Before doubt can spread, Kane fixes on his former lieutenant. “Viper. You spent five years running high-risk contracts. Lead enforcer with us for five. Ever seen anything like this?”
Viper’s forehead creases. “No.”
“Allow me to demonstrate,” Coda offers, aiming the scrambler at the hologram projected from the table. He taps thesurface. The machine emits a low hum.
Moments later, the stream of shimmering corporate profiles flickers, then vanishes, and her lieutenants lean into each other, whispering among themselves.
Kane’s eyes lock on Athena. She wallows, biometrics spiking in his interface.
>ID: ALICE “ATHENA” LINDBERG>HR: 110 BPM ↑>BP: 130/80 ↑
Those numbers don’t lie.
Kane lifts his hands, slow and deliberate. “See? No weapon.”
“And…what do you plan to do with it?” she barely gets out.
Kane sits back in his chair. “I think you already know.”
“Already know what, Athena?” Giselle whispers in Athena’s ear.
Titus steps closer to her. “What are they talking about?”
Athena wets her lips. “I have no idea.”
Echo lets out a snicker. “Why don’t you show her, Coda?”
Coda’s mouth twitches as she flips the device to face Athena, tapping the gleaming surface. Athena flinches instantly.
A faint distortion ripples over her, and slowly, the surgical scars across her skin vanish. In their place, silvered fibers rise in fine threads along her chin and down her neck. Chrome rims one eye, wires tucked beneath her hair feeding into sleek panels at her temples. Around her wrists, a grid of red-lit tactical mesh flickers to life, pulsing beneath the surface.
Charles releases a gasp. Giselle recoils, a hand flying to her mouth. Titus stumbles back, and Nora inhales sharply. Pixie and Wren share a smile.
Athena’s mouth opens, then shuts again.
Kane grins. The betrayal says more than he ever could.
Echo, of course, isn’t one to stay quiet. “Wow, Athena. I got my hands on tech like this, too, thanks to Coda here. But her version isn’t quite as good as this.” She taps her jaw and glances at Kane. “Guess that must be what she visited Cipher’s old friend for, huh?”
“I—” Athena jabs a shaking finger at Coda. “This is a trick! A projection. He’s fabricating the image. That’s what these scramblers do, right? Distort and manipulate? What proof do you have that this is—”
She stops mid-sentence, gaze sweeping across her team, before her chin lifts.
“Fine. You want the truth? Yes, I kept my enhancements. Because they kept me sharp, focused, alive. Because unlike you, I don’t let ideology make me weak.” A shadow crosses her face. “I served under leaders who handicapped themselves—like Duke and his precious sentiment. They failed their people. Failed their crew.”
A familiar anger surges through Kane. He stays seated.
Charles exhales. “Athena, the Fifteen Tenets clearly state—”
“The Tenets?” Athena cuts him off with a sharp, humorless laugh. “If I’d followed all these arbitrary rules you clung to, do you really think we’d be where we are now? You think I could’ve secured the Ulvepack alliance, expanded our territory, brought in a hundred new members?”
She shakes her head. “No. I couldn’t have, and I wasn’t about to throw away every advantage I had for some outdated purity test. Hell, just look where you were before I showed up—fractured, bleeding out, a pack of failed idealists one step removed from those lunatics in the Rust Valley!”
The room goes silent. Even Kane doesn’t breathe until Vipertrudges across the room. Athena’s brows draw together as she shoots him a warning look.
Ignoring her, he reaches out, dragging his fingers along the chrome ridges on her face. She flinches, teeth gritting from the contact.
When he pulls away, Viper exhales through his teeth. “You made me tear out mine,” he hisses. “Told me it was the only way to prove I was loyal. That I was serious about leaving Kane and joining you. But it was never about belief for you, was it? You just wanted to use me to get to Kane. And I let you…”