Rebirth of the Forsaken Heir

Chapter Eight: The Mole Within

The snow outside the vault still fell in sheets, but inside, Ethan’s words hung heavier than the icy air.

The transmission had been sent.

The declaration had been made.

And now, the world would either rally behind him—or crush him before he ever took a second breath of freedom.

Zara paced near the old terminal, her fingers flying across the keys as she monitored chatter on the black market channels.

“They’ve heard you,” she said. “Responses are coming in from rogue Atlas satellites, ex-mercenaries, whistleblowers... Some are with us. Some are terrified.”

Jayden leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, jaw clenched. Since the attack on Atlas HQ, he had said little. Mira had been captured. Devin was presumed dead. And the codes used in the breach had come from his access.

Ethan approached him. “We need to talk.”

Jayden didn’t move. “About how I might be the reason we lost everything?”

“You’re not the reason. But someone is.”

Jayden looked at him, pain flickering behind his eyes. “What if it was me? What if I’ve been compromised this whole time and didn’t know it?”

Ethan’s voice was firm. “Then we find out now. Before Victor uses you again.”

Interrogation Protocol

Aria brought in a portable neural scan device—one of the few tools salvaged from the Norway lab. It could analyze recent memory patterns, detecting signs of manipulation, coercion, or blocked recall.

Jayden strapped himself into the chair without protest.

“Do it,” he said.

Zara began the scan, her fingers trembling slightly. The machine hummed, lights flickering in rhythm with Jayden’s brain activity. For a moment, all seemed normal—until the screen turned red.

Zara’s eyes widened.

“There’s a memory barrier. Recent. Sophisticated. Layered beneath his conscious access.”

Aria leaned over. “Can you break it?”

Zara nodded grimly. “It’ll hurt.”

Jayden gave a bitter laugh. “What hasn’t?”

She triggered the override.

Jayden jerked in the chair, fists clenched. Images flashed on the monitor—dozens of scenes fragmented by noise. But one stood out.

A woman. Blonde. Sharp eyes. Wearing a Helix insignia on her lapel.

Aria gasped. “Is that…?”

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Dr. Kyra Vale.”

Victor’s right hand. A mind-control specialist. A master manipulator. The ghost of Helix.

Zara stabilized Jayden, who now stared at them with bloodshot eyes.

“She came to me two months ago,” he rasped. “Posed as a client. Slipped something into my drink. Said I’d ‘wake up when needed.’ I didn’t even know.”

“You were a sleeper,” Aria murmured. “But why now?”

Ethan’s voice was cold. “Because we got too close.”

Enemy Moves

Victor Holloway wasn’t hiding anymore.

In a sleek, obsidian tower overlooking Zurich, he stood before the Helix Council—twelve shadowed figures beaming in through secure holographic links.

“The boy has become a problem,” said one.

“He’s stirring the remnants. Calling himself the heir,” said another.

Victor’s jaw tightened. “He’s more than a problem. He’s the fuse to everything we buried.”

“Then extinguish him,” a third commanded.

Victor turned toward the screen displaying Ethan’s viral transmission. “He’s not afraid anymore. That makes him dangerous.”

Another voice spoke, female, calm and cold. “Initiate Ghost Protocol. If the world sees him as a terrorist, no one will listen when he speaks the truth.”

Victor smiled slightly. “Already in motion.”

Backlash

The next morning, headlines across the global web carried one message:

“ETHAN BLAKE—FUGITIVE. TERRORIST. TRAITOR.”

Fabricated footage showed Ethan orchestrating bombings, leading raids, even executing rogue agents. The world was being primed. The narrative rewritten.

Jayden smashed a nearby monitor. “They edited everything. That’s not even me in half of these scenes!”

Zara’s expression was grim. “They have AI-powered deep fakes. With the Helix media arms pushing the story, people will believe it.”

Ethan remained calm. “Then we give them something else to believe.”

He turned to Aria. “How soon can we reach the old drone relay station in Greenland?”

She blinked. “You want to use the ice-array network?”

“It’s the only unmonitored comms net left from my father’s time. If we transmit from there, we can override the signal blockers and push raw truth to every unfiltered line.”

Zara narrowed her eyes. “And if they trace us?”

Ethan’s voice was steel. “Then we hold them off until the world sees what they’ve done.”

The Greenland Gambit

The team flew in low under stealth cover. The Greenland station was abandoned, half-buried in permafrost, but the core systems still glowed faintly. Jayden worked to bring it online while Aria uploaded every decrypted file from the Norway vault.

Images of Helix torture labs.

Videos of child test subjects.

Blueprints of Ethan’s own brain modifications.

It was all there.

“Are you sure?” Aria asked. “Once this goes out, there’s no turning back.”

Ethan stared at the terminal. “I wasn’t given a choice when they made me. But I choose now.”

He hit Transmit.

The network lit up.

Across dark web forums, encrypted comms, even hacked broadcast towers—the truth spread like wildfire.

And then… the first response came.

From a rogue AI.

“I know you. I helped your mother once. I have more. Meet me in Shanghai. Bring no one else.”

Zara read it aloud. “Who is this?”

Jayden’s eyes widened. “That’s the ECHO network. They were part of the original Atlas rebellion during the 4th War. Most were killed. But if one survived…”

Ethan nodded slowly. “Then it’s time I meet the ghosts of the past.”

Endgame Begins

Back in Zurich, Victor stood before the Council, fury boiling behind his calm exterior.

“We lost the narrative,” he hissed. “Someone reactivated the ECHO protocol.”

One of the Helix leaders leaned forward. “Then activate the Blackout team. Ethan Blake must not make it to Shanghai alive.”

Another voice added coldly, “If we can’t own him... we end him.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “So be it.”

Cliffhanger Ending

Back in Greenland, Ethan stood alone on a cliff overlooking the frozen expanse.

Aria approached, coat pulled tight around her.

“You don’t have to go alone,” she said quietly.

“I do,” Ethan replied. “Whoever’s in Shanghai—they know what my mother was trying to finish. They might be the last key to stopping Helix.”

Aria’s hand brushed his.

“I’ll be here when you get back.”

He looked into her eyes, memorizing the promise in them.

“Then I will come back.”

Far off in the distance, the sky rumbled—not with thunder, but with approaching aircraft.

Jayden burst from the station.

“Ethan! We’ve got incoming—multiple heat signatures. Helix isn’t waiting anymore.”

Ethan turned, eyes blazing.

“Then let them come.”