"Some things aren't born… they're deployed."
The world felt quieter after the storm Shin left behind. Silence wasn't peace—it was warning.
In the hollow ruins of Sector 9, broken screens flickered blue and red, caught in an endless emergency loop. Somewhere beneath the debris, old security systems rebooted.
A message pulsed into existence on one cracked terminal:
[CLASSIFIED SUBJECT // CODE: RED WIDOW]
[STASIS SUSPENDED – RESONANCE DETECTED]
[BEGINNING WAKE SEQUENCE]
A hiss of pressure.
A heartbeat.
Deep underground, lights flared to life. Rows of containment tanks lined the walls—most shattered, empty. But one glowed crimson.
Inside floated a girl.
Wires clung to her like webbing. Her eyes were shut. But she was dreaming.
No… remembering.
Above ground, Ryuu watched the clouds twist with unease.
"She's waking up," he muttered, more to himself than to Shin, who stood beside him, sword still pulsing like a wound that wouldn't heal.
"Who?" Shin asked, voice low.
Ryuu didn't answer right away. His eyes narrowed toward the east.
"The one who knew Kai before Kai remembered himself. The Red Widow."
Shin stiffened.
"You mean—"
Ryuu cut him off. "She was the prototype."
Shin gripped his bleeding blade tighter. "Is she dangerous?"
"She loved him," Ryuu said. "That's what makes her worse."
Elsewhere…
Kai sat at the edge of a broken altar, wrists still bound by phantom chains that now flickered like dying flames. His breathing was shallow, but steady.
He wasn't alone.
From the void, a whisper came—not a voice, but a hum. Mechanical. Familiar.
"Subject 0. You're ahead of schedule."
Kai looked up.
A figure stood where the light shouldn't reach. Cloaked in bone-white robes, no face—only a cracked porcelain mask, stitched with static.
"The world thinks you're broken," the figure said. "But broken things make the best weapons."
Kai stood.
"I'm not your weapon anymore."
"You were never ours," the voice replied. "You belong to her."
The chains cracked. One link snapped free.
Kai's eyes glowed faint blue.
"I belong to no one."
Meanwhile… back in the underground vault
The tank hissed open. The girl stepped out, barefoot, hair trailing like black smoke.
No alarms. No guards. No resistance.
She didn't need any.
Her eyes opened—red as the warning light above her head.
"Where is Kai Renshiro?" she asked the silence.
No one answered.
But she heard everything.