THE SEVENTH MINUTE

CHAPTER 4B – “HOT ECHO CHAMBER”

The blast wasn’t light, it was sound. A low-frequency hum rippled through the air, shaking Michael to his core.

He staggered back, clutching his chest, waiting for pain, but there was none. Only… silence. “Kane, what did you”

“Shut up and listen,” Kane said, striding toward him. The weapon hummed in his grip. “If you can still hear me, it worked.”

Michael blinked. “Worked? You shot me!”

Kane’s voice was calm, deliberate. “That wasn’t a bullet. It was a disruptor pulse. Fried the node Helix planted in your neural lattice, temporarily.”

“Temporarily?”

Kane nodded. “You’ve got six hours before your brain starts syncing with the Reclamation frequency again. That’s when they’ll take you.”

Michael’s pulse quickened. “You’re saying I’m a walking receiver?”

“More like a ticking one,” Kane replied.

Michael clenched his fists. “You knew about this all along, didn’t you?”

Kane didn’t deny it. “I tried to stop them.”

“By putting me on the table?”

Kane exhaled. “You were already dying, Michael. You think I wanted to turn you into this?”

Michael took a step closer, his voice rising. “You made me this.”

Kane looked at him with something between regret and exhaustion. “You were the only one who could survive the Phoenix infusion. I didn’t choose you because you were special. I chose you because you refused to die.”

Michael’s laugh was bitter. “Some compliment.”

“You can hate me later,” Kane said. “Right now, we have to move.”

“Where?”

“Out. And then underground. There’s someone who can stabilize the core permanently, but she’s not exactly friendly.”

Michael froze. “Rhea.”

Kane nodded once. “She’s the only one who can rewrite the Phoenix matrix.”

Michael’s jaw clenched. “She’s the one who lied to me. Left me to burn.”

Kane’s tone sharpened. “And you think she won’t do it again? She will. But she’s still your best shot at surviving this.”

Michael’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Why are you helping me?”

For the first time, Kane hesitated. “Because the failsafe isn’t just yours.”

Michael frowned. “What?”

Kane looked away. “I have one too. We all do. I helped build the damn system. But Helix, he changed it. The Reclamation pulse doesn’t just reset loyalty. It overwrites memory. Turns you into a blank copy.”

Michael’s chest tightened. “That’s what they want me to become?”

“A vessel,” Kane said quietly. “The Phoenix Core needs hosts. You’re just… the prototype.”

Michael stared at him, horror dawning. “They’re going to mass-produce me.”

“Not if we get to Rhea first.”

A metallic sound echoed above them, boots. Multiple. Michael turned toward the stairwell. “They found us.”

Kane cursed under his breath. “They’re early.”

“Who?”

“Helix’s men. They call them the Choir.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“You’ll know when they start talking.”

The first of the figures appeared, a dozen black-clad operatives, helmets smooth and featureless. As they moved, their comms emitted a faint, rhythmic hum… almost like chanting. Michael muttered, “That’s creepy.”

“Yeah,” Kane said, raising his weapon. “Try not to listen too long. The harmonics mess with your head.”

Michael’s hands tingled, the Phoenix energy reacting instinctively. “Then let’s mess back.”

Kane smirked faintly. “Now you sound like me.”

The operatives lunged forward. Light erupted. Michael’s hands blazed with red and gold energy, his aura pulsing in sync with the rhythm of the Choir’s chant.

He felt the vibration crawling under his skin, like something inside him was trying to answer the call. He shouted over the noise, “They’re trying to trigger it!”

Kane fired, cutting down two operatives. “Then fight the instinct. Don’t let them sync!”

Michael gritted his teeth. “Easier said than done!”

One of the Choir raised a hand, and Michael’s vision flickered. The walls melted away, replaced by another hallucination.

He was back in the hospital again, lying on the table, Rhea’s voice whispering something he couldn’t make out. The trigger phrase.

He forced himself to focus, but her voice grew louder. “Michael… open your eyes.”

He screamed, “No!” and slammed his palms together. The resonance wave exploded outward, shredding the illusion, and half the hallway with it.

Silence followed. Smoke drifted. The Choir lay scattered, unconscious. Kane stared at him, stunned. “That… wasn’t supposed to be possible.”

Michael wiped blood from his lip. “Guess your prototype learned a new trick.”

Kane’s tone was grim. “Yeah. And that’s exactly what Helix wanted.”

Michael frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He’s not trying to kill you,” Kane said. “He’s trying to evolve you. Every time you fight the trigger, it adapts. Learns. Strengthens.”

Michael felt his stomach drop. “You’re saying every time I resist, I make it stronger?”

Kane nodded. “Welcome to the paradox.”

Michael took a shaky breath. “Then what the hell do I do?”

“Trust me,” Kane said.

Michael looked at him sharply. “That’s the one thing I don’t know if I can do.”

Kane holstered his weapon. “Then trust your instincts instead. They might still be yours, for now.”

Michael exhaled slowly. “Where do we go next?”

“North edge of the city. Abandoned district called Grayline. Rhea’s been hiding there since the blast.”

Michael looked around the destroyed corridor. “And Helix?”

Kane’s mouth curved into a grim smile. “If he wanted you dead, you’d be ash already. No, he’s watching. Waiting to see what you become.”

Michael’s jaw tightened. “Then let’s give him a show.”

They turned toward the exit, but as Michael reached the stairwell, a faint voice echoed through his mind. “Reclaim the flame.”

He froze. Kane noticed instantly. “What is it?”

Michael’s eyes darkened, the red and gold glow flickering violently across his skin. Reclaim the flame.

He dropped to one knee, clutching his head. “No, no, not now”

Kane grabbed his shoulders. “Fight it! Stay with me!”

Michael gasped, “I can’t, It’s”

His pulse surged. The corridor filled with light again, the resonance wave building like a storm. Kane shouted, “Michael!”

The last thing Michael heard before the light consumed him was Kane’s voice, breaking, not in command, but fear. “They found the phrase.