Revenant Protocol

Chapter Four

The Phoenix Within

Rain pounded over the rubble of the old airstrip as the Revenants approached, their dance-like movements scarier than words could possibly say. Each of them bore Caden's face, his form, his former self before freedom, before pain redefined him. But these duplicates, born from the twisted head of Elara Myles, had never been free. They were shadows. Drones. Controlled.

"Don't move," Caden whispered to Sophia, getting in front of her to shield her.

The Revenants advanced quietly, their glowing eyes casting strange glows on the puddled asphalt. Elara Myles, dry as bones under a reinforced cloak, stood behind them, her red lips twisted into a sadistic smile.

"You're looking good, Caden," she said, low and melodious, eerily serene like the eye of the hurricane. "But I would have expected a struggle."

Caden's eyes narrowed. "You always needed control. That's what this was about turning people into weapons. Into puppets."

"I gave you evolution," Elara said. "You rejected it."

Sophia stepped forward. "You turned children into killers. You don't get to call that progress."

Elara's eyes snapped to her, face unreadable. "Ah. Subject 003. I always knew your rebellion would cost you in blood. Love makes you foolish."

Caden's heart pounded. "You don't know anything about love."

"Oh, darling," Elara laughed, "you'd be amazed at what I know."

Suddenly, she raised her hand.

The Revenants fired.

Caden yanked Sophia and them both behind the shattered wall of a destroyed hangar as shots sounded. Bullets tore into concrete, ricocheting like wasps. He dropped hard, pinning her beneath him. "We're pinned."

Sophia's eyes were fixed. "They're not killing to shoot. They're pinning us down."

"She wants us alive," Caden said grimly. "Which means we still have bargaining power."

They crawled hands and knees through the wreckage, working around shredded crates and metal beams. Caden's mind was racing, there has to be an exit. A boon. A miracle. He confirmed the USB Sophia still clung to, housed in a sealed pod. The data on that was not merely a kill switch, it held a map of the Protocol's neural network. Ethan's hidden failsafe. It could take down the clones' hive-mind.

"We need to have a transmitter," Caden growled. "We can't keep them off our backs indefinitely."

Sophia waved. "There's a frequency tower two clicks east. If we can get there"

"Then we open up the signal big time." Caden clenched his jaw. "And every Revenant within a hundred-mile radius falls."

They ran for their lives.

Mud churned beneath their feet as they sprinted between splintered fencing and shattered wreckage. Lightning tore through the sky. The Revenants pursued, flowing as a single creature. Unyielding. Endless.

Sophia stumbled but Caden caught her, arm around her waist. "You okay?"

She nodded for breath. "Keep running."

Ahead of them, the skeletal remains of the deserted comms tower loomed, once a relic of the Cold War, now their only hope. They pushed on, lungs burned, until they reached its rusted base.

Caden kicked the access hatch open, pulling Sophia in as bullets pounded against the metal casing. They climbed. Rung by rung, every step echoed with desperation.

Halfway up, Caden halted. "Give me the drive."

Sophia hesitated, then pushed it into his palm. Eyes locked.

"Promise me," she whispered, "you won't let her win."

Caden said nothing. He kissed her fiercely, desperately as if it might be the last. Wind howled around them, thunder boomed over the tower, but for a moment, they stood still. Side by side.

And then he climbed the final set of rungs, emerging into the ravaged transmitter room.

Dust and rust covered the panels. Caden knelt, bypassing rusted circuits, bypassing power from the emergency capacitor. Sparks flashed. The system whined to life.

Sophia appeared seconds later. "They're heading towards the tower."

"We only have one chance at a signal burst." Caden jammed the drive into the panel. "One shot."

The system sprang to life, flashing red, then solid green.

TRANSMIT?

Caden's finger hovered.

Then

BANG.

A sniper round screamed through the tower wall and slammed into the console. Sparks exploded. The screen shattered. Smoke poured from the circuits.

Caden reeled. “NO!”

Sophia screamed. “Get down!”

They dove as another shot ripped through the chamber. Below, the Revenants began climbing.

Sophia scrambled toward the panel, her fingers flying across cracked keys. “Backup frequencies. There’s one left.”

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I need time.”

“I’ll buy it.”

He stood and unslung his rifle, turning toward the hatch.

“Caden, wait” she grabbed his arm. “Don’t be a hero.”

He brushed a kiss against her forehead. “I’m not. I’m the distraction.”

And then he dropped down the ladder.

The drop was a blur. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He kicked open the lower hatch and descended running, blaster blazing. He jumped into the line of Revenants with a battle shout, providing cover fire for the tower.

Bullets whizzed past his head. He dodged, rolled, blazed away. One Revenant dropped. Then another. But they just kept coming.

A muscle-and-metal wall slammed into him in the chest. He was dumped into the mud, wind knocked out of his lungs. A Revenant swung its fist—but Caden head-butted it with a grunt and stabbed his combat knife into the socket of its neck. Sparks flew. The clone dropped over.

A third held him down, grasping him by the throat. Caden was choking, fingers scrabbling at the iron grip.

Then

A ripple in the air.

All the Revenants stood frozen.

Caden collapsed onto the ground, retching violently.

Above, the comms tower pulsed blue.

It had succeeded. Sophia had succeeded.

The signal flashed through the air—ultrasonic, invisible. The Revenants convulsed wildly, electricity surging out of their cybernetic spines. Each one dropped separately, like marionettes severed from strings.

Caden stumbled to upright, chest pounding. everywhere, silence.

He whirled back towards the tower. "Sophia!"

There was no answer.

He ran legs numb, boots sliding mud. He climbed the tower once more, step by step a prayer.

When he reached the top, the room was black, the console dead.

And Sophia…

She wasn't there.

Only her jacket, and a small bloodstain.

Caden's heart stopped.

A slow clap erupted behind him.

He spun around.

Elara stood in the doorway, flanked by two new Revenants—different. Sleeker. More advanced.

She smiled.

"You won this battle, Caden," she said. "But the war has just begun."

He raised his gun, but she shook her head.

"You really thought she was just Subject 003?"

He stood stock still.

"She's the key to it all," Elara breathed. "The final transformation. And now… she's mine again."

With a wave of her hand, the Revenants advanced, and behind them stood a new figure.

Sophia.

But her eyes were no longer warm.

They glowed—silver, cold, unhuman.

Caden's breath had frozen in his throat. "Sophia…?"

She tilted her head, voice flat.

"Subject Omega, online.".