Fire Beneath the Skin

Siena — Abandoned Farmhouse, 10:17 A.M.

"Take this," Kael said, handing her a small pistol. His movements were fast but steady—like a man ready to die for the woman in front of him.

Ariella stared at the weapon, hands trembling—but she didn't refuse.

"If they get in, aim for the knees. Not the heart. We still need answers."

She nodded. She didn't know if she could pull the trigger, but one thing was certain—

She wouldn't let them take her alive.

Kael moved to the left window, peeling back the tattered curtain. Outside—shadows. Three men. Quiet steps. But their formation? Too clean for common thieves.

Alpha Team.

Another explosion rocked the walls. Dust rained from the ceiling. Cracks bloomed in the plaster. Kael turned back to her.

"Level two. They're trying to collapse the building—force us out."

He opened a hidden door behind the kitchen—a tunnel leading toward the rocky fields outside the farm's border.

"We split. I draw them off. You take this path. Meet me at Delta Point."

Ariella stood. Her face pale, but her resolve… it was finally burning.

"What if you die?"

Kael smirked. Quick. Sharp. A little wild.

"I already did. A long time ago."

Then he ran—toward the noise, the flashbangs, the killers he once trained.

Siena — Outside the Farmhouse, 10:19 A.M.

"Visual on target. Hostile male moving northbound. Solo," one of the Alpha Team members called out.

Matteo arrived at the perimeter. His steps calm. But his eyes—calculating, watching everything.

"Do not shoot," he ordered.

The soldier looked over. "Sir, he's evading—"

Matteo raised a hand. "I said don't shoot."

He wanted to see for himself. To understand why Kael was still alive. And what he knew about Phase III—the part of the project Salvatore had kept hidden even from his sons.

Then—gunfire.

But it wasn't from his team.

Two men fell. Their throats torn open.

Kael emerged from behind an old tractor—moving like a shadow in dust. Dual pistols in hand. Fast. Fluid.

"MOVE!" Matteo barked.

Three soldiers charged.

But Kael vanished behind the wooden fence, his steps seamless, his head low. Every shot he fired—precise.

"He's not here to die," Matteo whispered.

"He's here to take something."

Siena — Emergency Tunnel, 10:24 A.M.

Ariella crawled through the narrow stone path, roots clawing at her skin. Her breath came fast. Her knees stung from the fall when she first entered the crawlspace. But she kept going.

Kael's laptop was strapped to her back. The USB drive? Still hidden in her bra. The only place she was sure no one would check first.

Then—voices.

Men. Talking over radio comms.

"Negative on target female. Search southeast quadrant."

Ariella covered her mouth.

They knew she was still alive.

She crouched low, peering through a cracked wall. Two figures. Tactical suits. Masks. Weapons drawn.

Not Alpha Team.

"These aren't soldiers," she whispered.

Temp Shadow Unit. Kael had mentioned them once. The ones who left no witnesses.

She had no choice.

Ariella broke into a sprint.

Gunshots exploded. Wood shattered near her. She didn't stop.

She burst from the tunnel into an open field. Sunlight blinded her. The air was sharp. But she knew one thing—

If she died here, she'd die as herself.

Northern Perimeter of Siena — 10:27 A.M.

Matteo finally faced Kael—between two crumbling barns. Guns drawn. But not raised.

"I should shoot you right now," Matteo said, his voice low but full of thunder.

Kael smiled. "But you won't."

They stood in a silence thick enough to crack stone. Two men. Two worlds. Raised by the same man. Fighting for the same woman.

"What do you want from her?" Matteo asked.

"It's not what I want," Kael replied. "It's what she deserves to know."

"She's my sister."

"And that's not enough to save her."

Matteo raised his pistol. Finger on the trigger.

"This is your last chance, Kael. Hand her over. And I'll make your death quick."

Kael stared straight into his eyes.

"If you shoot me—you kill the only one left who still wants her to live as more than an experiment."

A blast rang out.

But not from either of them.

An explosion tore through the east wing of the barn.

"Fuck—" Matteo turned. "Gamma Unit! Move east now!"

When he turned back—

Kael was gone.

Only a trail of blood remained.

And a shadow slipping back into the dust.

Siena — Piccolo Riverbank, 10:35 A.M.

Ariella ran barefoot toward the river's edge, hair wild, skin streaked with mud. Behind her—two hunters closed in.

She had no time.

She jumped.

The cold river slammed into her body like concrete. She sank. Kicked. Fought. The current tried to take her.

But she swam.

Toward the far bank. Toward Delta Point.

A voice called out from behind a boulder.

"Ariella!"

Kael.

She pulled herself up, coughing. Shivering. But her eyes still searching for the truth.

"I found the files," she choked. "My father… he didn't give birth to me, Kael. He designed me."

Kael gripped her shoulders. Firm.

"Then be born again. Here. Now. With me."

Behind them, sirens began to howl.

They had one last chance.

To run.

Or to fight.

Rome — DeLuca Secret Control Room, 10:36 A.M.

Salvatore stood before the wall of screens—watching every angle of the battlefield.

Each red dot on the map faded.

Signal loss. Death. Failure.

"Report," he said.

Too calm.

A young operator trembled. "The female subject escaped through the side tunnel. Delta and Gamma units are in pursuit. But Kael—"

Salvatore turned sharply.

"Kael?"

"He escaped the perimeter from the southeast. He… he might be with Ariella now."

Silence.

Only the hum of machines.

Salvatore stared back at the screen. His face unreadable.

But his eyes were on fire.

"He wasn't supposed to survive this long," he muttered. "Failed experiments should've ended in Phase One."

He walked to a table in the back. A black box lay open.

Inside — reports. Childhood drawings. Mind maps. Experiment results.

He picked up an MRI image — Ariella at eight years old.

A red X over her frontal lobe.

High empathy. Long-term memory excess. Rebellion risk: 86%.

He ripped the paper in half.

"I gave you a world, Ariella," he whispered. "And you chose to run."

Giovanni entered with a new tablet.

"They're near the Piccolo River. Beta Unit is en route to intercept. But…"

Salvatore didn't look up. "But what?"

"We've lost forty percent of the teams in the last thirty minutes. Kael isn't running. He's taking her somewhere."

"Where?"

"We don't know."

Silence again.

Then—Salvatore laughed.

Dry. Sharp.

"It's time."

He grabbed a separate walkie—one linked to someone off the grid.

"Matteo," he said. His tone shifted—half father, half monster.

"You know now. Who she is. What I kept hidden."

A pause.

"Bring her back. Or burn the world for me."

He clicked off the walkie. Set it down with care.

Then walked.

Toward a steel locker at the back of the room.

He opened it.

Inside—a suit.

And a mask.

The original LUNA prototype.

He touched it. Cold. Metallic.

"…Time I stepped in myself."