Wu’s control finally shatters completely.
“You naïve fool!”
He drives his elbow into my ribs hard enough pain explodes through my chest.
“The world fears damaged people!”
I hit him again.
“The world fears monsters.”
And then Hannah speaks.
Quietly.
Deadly calmly.
“You made sure of that.”
Wu freezes.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Because Hannah is standing there burned and exhausted and shaking—
yet somehow stronger than he’s ever been.
The children he tried to erase saved each other.
The girl he tried to weaponize chose compassion.
The facility he built is collapsing around him.
Everything Ascension stood for is dying in this room.
Wu sees it now.
Really sees it.
And for the first time—
he looks small.
Not powerful.
Not visionary.
Just a man.
A cruel man who hurt children because he was terrified of human weakness.
Gabriel retrieves the portable drives carefully from the floor.
Still intact.
Wu notices instantly.
