The Azure-eyed assassin

The smell of metal and chemicals saturated the air.

Akira and Mayu advanced down the corridor lit by a pale light.

The silence was heavy. Too heavy.

They expected alarms, reinforcements… but there was nothing.

As if someone wanted them to continue.

Mayu felt her heart pounding against her ribs. The adrenaline from the previous fight hadn't faded yet.

But what truly twisted her stomach was what they were about to find here.

She had seen these tanks before.

In her nightmares.

In her memories.

And now, they were right in front of her.

---

The glass walls revealed human shapes floating in a greenish liquid.

Incomplete faces.

Incomplete bodies, some barely formed, others horrifyingly resembling her.

A shiver ran down Mayu's spine.

Her stomach twisted.

She wanted to look away, but she couldn't.

A noise behind her.

She startled and instinctively turned, her hand on her knife.

Akira had stopped in front of a console.

His fingers brushed the keys, activating a screen filled with data.

— Look at this… he murmured.

Images appeared.

Files.

And then… a video.

A white laboratory.

Scientists in sterile suits.

And at the center…

A young girl with black hair, sitting in a metallic chair.

Mayu felt her breath hitch.

It was her.

Or at least… someone like her.

A voice resonated in the video.

— Subject 07 displays exceptional resistance to stimuli. We will intensify the experiment.

A mechanical arm approached the girl.

A syringe plunged into her arm.

The young girl did not react.

Her blue eyes remained vacant, like those of a doll.

But Mayu knew what she felt.

She felt it in her own flesh.

The pain.

The oblivion.

The transformation.

She placed a hand on the console to steady herself.

Her body trembled.

Fragmented memories surged, blurry yet brutal.

A white corridor.

Screams.

Shadows approaching.

A taste of blood in her mouth.

A nameless face reaching out to her…

She closed her eyes, trying to push these images away.

Now was not the time to crack.

Not here.

Not now.

---

Akira placed a hand on her shoulder.

— Mayu?

She inhaled deeply.

— I'm fine.

He fixed her with a gaze, searching for the truth behind her mask.

Then he pointed to the screen.

— Look at the file name.

She looked down.

Project AZUR

Her fingers clenched the edge of the console.

Another memory struck her.

A man in a white coat murmuring:

— Subject 07… No. Mayu…

— No… AZUR.

She took a step back, as if those letters could burn her.

That was not her name.

She was Mayu.

Not a project. Not an experiment.

And yet…

That word resonated within her, like a truth buried under layers of lies.

Akira looked at her with a mix of suspicion and understanding.

— We download everything and get out of here.

She nodded, trying to ignore the storm in her mind.

But just as Akira inserted a flash drive into the console…

An alarm blared.

The trap had closed in on them.