"No." Jinx drops his rifle. It clatters to the floor. "Twelve, look at me. I'm not armed. I'm not a threat. I'm just someone who understands what you're going through. Someone who's been where you are."
"What are you doing?" I hiss.
"What I should have done from the start." He takes another step forward, hands raised, palms out. Completely vulnerable. Completely at her mercy. "Twelve, I know you're scared. I know they've told you that fear is weakness, that you have to push it down and obey. But fear is human. Fear is real. And right now, you're allowed to be afraid. You're allowed to feel."
Twelve stares at him. The knife trembles in her hand.
"I was afraid," Jinx continues. "Every day in the Foundry, I was terrified. I just learned to hide it, because showing fear meant punishment. But hiding it doesn't make it go away. It just makes you alone with it." He's five feet from her now. Close enough to touch. Close enough to die if she decides to strike. "You don't have to be alone anymore."
The knife lowers. An inch. Two.
"Don't listen to him!" Helena's voice is desperate now. "He's trying to manipulate you. He's one of the broken ones, the failures. He can't be trusted."
"She's wrong." Jinx is right in front of Twelve now. He reaches out, slow and careful, and puts his hand over hers. Over theknife. "You're not a weapon. You're not a project. You're a person. And you have a choice."
Twelve's lower lip trembles. Her eyes fill with tears that she's been conditioned not to shed.
"I don't know how to choose," she whispers.
"That's okay. I'll help you."
He gently takes the knife from her hand, motioning for the man to step aside. She lets him. And then, like a puppet with its strings cut, she collapses forward into his arms, sobbing.
Jinx holds her. Strokes her hair. Murmurs words I can't hear, words meant only for her.
The man in the lab coat scrambles away, clutching his throat, babbling thanks that no one acknowledges.
And Helena sits at her desk, watching it all with an expression of angry fascination.
"Remarkable," she says. "I've never seen a subject break conditioning through empathic connection before. The neurological implications are—"
"Shut the fuck up." I cross the room and grab her by the collar, haul her out of her chair. "You're done. It's over."
"Is it?" She doesn't struggle. Doesn't resist. Just looks at me with those ice-cold eyes. "The facility is compromised, yes. But the work continues. There are others. Other sites, other programs, other children already in the pipeline. You can't stop what's already in motion."
"Watch me."
"You'll try. You'll fail. The Silent is bigger than any one facility. Bigger than any one woman." She smiles, and it's the smile of someone who knows something you don't. "Kill me if you want. It won't change anything."
"Maybe not." I shove her toward Jinx. "But it'll feel good. Besides we already killed your partners and have plans to remake the Silent, just minus all this fucking corruption."
Jinx looks up from where he's still holding Twelve. His eyes meet mine over the girl's head, and the question is there, plain as day. The choice he's been waiting to make since he walked into this building.
"Take her to the vans," he says to me. "Her and the girl. Get them out safe."
"I don’t think you should—"
"I need to finish this." His voice is calm. Certain. "I need to see it through."
I look at Helena. At the monster wearing human skin.
"Make it hurt," I tell him.
"I intend to."
I take Twelve from his arms. She clings to me, still crying, her small body shaking as the adrenaline disperses through her system. Years of conditioning, years of being told that tears were weakness, and now it's all coming out at once. A flood that's been building behind a dam for her entire life.
"It's okay," I murmur against her hair. "You're safe now. I've got you."
