The Outcast Genius

CHAPTER 4B — THE MEMORY TRIGGER

The tunnel spun, bending like heat-warped metal. Ethan clutched the wall, gasping as something inside him clawed upward cold, calculating, awake. Maya backed away fast.

“Ethan, you need to fight it!His voice came out layered his tone wrapped around a deeper, older echo. “Fight… what?”

Me, the inner voice purred. The version of you they couldn’t control. Ethan’s breath hitched. “Get out of my head.”

I was here before you, the voice said. You’re the shadow. I’m the original pattern the one they backed up when things started failing.

Maya’s eyes widened. “He’s merging. Ethan, listen if it stabilizes, you won’t be able to tell which thoughts are yours.”

“I already can’t,” he whispered, gripping his skull.

Images slammed into him, Vivian crying behind a glass wall, Gregory Sterling signing off on a death order, a lab tech shouting, We’re losing him! memories that felt like drowning inside someone else’s life.

“Stop!” Ethan yelled. The inner voice laughed softly. No. We’re just getting started. Maya edged toward a maintenance door. “I have to get backup. If you fully sync with that thing”

Ethan’s head snapped up. “Don’t run.”

Maya froze. Not because of the words but the tone. The voice speaking wasn’t Ethan’s. “Maya,” he said again, stepping toward her. “Running means they’ll find you first.”

Her voice shook. “Ethan, that’s not you talking.”

His expression shifted too calm, too precise. “No. But I think he finally understands why they erased us.”

Maya lunged for the door. In a blur Ethan didn’t know he was capable of, his hand slammed against the metal beside her head, trapping her. She gasped. “You’re faster.”

The voice inside him responded through his lips: “Of course we are.”

Ethan forced control back, pulling his hand away like it burned. “Go. Just go!”

Maya hesitated, then bolted down the corridor. Ethan staggered the opposite way, gripping the wall, fighting for every breath. “Why are you in my head?” he whispered.

Because, the voice murmured, Elara is dead. And Vivian lied about everything. Ethan froze. “What do you mean dead? When?”

A long, terrible pause. She never existed, Ethan. They put her in the memory pattern to keep you obedient. The world went silent.

Ethan staggered back as though struck. The tunnel’s darkness wrapped around him, but the voice in his skull was brighter than any light merciless, certain.

“Elara isn’t fabricated,” he whispered. “I touched her. I heard her. She risked her life”

Memories can be implanted, the inner voice murmured. Faces. Voices. Entire relationships. They gave you what you needed to stay compliant. “Liar,” Ethan hissed. “You’re twisting this.”

The voice chuckled softly. Then ask yourself this: why can’t you remember meeting her the first time? Why is every memory of her blurry at the edges? Why does she only appear when you’re already in crisis?

His breath faltered. Maya’s footsteps had already faded. The tunnel felt colder emptier. “Vivian said Elara was alive,” he muttered. “Vivian wouldn’t lie about that.”

Vivian lies more beautifully than anyone. Ethan clenched his fists. “Shut up.”

You don’t want the truth. “No. I want you gone.”

Then find the original Ethan. The real one. He dragged in a breath shallow, shaking. “There is no original. If what you’re saying is true, he’s dead.”

A slow, taunting whisper filled his skull. Exactly.

Ethan slammed his head against the concrete wall, trying to silence it once, twice until pain flared across his vision.

A second voice broke through real, external, echoing through the tunnel: “Ethan? Ethan, stop!”

He snapped around. A silhouette approached, heels splashing through runoff water, flashlight trembling slightly. Vivian.

Her suit jacket was soaked, hair loose, eyes frantic. “What are you doing out here? I’ve been tracking your signal”

“Stay back,” he barked. She froze. “You injected it.”

Not a question, a realization. Her face went pale. “Ethan, listen to me. You’re not stable yet. You need”

“What did you do to me?” he growled.

Vivian stepped forward cautiously. “The serum was meant to restore listen, not replace your suppressed memory pattern. But if the merge begins too early”

“It talks,” Ethan whispered. “It knows things.”

Vivian’s throat tightened. “What did it tell you?”

His eyes narrowed. “That Elara… doesn’t exist.”

Vivian looked away. That single motion was enough. Ethan’s chest constricted. “Vivian. Tell me that’s not true.”

She opened her mouth but the tunnel lights flickered violently. A metallic click echoed behind her. Vivian stiffened.

Ethan saw the red laser dot appear between her shoulder blades. “Vivian,” he breathed, “don’t move.”

Her eyes went wide. “Ethan… someone followed me.”

A voice from deeper in the dark spoke calmly: “Step away from the asset.”

And Ethan realized they weren’t talking to Vivian. They were talking about him. The voice in the darkness was steady calm in a way that only trained killers managed.

“Ethan Hale,” it called out, “kneel. Hands visible. Vivian’s breath hitched. “They tagged your biometrics. They know you injected the serum.”

“Who are they?” Ethan whispered.

Before Vivian could answer, the figure stepped into the faint, flickering light. Black tactical gear. Mask. Silenced rifle leveled at Vivian’s spine. “Ethan,” the masked man repeated, “kneel.”

Ethan raised his hands slowly. “Let her go. I’m the one you want.”

“Incorrect.”

The man moved with chilling precision. “You’re unstable. Asset is not to be engaged directly. Handler first.”

Vivian froze. “They’re going to kill me.”

“Not if I move,” Ethan muttered.

Vivian snapped, “You’re not in control yet. You can’t risk”

The voice in Ethan’s mind surged forward, colder than ice. He’s lying. He won’t shoot her first. He’ll shoot you. Move now. “No,” Ethan growled. “Not listening to you.”

The masked man cocked the rifle. “Three seconds, Hale.”

Vivian whispered, “Ethan, please…”

He stepped forward. The red laser shifted instantly landing squarely on Ethan’s chest. “Two,” the man counted. Ethan swallowed hard. “Vivian, when I say run ”

“You can’t outrun a tactical marksman!” she hissed

But the voice in his head laughed softly. You can. Ethan felt a jolt like electricity ripping down his spine. His vision sharpened.

Every droplet of tunnel water slowed. The man’s breathing became audible, rhythmic, almost painfully precise. “What did you do to me?” Ethan whispered, horrified.

Vivian’s eyes widened. “The merge… It’s accelerating.”

“One,” the masked man finished.

Ethan moved. Not consciously more like something inside him seized control. His body lunged forward with speed he didn’t know he possessed, slamming Vivian to the ground just as the silenced shot cracked.

Concrete dust exploded where his head had been. The masked man cursed under his breath. “Asset is active repeat, asset is active. Lethal authorization confirmed.”

“Ethan, run!” Vivian gasped.

Ethan pulled her up, adrenaline roaring through him. “Not without answers.”

Another shot whistled past, grazing his arm pain flared, but his reflexes overrode it instantly. The voice whispered: If you want to live, take him down.

“Ethan don’t!” Vivian shouted. “That’s exactly what they want!”

Ethan turned toward the gunman, muscles coiling with terrifying new strength. “Too late,” he murmured. And then he charged.