“Everybody get down, the bridge is coming apart” The scream ripped through the midnight rain seconds before the armored convoy exploded into chaos. The voice was sharp, desperate, and loud enough to cut through the thunder itself. Steel cables snapped above the Blackwater Bridge like gunshots erupted directly above them. One after another, they broke apart with violent cracks that echoed across the storm-dark river below. Cars whirled helplessly across the slick highway as drivers fought to regain control. Tires skidded against wet concrete. Headlights flashed wildly through sheets of rain. Men in tactical gear shouted into radios while bullets tore through shattered windshields. The air filled with smoke, sparks, and the smell of burning metal. At the center of the mania, Ethan Vale stood beside a bleeding senator with a pistol in his hand and betrayal burning in his chest. Three minutes earlier, he still believed he worked for the government, three minutes earlier, everythi

“Get off the tracks now, or the train will tear both of you apart” The warning echoed through the underground tunnel just as the roar of the incoming train grew deafening, the sound wasn't merely loud, it was overwhelming. The entire tunnel vibrated beneath Ethan's boots as if an earthquake was tearing through the city above. Red emergency lights flashed across the concrete walls, bathing everything in a blood-colored glow. Ethan and Lena sprinted down the railway tracks. Behind them, armed soldiers flooded into the tunnel. Automatic gunfire erupted continuously. The muzzle flashes lit the darkness like brief lightning strikes. Bullets rebounded off steel rails, sparks exploded beside Ethan's boots, the smell of gunpowder filled the air. “The train” Ethan shouted. “I noticed” Lena yelled back. The headlights ahead grew brighter, much brighter. The darkness was disappearing beneath the approaching wall of light. The train wasn't slowing, if anything, it seemed to be acce

“Come out slowly, Ethan… unless you want to watch her die first.”Director Crowe’s voice echoed through the burning tunnel with terrifying calm. Flames twisted along the collapsed passage while armed soldiers surrounded the only visible exit.Ethan’s heartbeat slowed dangerously. Crowe wasn’t angry. That was the worst part. He looked prepared.Like every second of chaos since Blackwater Bridge had unfolded exactly the way he wanted. Lena cursed quietly beside Ethan.“We’re trapped.”Crowe smiled through the smoke.“You always were.”The soldiers raised their rifles simultaneously. Laser sights covered Ethan’s chest. His head. His throat.One wrong movement and he was dead.“Step forward,” Crowe ordered.Ethan stayed still. Heat from the fire burned against his skin while pieces of the tunnel concrete continued collapsing behind them. The tunnel was becoming a furnace.“You destroyed the facility just to corner me?” Ethan asked coldly.Crowe adjusted his black gloves calmly.“That faci

“Don’t call me mother unless you’re ready to hear why I abandoned you.”The words struck Ethan harder than the bullet in his shoulder.Rainwater dripped from his clothes onto the underground garage floor while armed guards silently surrounded the area. Every instinct screamed at him to pull his gun. But his body refused to move.Because the woman standing in front of him was impossible. His mother was dead. He buried her. He remembered the black coffin. The flowers. His father holding him while he cried.Yet here she stood alive beneath fluorescent lights, calm as if twenty years had never passed. Ethan’s voice came out weak.“No…”The woman’s expression tightened slightly.“You have your father’s eyes.”Lena stepped closer immediately.“This is a setup.”The guards raised their rifles instantly. The woman lifted one hand calmly.“Lower your weapons.”Every rifle lowered at once. Power. Absolute power. Ethan noticed it immediately.These people obeyed her without hesitation. The woman

“Grab his hand, Ethan… or both of you are going to die”Glass exploded as Ethan and the duplicate tore through the shattered wall of the operations center. For a suspended moment there was only the sensation of falling cold wind, swallowing darkness, and the distant scream of alarms fading into the storm.Impact came like a hammer. They hit a lower rooftop hard enough to fracture concrete. Ethan rolled across the rain-slick surface, smashing into a metal ventilation unit. Pain erupted through his injured shoulder like fire.The duplicate landed several meters away and rose at once. Still functional. Still alive.Rain hammered the rooftop while broken glass fell down like glittering shrapnel from the sky above.Ethan forced himself upright, shaking. The duplicate straightened at the same time. Blood soaked through the chest wound, yet his face remained unchanged.No fear. No hesitation. No humanity.“You should be dead,” Ethan said calmly.The duplicate tilted his head.“I was improved