CHAPTER 46: GLASS CAGE, BLOODY HANDS

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[Echo-9 - Red-Level Security Response Log]

TIME: 04:12
LOCATION: Observation Deck B, Reintegration Wing
SUBJECT: Designation 015 - "Fifteen"
BREACH: Level Red - Internal Homicide
VICTIM: Dr. Varn (Behavioral Specialist)
CAUSE: Penetrating wound to carotid artery via unauthorized surgical tool
CONTAINMENT: Secured by Sector-7 security, tranquilized, transferred to Isolation Unit C
STATUS: Unstable. Aggression displayed. Sedation active. Immediate psychological evaluation pending.

---

Fog.

The world returned to her slowly-like her mind was walking back from some faraway place it hadn't wanted to go.

Her limbs were numb. She couldn't feel her fingers, but her wrists stung. Her jaw ached. Her skin was cold.

She blinked. Once. Twice.

White walls. Dim lights. The low thrum of air cycling through unseen vents.

A new room. Smaller. Tighter. Colder.

No bed. No warmth. No illusion of care.

She wasn't a patient anymore.

She was a threat.

She tried to move, but metal bit into her ankles and wrists. Restraints, cold and humming with energy, bound her to a steel chair bolted to the floor.

A shock collar hugged the base of her neck. Her head tilted forward slightly from its weight.

A camera blinked in the corner. Red. Watching.

They always watched.

---

[Observation Room]

Dr. Lysander stood with her arms folded behind her back, eyes on the screen displaying Subject 015 in real time. She hadn't moved in hours.

"Still no response?" one of the med-officers asked.

"No verbalization. No eye contact. No signs of emotional grounding," Lysander replied. Her voice was calm, clinical. "Neural activity suggests she's looping again. High theta waves. Emotional override patterns consistent with trauma re-exposure."

"She's dangerous."

"She's valuable."

"She killed one of us."

"She killed someone who let a child be whipped for dropping a weapon." Lysander turned. "You really think she did it out of rebellion?"

Silence.

"She's not rebelling," Lysander continued. "She's unraveling."

---

Drifting.

She didn't know how long she'd been in the room.

Time didn't pass here. Not really. There were no windows. No clocks. No guards entering and leaving. Just stillness and silence and cold.

And memory.

Too many memories.

They were feeding on her now.

Flashes.

A knife in her hand. Blood on her sleeve. A boy crying. Someone shouting in the dark. The cold feel of König's hand resting gently on her back, grounding her. The scent of iron. A cracked voice whispering, "You're still with me, yeah?"

But he wasn't here.

No one was.

Only the ghost of who she'd been. Fifteen. The tool. The puppet. The one they tried to pull back out of her skull.

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