The Agent's hand stayed extended.
Calm.Unmoving.Absolute.
The doorway of blinding white behind her pulsed softly—a silent, impossible invitation.
Alex felt Kayden's fingers tighten desperately around his sleeve.
"Kayden…" he whispered."You don't have to go."
The Agent tilted her head, studying Alex as if he were a minor variable in a larger equation.
"Extraction is optimal."Her voice carried no pressure,yet felt like a command whispered by the future itself.
Kayden swallowed.Hard.
He felt APEX tremble inside his mind—not in fear,but in calculation.
"Operator—risk assessment required."
Kayden's chest tightened.
"No," he whispered to APEX."No assessments. Not right now."
The Agent's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Your instability rate remains high.SRD cannot contain you.This environment cannot protect you."
Alex stepped closer to Kayden, jaw clenched.
"He's not going anywhere with you."
The Agent ignored him—as if Alex were wind brushing against her coat.
Her gaze stayed locked on Kayden.
"Walk with me."
Kayden's heart slammed hard enough to hurt.
He'd seen her through dreams,through flickering lights,in the way reality bent around him.She was the only thing more frightening than SRD.
Because she didn't want to break him.
She wanted to shape him.
Her tone softened—not warm,but coaxing.
"You endured the Silence.You survived the Surge.You stabilized the Lash.You are ready."
Kayden's breath trembled.
"Ready for what?"
A long pause.
"Becoming."
The word hit him like a punch.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't move.
He remembered the future version of himself.Sharp. Cold.Terrifying.
He remembered the battlefield in the memory fragment—metal, heat, ruin.
He remembered the way APEX had whispered that he was "aligning."
He remembered the surge.The lash.The pain.
"I don't want to become that," Kayden whispered."I'm not—I'm not your Variable.I'm not your experiment."
The Agent's face did not change.
"You do not choose what you are."
Alex stepped in front of Kayden.
"He does."
The Agent blinked.
Once.
Slowly.
As if adjusting her perception.
"Move," she said.
Alex didn't.
Kayden squeezed Alex's wrist weakly.
"Alex—stop—she's not—"
"No," Alex said, voice cracking with anger."I'm not letting her take you."
The Agent turned her gaze back to Kayden.
"Is this your decision,"she asked,"or the anchor's interference?"
Kayden's breath hitched.
Every muscle tightened.
He felt Alex's hand holding him like a tether.He felt Phineas behind them—terrified but ready.He felt APEX pulsing like a second heartbeat.
He felt—for the first time—choice.
He shook his head.
"It's mine."
The Agent lowered her hand by a fraction.
Not disappointment.
Adjustment.
"Explain."
Kayden's throat burned.
"I'm not ready," he whispered."I barely survived this.I hurt people.I scared Alex.I scared myself."
His voice cracked.
"I don't want to walk into a future I don't understand."
Alex tightened his grip.
"That's right. You stay with us."
Kayden lifted his chin.
"And I'm not leaving them behind."
A quiet passed through the room—
then broke.
The Agent's aura shifted.
The white doorway pulsed violently—light rippling outward in sharp, geometric waves.
The walls groaned.Gravity wavered.Dust lifted off the floor.
Phineas crashed backward.
"OH COME ON—SHE'S DOING A THING—!!"
APEX screamed warnings in Kayden's mind.
"Operator—WARNING—pressure spike—dimensional resonance—DANGER—"
Kayden's heart hammered.
But he didn't look away.
"I said no."
The Agent stepped forward.
Reality bent around her footfall,like the air itself bowed.
Alex grabbed Kayden tighter.
"Kayden—please—"
Kayden whispered back:
"I have to."
The Agent stopped mere inches from him.
Her voice sharpened.
"Refusal acknowledged."
The temperature dropped.Lights flickered in a stuttering panic.The unconscious SRD soldiers in the hall twitched.
Kayden felt a cold pressure at the center of his skull—not pain,not intrusion,but something like a scan.
The Agent's eyes flickered with faint calculus.
"Recalibrating predictions.Your resistance alters trajectory."
Kayden's breath trembled.
"Good," he said."That's the point."
A beat.
Then—
For the first time since she arrived…
The Agent stepped back.
Only one step.Small.Precise.
But unmistakable.
A concession.
Alex stared.
"Did… did you just make her retreat?"
Phineas's voice squeaked:
"Bro what in the cosmic power-scaling are you—"
The Agent lifted a hand.
The white door rippled behind her,contracting inward like a breathing lung.
"Your refusal delays extraction."
Kayden exhaled shakily.
"…thank you."
"Do not thank me."Her tone sharpened."The consequences of delay will test you beyond SRD's cruelty."
Kayden's stomach dropped.
Alex's hand tightened.
Phineas swallowed.
The Agent turned halfway toward the closing slit of light.
"I will return when the Variable stabilizes."
Alex snapped:
"His name is Kayden—"
The Agent ignored him.
Her final words brushed the air like a blade:
"And when he chooses correctly."
The white slit snapped shut—soundlessly—leaving only darkness and debris in its wake.
The hum faded.Gravity steadied.The dust settled.
Kayden collapsed forward, shaking.
Alex caught him.
"I'm here," he whispered."I've got you. I'm here."
Kayden buried his face in Alex's shoulder, trembling violently.
"I… I really said no…"
Alex held him tighter.
"Yeah," he whispered."And you didn't break."
Phineas exhaled a breath he'd been holding for a full minute.
"Holy crap," he muttered."You just refused a cosmic government lady who edits reality like a PDF file."
Kayden laughed once—broken and breathless.
Then cried.
Alex closed his eyes.
For the first time,Kayden had won something.
Against her.
And it had cost him.