The flames had died down.Site Zero, once the beating heart of the Judas Protocol, now lay dormant. The bodies of Raven’s sentries and augmented operatives lay strewn through the corridors—silent reminders of the war fought in the dark.Jules sat slumped against the wall beside the central terminal, bandaged but pale. Caleb had refused to leave her side until the medevac arrived. Dax wandered the outer edges of the chamber, checking the explosive charges for one final sweep—just in case.Ayla sat across from Caleb, her knees pulled to her chest, her expression unreadable.“You didn’t kill him,” she finally said.“No,” Caleb muttered. “Didn’t need to.”Raven had been sedated and restrained, bound in magnetic cuffs. He was unconscious now, awaiting extraction by the remnants of the intelligence division that hadn’t been compromised. The moment they could guarantee he wouldn’t manipulate another system—or mind—he’d be placed in an isolated blacksite.A prison not even he could escape fro

The stairs wound down in a spiral, metal and cold concrete descending far deeper than any building in Vienna had a right to go. Ayla counted at least five sublevels before the temperature noticeably dropped.Her flashlight flickered. Something electromagnetic was interfering.She stopped.At the base of the stairs was a sealed metal door. A small biometric panel blinked red beside it. She instinctively reached for it—and the panel flashed green.Access granted.Her breath caught. “Why would it let me in?”She stepped inside.The Underskin LabThe room was not abandoned.It was immaculate.Glass walls, medical beds, suspended digital schematics glowing above them. Transparent panels ran a live feed of brainwave activity. There were no people in sight—but Ayla knew she was not alone.Monitors began switching on around her, one by one. Surveillance feeds. Code fragments. And then, a voice."Welcome back, Ayla."She spun. “Who’s there?”The voice was calm, female, smooth as silk dipped in

The lab shuddered again. This time it wasn’t subtle. Dust rained from the ceiling, and a low mechanical hum grew steadily louder beneath Ayla’s boots.Red emergency lights flicked on across the corridors.“PHASE THREE ACTIVATED.”“SECURITY MODE: SYNTHETIC OVERRIDE.”“ALL ACCESS REVOKED.”Ayla sprinted toward the exit—but the stairwell was already sealed. A thick blast door had dropped between her and the outside world.Upstairs, Caleb’s voice barked through the comms. “Ayla! Do you read me?!”She tapped her ear, but the line was dead. The entire system was self-contained now.“March!” she shouted. “What did you do?”The walls around her lit with holograms. Not words this time—faces.Dozens of them.Some familiar.Others... unrecognizable.One blinked slowly.Then smiled.The Phoenix FarmJules cursed under her breath. “This isn’t just a lab. It’s a cradle.”“A what?” Caleb asked, scanning the feeds.“A genesis site,” she said. “Look at this—schematics, DNA maps, voice profiles, behavi

The silence of the lab was unnerving. It had been a place of constant motion, of danger, and of secrets. Now, it was still, its mechanical heart beating with an ominous thrum as if the building itself was waiting.Ayla stood at the center, her mind racing. The memories that had once been locked away were flooding back now. Faces, names, places—so many fragments, too many to process. The girl in the snow had been only the beginning.She turned toward Caleb, who stood beside her, unsure of how to move forward. His eyes searched hers, trying to find the woman he once knew—but she was different. The weight of the truth was still settling inside her.“Ayla?” His voice cracked slightly. “What did you see?”“Everything,” she replied, her voice flat. “I remembered why Raven chose me. It wasn’t because I was the perfect weapon. It was because I couldn’t be controlled. Not like the others.”Caleb took a step closer, his hand hovering near hers but not quite touching. “You’re not a weapon, Ayla.

The silence in the Deep Archive was deafening. Ayla stood there, her hands trembling, her body poised on the edge of something irreversible. The words of Dr. Aster echoed in her mind, louder than her own thoughts."You were meant to lead. You were meant to reshape the world."Her heart pounded against her ribcage, as if it was fighting to escape the weight of the decision she had just made. But despite the nagging fear that crept through her veins, she knew one thing for certain—this was her choice.Aster’s smirk faltered. “You think you can escape it, don’t you?”Ayla didn’t answer. Instead, she turned, locking eyes with Caleb, who had been standing silently in the doorway. His gaze was filled with concern, but there was something else too—hope.“Ayla,” Caleb said softly, “We’re with you. Whatever happens, you’re not alone in this.”For a fleeting moment, she found herself lost in his eyes. There was a part of her that longed to believe him, to surrender to the life he was offering.