They fired her on her last shift. Minutes later, two helicopters landed outside — and the crews rushed toward her with a message that changed everything: “We’ve been looking for you!”
The connection ended, and the laboratory erupted into motion. Operators checking equipment, Dr. Chen coordinating with her team, Hayes on the radio despite his injury, arranging transport. But Waverly stood still, looking at the screens showing Seoul’s transformation.
This morning, she’d been a nurse fired for saving one life. Now she was about to attempt saving thousands, not from death, but from uncontrolled evolution. The irony wasn’t lost on her.
«You know this changes everything,» Maddox said from where he stood in custody, watching preparations. «Once the world sees transformation can be controlled, stabilized, even beneficial, everyone will want it.»
«Good,» Waverly replied. «Evolution shouldn’t be a privilege or a weapon. It should be a choice.»
«You’re going to transform the world.»
«The world is already transforming. We’re just going to help it survive the process.»
Six hours later, they stood at the edge of the Seoul containment zone, 12 city blocks of evolutionary chaos. Buildings bore claw marks from transformed humans trying to escape their own bodies. The air filled with screams carrying harmonics no baseline throat could produce.
«Remember,» Waverly addressed the operators through their networked connection. «We’re here to guide, not fight. We show them that transformation is survivable.»
«How?» Beckett asked. «We can’t inject thousands individually.»
«We network them. Extend our consciousness. Bring them in. Show stability through example.»
They entered in formation, 48 transformed individuals walking into biological pandemonium. The first civilians they found huddled in an abandoned store, bodies shifting through agonizing changes. Waverly approached slowly, her transformed biology resonating with theirs.
«We’re here to help,» she said, harmonics transcending language barriers. «The transformation can be controlled.»
A teenager with rainbow-silver eyes looked up desperately. «Make it stop.»
«I can’t stop it, but I can help control it.» She knelt beside him, extending her consciousness as Knox had taught her. Their chaotic transformation touched her stable one, and his changes slowed, synchronized. «Feel the pattern. You’re not losing yourself. You’re finding a new self.»
The operators spread through the zone, each guiding terrified civilians. The networked consciousness grew—48 to 60 to 100 to 500. Each connection added stability like strands strengthening a web.
«Vital signs are stabilizing,» Dr. Chen reported from Mobile Command. «Transformation continuing but controlled.»
«We need more serum,» Hayes radioed. «Some need direct intervention.»
At the field medical station, Waverly had already given another half-liter, pushing her limits. Thousands still needed help.
«There’s another way.» Rothschild appeared beside her. «All our blood. We’re all stable, guided by your template. Combined, we could create enough.»
Waverly looked at the 47 operators working tirelessly. «Volunteers only.»
Every single operator volunteered. The blood draw proceeded with military efficiency, synthesis equipment working overtime. The serum glowed with that distinctive iridescent quality.
«This is unprecedented,» Dr. Chen muttered. «The blood is actively creating antibodies in real time.»
«Evolution wants to survive,» Waverly replied. «We’re giving it direction.»
Distribution took six more hours. Injections for severe cases, aerosol for wider coverage. The network grew to encompass the entire zone. Thousands of minds touching, learning, adapting together. Then, as dawn broke, something unprecedented happened.
The transformation stopped spreading. Not through military containment, but by choice. The transformed civilians consciously created their own boundaries through collective will.
«That’s impossible,» someone said.
«That’s evolution with conscience,» Waverly corrected.
Weeks later, on the field hospital roof, Waverly surveyed a city that had survived the impossible. Knox joined her.
«You saved them all.»
«We did. Together.»
Below, Seoul awakened to its new reality. Thousands of transformed humans learning to live with evolution. Military maintaining perimeter without treating it as a threat.
Dr. Chen’s voice crackled. «Transport’s here. Time to go home.»
The helicopter lifted off, carrying them toward an uncertain future. Waverly had been fired for saving one life. She had saved thousands from uncontrolled evolution, proving the most dangerous person wasn’t the one with the weapon, but the one who chose what to become.
