The brig

The submarine cut through the depths like a shadow, silent and smooth. The only sound was the hum of the engine and the faint *drip-drip* of condensation.

I sat in the mess hall, watching Vesper argue with Seraphina. Or rather, Vesper argued; Seraphina just listened, her face impassive.

"She's too dangerous," Vesper said, pointing at the reinforced cabin door at the end of the hall. "We can't keep her here. She needs a secure facility."

"We are a secure facility," Seraphina said, not looking up from her charts. "And she is my niece. She stays."

"She's a liability," Vesper snapped. "If she wakes up... if the serum triggers again..."

"Then Aria will handle it," Seraphina said, finally meeting Vesper's gaze. "She's the only one who can."

I stood up, my chair scraping against the metal floor. "She's not a weapon, Vesper. She's my sister."

"She's both," Vesper said, her voice hard. "And until we can separate the two, she's a threat to everyone on this boat."

"I'll watch her," I said. "I'll take the first shift."

Vesper sighed, rubbing her temples. "Fine. But you take the key."

She tossed me a heavy magnetic keycard. "If she turns... you lock that door and you don't open it. Understood?"

I nodded, taking the card. It felt cold in my hand.

I walked down the narrow corridor to the brig. The door was heavy steel, reinforced with titanium bars. I swiped the card. The lock disengaged with a heavy *thunk*.

Elena was sitting on the bunk, her knees pulled to her chest. She looked small in the grey prison uniform they had given her.

"Hey," I said softly, stepping inside.

She looked up. Her eyes were clear, blue. The blackness was gone, for now.

"Did you come to lock me up?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"I came to keep you safe," I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Vesper... she's just worried."

"She should be," Elena said. She looked at her hands. "I remember what I did, Aria. In the lab. I remember wanting to hurt you. Wanting to kill Dante."

"It wasn't you," I said firmly. "It was the serum. Lucius made you into something you're not."

"But it's still inside me," she whispered. "I can feel it. Like a... a hum in my blood. Waiting."

She reached out and took my hand. Her skin was warm, feverish.

"You have to promise me something," she said.

"Anything."

"If I turn again... if I can't come back..." She squeezed my hand, hard. "You have to stop me. You have to kill me."

"Elena, no."

"Promise me!" she cried, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I don't want to be a monster. I don't want to hurt you."

I looked at her. I saw the fear in her eyes, the desperate plea for mercy.

"I promise," I lied.

She relaxed, leaning her head on my shoulder. We sat there for a long time, listening to the hum of the engine.

"Aria?" she asked after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I saw something," she said. "In the lab. When Lucius was... changing me."

"What did you see?"

"Formulas," she said. "Chemical structures. He made me memorize them. He said they were the key."

"Key to what?"

"To the serum," she said. She looked around the small cell. "Do you have a pen?"

I checked my pockets. I found a marker I had grabbed from the supply room.

Elena took it. She moved to the wall.

She started to draw.

At first, it was just lines. Hexagons. Carbon chains. But as she worked, her hand moved faster, tracing complex molecular structures on the steel.

She filled one wall. Then another.

I watched, mesmerized. It was biochemistry beyond anything I had ever seen.

"What is this?" I asked.

She stopped, caping the marker. She stepped back, looking at her work.

"It's the formula," she said. "The recipe for the serum."

She pointed to a specific chain near the bottom.

"And this," she said, tapping the wall. "This is the flaw."

"Flaw?"

"Lucius built it to be permanent," she said. "But he made a mistake. The bonding agent... it's unstable. It needs a stabilizer to maintain the mutation."

"And if you remove the stabilizer?"

Elena looked at me.

"Then the mutation collapses," she said. "The body rejects it. It reverses."

"An antidote," I breathed. "A real one."

"Yes," she said. "But we need the ingredients. Rare compounds. Things you can't just buy at a pharmacy."

I looked at the formula. It was a map. A map to saving my sister.

"We'll get them," I said. "Whatever it takes."

Elena smiled, a weak, tired smile. "I knew you would."

Suddenly, the ship lurched. The lights flickered.

A siren began to wail.

*Collision Alert. Collision Alert.*

I ran to the door.

"Stay here!" I shouted to Elena.

I sprinted down the corridor to the bridge. Seraphina was shouting orders.

"Evasive maneuvers! Hard to port!"

"What's happening?" I asked, grabbing the back of her chair.

"We're not alone down here," she said, pointing at the sonar screen.

A massive blip was closing in on us. Fast.

"It's the Broker," I said. "His destroyer has a sub."

"No," Seraphina said, her face pale. "It's not the Broker."

She looked at me.

"It's Julian."