Alisson's wings are, without a doubt, the most visible and contradictory consequence of all the experiments she was subjected to.
They were created with one very specific purpose: to turn her into a weapon capable of moving through the air, combining human DNA with that of various corvids to grant her abilities that a human body could never have developed naturally.
However, the result was far from perfect. Although the wings grew correctly and possessed a functional structure, their weight ended up becoming one of their greatest disadvantages. Each one weighs approximately five kilograms (approximately twelve pounds), meaning that together they add ten kilograms (about 23 pounds) to Alisson's body. Without them, the young woman weighs around sixty kilograms (133 pounds); with them, she reaches seventy (154 pounds). It may seem like an insignificant difference for someone with musculature as developed as hers, but when it comes to a structure that remains attached to her back every second of her life, the difference is very considerable. Especially since she was born without them. A human body isn't able to support it.
The density of her wings is precisely one of the reasons why Alisson cannot fly, too. It is not enough to possess feathers, a suitable skeletal structure, or muscles capable of moving them. To lift a human body weighing approximately seventy kilograms, her wings would need to generate an amount of lift that her anatomy simply cannot produce. The scientists attempted to compensate for this by increasing the muscle mass in her back, modifying her skeletal structure, and progressively altering the composition of the tissues surrounding the wings, but they ultimately created a structure that was far too heavy for its original purpose. It was to no avail. Alisson can open them, close them, move them, and even use them to propel herself slightly during a jump, but she has never managed to truly leave the ground. Perhaps that was one of the greatest disappointments for those who created her. They had wanted to manufacture a soldier capable of conquering the skies, and instead, they had created a girl incapable of using her own wings.
Despite this, the wings are not useless. In fact, over the years, Alisson ended up finding a purpose for them that the scientists had never considered: protection. Due to their thickness and the density of the structures that form them, they can act as a sort of natural shield. When something threatens her body, Alisson can spread them in front of herself to protect against certain impacts, although that does not mean they are indestructible. Severe injuries can penetrate the feathers and reach the tissue underneath, and her regeneration is not fast enough to repair significant damage within a matter of hours. For that reason, any injury to her wings can be particularly dangerous for her.
There is also a much more intimate relationship between Alisson and her wings, even though she hates them.
During the first few years after the experiment, she probably considered them a deformity, a permanent reminder of everything they had done to her. They were not something she had chosen to have. They were the physical result of needles, medication, surgeries, blood, abuse, and years of experimentation. Every time she looked at them, she could remember the white walls of the laboratory and the hands of those scientists who spoke about her body as though it did not belong to a person. However, over time, that relationship began to change. The wings were still a consequence of her captivity, but they were also hers. They were like her hair, her bones or her lungs.
No one could decide how she used them. No one could tell her what they meant. The scientists had wanted to turn them into a tool for killing, and Alisson turned them into a tool for protection. Oh, and also for warming herself when it's too cold.
This also explains many of her more animalistic behaviors. The genetic mixture did not only affect her physical appearance, but also certain instincts that had never been part of her before: Alisson may remain completely still for long periods when she feels threatened, tilt her head slightly when she hears an unfamiliar sound, or react abruptly to sudden movements. She may even hiss or growl when she becomes particularly distressed. Her body language becomes especially evident through her wings, too: when they are completely folded against her body, she is usually calm, or at least trying to appear that way; when they open slightly, she is alert; when they spread completely, it is probably better not to approach her.
On the other hand, when she uses them to wrap herself up, there is a vulnerability that very few people ever get to witness. It is a way of hiding from the world, of creating a small barrier around herself that no one can cross.
And it is precisely during sleep that her wings take on a much more personal purpose. Alisson needs to feel a certain amount of weight on her chest in order to sleep peacefully. After spending years being restrained, examined, and subjected to medical procedures, her body developed a strange relationship with pressure and the sensation of being contained. Her own wings fulfill that purpose perfectly. When she sleeps, she can wrap them around her body until she is practically hidden beneath them, almost like a creature protecting itself inside its own shell. It is one of the few occasions when her appearance stops seeming threatening and begins to look strangely vulnerable. And if she happens to sleep beside someone she trusts, there is a fairly high chance that, completely unconsciously, she will end up placing one of her wings over that person. She does not necessarily do it because she wants to hug them. At least, not in the conventional way in which a person understands a hug. In Alisson, there is a much deeper instinct: protection. For her, protection is everything, because she couldn't protect herself when she had to. And nobody did that for her.
Her wings then become a physical extension of something she finds incredibly difficult to express with words. If someone she loves is sleeping beside her, she will probably cover them with her wings. If someone is injured, she will probably put herself between them and danger. If someone is in danger, her wings will appear before she even has time to think. It is almost an animalistic behavior, but it is also one of the purest ways in which Alisson shows affection. She can be cold, distant, and terribly difficult to read, but her wings rarely lie.
That is why it is so ironic that the very thing that was supposed to turn her into a weapon ended up becoming the thing she uses to protect the people she loves. Her creators wanted those wings to serve to pursue, attack, and dominate from above. They wanted to create the perfect soldier, someone capable of escaping any barrier and reaching any target. But Alisson never became that. Her wings are far too heavy to make her fly, far too large to go unnoticed, and far too important for her to simply ignore them. They are a burden she will carry for the rest of her life, a part of her body that she never asked for. But, unfortunately, she cannot rip them off. So she'll have to deal with them for the rest of her immortality.