In the dim basement light, Sally and the others crowd the scarred table again, the salvaged files spread open beside the jammed shredder strips. The Soviet routing marks line up with the biological charts, and the pattern snaps into place.
Mark V
These serum markers match the thorn growth. Same compound family, same delivery logic.
Mark V taps a smudged page, then the torn strip from the shredder. The annotations point to induced tissue response, not weaponized plants. The thorn wall was never decoration, it was growth.
The Rose
No. That wall was mine.
The Rose stares at her own hands as a thin line of thorns trembles along the table edge, answering her pulse like a living scar. Mara Keene goes still, watching the reaction with open alarm.
Mara Keene
It is the same experimental serum. Sally's file and your thorn output are linked to the same program.
The room tightens around the truth. Sally's origin, The Rose's power, and the buried government work are one trail, one crime, one buried name that keeps trying to grow back.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn whether The Rose is part of the same experimental program
✓ Quest Accepted
Bring Devlyn up to speed
“I point to the matching serum markers on the files to show Devlan the connection.”
Sally lifts a finger and points out the matching serum markers, and the paper trail feels less like evidence now, more like a mirror. The Rose looks from the files to her thorns, then back to Sally, as if the answer has just found her.
“Is The Rose tied to the same program?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 39)
The Rose
These markers... they are not just similar. They are the exact same signature used in the project that gave me my thorns.
Sally
The same program that made her a hero is the one that left me with nothing but questions.
Mara Keene
If the Rose City Warriors' leader and our mystery guest share a source, then the Department of Superhuman Affairs has been hiding a much larger history than we imagined.
“I ask, "if we were in the same program, than how do we have such different powers? I mean, you grow thorns and shoot vines. From what I found out today, I am super strong and super fast. What gives?"”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Sally
If we were in the same program, how do we end up with such different powers? You grow thorns and vines, I get strength and speed. What gives?
The Rose
That is the question I have been avoiding for years.
The Rose
The thorns at her fingertips dim and curl back. Her voice is tight, but steady.
The Rose
The program was not one serum, it was a platform. Different lines, different triggers, different bodies. They were testing what could be made to take.
Mark V
That would fit the routing mark. Same pipeline, separate payloads.
The Rose
So yes, Sally. We are from the same buried machine. But it did not make us alike.
The Rose
It made us what the people upstairs wanted, for however long we lasted.
Quest Complete
Learn whether The Rose is part of the same experimental program
“Is The Rose still hiding something about the serum?”
YES, BUT (VeryLikely, rolled 70)
The Rose glances toward the heavy steel door of the records room, her expression flickering with a brief, guarded hesitation before she meets Sally's gaze again.
The Rose
There is more to the serum's history, Sally. I know the names of the scientists who oversaw the final phase, but I am not yet certain who among them is still pulling the strings.
“I press Mark V for the final phase records”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled -2)
Sally
Mark V, what do the final phase records say?
Mark V draws the file stack closer, optics narrowing as he scans the old routing marks and the serum notes together.
Mark V
There it is. Final phase records were routed through a sealed DSA archive, then split into two clean copies. One vanished. One was sent to a handler with a seal key.
He taps a line on the page, and the Soviet-era black-site mark sits beside a newer federal stamp, the two systems forced into the same chain.
The Rose
So the program did not end. It changed hands.
The Rose goes still, her dimmed fingertips hovering over the table, while the room seems to swallow the sound of the hallway alarm.
Mark V
I can brief Devlan with this, if you want the short version. But this copy is incomplete, and someone scrubbed the last recipient after the transfer.
As he says it, Sally gets the answer she wanted, but the paper edges tear under Mark V's grip, and a fresh crease exposes the file number to the room.
“I brief Devlan on the final phase records and everything we learned about my connection with the Rose.”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled -2)
Sally
Devlan, the final phase went through a sealed DSA archive. One copy vanished, and the other went to a handler with a seal key. The same old black-site mark is on it, right next to the federal stamp. And The Rose's powers match the serum source in my file.
Sally lays it out cleanly, and the hallway seems to tighten around the words. The Rose watches from the table edge, thorns dim at her fingertips, while Mark V's grip creases the dossier a little deeper.
Devlan Mitchel
That is enough to brief me. It means somebody inside the department was protecting the same chain twice, and somebody else is still cleaning it up.
Devlan Mitchel
If the Rose is tied to the same program, then every ally here might be a lead, or a liability.
He takes the explanation in without flinching, then squares his shoulders as if the room just got smaller. Sally's cut stings when she repositions the papers, and a bead of blood marks the corner of the file.
The Rose
Then we stop treating this like one mystery. We treat it like a buried system with live hands on it.
The Rose lifts her hand, showing the faint, involuntary thorns before she curls her fingers shut again. Across the dossier, the seal key reference and the black-site mark sit exposed together, waiting for Devlan's next question.
Quest Complete
Bring Devlyn up to speed
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Fair→Good