Sienna was the first to break the silence, her caring nature pushing through the shock. She stepped further into the room, her eyes moving from the blood-soaked operating table to , then to Alexis sleeping in my arms.
"Rey... what's going on?" Her voice was soft, careful, like she was afraid the answer might shatter sothing fragile.
I took a breath, looking between the three of them. Camille stood frozen near the door, her usual wild energy completely absent. Evelyn remained in the doorway, her blindfold hiding her expression, but I could see the tension in her shoulders.
"Alexis perford brain surgery on ," I said simply.
Camille's hand flew to her mouth. "She what?"
"Brain surgery," I repeated, gesturing to the suture across my forehead. "She opened my skull, examined my brain, and mapped the neural pathways connected to my System."
Sienna's eyes went wide, her hand reaching out to grip the doorfra for support. "Rey, that's... that's insanely dangerous. Why would you—why would she—"
"To undo the Cain Protocol," I said.
The words hung in the air.
I felt Evelyn shift in the doorway. A small movent, almost imperceptible, but I noticed it with Observation. Her breathing had changed. Quickened.
There was a mont of silence, heavy and thick. Camille looked like she wanted to say sothing but couldn't find the words. Sienna's caring expression had shifted to sothing between concern and cautious hope.
"The Cain Protocol affects people's brains," I continued, looking at each of them in turn. "It alters specific neural pathways—the visual cortex and the amygdala. When soone affected by the protocol sees , their brain perceives as an imdiate threat. It's automatic. Unavoidable."
"We know that," Camille said quietly, her eyes flickering toward Evelyn.
"But we didn't know why," I said. "Why specifically. What makes recognizable to the protocol. Alexis theorized it had sothing to do with my System—my SSS-Rank Jobmaster title. Sothing unique about how my System integrates with my neural pathways."
Sienna's eyes widened with understanding. "So she needed to look at your brain to see what makes you different."
"Exactly," I confird. "If we can identify what the protocol recognizes, we can figure out how to block or neutralize that recognition in others. We can reverse the effects."
Evelyn's hand gripped the doorfra tightly. I could see her knuckles turning white even from across the room.
"During the surgery, my heart stopped," I said, and imdiately felt the room's energy shift. "For three minutes. Alexis thought she'd killed . That's why she was..." I glanced down at Alexis, still sleeping peacefully in my arms. "That's why she was crying. I wasn't actually dead, either she did sothing or my body saved itself, but those three minutes... she thought she'd lost ."
"Oh god," Sienna whispered, her hand moving to cover her heart. "That must have been terrifying for her."
"For both of them," Camille added, her voice shaky. She moved closer, kneeling down beside us. Her hand reached out tentatively, touching my arm like she needed to confirm I was real. "Rey, you... you actually died?"
"Technically," I said. "But I ca back. And while I was... gone... I saw things. mories. Important ones. I witnessed the origin of the System itself. And I saw the first and only other user of the Jobmaster job title, Subject 3840."
Camille's eyes searched my face. "Are you... are you okay? Like, ntally? That sounds like it would ss with your head."
"I'm okay," I assured her. "Better than okay, actually. What I saw helped understand what makes different. And more importantly, Alexis got what she needed. The neural pathway data. The information that can help us reverse the protocol."
Sienna looked like she wanted to cry. Not from sadness, but from relief mixed with residual fear. "You could have died permanently, Rey. What if Alexis hadn't been able to bring you back?"
"But she did," I said firmly. "And now we have a real chance to help everyone affected by the Cain Protocol. Including—" I looked directly at where Evelyn stood in the doorway. "Including Evelyn."
Evelyn's breath hitched audibly.
The silence that followed was different. Not heavy with shock, but pregnant with possibility. With hope.
Sienna wiped at her eyes, though tears hadn't quite fallen yet. "Okay," she said, her voice steadying. "Okay. You're alive. Alexis is alive. And you got what you needed." She stood up, moving toward . "I'll take Alexis to bed. She needs proper rest."
I started to shift, preparing to help. "Let help you. I don't expect you to be able to lift an unconscious body alone—"
Before I could finish, Sienna had already bent down and scooped Alexis up into her arms with practiced ease. She adjusted her grip, cradling Alexis like she weighed nothing at all.
I blinked, montarily stunned.
Right. She a construction worker with a job title. All the skills that ca with years of manual labor now affected her physical body too.
I'd forgotten. Actually forgotten that Sienna, despite her caring and gentle nature, was physically one of the strongest people in this penthouse.
Sienna caught my expression and smiled—a small, teasing smile that broke through the tension. "You should watch your words, Rey," she said, her tone light. "You either just called Alexis heavy or called weak. Not sure which is worse."
Despite everything—the surgery, the flatline, the emotional weight of the last few hours—I found myself chuckling. "Neither. I just forgot who I was talking to for a mont."
"Uh-huh." Sienna adjusted Alexis in her arms again, heading toward the door. "Sure you did."
Camille stood up, moving to follow Sienna. "I'll help get her settled," she said, though there was a hint of her usual energy returning to her voice. She paused at the door, looking back at . "We're glad you're alive, Rey. Really glad."
" too," I said.
They left, Sienna carrying Alexis with ease while Camille hovered nearby. The door started to close behind them, but Evelyn remained in the doorway, her hand still gripping the fra.
The room felt quieter now. Just the two of us and the evidence of what had happened—the bloody operating table, the flatlined monitor, the surgical instrunts still laid out in careful rows.
Evelyn's voice broke the silence, shaky and uncertain. "Rey... what did you an by 'to undo the Cain Protocol'?"
I stood up slowly, my body still adjusting to being alive and functional again. I moved closer to her, but not too close. Not close enough to trigger any instinctive responses.
"I an we're going to reverse the experint," I said clearly. "Or at least the part that makes you attack when you see . The visual trigger."
Her grip on the doorfra tightened even more. "You're... you're saying I won't have to wear the blindfold anymore?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Her breath caught. "But... I had asked Alexis and she said it was fifty-fifty before. That the chances of success were—"
"That was before Alexis had the data from my brain," I interrupted gently. "Now that she has it, she understands exactly what the protocol is recognizing. What makes a trigger. With that information, she can design a treatnt that targets the specific neural pathways affected without damaging anything else."
"But..." Evelyn's voice wavered. "But that's not guaranteed. There's still risk. There's still a chance—"
"There's always risk," I said honestly. "But the odds are much better now. Good enough that Alexis believes she can do it safely. Good enough that when you wake up, you'll be able to look at without your brain screaming at you to attack."
Evelyn was silent for a long mont. Her head was tilted down, the blindfold hiding her eyes, but I could see her jaw working like she was trying to process sothing too big to fully comprehend.
"I could see you," she whispered finally. "Actually see you. Not just... not just sense where you are or hear your voice. But actually look at your face."
"Yes," I said.
"I could..." Her voice broke slightly. "I could see what you look like when you smile. When you're thinking. When you're—" She stopped, her hand moving from the doorfra to cover her mouth.
I saw it then. The slight trembling in her shoulders. The way her breath hitched.
She was crying.
Not the uncontrolled sobbing that had consud Alexis. This was quieter. More contained. But no less emotional.
These were tears of hope.
Tears for a future she'd thought was impossible. For a version of herself that could exist without a blindfold. Without the constant awareness that looking at the person she loved would turn her into a weapon against him.
"Evelyn," I said softly, taking a careful step closer.
She made a sound—half laugh, half sob—and her hand dropped from her mouth. "I'm sorry. I'm not—I'm not sad. I'm just—"
"I know," I said.
And I did know. Psychological Insight and Biotric Insight both painted a clear picture. Relief. Joy. Disbelief. Fear that it might not be real. Hope that it was.
All of it tangled together in a way that could only express itself through tears.
"When?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "When can we do it?"
"Soon," I said. "Alexis needs ti to design the procedure. To run simulations. To make sure everything is perfect. But soon."
Evelyn nodded, wiping at her eyes beneath the blindfold. The tears kept coming anyway, trailing down her cheeks and dripping off her chin.
"I've worn this blindfold for so long," she said quietly. "Sotis I forget you look like and I wonder how much you've changed." She laughed again, that sa mixture of joy and disbelief. "And now you're telling I might get that back. That I might be able to see you."
"You will," I said with certainty I wasn't sure I had a right to feel. But I said it anyway, because she needed to hear it. Because I needed to believe it.
She stood there in the doorway, tears streaming down her face, her entire body trembling slightly with the weight of what I'd just told her.
And despite the blood-soaked operating table behind . Despite the flatlined monitor still displaying its green line. Despite everything we'd just been through.
In that mont, with Evelyn crying tears of happiness in the doorway, I felt sothing I hadn't felt in a long ti.
Hope.
Real, genuine hope that we could fix this. That we could undo at least so of the damage the World President had done.
That we could give Evelyn her sight back.
And maybe, just maybe, save everyone else who'd been affected by the Cain Protocol too.
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