They moved before sunrise... Grayson led the group through the twisting backroads of the Santa Sierra highlands, his mother cloaked in a hooded shawl, Emmett covering the rear, every step echoing with urgency. The chapel was gone, their sanctuary reduced to ash and silence.Grayson didn’t speak, His mind was running cold and fast, tracking wind shifts, footfalls, even the unnatural stillness of the trees. Something hunted them, Not soldiers, Not drones, Something worse.They reached an abandoned mining tunnel by mid-morning. It stretched for miles beneath the mountain, carved during a war generations ago. Grayson lit the lantern. “We rest here,” he said.His mother sat slowly, clutching her rosary. “They won’t stop, will they?”Grayson crouched beside her. “Not until I end this.”Emmett passed him a flask. “So how do you plan to do that? You’re good, but Clive has a private army, half the global media, and a genetically enhanced killer you couldn’t even stop with a blade to the ribs.”

Lightning carved across the sky. The rain came down in sheets as Grayson and Alpha-One huddled beneath a half-collapsed overpass on the outskirts of Graybridge. Water streamed from their coats. Tension crackled heavier than the storm.Grayson broke the silence.“You sure the intel’s solid?”Alpha-One nodded. “Clive’s fallback facility north docks, beneath the old cargo yard. That’s where he’s been building what comes next.”“What is next?” Emmett asked from behind them.Alpha-One’s voice dropped.“Something worse than me.”Far across the ocean, at Clive’s secret installation, Subject-Zero stirred. He floated inside a suspension tank, veins glowing faint blue, body twitching. Technicians monitored vitals with the fear of priests facing a god,Clive stood behind the glass, arms crossed.“He’s waking,” the lead scientist whispered.“Good,” Clive said.Subject-Zero’s eyes snapped open.Back at the safehouse, Grayson reviewed the recovered Helix files with Emmett and Alpha-One. Margot’s not

The champagne had barely gone flat. Grayson stood in the penthouse of Wynthorpe Tower his tower now surrounded by the quiet hum of servers, screens, and silence.The whole city below buzzed with the news: Grayson Wynthorpe officially appointed as CEO. Yet the man himself didn’t feel victorious, He felt watched.Wren Dax sat in the war room reviewing recent security logs when the anomaly hit her screen. Unauthorized surveillance breach, Encrypted data, External signal. She tapped a key paused, The source IP: untraceable. The file embedded in the signal Just one name:“Subject-X”She stared, heart freezing, She hadn’t heard that name since her final year inside the Helix labs. It wasn’t a person, not really It was an idea, A mistake too dangerous to record So they buried it in rumor And now It was moving.On the far side of Graybridge, Alpha-One moved through a training routine in a hidden facility beneath the city. He didn’t need the training, He just needed control For the first time

The air inside Wynthorpe Tower had changed, The hum of victory was gone. Now, there was just tension coiled and ready to snap.Grayson stood at the head of the conference room table, arms folded, staring down the Wynthorpe Board of Directors, Most of them looked terrified. A few looked defiant And one the youngest member, Jonathan Voss smirked like he still thought he was in control.“Three board members are dead,” Grayson said quietly. “Murdered in 48 hours.”Voss raised an eyebrow. “Coincidence?”“Car crashes don’t decapitate Elevators don’t explode.”Susan Trent, the chairwoman, spoke up, voice shaking. “Are you suggesting someone’s targeting the board?”Grayson looked at her.“I’m not suggesting. I’m confirming.”MEANWHILE: OUTSIDE THE TOWERSubject-X moved through the city like vapor faceless, silent, invisible. He had no ID, No footprint, No origin. But he had targets The third board member, Edward Greene, never made it to the tower that morning. His convoy was rerouted. GPS spo

Midnight.Wren Dax stood at the edge of the helipad atop Wynthorpe Tower, the city lights blinking like a thousand warnings below her. She had told no one where she was going, Not Grayson, Not Alpha-One,Not even herself.Because the truth wasn’t a destination it was a reckoning And it had a name Subject-Y.FLASHBACK: THE ESCAPEYears ago, during the final stages of Helix's collapse, Wren had slipped into Lab 12 against orders. Her mission was simple: eliminate any remaining test subjects before the authorities arrived.But in the corner of the observation cell, a young girl no older than ten stood perfectly still, Quiet, Unblinking Wren entered with the kill syringe.But the girl didn’t cry Didn’t scream She only said: “I know you.” Wren had stopped, Frozen The girl stepped forward.“You don’t want to hurt me.”“Because you made me.”And in that moment Wren couldn’t do it Instead, she destroyed the logs, disabled the fail-safe, and whispered one command: “Run.” She never saw her again