Echoes Of Deception

Ghost Protocol

They hid out in the upper levels of an abandoned metro tower, a place too high for drones and too unstable for Veratech to care. The glass was cracked, the wind howled through broken walls, and the city below blinked like a war zone in waiting.

Anna stood over a makeshift table of broken monitors and old maps. Leah cleaned her pistol in silence. Nick sat against a steel beam, his head tilted back, letting the cold air keep him grounded.

Anna broke the silence. “Kern isn’t just a ghost in the system. He’s still somewhere physical. Someone had to trigger the failsafe. The override wasn’t automated.”

Nick opened his eyes. “So we find the body that matches the voice.”

Leah nodded. “And if he is not alone?”

Nick gave a half-smile. “Then we make him wish he was.”

Anna pulled out a small chip drive and slid it across the table. “This is everything the counter-signal flushed out of the core. Locations, access codes, facility records… and one encrypted ping.”

Nick leaned forward. “From where?” He asked.

“Arclight Station. Underground. Sealed years ago. But the ping’s fresh. Someone’s using it to bounce commands into Redstone’s old grid.”

Leah frowned. “I thought Arclight was condemned.”

“It is,” Anna said. “Which makes it perfect for someone who’s supposed to be dead.”

Nick rose to his feet. “Then that’s where we go.”

Arclight wasn’t on any current map. The roads leading to it were cracked and faded, overtaken by wild vines and rusted cables. They drove as close as they could, then continued on foot, slipping past broken security gates and forgotten checkpoints.

Eventually, they reached a steel hatch embedded in the earth sealed tight, layers of warning signs still visible under the grime.

Anna cracked open the lockbox and began rewiring. “Give me two minutes.”

Leah paced behind her. “What do we do if Kern has units down there?” She asked.

Nick crouched, scanning the treeline. “Then I stop being the hunted.”

The hatch hissed open with a long breath of air, the stale kind that hadn’t moved in years.

They descended slowly, each step echoing into the dark.

Arclight was a graveyard of secrets.

Rusting equipment, shattered test tubes, stretchers with faded stains. The walls were tagged with warning symbols: BIOHAZARD, CONTAINMENT LEVEL 4, PROJECT TITAN - DO NOT UNSEAL.

Nick felt his chest tighten. Something about this place felt wrong in a different way—not just memory. It was like being inside something alive, and dangerous.

They reached the central lab, its door still sealed but humming with faint energy.

Anna pulled out a side scanner. “There’s a life sign inside.”

“One?” Leah asked.

Anna hesitated. “No. Three.”

Nick stepped forward. “Open it.”

The door hissed and groaned, revealing a cold-lit room with three stasis pods. One was empty wires ripped from its side. The second held a figure Nick didn’t recognize. The third…

Nick’s breath caught.

It was him.

Another him.

Anna gasped. “Nick—what the hell—”

Leah backed up, eyes wide. “There’s two of you?”

The figure in the pod was identical—same scar under the chin, same hardened jawline, same old military tattoo on the left shoulder.

Nick stared. “A clone?”

Anna scanned it. “Not a clone. A prototype. This one’s older.”

Nick’s voice lowered. “The original.”

Suddenly, the screens flickered.

Kern’s face appeared.

“Welcome, Unit 9. You made it further than expected.”

Nick stepped toward the monitor. “No more games.”

“This isn’t a game, son. It never was. You were built here. Birthed in data, shaped in trauma. Everything you are… was mine first.”

Nick’s voice was ice. “You used me.”

“I made you,” Kern replied. “And you rebelled. But don’t worry. I kept a spare.”

The second pod hissed open.

The original stepped forward.

Same face. Same frame. But colder—emotionless.

Nick stared at him. “You’re… me?”

The original tilted his head. “No. You’re a deviation. I’m the mission.”

Anna whispered, “He’s still linked to the old command chain.”

Kern spoke again. “One of you walks out. One of you completes the directive.”

The original lunged.

Nick barely dodged in time, slamming into a nearby console. The other version moved like a machine—faster, stronger, less restrained.

Leah fired, but the prototype swatted the bullet mid-air.

Nick grabbed a steel pipe and met him head-on. The two crashed through a wall, sparks flying. Metal against metal, flesh against force.

Anna screamed, “I can sever the connection, give me 30 seconds!”

Nick grunted as a punch sent him flying. He rolled to his feet, spitting blood.

He stared into the eyes of the thing that could’ve been him, should’ve been him.

“I’m not your shadow,” Nick growled. “I’m the one who broke free.”

The prototype surged.

Nick ducked under his swing and shoved a live wire into the unit’s neck.

Sparks erupted. The figure screamed.

Anna hit the final key.

The prototype dropped, twitching.

Silence.

Kern’s voice echoed one last time. “You may have won this time. But there are more. You were only the beginning.”

Then the screen went black.

Nick stared at the body.

Leah placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

He didn’t answer for a long time.

Then: “He was stronger. But he didn’t have a choice.”

Anna looked at him. “And you?”

Nick met her eyes.

“I choose to be human.” He said loudly.

Outside, the sun was rising.

Redstone flickered in the distance.

Nick walked out of Arclight without looking back.

He had a new mission now.

To find the rest.

To free them.