Emotion Hunter: System Awakening.

[Riven's POV]

The medical wing's maintenance access was two levels down from the main corridors, hidden behind pipes and electrical systems that hummed with constant energy.

Riven moved as quietly as possible through the narrow space, Elena's keycard warm in his palm.

Every step forward feels like walking deeper into a trap, he thought, listening to the mechanical hum surrounding him.

The alarms were getting louder, echoing through the facility's ventilation system like mechanical screaming.

Security teams would be systematically checking every room, every corridor, every possible hiding place. His window of opportunity was shrinking with each passing minute.

A thought sent ice through his veins. How long before they figure out exactly where we're going?

He found the access panel Elena had described - a small door marked "Medical Systems Maintenance" that should connect directly to the recovery wing where she was being held.

Please work, he prayed silently, sliding the keycard through the reader.

The keycard slid through the reader with a soft beep.

With Green lights, unlocked door, and then he was inside the medical section proper.

Still active. Either they haven't discovered her involvement yet, or... He didn't want to consider the alternative. Or they want us to think we're succeeding.

The recovery wing was dimly lit, designed for patient rest rather than active treatment.

Riven moved past empty rooms until he found the one with Elena's name on the door chart.

Too easy, his instincts screamed. Where are the guards? The monitoring equipment? Why is she in a room that's barely secured?

She was sitting on the edge of a medical bed, still wearing the same clothes from the evaluation but looking pale and exhausted.

When the door opened, she looked up with startled eyes that quickly filled with disbelief.

"You were supposed to escape," she whispered, her voice hoarse from whatever they'd done to her after the memory extraction.

"I'm not leaving without you."

The words sound heroic, but am I being noble or just stupidly selfish? He pushed the doubt away. Either way, it's too late to change my mind now.

Elena tried to stand but swayed unsteadily. The memory extraction had taken more out of her than Riven had realized. She caught herself against the bed frame, breathing heavily.

They really broke her down, he realized with growing anger.

"Riven, you don't understand. They're not just looking for you anymore. After what happened during the evaluation..." She struggled to find words.

"Cross said I was becoming too much of an influence on valuable assets. They're planning to transfer me too."

"Transfer you where?"

"Medical experimentation facility....They want to study how emotional conditioning can be reversed or enhanced." Elena's face went pale. "I heard them talking about doing surgical interventions. Like removing the parts of the brain that create emotional attachments."

That's literally Lobotomy. The word hit him like a physical blow. *They want to cut out the parts of her that make her human.

The horror of it hit Riven like a physical blow. They weren't just planning to use Elena as a test subject....they were planning to lobotomize her to prevent her from forming human connections.

"Can you walk?" He asked.

Elena nodded, though she still looked unsteady. "Can we follow the maintenance tunnels?"

"Same route you told me about. We just have to make it to the emergency exit."

They moved back through the medical systems access, Elena leaning on Riven for support.

Her knowledge of the facility's layout was invaluable..... she guided him through shortcuts and alternate routes that avoided the main security checkpoints.

She's been planning this for longer than I realized, he thought as she navigated the maze of corridors with practiced efficiency. How many escape routes has she mapped? How long has she been looking for a way out?

But as they navigated the maintenance corridors, Riven noticed something that made his blood run cold.

The security team movements weren't random searching anymore. The boot steps above them were coordinated, following a specific pattern.

The realization hit him like ice water. They know exactly where we are.

"They know where we're going," he realized.

Elena listened to the sounds of pursuit, her expression growing more concerned. "That's not possible. The maintenance routes aren't on standard facility maps."

Unless someone gave them the information.

But who? ....Elena wouldn't betray me. She's risked too much already. So how...?

"Then someone's tracking us." She said

"The keycard. It has to be the keycard. Every time I use it, they know exactly where we are" She said in panic.

They reached the junction near the emergency exit, but instead of the clear path Elena had promised, they could hear voices and equipment being set up.

Of course. Bitter resignation washed over him. They've been two steps ahead this entire time. We're not escaping - we're being delivered exactly where they want us.

"d-damn it...they found us already" Elena was already shot of breathe.

he realized something. This whole thing might be another test.

Before Riven could answer, they heard footsteps in the corridor behind them.

Different from the heavy boots of security guards.....these were lighter...

It must be a System user. His blood turned to ice.

Elena grabbed his arm. "That's not security. Someone else is down here."

The footsteps stopped just around the corner from their position.

Riven pressed himself against the maintenance corridor wall, trying to see who was approaching without exposing himself.

A figure stepped into view, and Riven's world tilted.

Sarah.

No. Not her. Anyone but her.

She looked exactly as he remembered - shoulder-length blonde hair, athletic build, the kind of confident posture that had first attracted him to her.

Her bow was drawn, arrow nocked and ready to fire.

Her enhanced reflexes were clearly active....Riven could see the subtle signs of system engagement in her stance and movement patterns.

But her expression was completely blank, emotionless, like she was looking at empty space rather than recognizing him.

Those eyes. The emptiness there made his stomach clench.....It's like looking at a beautiful corpse. Everything that made her Sarah is just... gone.

"She's not supposed to be here," Elena breathed, her voice barely audible.

None of us are supposed to be here, he thought bitterly.

Sarah's head turned toward the sound with mechanical precision.

No recognition flickered in her eyes when she saw Riven, no surprise or confusion. Just cold assessment of targets to be neutralized.

"Sarah," Riven said quietly, stepping into the corridor. "It's me. It's Riven."

Please remember. Please let some part of you still be in there.

No response. Sarah adjusted her aim, the arrow now pointed directly at his chest. Her enhanced reflexes made her movements impossibly fluid and precise.

Elena emerged from behind him, still weak from the memory extraction but trying to assess the situation. "Something's wrong with her. That's not normal behavior for someone who knows you."

Sarah's bow remained steady, but her eyes tracked between them like a predator evaluating multiple threats. There was no emotion in her face, no hint of the person Riven had once cared about.

"Sarah, what did they do to you?"

The question seemed to trigger something. Sarah's head tilted slightly, as if processing information, but her expression remained blank. When she spoke, her voice was flat and emotionless.

"Targets identified. Riven Duke, escaped asset. Elena Vasquez, unauthorized departure from medical custody. Authorization received for retrieval by any means necessary."

The clinical language from someone who had once whispered his name in the dark felt like a knife to the chest. They really did erase everything we were to each other.

The words hit Riven like ice water. This wasn't Sarah making a choice to hunt him down.

This was Sarah being used as a weapon, her mind controlled or conditioned to the point where she no longer recognized him as anything more than a target designation.

She's as much a victim as Elena and I are,* he realized. Maybe more so, because at least we know what's happening to us.

"They're controlling her," Elena realized. "Some kind of conditioning or system manipulation."

Sarah drew the bowstring back further. At this range, with her enhanced abilities, missing would be impossible.

But there was something else wrong with her system engagement.... the enhancements looked stronger than what Riven remembered from their relationship.

Her reflexes were faster, her precision more inhuman.

"They improved her." The thought filled him with rage.

"Sarah, I know you're still in there somewhere," Riven said, trying to reach whatever remained of the person he'd once known. "Remember when we used to study together? You always made fun of my terrible handwriting."

Please remember something. Anything. Some fragment of who you used to be.

For just a moment, something flickered behind her eyes. A brief confusion, like someone trying to remember a dream.

But then it was gone, replaced by the cold assessment of a programmed operative.

There is something left. Hope flared in his chest. She's still fighting

"Memory triggers detected. Initiating emotional suppression protocol."...a mechanical voice came out from her...it sounded unnatural.

Damn it.

Sarah's system flared with energy, and Riven could see her enhanced abilities shifting into a higher gear.

"Riven," Elena whispered urgently. "More people are coming. We have maybe thirty seconds before they surround us completely."

He could hear it too - multiple security teams converging on their position from different directions.

But Sarah blocked their path to the emergency exit, and her enhanced reflexes made getting past her nearly impossible.

Even if I could fight her - and I'm not sure I can - she's been modified beyond what I remember. She's faster, stronger, more precise. They turned her into the perfect weapon to use against me.

Sarah released the bowstring.

She's really going to do it.

-------

[Emotion looted : fear]

-------

Riven threw himself sideways, using his emotion looting to convert fear into enhanced speed.

The arrow whistled past his ear and embedded itself in the concrete wall with enough force to crack the surface.

If that had hit me...The crater in the concrete told him everything he needed to know about Sarah's enhanced capabilities.

But Sarah was already nocking another arrow, her movements flowing with inhuman precision.

"I don't want to fight you," Riven called out, but he was already reaching for his emotion looting system, preparing to defend himself and Elena.

Sarah's response was to loose another arrow, this one aimed at Elena.

Riven had to dive to intercept it, the projectile grazing his shoulder as he knocked Elena out of the line of fire.

Blood ran down his arm, but the wound was superficial.

What terrified him was the realization that Sarah had deliberately targeted Elena first ....not because she saw her as a greater threat, but because whoever was controlling her understood that Riven's protective instincts would make him easier to manipulate.

Damn it, They're using her knowledge of me as a weapon.

"Authorization confirmed for lethal force," Sarah announced in that same emotionless voice. "Terminating secondary target first to neutralize primary target's tactical advantages."

Elena struggled to her feet, still weakened but determined. "She's not the person you know anymore, Riven. Whatever they did to her, there's nothing left of the person you knew."

Elena's wrong. He watched Sarah's movements, looking for any sign of the person he'd once cared about. There has to be something left. That flicker I saw earlier... it was real.

But as Sarah prepared another shot, Riven caught something in her movements....a slight tremor in her hands, a brief hesitation before drawing the bowstring.

The control wasn't perfect. Some part of Sarah was still fighting against whatever they'd done to her.

She's still in there.

The sound of security teams reached the corridor. They had maybe seconds before being completely surrounded.

This is it. Whatever I'm going to do, it has to be now.

Sarah raised her bow again, arrow nocked and aimed directly at Riven's heart. Her enhanced reflexes made the shot impossible to dodge at this range.

At this distance, with her modifications... even if I could move fast enough, Elena can't. And Sarah knows that.

"Sarah," he said quietly, looking directly into her blank eyes. "I know you're still in there. I know you didn't choose this."

The arrow remained nocked, but Sarah's hands trembled slightly. Behind her emotionless expression, something was fighting to break through.

"Final warning," she said, but her voice wavered almost imperceptibly. "Surrender or face termination."

Elena grabbed Riven's uninjured arm. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now. They're almost here."

What can I do? The question echoed in his mind.

Riven stared at Sarah..... the person who had abandoned him when he needed her most, who had made him feel powerless and inadequate, who was now being used as a weapon against him by the same system that had destroyed both their lives.

She left me when I needed her. But that doesn't mean she deserved this. The anger he'd carried for so long felt petty compared to what had been done to her. No one deserves to have their humanity stripped away.

But underneath the Guild's conditioning, she was still a victim. Still someone who needed saving, even if she couldn't recognize it herself.

If I'm going to die here, at least let it mean something.

The security teams were rounding the corner. Sarah's bow was drawn. Elena was barely standing.

And Riven had to choose between fighting the person he'd once loved or letting her destroy any chance they had of escape.

"Sarah, I know you're still in there somewhere," he whispered, raising his hands in surrender.

I'm betting everything on a tremor in your hands and a waver in your voice.

The arrow remained pointed at his heart, trembling almost imperceptibly in Sarah's enhanced grip.