But the moment she had it, she immediately threw Specimen Fourteen into the spotlight.
Was it just to humiliate Obsidian Sun?
Just to drive a wedge between the syndicate and Project Zero-Transit?
Of course not.
Because The Panacea knew that Obsidian Sun had taken Grandma Aria's life- saving technology to create these monstrous Obsidian Augments.
And they were fully prepared to pin the atrocity on Grandma Aria's legacy.
They wanted the ignorant masses to believe that Aria Wynn was the architect of these abominations!
The moment The Panacea stepped onto that stage, the first thing she did was publicly dismantle Specimen Fourteen's modification history in front of the world's most powerful buyers.
She surgically separated Aria Wynn's pure research from the mutilated monsters Obsidian Sun had created.
She didn't give a single person the chance to hurl dirt on Grandma Aria's name.
All because Specimen Fourteen bore the A.W.S. designation.
At the time, he had just thought the woman possessed a surprisingly solid moral compass.
But looking back on it now...
If she was Serena?
Then every single seemingly convoluted move she made suddenly made terrifying sense.
If it was his sister, she would absolutely never allow anyone to drag Grandma Aria's name through the mud.
Dragging Specimen Fourteen onto the auction block, forcing Obsidian Sun's darkest secrets into the light, ruthlessly jacking up the price until they bled...
It was never about winning a bidding war.
She was forcing them to pay back the debt they owed Grandma Aria, drop by agonizing drop!
No wonder.
No wonder he had felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity from the first second he laid eyes on her.
No wonder they could read each other's intent perfectly with a single glance or a half-spoken sentence, despite having never worked together.
He didn't have to explain his tactical layouts; The Panacea just inherently knew where to position herself.
One look from him, and she understood he was flagging a lethal threat.
She never gave him her full operational blueprint, yet he constantly found himself clearing out the exact extraction routes she needed at the perfect moment.
In the cargo hold.
In the transit corridors.
Backstage at the auction.
They were wearing the faces of two complete strangers.
Yet they fought together with the flawless synergy of a lifetime.
The aggressive banter they exchanged in front of the administration.
The coded implications no one else could decipher.
He had spent the entire night believing The Panacea was simply
terrifyingly sharp and impomplet
brilliant.
OMS
So brilliant that working alongside her required zero explanation.
But now...
That phantom familiarity finally had a name.
no
It wasn't some miraculous, spontaneous chemistry. It was. bond carved into his soul, buried
deep in his bones Cot
Jerrick's breathing grew ragged and heavy.
Of course.
The Raven had weaponized Grandma Aria's name specifically to deliver that invitation to Serena.
It involved Grandma Aria.
The woman his sister revered above all others.
The one person she would burn the world down for if anyone dared to disrespect her memory.
His fiercely intelligent, impossibly stubborn, utterly fearless sister...
Did he really think she was just going to sit quietly at home and let him fix everything for her?
No.
She would never do that.
If he could assume the identity of Fenris and board the ship behind her back...
Why couldn't she do exactly the same thing?
With her skill set, fabricating a ghost identity and altering her physical presence would be child's play.
And as for the tranquilizer he had prepared? Did he honestly believe it could fool her?
With her level of medical mastery, she probably realized exactly what he was trying to do the second tier fingers brushed that tactical suit.