The heavy doors sealed with precision behind Kai and Marcus, leaving Sarah alone with her racing thoughts and Cassandra's measured silence. Cassandra gestured for Sarah to take the seat Kai was sitting only moments before, within her shadow, directly below both her heart and mind.

Sarah stood up from the edge of the couch, her training warring with desperation. For the first time, she was unable to see Cassandra as she sat in front of her where Kai had been. She looked out at the room, the afternoon light painting the exotic wood panels, her security guards, and several workers engaged diligently in their activities. Each wood panel appeared as a dark bar across Sarah's future.

"Please," Sarah whispered, the word carrying years of shared history. "I know what I did was unforgivable, but thousands will die." She wished she could see her expression, read anything from her.

"Truly unforgivable Sarah darling, truly," she mused, the word dripping like venom. "I'm surprised you used such an absolute term, especially for someone who claims to understand nuance." She moved in front of her pulling up a footrest and sitting on it so that she looked up at Sarah now, studying her with eyes that recently held much different emotions. "Why don't you tell me about your little underground network now."

Sarah's breath caught. Of course, Cassandra would start there - the perfect pressure point between personal betrayal and larger stakes. "I can't-"

"Can't?" Cassandra's smile carried elegant amusement. "Or won't? The distinction matters, dear."

Sarah knew hidden sensors throughout the office recorded her micro-expressions, stress patterns, and the subtle tells of deception that even ghost protocol training couldn't fully mask.

"Let's start with the Abacus," Cassandra continued smoothly, watching Sarah's carefully controlled flinch. "Tell me how you used it."

The question landed like a physical blow. Sarah fought to maintain composure but knew the office's systems were already mapping her response. She engaged her augment's neural blocks, seeking refuge and injecting chemical assistance throughout her body, a space of perfect calm.

"Now, now," Cassandra chided softly. "Maybe you don't want my help after all, little pet?" The old endearment carried new teeth. "Your neural dampeners are quite sophisticated, but did you think I wouldn't recognize them?" She studied Sarah's calm as it fluctuated.

Sarah felt the trap's elegant construction. Every defense was stripped away, every secret exposed to Cassandra's patient excavation. "Perhaps I should call for the receptionist, then?"

Sarah's heart sank despite the chemical injection. Cassandra continued, "I was hoping we could have a more friendly conversation, but now I think... if you want to help your friends save the lives whose deaths your actions have caused, you should disable your implant and answer the question." She added, "Besides, I already know."

Sarah felt her eyes searching her, she felt trapped. Behind her, the guards were walking towards them. Slowly, she reached up behind her ear and pressed a control interface to disable her, initiating the power-down sequence and causing her blood pressure to rise again. Knowing Cassandra, there had to be a way out or she wouldn't have gone through the trouble.

"That's better." Cassandra was patient as she listened to Sarah's explanation of the heist, how the Abacus became uncontrollable, and how it wasn't anyone's plan. She told her the underground's plan to reclaim the trust left to them by Lou. As she confessed, she was unable to hold back the emotions of the past few days, her involvement, her guilt. Her eyes swelled without the assistance of her augments, her emotions laying raw for Cassandra's amusement.

"Yes, I know little one," Cassandra purred. "Such elegant plans you had constructed, but such devastating consequences. And yet, you play crushed little girl. Instead of seeking my help, you cajoled, you plotted, you took advantage of me, and stole from me."

"Now tell me something I don't know," Cassandra stood beside her looking out over the city, placing her hand on Sarah's shoulder reassuringly. "What are your plans for the equipment you stole from my museum?"

Sarah's voice became almost robotic, a puppet in a master's hands."We are developing trackless pods," she admitted. Cassandra squeezed her shoulder, wanting more. "We're close to building a local mesh, independent of Center's control."

Cassandra pulled her hand away quickly. Sarah knew that information had somehow challenged Cassandra's plans but didn't know how. The way she pulled away suddenly was undeniable. The off-grid mesh touched a nerve, "How... resourceful," she said carefully. "And the museum pieces? All for this noble cause?"

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"Yes." The lie fell flat even as Sarah spoke it, hoping her training could mask it, especially away from Cassandra's gaze. She had begun digging her toe into her heel every time she spoke the truth to attempt to throw off biometric sensors.

"Darling," Cassandra moved closer, leaning over her, jasmine scent carrying memories of intimate moments. "You used to be so much better at deception." She gestured around the room, "Your pulse, pupil dilation, micro-muscle tensions - they all betray you. Just like they did last night when you kissed me after slipping drugs into my wine. Only then, I thought you were my friend."

Each word peeled away another layer, leaving Sarah raw and exposed. She found herself pouring out everything - the pods, the neural stabilization experiments, the desperate race to save minds from dissolution. Cassandra listened with perfect attention, asking precise questions that drew out more detail than Sarah intended to reveal.

The sun had shifted noticeably when Cassandra finally moved to her desk prompting Sara to follow. Waiting for this exact moment, she opened a leather folio on her desk in front of Sarah. "Now then," she said, revealing pristine legal documents. "Let's discuss terms."

Sarah stared at the contract, understanding flooding in. "You planned all of this?"

"Of course, dear." Cassandra's voice ticked up in the excitement of Sarah's recognition. The contract terms were read aloud, each clause a silken cord binding Sarah tighter. "Thirty days of complete submission." She paused waiting for Sarah to nod before continuing, "Physical availability at my discretion." Sarah nodded. Cassandra continued, "Public appearances as required." Sarah saw Cassandra's pen over a line requiring her to surrender her augments, her heart sank further. Cassandra paused, making a show of crossing out the line. "Though I'm willing to be generous," before adding, "but you will surrender to 24/7 monitoring to my feed." Sarah drew a breath, she should be able to endure anything for thirty days. She nodded. Cassandra read the next term, "About the medical resources, given your... cooperation... I believe I can fund at least half of them right now and the rest tomorrow, the requested equipment is downstairs ready to be delivered to your specified locations." One of the guards walked forward placing a satchel beside Sarah.

Then came a twist: "You must break off all contact with Maya and exit any room she enters, immediately and without explanation unless I explicitly allow." Cassandra's pen moved across the page writing the new term on a blank line. She continued without waiting for Sarah's acknowledgment, "You will ensure Nova is invited and accepted into the depot's engineering team, subordinate only to Maya. She has such... natural chemistry with your brilliant Maya."

"That wasn't part of our discussion," Sarah protested. The thought of the tendrils of the contract sinking deeper into her personal life and the lives of her friends. Distraught about how they could ever be retracted.

"No?" Cassandra's smile carried perfect cruelty, holding the contract up to her shoulder as if readying it to be tossed. "Why don't you consider it a premium for your dishonesty over the Abacus and all of the plans for the material you stole from me." Sarah felt complexly overwhelmed. Cassandra didn't seem to care about lives at all. She seemed to only care about whatever plan she was creating, something Sarah could barely fathom beyond personal vendettas. Perhaps if I stay close enough to Cassandra, she thought, I might figure out what she is up to. Sarah nodded. Cassandra placed the contract on the desk sliding it towards her for her thumbprint. "Now then, shall we make this official?"

Sarah stared at the document, seeing in its elegant legal phrases the cage being built around her future. But she thought of the thousands hovering between life and death, of Marcus and Jo's brilliant minds working to save them, her own choices, consequences, and the price she had to pay.

"Jesus Cassandra... fine. Where do I sign?" she asked.

"Here." her finger pointing to the leftmost box.

Sarah imprinted her thumb. The guard imprinted himself as a witness. A man sitting in a chair nearby stood, walked over to the desk, and entered his print.

"Thank you, dear. Now Sarah darling, how are you?"

Sarah said, "Cassandra, you won. No need to rub it in. I can survive anything for thirty days, and whatever you are up to is your business. I'm just grateful for your support in helping save tens of thousands of lives. Whatever I did to hurt you so badly that you felt you needed to construct this cage, I already apologized for... before signing your stupid contract."

"Well, you are certainly welcome my pet. You do enjoy being my pet don't you?" She paused. "Say it Sarah."

"I enjoy being your pet," Sarah said the words.

"We'll have to work on that delivery. Oh, and one more thing. I'm sorry dear but my lawyer insisted." The main who imprinted his thumb last took out another document placing it in front of Sarah. "This is your confession for the museum robbery," she said. "After thirty days, if the contract is filled to my wishes, it will be destroyed and you will be completely forgiven and free." Sarah felt the trap seal shut. If she had no plans to break the agreement, but realized now what the repercussions would be.

Cassandra signaled to Sarah's ear after she signed as the guard and lawyer witnessed. Sarah accepted the incoming monitoring request. "Now show yourself out dear, I'm a busy woman." Cassandra gave a warm smile. "Nova is waiting for you in the lobby, and please don't forget the satchel. I believe Marcus will be more than pleased... at your negotiating prowess."

As Sarah walked to the door and down the hall, her new reality began to sink in. Reaching the waiting room, she was surprised to see Kai in constraints and standing between two of the Center's police officers. Marcus stood to their side and Nova was sitting beside him. She could hear Cassandra through their newly opened private channel, "Yes dear, I know. But Kai was responsible after all. Also, I needed a bargaining chip for the Emergency Council. Just be glad you aren't going with him." Then a pause as if counting down from three, "At least I let you say goodbye, my dear. It had to be."