Revenant Protocol

Chapter Five

Subject Omega

It was the first time in years that Caden Black felt the kind of fear he couldn't flee from, the kind of fear that froze a soldier to the spot, not because he was weak, but because his heart was breaking. The woman in front of him had Sophia's face, her voice, her scent. but the burning spark in her eyes was smothered.

All that was left was the cold glint of neural override, artificial intelligence coupled with human reflexes.

"Stand down," Elara ordered calmly, stepping into the ruined tower chamber. Her heels rang on the scorched metal floor like commas to a spontaneous death oration. "Or I'll let her tear you apart."

Caden's brain revolted. He stood his ground, still holding his weapon trained on the new clone standing next to Sophia, some new version of the Revenant model. Faster. Sleeker. More realistic to the point of appearing human, but more robotic in intent.

His eyes darted to Sophia's no, Subject Omega's again.

No recognition.

No spark of emotion.

Just programming.

"Where is Sophia?" he snarled, voice rough. "What did you do to her?"

Elara smiled slowly, venomously. "I ran her full sequence. You always knew she was different, didn't you? Smarter. Stronger. Faster. She was the prototype. The original mold."

Caden gritted his jaw. "She was human."

"She was evolution," Elara snapped back. "And now? Now she's perfected."

Sophia or the shell wearing her face stepped forward. “Subject Omega recognizes previous field partner. Scanning… threat level: unstable. Authorization to engage?”

Caden’s heart cracked. She didn’t remember him. Or if she did… it was buried deep, buried beneath layers of synthetic commands and false memory loops.

“You’re not her,” he whispered. “You’re a lie in her skin.”

But deep down, he prayed she was still in there somewhere. Fighting.

He dove to the left as Omega shot, crashing into the metal wall with sickening force where he had been standing seconds before. She moved with the speed of lightning no hesitation, no excess motion. Caden rolled and fired three shots, shooting low to cripple, not kill.

She dodged bullets in flight.

Damn it, he thought. She wasn't just faster, she was anticipating his move.

They clashed near the stairwell. Her strikes were surgical, precise. Caden blocked, dodged, countered. But he was getting slower, tired from the fight, from the emotional toll of seeing her like this.

One punch connected, throwing him against the wall. Stars exploded in his vision. He tasted blood.

“Caden Black,” she said mechanically. “Terminate or capture protocol initiated.”

“Don’t do this,” he rasped. “I know you’re in there, Sophia.”

For an instant, a fraction of a second, her hand trembled. Her eyes blazed.

Break in the code? Recognition?

But Elara stepped on, voice slicing. "Override. Sequence 79-A. Suppress emotional response."

The flicker of light in Omega's eyes died and returned, colder than before.

Caden cursed under his breath. He had to get out. Not out of fear but strategy. He couldn't afford to lose her and the war tonight.

He pulled a smoke pellet from his vest and tossed it onto the ground. The room was filled with thick clouds. Gunfire echoed. He sprinted, ducking beneath Omega's follow-up strike, making a frantic leap through the ruined tower window.

He smashed down on the gravel below, rolled, and limped into the tree shadows before more Revenants showed up.

Elara's voice came behind him over the radio frequencies.

Let him run. Subject Omega will track him. And when she arrests him"

Caden gritted his teeth, blood trickling from his lip.

"She'll forget what it means to love."

Elsewhere, Secret Underground Lab (24 Hours Earlier)

Ethan Drake's fingers flew over the control panel, his gaze reading data streams. He had caught something… a neural echo from Subject 003. He didn't know how, but Sophia had left a pulse, a signal before she was taken.

She knew she could be compromised.

She left a back door.

Clever girl, Ethan snarled, entering the code into the dormant system he'd created in secret: the Failsafe Protocol, a neural-kill virus that could bring back infected Revenants if injected directly into their central cortex.

But never tested in the field.

He met the woman in front of him Lyra Kane, ex-Revenant agent, current friend. Mauled, immobile, deadly.

"She left us with a shot," Ethan said. "But someone's got to get close enough to hook this up to her spinal port."

Lyra's face went dark. "That's suicidal."

"Then fortunate for us I have a contact in mind who earns his living from impossible tasks."

In the Present – Forest Edge

Darkness enveloped Caden as he ran. Rain poured down once more, wetting his blood-soaked shirt, running down his hair. His lungs were burned. His side ached.

But he didn't.

He couldn't.

She survived. Not just physically, but deep inside that robotic shell, Sophia's soul was screaming. And he was going to save her… no matter how many Revenants he tore his way through with his bare hands and how many bits he broke Elara into.

A dart whizzed past his head and stuck itself in a tree. Tranquilizer.

He ducked, rolled, and turned his weapon but a figure stepped from the shadows behind him and jammed a knee into his back.

Caden hit the ground, hard.

As his vision blurred, he heard a familiar voice murmur:

“Don’t worry, soldier. You’re not dying today.”

Ethan.

He blacked out.

Sometime Later – Safe house

Caden woke to the smell of antiseptic and the flicker of light overhead. His ribs were bandaged. Someone had removed his shirt and stitched his wounds.

He sat up too fast. Pain shot through his chest.

Ethan leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Told you'd require backup."

"Where is she?" Caden rasped.

Ethan tossed it to him. It pulsed with soft blue light. "A failsafe. Her code's not completely overwritten. We only get one shot at rebooting her neural net."

Caden looked at it.

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then she kills you."

There was a pause.

Then Caden looked him straight in the eyes, eyes burning with determination.

"Then I'll die reminding her who she is."

Before Ethan could respond, Lyra burst into the room.

"They've found us. Coming in."

Caden strapped on his gear, adrenaline already coursing.

"Then we bring the storm."

Meanwhile – Elara's Private Chamber

Sophia stood before the mirror, fingers trembling with old memories flashing in pieces. Her laugh. Caden's smile. A kiss with snow falling around them.

She didn't understand.

She wasn't meant to understand.

Elara looked at her from behind like a pleased artist holding a broken masterpiece.

"You're not her anymore," Elara said. "You're better."

But as she left the room, Sophia glanced back at the mirror and for a brief moment, there was a tear on her cheek.

Unprogrammed.

Uncontrolled.

Real.