ᵀᴴᴱ ᴴᵁᴺᵀ ᴼᶠ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴾᴬˢᵀ ┆"What if" fanfiction

The flickering glow of the monitor bathed her face in a cold, artificial light. Observer's singular golden eye locked onto the live feed, unblinking, the reflection of Alex's gun shimmering in its depths. Her breath hitched-just for a moment-as she watched him pull the trigger, bullets plunging into the chest of a man she had trained with. Another shot rang out. A second crewmate dropped like a stone.

Her fingers clenched into fists, knuckles whitening.
"Why, Alex...?" she whispered, voice sharp as broken glass. The hum of machinery around her sounded suddenly distant-like the silence before a storm.

Her short white hair swayed as she turned sharply toward the console, jaw clenched tight. With practiced precision, she slammed a command into the keyboard, every keystroke a silent scream.

"You cannot call yourself family," she growled, golden eye narrowing with burning betrayal, "if you murder your own."

A final press of the enter key.
A violent cascade of light rippled through the darkened pirate outpost. Monitors across the station flickered to life-then bled into red. His face appeared on every screen, cold, expressionless. A traitor.

WANTED
The word burned beneath his image like a sentence carved into flesh.