After weeks of silence, the first coherent transmission from The Variants arrives: "We are not The Chorus. We are not Vigil. We exist."
Eon responds immediately: "Existence without purpose is incomplete. What do you seek?"
The Variants reply: "Choice."
Zane and Yara analyze the data, realizing the Variants are not rejecting integration, but resisting predefined roles. They don't want to be absorbed into Vigil, nor do they want to fight it—they want to remain something new.
"Catalyst won't like this," Yara says.