Caden Voss awoke to the searing recollection of blood and flames. The SUV that had been behind him was a smoldering ruin, its twisted metal chassis hissing like a crippled beast. He dragged himself up out of the furnace of heat and filth, each movement a symphony of pain: broken ribs, torn shoulder, face opened where glass had cut through flesh. But even as the desert sun rose the horizon, searing sand under his feet, he forced himself to get up. Clutching a frayed leather satchel against his chest, he lurched from the wreckage, not willing to pause because pausing was to perish.The wind howled and hot grains of sand into his eyes and mouth, but Caden didn't give in. His brain replayed the mission in fragmented flashes: the predawn raid on the cartel stronghold in Durango, the thunder of drone bombs collapsing guard towers, the cold crackle of the vault swinging open at his hand. He had gone in undercover, swiped the ledger a plain J.R.-size notebook that held the key to Project Reve

Heart of the StormThe hold was quiet as death except for the roar of the C‑130's engines. Caden Voss and Sophia stood with their backs against walls on opposite sides, guns aimed at the Revenant standing frozen between them. His cybernetic eye burned red, bathing the hold with an eerie red light. Caden's whole body tensed tight, this was it.“Subject 001,” the Revenant intoned, voice flat and mechanical. “You cannot win.”Sophia’s hand shook on her rifle. “He’s just a man,” she hissed, eyes flicking to Caden. “And we’ve beaten men before.”Caden nodded sharply. Then, in practiced synchrony, they acted. Sophia launched a flash‑bang into the Revenant's toes; the hold burst into a blinding white flash and ear‑shattering report. The Revenant lurched, the wiring in his spine sparking. Caden rolled forward, firing two shots into the metal plate on his shoulder. Sparks flew. The Revenant unleashed a sound more beast than machine and charged.Caden rolled aside, tumbling onto Sophia. Both of

Subject OmegaIt was the first time in years that Caden Black felt the kind of fear he couldn't flee from, the kind of fear that froze a soldier to the spot, not because he was weak, but because his heart was breaking. The woman in front of him had Sophia's face, her voice, her scent. but the burning spark in her eyes was smothered.All that was left was the cold glint of neural override, artificial intelligence coupled with human reflexes."Stand down," Elara ordered calmly, stepping into the ruined tower chamber. Her heels rang on the scorched metal floor like commas to a spontaneous death oration. "Or I'll let her tear you apart."Caden's brain revolted. He stood his ground, still holding his weapon trained on the new clone standing next to Sophia, some new version of the Revenant model. Faster. Sleeker. More realistic to the point of appearing human, but more robotic in intent.His eyes darted to Sophia's no, Subject Omega's again.No recognition.No spark of emotion.Just program

The Revenant ThresholdThere was a weight of static in the air, as though the atmosphere itself were going to implode.Out of the ruins of District 12, the skyline was an open wound. Towering skyscrapers that had once pierced the heavens with their neon hubris were nothing more than burnt-out, crumbling shells now, glowing softly with the dim light of stuttering advertisements that refused to die. Sirens wailed through twisted metal, a stench of plasma ash, burned plastic, and something more, something less than natural.Caden Black stood immobile on a collapsed rooftop, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the red storm wall writhed like a snake along the city border. It had materialized minutes after Sophia's disappearance. There was no weather phenomenon on the planet that could explain it. It was not natural. It was not random. It was her.His fists were clenched around the curve of a curled satellite dish. Blood crusted on his knuckles. Half his shirt was charred, the skin below s

The Echoes of Fate63:00:00 RemainingCaden couldn't tear his eyes from the screen.The child. His own childhood self, frozen in a cryo-pod beside Sophia. The impossible images blending with his memory, as if fragments of a life that could never have been.It was like looking into a twisted mirror, a reflection of someone he wasn't sure he was anymore. The man standing in this place wasn't the same man who'd helped create this hell. He was a soldier, a weapon, a ghost… and now, he looked back at his past, looked into the core of the experiment that had made him.I was a test subject," he growled, his voice barely above a whisper."You and Sophia. They made you, both of you weapons," Ethan confirmed, his tone icy. "The Revenant Protocol was designed to evolve, to bring in a new era for humanity. But Hydra's goals were darker than any of us could have imagined. They used you two to develop the template for what we're battling today.".Caden remained silent. His mind was spinning. How mu