Edith hated loose ends.
They were like frayed threads in a web—pull one wrong, and everything collapsed.
She sat alone in the comms chamber of Base Omega, dozens of holo-screens surrounding her. Security footage, hacked government archives, satellite imagery... and the encrypted data they'd extracted from Kaas's lab.
"What were you hiding?" she muttered.
Most of the data was corrupted. Kaas had been a paranoid man, obsessed with secrecy. But under Edith's relentless decryption protocols, pieces were finally falling into place.
There were names. Movements. Supply routes.
And something worse.
Symbols.
One, in particular, made her narrow her eyes: a crimson sickle, curved like a serpent biting its own tail.
She didn't say it aloud. Not yet.
Common Area – Team B
Kael, now partially recovered from his Void training, sat at a table with Luna, James, and the Resonance Twins.
"I still don't get why we let that mad scientist live," James muttered, spinning one of his revolvers before holstering it.
"He's bait," Luna replied. "And he's scared. Not of us—of who's watching him."
The boy twin tilted his head. "Like a handler?"
Kael exhaled through his nose. "No. Like a god he betrayed."
Everyone fell silent.
Outside the Infirmary – Later
Hook visited Kaas.
She said nothing—just stared through the reinforced glass at the man strapped to the cot. He was sedated, muttering in his sleep. His Arcana—something related to chemical mimicry, Edith had concluded—wasn't a threat now.
But his words haunted her.
"They'll come. They always come when someone speaks the truth."
She clenched her fists.
Khaleed appeared beside her, arms crossed.
"We've heard that name before," he said. "Long ago. Off-the-books operations. Files that vanished."
"Crimson Sickle?"
He nodded once.
"It's not a name. It's a movement."
Briefing Room – That Night
The lights dimmed. Team B sat quietly, awaiting orders. Even James didn't make a snide remark. Tension was thick.
Edith entered with a datapad, coat billowing. No greeting. Just cold efficiency.
"Good work on the Kaas extraction," she began. "But things are escalating."
A map flickered into view—a remote island facility, off-grid, marked only as Site Vanta.
"This was supposed to be a defunct blacksite. No personnel. No records. But satellite thermal scans show activity—heavy movement. Guard rotations. Supply drops."
She paused.
"We believe it's a Crimson Sickle stronghold."
Kael straightened. His blood ran hotter than usual.
"So we're hitting it?"
"Not yet," Edith said. "Recon. Infiltration. Confirmation. You leave in forty-eight hours."
She looked at each member in turn.
"No mistakes. If they're half of what the whispers say they are… you won't get a second chance."
Elsewhere – Unknown Location
In a chamber carved from obsidian, a figure watched flickering surveillance of Kael Aerwyn.
A gloved hand clenched the arm of a throne made of blackened bone.
"He lives," the figure said.
"Yes, my Lord," a servant whispered.
The figure's voice dripped with venom and amusement.
"Then the bloodline still burns. Let's see how long before it consumes him."
The screen cut to black.