AN: Thank you all for your reviews :D Two chapters will be posted today ;) (it's FRIDAY!)

The Beginning of the End: Klergy & Valerie Broussard

The cabin was eerily quiet, save for the steady tapping of Alice's fingers against the keyboard. The team had rested for an hour, catching whatever scraps of energy they could before regrouping. Now, they were all gathered around Alice, exhaustion hanging over them like a thick fog, but there was no time to stop right now.

They had to plan, then proper rest would follow.

Alice's fingers flew over the keyboard, decrypting the last layer of files. The tension in the room was suffocating as the screen flooded with data—maps, lab reports, testing logs. But it was the molecular structures that made Bella's stomach turn to lead.

Edward noticed her reaction immediately. "What is it?"

Bella barely heard him, her eyes locked onto the screen. "Oh, my God."

Alice hesitated, then followed Bella's line of sight. "What? That's the same enzyme from the prototype lab, isn't it?"

Bella swallowed hard, and gestured to the keyboard. Alice moved out the way, giving her space. "It's worse." She tapped rapidly through the files, her fingers unsteady. "Back at the gallery, we thought they had just stripped the targeting sequence—turned my work into a generalized cytotoxin that could wipe out any cell it touched. That was horrifying enough." Her breath hitched as another graph appeared. "But this—this looks like it isn't just a weapon anymore. It's an organism."

Jasper, who had been watching with a sharp intensity, straightened. "The fuck does that mean?"

Bella's throat was dry, but she forced the words out. "They've reengineered it to behave like a biochemical parasite. It's no longer just shutting down ATP production on contact. It's replicating itself."

Silence. Then—

"Like a virus?" Rosalie asked, brows furrowed.

Bella shook her head. "Viruses need a host to replicate, and they have limitations—immune responses, barriers, species specificity. This thing doesn't." She turned the screen toward them, highlighting a new set of data logs. "They've managed to engineer self-sustaining enzymatic reproduction. Instead of degrading over time, it duplicates itself inside the body, moving from cell to cell. It doesn't just kill—it spreads."

Jasper let out a low breath. "Goddamn."

Edward, rubbing a hand down his face, let out a humorless laugh. "So, if this gets out, we're talking about—what? A chemical agent that reproduces? A cytotoxin that fucking breeds?"

"Exactly. Before, they needed a trigger—a dispersal method, like a viral vector or an aerosol release." She clicked into another section, her stomach turning. "But now? The enzyme doesn't just spread in the host. It spreads beyond it. Once a person is exposed, they become a new dispersal point. One release wouldn't just kill everyone in the immediate area. It would keep killing, person to person, indefinitely."

Edward's expression darkened. "They built a plague."

Bella nodded, her voice hollow. "And not one we could vaccinate against. No immune system would recognize this as an infection. There's no antibody to produce. No viral particles to target. Just biochemical carnage."

"Holy fuck," Emmett breathed, running a hand through his short hair. "Who the fuck—I mean, what's the goal here?"

"This isn't about ideology," Edward said. "Victoria doesn't give a shit about causes. She's not some extremist or political revolutionary. This?" He gestured toward the screen. "This is about money."

Bella blinked. "Money?"

Edward nodded. "She's not planning to use it herself. She's selling it, probably—to the highest bidder."

A cold chill ran through Bella's it. That meant—

"Wait," she said, her voice rising slightly, "who the hell would even want something like this?"

"More people than you'd think." Edward leaned against the edge of the table, his fingers drumming absently, his posture deceptively relaxed.

"This kind of weapon is everyworld leader'swet dream," he said. "You've got unstable governments looking for leverage, countries with a grudge, rogue factions willing to pay whatever it takes to have the upper hand. Shit, even some of our so-called 'allies' wouldn't think twice if they thought they could control it."

Bella's blood ran cold. She'd been thinking too small. She had assumed this was about an isolated attack—a terrorist event, something horrific butcontained.

But this wasn't about one city, or even a few.

This was a commodity. A product with a market.

Jasper added in, his voice grim. "If someone like Victoria gets her hands on the right buyer, she could name her price. Some dictator in a war-torn country? A leader looking to instill fear into their people? A corrupt government looking for a way to wipe out opposition without firing a single bullet?" He shook his head. "They'd pay billions for this."

Bella felt sick.

She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the sheer scope of it. "And you don't think we should tell the military about this? That the corruption runs that deeply? I mean..." Her voice was tight, edged with disbelief as she looked between Edward and Jasper. "We have evidence. We have files. If we hand this over to the right people, they could shut this down before it gets worse."

Edward exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face. "And who exactly is the 'right people,' Bella?" His voice wasn't harsh, but there was a weariness to it, like he'd already played this conversation out in his head a thousand times. "The military? The government? You think there aren't already hands in this, already lining up for a chance to use it for their own gain?"

Jasper leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his expression dark. "You think there haven't been wars fought over less? Hell, you think half the conflicts in the world don't have someone like Victoria lurking in the shadows, waiting to sell to the highest bidder?" His jaw tightened. "The second we bring this to the wrong person—and let's be real, there's a good chance that happens—this thing disappears, only to show up in the hands of people just as bad, if not worse."

Bella's stomach twisted. "But this isn't just some arms deal gone bad. This is mass murder. If someone in power sees the potential in this—"

"They already have," Edward cut in, his voice quiet but firm. "You think Victoria built this with no backing? That she just woke up one day and decided to weaponize your enzyme and make it capable of wiping out entire populations? Someone funded this. Someone gave her resources, connections." He met Bella's gaze, unflinching. "And whoever that is? They're bigger than Victoria."

The words settled in Bella's chest like ice. She swallowed hard, her mind running through every possibility. Every grim, horrifying possibility.

Alice spoke without looking up. "And once she sells it, it's out of our hands. No way to track it, no way to predict where it'll hit first. It could be months, years before it resurfaces—and by then, we won't be the ones stopping it."

Bella gripped the edge of the table, mulling over the nauseating realization. "So what, we're just supposed to handle this ourselves? We're six people, Alice. This is global. We can't take on entire governments."

"We don't have to," Rosalie said, crossing her arms. "We just have to burn this thing to the ground before it ever reaches them."

Bella inhaled sharply, forcing herself to focus. "Well, I guess… the good news? This model wasn't finalized. The files suggest they were still in the final stages of testing. If we destroyed the prototypes, then we just crippled their ability to mass-produce it. They'll have to recalibrate everything from scratch."

Rosalie's arms were crossed tightly over her chest. "How long does that buy us?"

Alice scrolled rapidly through timestamps and logs. "Months, maybe. But—" She hesitated, then turned, her face clouded with worry. "They still have the standard cytotoxin. That version was already ready for deployment. They're moving fast."

Bella leaned forward, scanning the operational logs Alice had pulled up. She noticed the red-highlighted timestamps, the recent entries. Her stomach twisted.

"They have a week," she said.

"Then we have less," Edward murmured, "And a hell of a lot more enemies."

Jasper sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Victoria's not the brains behind this. She's just the broker. But whoever's actually engineering the final stages of this? They're smart. And dangerous as hell."

Alice's fingers flew over the keyboard, pulling up another encrypted file. The second she decrypted the name, she froze.

"Aro Volturi," she murmured, almost like she didn't want to say it out loud.

Edward stiffened beside her. Rosalie exhaled sharply. Jasper swore under his breath.

Bella's frown deepened as she glanced between them. The reaction was instant—too instant. Even Emmett, who always had a joke for everything, wasn't smiling.

"What?" she asked, her gaze bouncing between them. "Who the hell is Aro Volturi?"

Alice leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "Essentially? A ghost."

Jasper let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "A ghost that's been playing this game a hell of a lot longer than any of us."

Emmett shook his head. "He's not just a ghost. He's a fucking nightmare."

Bella's stomach twisted. "Okay, can we drop the cryptic shit? Who is he?"

Edward exhaled slowly, rubbing his knuckles. "Aro Volturi isn't just some arms dealer, and he's not some scientist operating from the shadows. He's something worse—someone who doesn't exist on paper, someone you won't find in CIA black files, because he's never left a trace that anyone's been able to pin down. He funds wars, collapses governments, and supplies weapons that aren't supposed to exist."

Jasper leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "And if he's backing Victoria, it means she's not just selling this shit to one buyer. She's setting up an auction."

Bella's blood ran cold. "Auction?"

Jasper nodded. "Think of the worst people on the planet. War criminals. Dictators looking to wipe out entire regions without firing a single bullet. Private billionaires with a god complex and a grudge. The kind of people who want power and fear, and don't care how many bodies it takes to get there." His jaw clenched. "Aro finds them. He finds them, he cultivates them, and when the time is right, he hands them exactly what they need to become unstoppable."

Rosalie crossed her arms. "If he's involved, we're not just dealing with one country or one buyer. This isn't just an attack. It's a goddamn business venture."

Bella sat back, her mind racing. "So you've all heard of him before?"

"Oh yeah," Emmett muttered. "I even saw him once."

That caught everyone's attention. Even Jasper looked at him sharply.

Emmett leaned forward, his usual humor completely gone. "You don't understand what we're dealing with, Bella. Aro's not just some warlord or a black-market dealer. He's a fucking monster in a suit. He doesn't operate like normal criminals. There's no code, no limits. No one is off-limits—not women, not children, not innocent bystanders. If you're in his way, you don't just die. You suffer."

Bella swallowed, but her mouth had gone dry. "What did he do?"

Emmett exhaled sharply and ran a hand over his jaw. "One of my first big ops, Istanbul. We were tracking an arms deal that went sideways—buyer backed out, and the seller started panicking. Things were getting messy, but nothing we couldn't handle. Then the name Aro Volturi got thrown around." He let out a hollow laugh. "And the second that happened, everyone in the room shut the fuck up."

Bella felt a cold weight settle in her gut.

"Then the door opens," Emmett continued, his voice lowering. "And in walks this guy. Perfect suit, silver cufflinks, hands in his pockets like he owns the whole goddamn world. No bodyguards, no weapons—just him.He doesn't need protection, because nobody in their right mind would touch him."

Bella's skin prickled with unease.

Emmett leaned back, shaking his head. "I watched a room full of men—some of the hardest bastards I've ever worked around—go silent.This wasn't fear. This was terror."

Jasper, who had been listening with his arms crossed, nodded. "He doesn't come to negotiate. When Aro shows up in person, it's already over."

Bella licked her lips, forcing her voice out. "So… what happened?"

Emmett's eyes darkened. "He sat down, crossed his legs, and just started talking.And the way he did it… like he was giving a goddamn TED Talk instead of deciding who lived and died." He shook his head, his voice quieter now. "The seller tried to get ahead of it, started apologizing, offering him another deal, trying to smooth things over. And Aro just sat there. Smiling .I swear to God, he smiled the whole time. Like he was amused by the guy digging his own grave."

Bella's stomach twisted.

Jasper let out a humorless chuckle. "And he loves when people grovel."

Emmett nodded, grimacing. "Yeah, well, this guy didn't grovel for long. Aro stood up, straightened his tie, and said, 'Unfortunately, you've wasted my time.' And then he just walked out."

Bella frowned. "That's it?"

Emmett's jaw clenched. "No. That was just him deciding. What came next was him proving a point. Two days later, we found the seller strung up in the Grand Bazaar. Tortured first, then gutted. But it wasn't just him."

Bella knew she wasn't going to like what he said next.

"They found his wife," Emmett continued. "Hung outside their apartment. And his little girl?" He exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. "They never found her."

The silence in the room was suffocating.

Bella felt like she was going to be sick. "He took a child?"

"No," Jasper corrected, his voice ice cold. "He stole her. Because that's what he does. He doesn't just kill—he takes. He erases people. That girl could be anywhere in the world. Or she could be dead. But we'll never fucking know, because when Aro wants someone gone, they're gone."

Bella pressed a hand to her stomach, her pulse hammering. "That's just one example?"

Rosalie scoffed, arms crossed. "That's just one we know about. He doesn't leave bodies. He doesn't make mistakes. There's no pattern, no loose ends. If his name is attached to something, it's because he wants it to be."

A heavy silence settled over the group.

Rosalie shook her head. "So yeah, Bella. That's Aro Volturi."

Bella clenched her jaw. "And we're supposed to just let him sell a weapon that can wipe out entire populations?"

Edward's voice was steel. "No. We stop him."

Bella exhaled slowly, steadying herself. "Then we don't just stop the sale. We take them all down."

Edward stared at her for a moment. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Jasper grinned, but there was something almost feral behind it. "That's what I like to hear."

Alice cracked her knuckles, turning back to her laptop. "Alright, then. Let's burn this whole fucking thing to the ground."