The darkness was absolute, the silence deafening.Eddard stood frozen, his weapon raised, his senses on high alert. He could hear Helena's breathing, ragged and pained, somewhere in the darkness."You can't kill me," Helena said, her voice echoing from everywhere at once. "You need me. You need to know the truth.""What truth?""The truth about your past. About who you really are."Eddard's heart stopped. "What are you talking about?"The lights flickered back on, and Helena was gone. In her place, on the desk, was a single photograph.

Last Updated : 2026-07-08

Eddard stared at the woman before him, his mind refusing to accept what his eyes were seeing. His mother. The woman who had died when he was a child. The woman who had been buried, mourned, and memorialized. She was standing in front of him, alive, her face etched with the lines of age but unmistakably the same."Mom?" His voice cracked, the word escaping like a breath. "How... you died. I watched them lower your casket into the ground."His mother smiled, a sad, tired expression. "I know. And I'm sorry. I never wanted you to go through that. But it was necessary.""Necessary? You faked your death? You let me believe you were dead for over twenty years?""I had no choice. The Collective w

The journey back to Colorado was tense, the weight of Helena's betrayal pressing down on everyone.Eddard sat in the back of the private jet, his mind racing through the possibilities. Helena was the true Sovereign, the mastermind behind everything. She had been playing him from the beginning, using him as a weapon to eliminate her rivals."We need allies," he said finally. "Real allies. People who aren't controlled by the Collective or the Keepers."Raven nodded slowly. "I know a few. The Ashfords, the Pendletons, the Crosses. They've been hiding for years, waiting for a chance to fight back.""Then we reach out to them. We build a new alliance, a real one, and we take the fight to Helen

The contact was a man named Samuel Cross, a former intelligence officer who had worked for the Collective for years before defecting.He lived in a small apartment in Prague, hidden from the world and everyone in it. He agreed to meet Eddard, but only on his own terms.Eddard traveled alone, his team waiting at a safe distance. The apartment was small and cluttered, its windows covered with heavy curtains.Samuel opened the door, his face pale, his eyes wary."Mr. Collins," he said. "I've been expecting you.""Then you know why I'm here.""The Watcher. They've been