“I'm injecting it," Aria said, voice resolute.
Dominic blocked the lab doorway. “Not without a protocol team."
“I wrote the protocol."
“And nearly died last time."
She stepped around him, vial clutched tight. Inside the glass shimmered Prototype-Xi—her engineered counteragent to sever the dependency loop between her and Dominic.
“You don't know the consequences," he warned.
“I do." Her voice dropped. “That's why I'm doing it alone."
Before he could stop her, she pressed the auto-injector to her neck and fired.
A beat.
Then her body convulsed.
“Aria!"
She collapsed against the control panel, arms spasming, jaw clenched. Dominic caught her before she hit the floor.
Her eyes rolled back.
Monitors screamed—spiking vitals, erratic neural feedback, cascading memory reactivation.
“S
