2025-06-17 13:10:28Damien stared at the note in his hand, feeling like it could vanish any second.
“I’m watching too. You’re not alone. A.”
Four years ago, Ash Maddox had died right in front of him. At least, that’s what he believed. Their last mission in Moldova ended with an explosion, and when the dust settled, only Damien was still standing.
Now, she was back, or at least someone wanted him to think she was.
He burned the note in the sink, watching the flames flicker around the edges until it turned ash. Ironic, right? Then he locked down the safehouse and checked the perimeter one last time. No breaches. No bugs. Just his paranoia hanging in the air.
In the other room, Sophia stirred.
“You ever sleep?” she asked softly from the doorway.
Damien didn’t even turn around. “Not really.”
She stepped in slowly, barefoot and wrapped in a long cardigan. In the dim light, she looked smaller, but her voice was steady.
“I heard something earlier. Like a tap.”
“It was nothing.”
“Nothing?” she raised an eyebrow. “That’s the same tone you used when someone tried to kill me.”
Finally, Damien glanced at her. “You’re alive. That’s what matters.”
She crossed her arms. “And what do you do when I’m asleep? Just pace like a caged animal?”
He didn’t reply. She sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter.
“My mom used to say silence was safety,” she murmured. “That’s why she built the bookstore without Wi-Fi. No digital records. No tech inside the walls.”
Damien’s curiosity was piqued. “Your mom?”
Sophia nodded. “She was… paranoid. Always looking over her shoulder. Said we were being watched. That’s why I didn’t get a phone until I turned sixteen.”
He stepped closer. “Where is she now?”
“Died three years ago. Cancer.”
“Was that before or after you met Vale?”
“I never met Vale. Once, I sent a letter to his company with a proposal to help fund the bookstore. I never heard back until you showed up.”
Damien’s mind raced. Sophia’s mom was off-grid, antitech, and raised her daughter in a digital bubble, right when Eclipse was active.
He asked quietly, “Did your mom ever mention the word Eclipse?”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “No. Why?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he walked over to the laptop and pulled up an encrypted folder.
“Come here.”
Sophia hesitated but then moved closer.
Damien opened a still image: surveillance footage from six years ago. A test site in Eastern Europe. Four civilians strolled through a busy street, and one was circled in red.
The caption read:
“ECLIPSE TARGET ALPHA-7”
He enlarged the frame.
The woman looked to be in her mid-thirties, with hair in a bun, green eyes, and wearing a long cardigan.
Sophia gasped. “That’s my mom.”
“I thought so.”
“But how… why…?” She gripped the back of a chair. “What is this?”
Damien clicked to the next frame. Alpha-7 flagged for termination. Civilian collateral accepted.”
Sophia’s voice cracked. “Termination?”
Damien stayed silent.
“She knew,” Sophia whispered. “She knew they were coming.”
“And kept you off the grid.”
Sophia’s hand covered her mouth. “She died thinking she’d kept me safe.”
An uncomfortable silence hung between them.
Then Damien said softly, “She bought you time. Let’s not waste it.”
By sunrise, they moved to a new safehouse.
Damien had three backup options. He chose the most isolated: an abandoned lakeside cabin he’d used back in his early mercenary days. No power, no cameras, no signalsjust wood, water, and wide open space.
Sophia didn’t complain this time.
She sat on the edge of the dock while Damien unpacked and cleared the area. Once he finished, he checked the paper dropsthree in total. Two were empty. The third had another note.
You’re asking the wrong question. It was never about her. It was always about you.
Damien’s stomach twisted.
He stepped outside. Sophia was sitting with her legs crossed, staring out at the water.
“I think it’s time you told me what Eclipse is,” she said without looking at him.
Damien took a deep breath. “It’s a ghost system. Surveillance AI. Designed to predict threats before they happen.”
“Like pre-crime?”
“Even worse. It doesn’t just analyze behavior; it rew...
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Contact Broken
The safehouse at the edge of the rail yard felt like a tomb. No power, no windows, and no warmth. Just four cold concrete walls and a steel door that scraped loudly against the floor every time Damien opened it.Since leaving Malek’s compound, Sophia had hardly spoken a word.She moved slowly, sat there with a blank look, and ate without even tasting her food.Damien kept an eye on her from across the room. He could see her shoulders rise and fall with each breath, but her eyes? They were distant. Not like they used to be.Eclipse hadn’t just watched her; it had dug deeper, touching something within her that he couldn’t quite grasp.Damien settled near the door, his weapon resting across his lap. He hadn’t said much either.The truth hung heavy between them.He was the model, and she was the test subject. Every step he thought he was taking on his own had already been mapped out long before he made it.The AI didn’t just predict his actions; it revolved around them.And now, it waited
Subject Mirror
The tunnel felt like a void. When the lights flickered out, Damien didn’t budge. He pressed his back against the cold wall, his sidearm gripped tightly in his hand. Silence enveloped him. No sounds, no signals, nothing creeping up behind him.Just that message pulsing in his comm display: Subject Mirror online.He didn’t even blink.He ran that phrase through his mind, trying to make sense of it. It wasn’t part of the original Eclipse protocol. Not a known asset. Jace hadn’t mentioned it, and Vale had never dared to say it aloud.Mirror.Deep down, he knew what that meant. He just didn’t want to accept it.Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed back toward the main chamber.When he got there, he found Sophia sitting up. She looked pale, her hands gripping her knees tightly. It was like she hadn’t blinked in ages.She said she heard it again.Not quite sound. Not exactly words. Just something beneath all the noise. A breath. A heartbeat that didn’t belong to her.He asked her if s
Fade Point
The city came to a standstill when the explosion hit the news. Emergency alerts blared. Curfews were imposed. Drones buzzed overhead. Checkpoints popped up everywhere. It felt like every government agency sprang into action at once.But they weren’t blaming Caleb.No, the finger pointed squarely at Damien.Images of him were manipulated. Footage got chopped and reassembled. On every screen, it played on repeat: Damien talking to the boy, then the blast. A tidy narrative that completely wiped Eclipse from the story.In a dark corner of a deserted parking garage, Ash was wiping blood off Damien’s forehead. He insisted he was okay, but she shot him a look that said otherwise.Sophia was nearby, her hands trembling. Her eyes were glued to a small medical pouch. Since they left the van, she hadn’t said a word.While they hid, Ash picked up two signals. One was from the cops. The other? Not good.The cops wanted Damien dead.And the second one came from Eclipse.It wasn’t encrypted. No viru
The Asset War
Damien stood in the hallway, staring at the paused screen. Ash’s face filled the frame, caught mid-step in a place she insisted she’d never been. The video didn’t have a timestamp or any metadata just her, clear as day.Ash claimed the footage was fake. Eclipse had the tech to create deepfakes on the fly. They’d done worse before. Damien didn’t argue, but unease settled in his gut. Sophia stood behind them, arms crossed and quiet. She hadn’t said much since they left the staging facility.In the command room, Ash pulled up a damaged file Jace had left behind. It was still readable, revealing a manifest of embedded assets. It wasn’t just Sophia; there were others too. Names, ID numbers, and last-known statuses.One file blinked in red: Caleb Kirby. Seventeen years old. Active. Unstable.Ash said he’d been activated three days ago. His location? Washington D.C. His profile matched a known Eclipse trigger sequence. Damien didn’t need to ask what that meant. Suicide directive. Likely a ci
Blood Ties
The staging site sat cold under the old power grid. Rusted signs and broken locks surrounded them. Dust thickened the air, and silence hung heavy. Damien led the way, with Ash close behind, rifle in hand, and Sophia trailing, her portable data tablet in hand, eyes darting around.They stepped into the first control chamber. Dead monitors lined the wall, and in the center, a biometric access pillar awaited retina, palm, and voice.Damien approached and placed his hand on the scanner. Nothing happened.Then a mechanical sound came from behind the wall, and a tray slid open.Inside was a black cube and a small folded slip of paper.Damien picked them up and quietly read the note.It said he was never out, just dormant, signed with a single letter: R.He opened the cube. Inside was a list of data from human trial records. Eclipse Phase One.He scanned the names.Sophia was on the list.So was he.Cross, Damien. Subject 03A. Exposure controlled. Outcome marked unstable.Ash remained silent
The Reset
Sophia woke up to a heavy silence.Not the peaceful kindmore like that eerie feeling when you know someone’s watching you, pressing down on your chest.She sat up slowly, her head throbbing. Her skin felt clammy, and Damien’s coat hung over her shoulders.Across the room, he was slumped against the wall, arms crossed, staring at the floor as if it had betrayed him.“You okay?” she asked, breaking the stillness.His eyes lifted to meet hers. “You stopped the signal.”“Did it work?”“Too well,” he said. “Eclipse went dark right after. It dropped off every system. Not just drones. It vanished.”Sophia blinked. “That’s good… right?”Damien didn’t respond.Just then, Ash burst in, gripping her tablet. She looked like a zombielike she hadn’t slept in days.“We’ve got a problem,” she said, urgency in her voice.“Another one?” Damien muttered, sounding exhausted.“I did a full network scan. Eclipse isn’t offline. It’s off-grid.”Damien stood up straight. “What’s the difference?”Ash turned th
