The underground facility shook as doors slammed shut one by one. Red lockdown lights flickered. Sirens pulsed like a mechanical heartbeat.
Ella stood between two predators.
Leon on her left—bloodied, trembling, yet somehow calm.
Kira on her right—face pale, eyes locked on the override panel as countdown numbers began to flash:
00:59… 00:58…
"She's coming," Kira whispered. "Dr. V."
Ella frowned. "Who the hell is Dr. V?"
Leon's lips curved into something not quite a smile.
"My mother."
Ella's breath hitched.Not because she feared this "Dr. V."
But because the man beside her—the one who once chained her to a silk bed and swore the world would burn if she left—
Looked afraid.
Really, truly afraid.
And suddenly, Ella realized—For all his madness…
Leon had never been the villain.
Just the weapon.
The bunker felt like a coffin being nailed shut from the inside.
And she?
She was the match again.
But this time—she wasn't going to burn alone.
She was going to burn the architect.
The elevator at the end of the corridor dinged.
It opened slowly—silently.
Out stepped a woman in a white lab coat and heels sharp enough to pierce bone.
Hair in a silver twist.Eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses.
She looked at Leon the way one might inspect a failed prototype.
"Subject 00," she said with clinical coldness."Still defective. Still… sentimental."
Leon didn't speak.
Ella did."You're the one who built him like this?"
Dr. V smiled faintly."No. I built him to lead. He broke himself trying to love."
She turned to Ella."You are the virus in my code."
Leon stepped forward, voice low and shaking:"If you touch her, I will tear this mountain down with my bare hands."
Dr. V didn't blink."Then you'll die with it. As you should've the first time."
Suddenly, the ceiling blew.
Not explosives—EMP burst.
The lights shattered.
Gunfire erupted—Dr. V's private guards stormed in.
Leon shoved Ella behind him, catching a bullet in the shoulder without a sound.
Kira ducked behind the console, firing back.
Dr. V walked calmly through the chaos like it was a routine experiment.
Until she pulled out a syringe glowing neon blue.
"Elara's DNA is in here," she said softly."The final prototype. Your daughter is the key to unlocking permanent obedience. Just like I programmed into you."
Ella screamed.
Leon snapped.
He lunged like a beast unleashed—tackled Dr. V into the glass—the syringe went flying.
Ella caught it mid-air, hand burning.
And then—
Leon stopped moving.
Dr. V had driven a scalpel straight into his side.
He fell.
Silent.
Eyes on her.
Still reaching.
Ella dropped beside him, clutching the syringe.
His blood soaked her dress.
His voice—barely there—"El… save Elara. Not me."
She stared down at him.
And whispered,"No. This time… I save both of us."
She turned to Dr. V.
"You wanted a monster?"
She jammed the syringe into her own neck.
"You're about to see one."