is the anomaly," Virelli snapped into the comms. "Target not to be contained. Target to be eliminated on sight."
"But she's the only link to the failed hybrids," another Don protested.
"She's not a link—she's the key. And if she finds the vault before us, everything we buried comes back."
The room stilled.
Virelli leaned forward.
"Send the Reapers."
Safehouse — 6:41 a.m.
Cain stiffened. "We need to go. Now."
Adrian jerked awake, gun raised.
"What?"
"They found us," Cain said. "Reaper squad. Purebred killers. No names. No hesitation."
"How?" Isabella asked.
Cain stood. "Your DNA emits a frequency now. Because you're awake."
"You said they couldn't track me."
"They couldn't—until you unlocked yourself."
She swallowed hard.
"So now I'm a f***ing beacon."
Adrian grabbed her arm. "We run. We survive. We fight back."
"No," she said, voice low.
They both turned.
Isabella walked to the wardrobe, pulled out a locked case Julian had left behind.
Inside: a single blade. Black steel. Engraved with her father's crest.
She turned back to them. Her voice was steel.
"No more running."
Highway 13 – En Route to Vault Sigma
Their stolen black SUV tore through the wet roads.
Cain drove like a demon. Adrian checked weapons. Isabella sat in the back, calm, eyes closed.
"You good back there?" Adrian asked.
She opened her eyes. "Ask me that again when they're dead."
Cain glanced at her in the mirror. "I've seen a lot of killers. Never seen one wake up after they got out."
"What's in Vault Sigma?" she asked.
"Everything the Council didn't want you to know," Adrian answered. "Luciana's true files. Genetic prototypes. Origin blueprints. The first anomaly."
Isabella frowned. "There was another?"
Cain was quiet for too long.
"Cain," Adrian barked.
Cain sighed. "There was. But she didn't survive. Her body rejected the coding."
"She wasn't compatible?"
"She was too compatible. She absorbed every genetic marker—then overloaded. Brain fried. Heart exploded."
Adrian looked at Isabella.
And this time, he looked scared.
"You're saying that could happen to her?"
Cain didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Forest Border – 7:03 a.m.
The SUV screeched to a halt.
Reapers waited at the tree line—hooded, armored, armed with magnetic pulse rifles that could stop a heart at thirty meters.
"Too many," Adrian muttered.
Cain popped the trunk. "Then we thin the herd."
He tossed Isabella a custom pistol. "Shoots clean. Won't jam."
She didn't take it.
Instead, she pulled the blade.
"No more bullets. Just blood."
Cain's grin was pure chaos. "Now you sound like family."
Combat Sequence
Adrian and Cain flanked left and right.
Isabella walked straight through the center.
Reaper rifles rose.
The first one aimed.
She threw the blade.
It whistled through the air—pierced his visor—and dropped him dead.
Then everything exploded into motion.
Adrian fired surgical bursts, dropping two in rapid succession.
Cain disarmed one with a brutal twist, then shoved the man into his own energy field, watching him fry.
Isabella moved like water—silent, deadly, brutal. Her blade kissed flesh and steel, carving a path through the line.
A Reaper lunged behind her.
Adrian shouted, "Down!"
She spun, caught the rifle, and shoved the butt into his throat.
Another came from the side.
Cain threw a knife over her shoulder—perfect aim, straight to the temple.
In under two minutes, it was over.
Twelve Reapers.
All dead.
She stood in the silence, blood on her cheek, breathing hard.
Cain laughed softly. "Now that's an anomaly."
Inside Vault Sigma – 7:48 a.m.
The vault hissed open with a retinal scan.
Adrian went first, sweeping the corners. Clear.
Rows of servers. Cryotanks. Black boxes labeled with dates—some over 50 years old.
"Start copying everything," he told Cain.
Isabella drifted deeper into the vault.
The air felt colder. Heavier.
She found a tank—broken, shattered from the inside.
"Subject Zero-One."
Inside the file cabinet: photos. Medical scans. DNA maps. Logs from Luciana herself.
One note stood out:
The anomaly is not meant to obey. She is not programmable. If she survives maturity, she will destabilize every controlled bloodline in existence. Including my own.
Another line—scrawled by hand, later:
Julian tried to protect her. But blood doesn't protect. It betrays.
Final Scene – Exit of Vault Sigma
As they exited, the skies began to shift.
Sirens echoed in the distance. Council craft. They'd be here within the hour.
Cain looked at Isabella. "You got your truth. What now?"
She sheathed the blade. "We burn the rest."
Adrian arched a brow. "You're going to declare war?"
"No," she said softly.
"I'm going to end one."