Chaos erupted.
Shadows poured through the shattered doorway, twisted metal and synthetic bodies advancing rapidly, weapons gleaming under pulsing emergency lights. He surged forward, meeting them head-on, power flaring around him in dangerous waves.
She fought at his side, movements precise and deadly. Blade flashing, she cut through their assailants, determination etched in every line of her face.
But as the battle raged, something within him shifted.
A sudden pain seared through his mind—a white-hot lance that drove him to his knees, vision splintering into fragments of distorted memory. Faces flashed before him, voices echoed with accusations, warnings he couldn't decipher.
[SYNC INTERRUPT. MEMORY RESTORATION SEQUENCE INITIATED.]
He gasped, clutching his head, the fight forgotten around him.
She turned sharply, panic in her eyes. "No—not now!"
A vision exploded into clarity—a sterile room, clinical lights glaring, faces obscured by masks, voices muffled by the sterile glass.
And there, standing among them—her.
Her eyes cold, clinical, devoid of the warmth he knew. "Initiate Protocol," she ordered calmly. "Subject viability confirmed."
His heart shattered in an instant.
The memory vanished, leaving him gasping, eyes wide with betrayal.
She stood frozen, recognizing the horror in his expression.
"You," he whispered, voice broken. "It was you."
She opened her mouth, but no words came, grief and guilt warring openly on her face.
The enemies closed in, the moment of distraction nearly fatal.
He staggered upright, pain fueling a new, darker strength within him. Power surged dangerously, unchecked rage pulsing through every vein.
"I trusted you," he growled, power distorting his voice into something barely human.
She stepped back, eyes wide with sorrow and fear. "Please, let me explain—"
"No more lies."
He turned from her, focusing his wrath on the approaching enemy, unleashing a wave of destruction fueled by pain and betrayal.
But as the darkness consumed him, he knew one truth clearly:
Nothing would ever be the same again.