Leon raised his eyebrows, gazing into their eyes. Distant explosions rumbled around him as the lab began to collapse, as if it sensed its fate approaching.Somewhere below, security turrets roared, tearing into chaos. The floor beneath his feet trembled faintly, as if the ground itself warned him that there was no more time. He stepped closer, despite his fatigue, the blood on his sleeve and the heat from the superheated pipes in the walls.

"So all you needed... was a sample of the G-virus?" There was not rage in his voice, but almost childlike bewilderment.

There was something more to them. It was as if in their cold gaze lived dozens of faces, strangers' names, hundreds of roles played without a single mistake. Behind the outward calmness lurked a predatory integrity, a precision with which only those accustomed to living in the shadow of truth operate. They did not answer. Something flashed in their gaze - doubt, regret, or maybe a shadow of the person they'd been pretending to be all along. And yet their hand didn't waver. The gun rose smoothly, its black muzzle now pointed directly at Leon.The silence between them became deafening. Only the rumble of the collapsing laboratory echoed. Tiles crumbled from the ceiling, and somewhere nearby there was the rattle of automatic doors failing. Leon stood stiffly.

He looked at them not as an enemy, but as someone he was trying to understand-and maybe save.

"All this time you were just playing a role? Or was any of it real?"

Their eyes didn't waver. There was determination there. But it wasn't empty. It was as heavy as lead. There was a flicker of weariness, maybe even regret in their gaze. The lab groaned like a dying beast. The walls cracked, the automatic doors slammed open in panic, unable to bear the strain. Dead lights flickered beneath the ceiling. The alarm siren wailed, merging more and more with the rhythm of Leon's pulse. For a moment, just a moment, their fingers trembled faintly on the trigger. What he was looking for flashed in his gaze: guilt. Or maybe regret. But it was too late.