"Wake up, Jayce. You're missing the show."Cold water hit Jayce's face. He gasped and opened his eyes. He was strapped to a metal chair in the center of Matilda's laboratory. His wrists and ankles were bound with thick leather straps. Across from him, Leonard was similarly restrained, blood trickling from a cut above his eye."Finally," Jason Cross stood over him, holding an empty bucket. "I was starting to think I gave you too much sedative. That would have ruined everything.""Where... where are Ella and Hailey?" Jayce's voice was hoarse."Right there. Unchanged. Still serving as our guinea pigs." Jason gestured to the glass chamber where both women remained unconscious, connected to machines. "In about ten minutes, The Ascension begins. You get front-row seats to humanity's greatest achievement.""You mean humanity's greatest crime," Leonard spat blood on the floor. "Experimenting on innocent people. You're monsters.""We're pioneers!" Matilda entered the lab wearing full surgical

"The Barker mansion has been completely destroyed."Agent Maria Santos—the real Agent Maria Santos, not the traitor—stood in front of a burned-out ruin. The mansion where Jayce had lived for six months as a fake delivery man was now just a charred skeleton."When did this happen?" Jayce stood beside her, looking at the destruction."Three hours ago. Right after the island raid. Someone firebombed it from multiple points. Professional job. Nothing survived." Santos kicked a piece of burnt wood. "I got here as soon as I heard. Thought you'd want to see it.""How did you get free? Last we saw, you were being arrested by fake FBI agents.""They weren't all fake. Some were real agents who'd been lied to. Once the truth came out about the traitor using my name and credentials, they released me and apologized." Santos showed him her real badge. "The fake Maria Santos is in custody now. Along with Jason Cross and Matilda Chen. They're facing multiple charges. Life in prison, minimum.""What a

"That's impossible."April stared at Daniel with her mouth open. All her scientific training, all her years of medical research, told her that what she was seeing couldn't be real.But it was real. Daniel moved faster than human eyes could track, crossing the laboratory in a blink. He picked up a piece of broken glass and pressed it against his palm, drawing blood. Then they watched as the wound healed instantly, the skin knitting back together in seconds."The transformation was successful," Daniel said, examining his healed hand. "Every cell in my body has been rewritten. I no longer age. I no longer get sick. I can't be killed by conventional means.""You can still die," Jayce said, but his voice lacked conviction. "That healing ability has limits.""Does it? Shall we test it?" Daniel picked up a larger piece of glass, sharp as a blade. Before anyone could stop him, he sliced it across his own throat.Blood sprayed. His soldiers shouted in horror. But within seconds, the wound clos

"You came alone. Good."Director Richard Morrison stood at the top of the Lincoln Memorial steps, wearing a dark suit and looking every bit the powerful government official. But his eyes were tired. Haunted."You said you know how to stop Daniel," Jayce climbed the steps to meet him. "I'm listening.""First, you need to understand what Project Prometheus really was." Morrison gestured for Jayce to follow him to a secluded corner of the memorial. "Your father didn't just create healing techniques. He created the genetic key to human evolution. The ability to rewrite DNA at will.""I know that. Daniel just proved it works.""What you don't know is that your father built three versions of the key. Three different genetic sequences." Morrison pulled out a classified folder. "Version One was the healing key. What you've been using to cure people. Version Two was the immortality key. What Daniel just used on himself. And Version Three...""What's Version Three?""The kill switch. A genetic

"You knew my parents?"Jayce stared at Leonard in shock. All these years, five years of friendship, and Leonard had never mentioned knowing Richard and Evelyn Walker."Not well. But I met them once. Five years before they died." Leonard's glowing eyes were distant, remembering. "I was eighteen. In the military. My unit was hired to provide security for a medical conference in Beijing. Your father was the keynote speaker.""That conference. I remember my father talking about it. He said it changed his life.""It changed a lot of lives. Including mine." Leonard leaned forward. "There was an assassination attempt. Three gunmen tried to kill your father during his speech. My unit stopped them. I personally took a bullet that was meant for him.""I never knew that.""Your father visited me in the hospital afterward. Thanked me. Said he owed me his life. Then he did something strange." Leonard pulled down his shirt collar, revealing an old scar. "He touched this wound and it healed. Complet