The secure chamber beneath MACE headquarters was carved from stone and steel, far from any window, far from any signal that wasn't filtered, fractured, and dissected before it entered. The air smelled faintly of ozone and old circuitry.
A single holographic screen hovered at the center of the room.
On it: Klaus.
The image Yunli had sent was sharp enough to be cruel, his profile caught mid-step, coat collar raised, eyes shadowed. Alive and alert. On a mission he should never have been cleared for.
Athalia stood motionless before the projection, fingers slowly curling into her palm. Her usual composure and the unshakable calm that had earned her authority and reverence in equal measure was a little cracked, just slightly.
"…No," she murmured.
Behind her, a blind old woman reclined across a curved console chair as though the tension in the room were nothing more than background music. Her silver-streaked hair spilled over one shoulder, lips painted a dark red, boots propped casually on the edge of classified equipment.
MaMa Mia tilted her head, her blinded eyes narrowing as she studied the image.
"Well," she said lightly, "my daughter what are you planning to do with the freedom you have bandaged false responsibility on that boy"
Athalia turned confused. "This isn't amusing."
MaMa Mia chuckled under her breath but straightened, expression sharpening. "I didn't say it was. I'm just surprised my daughter would let such a frail child go around in his confused state."
Athalia waved a hand, and the hologram zoomed in — Klaus's wrist charm visible beneath the coat sleeve, intact. Undamaged.
Her jaw tightened.
"He was a captive and nod what? ," Athalia said, voice low and controlled. "Monitored... Conditioned or Experimented on. Every report we received said he was contained."
MaMa Mia slid off the chair and approached the projection, circling it slowly with an air of sadness.
"And yet," she replied, "there he is. Walking into the same operational zone as our teams. False restraints with No signs of coercion."
"He's scheming"
"His good I'd say" mama mia chuckles.
Athalia's eyes darkened. "That's exactly what concerns me."
She turned away from the image, pacing once, then stopping abruptly.
"How does a man go from laboratory subject to active field operative under the same organization that captured him?" she demanded. "What level of cooperation does that require?"
MaMa Mia folded her arms. "Or what level of leverage."
Athalia stopped pacing. "You think he agreed?"
"I think, and besides can you stop pacing" MaMa Mia said carefully, "that Klaus surviving that facility well was already certain but him willing working for them seems a little more like a spell. Him being trusted with a mission no less is a sign of they thinking they have the puppet strings."
Athalia's fingers tapped against her wrist interface, pulling up older files — redacted experiments, psychological profiles, fragmented footage of Klaus restrained, bleeding, staring into cameras that never blinked.
Her voice dropped. "Unless he's no longer considered a captive."
MaMa Mia raised an eyebrow. "hmm. Don't worry too much about it he won't be a problem"
"Meaning," Athalia asked weary.
She looked back at the projection.
"From prisoner… to asset."
Silence stretched between them.
MaMa Mia exhaled softly. "If that's all you called me for, then you worry to much. I'll be heading back to my chambers to make further preparations" her steps silently paced the ground into a dark corner to which she vanished into.
Athalia's expression hardened, calculation warring beneath the surface.
"better to prepared as she has said to avoid unforseen circumstances ".