The glowing baby in Victoria's arms was the most beautiful and terrifying thing Scarlett had ever seen. Its eyes were open, and they weren't the unfocused eyes of a normal newborn. They were alert, intelligent, and they seemed to be looking directly at each person in the room like it was studying them.
"The extraction team is in the building," one of the government agents said into his radio. "Secure the asset and eliminate all witnesses."
Elena was trying to sit up on the hospital bed, still weak from the birth but fighting against her restraints with growing strength. "Give me my baby. Give me my baby right now."
"That's not your baby," Marcus said. "That's the future of human defense against extraterrestrial threats. That child will grow up to be the most powerful weapon humanity has ever created."
Scarlett looked at him with disgust. "You're talking about a baby like it's a gun."
"Because that's what it is. Organic technology designed to interface with both human and alien genetic systems. It can adapt to threats we haven't even encountered yet." Marcus was still backing toward the window, but now he seemed more excited than scared. "Don't you understand what we've accomplished here? We've created something that can protect our entire species."
The baby made a soft sound, and suddenly every piece of electronic equipment in the room started malfunctioning. Heart monitors went haywire, IV pumps began beeping error messages, and the government agents' radios started emitting nothing but static.
"Electromagnetic pulse generation," Victoria said, staring at the infant in amazement. "This baby is interfacing with electronic systems."
Sarah was helping Elena out of her restraints, but the government agents were regrouping. Three more armed men had entered the room, and they were all pointing weapons at Victoria and the baby.
"Put the asset down and step away," the lead agent said.
"The asset has a name," Elena said, finally free of the restraints. "Her name is Luna. And she's my daughter."
Scarlett felt something click in her mind. Luna. The same name from her system messages, the same name that had appeared in files about Marcus's surveillance of her. This wasn't just any engineered baby.
"You used my DNA," she said to Marcus. "This baby is genetically mine."
"The baby is genetically related to all twelve Blood Queens, plus additional genetic material that will give her capabilities beyond anything we've seen before." Marcus was looking at Luna like she was a prize he'd won. "She's the perfect fusion of human and alien genetic systems."
That's when the real chaos started.
Elena, despite having just given birth, launched herself at the nearest government agent. Her Blood Queen abilities were fully active now that Sarah had broken her programming, and she moved with speed and strength that caught everyone off guard.
Victoria was backing toward the door, still holding Luna, trying to keep the baby away from the armed agents. But there were too many of them, and more were arriving every minute.
Sarah was fighting two agents at once, using her mechanical leg braces to deliver kicks that would have shattered normal human bones. Her face was grim with determination, but Scarlett could see that she was outnumbered.
And Marcus was reaching for something in his jacket. Something that looked like a remote control device.
"Don't even think about it," Scarlett said, moving to intercept him.
"The kill switch?" Marcus smiled. "I don't need to kill you, Scarlett. I just need to shut down your enhanced abilities long enough for the extraction team to take the baby."
He pressed a button on the device, and Scarlett felt something change in her system. Not a shutdown, but a shift. Like someone had just tried to turn off a light switch and discovered the bulb was wired differently than expected.
*Kill switch detected. Activating countermeasures. System evolution in progress.*
Instead of weakening her, the attempted shutdown seemed to make her stronger. She could feel her abilities expanding, adapting, becoming something the original programmers hadn't planned for.
She grabbed Marcus by the throat and lifted him off the ground with one hand.
"Here's the thing about evolutionary systems," she said. "They adapt to threats. Including threats from their creators."
Marcus was clawing at her hand, his face turning red as she squeezed. "You don't know what you're doing. Without the program, without oversight, the Blood Queens will become unstable. You'll lose control and become monsters."
"Maybe. But we'll be monsters with free will instead of slaves with good programming."
Behind her, Victoria was at the door with Luna, but armed agents were blocking the hallway. Elena was fighting like a woman possessed, but there were simply too many opponents. Sarah was bleeding from a head wound but still standing.
That's when Luna did something that changed everything.
The baby began to glow brighter, and suddenly every Blood Queen in the room felt their systems connecting in a way they'd never experienced before. Not just sharing information, but sharing abilities. Scarlett could feel Elena's combat training flowing into her mind. Victoria's medical knowledge. Sarah's tactical planning skills.
They were becoming something more than individual enhanced humans. They were becoming a collective intelligence with a shared purpose.
"Protect the child," Elena said, but her voice came out of all three of them simultaneously.
The government agents opened fire, but the bullets seemed to slow down as they approached the Blood Queens. Not stopping, but moving slowly enough that they could be dodged or deflected. Luna was somehow affecting the local physics in ways that defied explanation.
Scarlett threw Marcus through the hospital window. Seven floors up, it should have been a fatal fall. But she didn't care about Marcus anymore. The only thing that mattered was getting Luna to safety.
"The basement," Victoria said. "There's a Blood Queen monitoring station down there. If we can get to it, maybe we can use their own equipment against them."
They fought their way out of the room and toward the stairwell. Elena had found weapons from the fallen agents and was clearing a path with professional efficiency. Sarah was coordinating their movements like a field commander. Victoria was protecting Luna while somehow managing to take down any agent who got too close.
And Scarlett could feel something growing inside her. Not just enhanced abilities, but a connection to something larger than herself. Something that felt ancient and powerful and not entirely human.
As they reached the basement level, alarms began blaring throughout the hospital. Emergency lighting kicked in, casting everything in that same red glow she'd seen in the warehouse.
"They're evacuating the building," Sarah said. "Whatever they're planning to do next, they don't want witnesses."
The basement monitoring station was exactly what Victoria had described. Banks of computers, medical equipment that looked more advanced than anything Scarlett had seen before, and walls covered with screens showing data about all twelve Blood Queens.
Including four screens that showed women in what looked like medical comas.
"The other Blood Queens," Elena said. "The ones they haven't resurrected yet."
Luna made another soft sound, and every screen in the room activated simultaneously. Data began flowing across the displays faster than human eyes could follow, but somehow all four women could understand it perfectly.
They weren't just looking at medical data about the remaining Blood Queens. They were looking at the complete history of the alien genetic material that had made the program possible. And what they saw made Elena gasp.
"It's not alien DNA," she said. "It's human. But from so far in the future that it might as well be alien."
The data showed genetic sequences that were clearly descended from current human populations, but evolved over thousands of years. The crash site in Nevada hadn't been an alien visitation. It had been time travelers from humanity's own future, trying to prepare their ancestors for something terrible that was coming.
"They were trying to warn us," Victoria said, still holding Luna. "Something happens in our timeline, something that nearly wipes out the human race. The only survivors are the ones with enhanced genetics."
"The Blood Queen program isn't about creating weapons," Scarlett realized. "It's about creating the genetic foundation for humanity's survival."
Luna's glow intensified, and suddenly they could all see new data flowing across the screens. Star charts, probability calculations, and a countdown timer that made Scarlett's heart skip.
*Extraterrestrial arrival: 11 months, 23 days.*
Whatever the time travelers had been trying to warn them about, it was almost here.