Blood and coolant mixed on polished marble as Kasper dragged Circuit's body behind brass-fitted cover. Her neural patches still pulsed with dying light, each flicker matching the rhythm of her fading heartbeat. Through enhancement ports that felt like molten glass beneath his skin, he caught Ghost's final transmission cutting through waves of static:
"...like White Forest. They're not just killing. They're harvesting..."
Then silence.
Ramirez pressed against his left side, enhancement rejection making his old friend's ports weep crimson. "Your core's burning out." His fingers found familiar grips as hostile signatures converged on their position. "Just like Sarah's did."
The name hit harder than the quantum pulse that shattered nearby windows. Kasper's adaptation package screamed final warnings as targeting systems mapped approaching threats through blood-tinted vision. Each hostile signature carried fragments of Sarah's evolved frequency, twisted into something that shouldn't exist.
"You saw her files." Ramirez's voice carried an edge Kasper had never heard before. "What they're doing to those kids. What Project Lazarus really is." His hands trembled slightly as he checked his remaining hardware. "We have to get Circuit's data out. Have to show Rivera—"
Reality fractured as the next wave hit.
Enhanced operators moved like liquid shadow through art deco corridors, their ports burning impossibly bright. Kasper's dying systems mapped their evolution in perfect detail – each death making the survivors stronger, each casualty adding new patterns to their neural architecture. The Director's signature frequency conducted their lethal dance like a symphony of necessary violence.
Time slowed as Kasper's targeting suite calculated trajectories through failing sensors. His hand found a fallen operator's combat knife, muscle memory replacing enhancement precision as he sent it spinning through quantum-encrypted air. The blade severed critical neural connections at the base of a young attacker's skull. Clean. Professional.
More mercy than they'd shown at St. Michael's Orphanage.
"Eight o'clock!" Ramirez's warning came too late.
The quantum pulse caught Kasper in the spine, sending him sprawling across blood-slicked marble. Error messages screamed across his neural feed as enhancement rejection spread like fire through failing ports. Through static-filled vision, he watched Ramirez engage three operators simultaneously, his movements carrying the desperate grace of someone fighting past hardware limits.
The Director's personal frequency cut through the chaos like a scalpel.
Kasper's experimental hardware recognized the signature instantly – the same one that had corrupted Sarah's ports until her body rejected orthodox patterns entirely. The same one that had turned the children of St. Michael's into weapons.
Time crystallized into perfect clarity as The Director's elite team breached through quantum shielding that should have been impenetrable. Their enhancement signatures sang Sarah's evolved frequency like a requiem. Professional. Precise. Lethal.
The Director stepped through quantum-encrypted air with a physician's measured grace. His enhancement ports pulsed with frequencies that shouldn't exist, each pattern a mockery of Church-sanctioned evolution. Even through failing systems, Kasper recognized the careful precision in his movements – the same clinical efficiency Sarah had shown in her final days.
"Fascinating rejection patterns." The Director's voice carried the warm concern of a family doctor, at odds with the way his personal guard secured them with quantum-locked restraints. He knelt beside Kasper, examining his failing ports with professional interest. "Your adaptation to Sarah's base protocols exceeded all projections. Such efficient integration of experimental architecture." His fingers traced patterns in the air that made nearby tech resonate. "And you, Mr. Ramirez – your enhancement core's emergency responses are... quite remarkable."
Ramirez spat blood onto polished marble. "Go to hell."
"Such passion." The Director smiled like a parent indulging an unruly child. "That's what makes adult subjects so valuable. Children adapt more readily, of course – pure vessels, unclouded by doubt. But combat veterans?" He gestured to his team as they collected Circuit's drives with scientific precision. "Your enhanced neural pathways have been shaped by experience, tempered by violence. The evolution protocols respond... differently."
Through blood-tinted vision, Kasper watched specialized containment units activate. Each one calibrated to frequencies that sang with Sarah's corrupted code.
"The orphanage was merely groundwork," The Director continued, making notes in the air with casual efficiency. "Necessary calibration. But you two..." His enhancement ports pulsed with something almost like pride. "You'll help us perfect the process. Show us how mature neural architecture adapts to true evolution."
Above, prayer processions wove between art deco spires, their chants a stark counterpoint to the sound of clinical brutality. Reality crystallized into perfect focus as Kasper's adaptation package entered final collapse. His last targeting sweep mapped the scene in horrifying clarity:
Circuit's body being catalogued with medical precision. Ghost's hardware collected as research samples. Scope's prayer beads documented as cultural artifacts. Ramirez's enhancement signatures being scanned and classified.
Alert: Complete system failure imminent Secondary: Neural architecture compromised Tertiary: Enhancement rejection terminal Warning: Unauthorized evolution patterns detected in local mesh
A message burned through dying systems: "Primary research assets secured. Begin preliminary documentation. -V"
"Welcome to true evolution, gentlemen." The Director's voice carried the same gentle authority he'd likely used at St. Michael's Orphanage. "Your participation will advance humanity's potential immeasurably." He paused, checking readouts only he could see. "Though I should warn you – the process can be... somewhat traumatic."
Through quantum-encrypted air thick with incense and ozone, Kasper's failed targeting suite caught the subtle shift in frequencies as specialized medical units activated. Each one humming with patterns that had turned children into weapons.