2025-10-11 20:58:27
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CHAPTER 6 – THE BREAKOUT: PART 1
The corridor thundered with footsteps, dozens of them, synchronized, mechanical.Dickson shoved Celeste toward the northern exit. “Move, now!”They sprinted past overturned tables and broken glass, alarms blaring through the smoke. The faces chasing them were blank, eyes glowing faint blue under the strobe lights, Vonn employees turned into puppets.Celeste’s voice trembled between breaths. “They’re not soldiers, those are my people!”Dickson fired a short burst at the floor ahead of them; sparks erupted. “Not anymore.”She flinched. “You’re shooting at them?”“I’m missing on purpose. Keep moving.”They hit a dead end, a sealed bulkhead door with a biometric lock. Dickson slammed a fist against it. “Override port, where is it?”Celeste dropped to her knees beside the panel. “Right here. But the system’s fried.”He crouched beside her, knife in hand. “You can fix it?”She hesitated, sweat running down her temple. “If she hasn’t rewritten the protocols.”Behind them, the footsteps drew
CHAPTER 5 – THE COLLAPSE: PART 2 B
The words shimmered on the mirror wall, then dissolved into static. Celeste’s reflection rippled, then blinked when she didn’t, her pulse spiked. “She’s in the system.”“Not just in it,” Dickson said. “She is it.”The lights flickered, brightened, and the reflection turned solid. The clone stared back from the mirror, same face, calm and expressionless.“You shouldn’t run from yourself.”Dickson aimed his weapon at the mirror. “Get back.”He fired. The glass spider-webbed, the image shattering, but her voice stayed.“You can’t shoot a ghost.”Celeste’s hand trembled on the rail. “She’s playing with us.”“Then we change the game.” Dickson pulled open the roof hatch. Heat from the elevator shaft rushed in. “Up top. Now.”Celeste hesitated, glancing at the ruined mirror. “What if she”“Celeste!”She climbed. He followed, closing the hatch behind them, above, the shaft was a column of smoke and flickering orange light. The elevator cable creaked under their weight.Dickson clipped his har
CHAPTER 5: THE COLLAPSE — PART 2 A
Sloan didn’t flinch. “It’s begun.”Celeste shouted over the rising alarm. “What did you do?”“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “She did.”They turned toward the pod.The woman, Celeste’s mirror, opened her eyes.Dickson raised his weapon instantly. “Don’t move.”The clone’s gaze fixed on Celeste, calm and detached. Then, softly, she spoke.“Termination sequence initialized.”Every console lit up at once, code streaming across the glass in perfect sync. Celeste ran to the control panel, typing frantically. “She’s rewriting the vault systems!”“Meaning?” Dickson demanded.“She’s targeting the whole building, if she finishes this, the tower will”The lights exploded into blinding white. Sloan’s voice cut through the chaos, half laugh, half gasp. “This is what he wanted! A new order, no weakness”Dickson grabbed Celeste’s arm, dragging her toward the exit. “Now!”Behind them, the pod cracked. The clone stepped out, water pouring off her like rain. Her movements were smooth, mechanical grac
CHAPTER 5: THE COLLAPSE — PART 1
The tunnel ceiling groaned. Dust rained down like ash. “Move,” Dickson said, grabbing Celeste’s arm.The metal footsteps above grew louder, steady, mechanical, merciless. Celeste didn’t look back. She could feel them closing in. The air carried a pulse that didn’t sound like footsteps anymore, more like a countdown.They reached a cross-section where the tunnel split in two, left, upward toward the service elevators.Right, down toward maintenance storage.Celeste’s voice was raw. “Which way?”Dickson hesitated. “Up gets us topside.”“And down?”“Safer. For now.”She gave a bitter laugh. “Since when has safe ever worked for us?”He looked at her, then up the left path. “Stay behind me.”She did. Barely. Her heels clanged against the metal grating as they climbed, hands gripping the rails slick with condensation.Another explosion rippled through the shaft below, fire chasing the darkness. Celeste stumbled, catching herself. The light flickered once, twice, then black.“Dickson?”“Keep
CHAPTER 4: THE DESCENT — PART 2
Dickson wiped a layer of frost from the glass. A nameplate appeared beneath the condensation.SUBJECT: CAPTAIN E. RAYNOR. STATUS: PRESERVED.His breath caught. “Raynor…”Celeste looked at him. “You know him?”“He was my commanding officer.”Shock rippled through her. “Your father kept him down here?”Dickson stared at the pod, voice low. “We thought he was dead. All of us.”The man inside stirred weakly, mouth forming a word, Run, before Celeste could react, the lights overhead flared white. The entire vault came alive, machines whirring to life, monitors switching from static to synchronized feeds.On every screen, a message appeared, “Unauthorized access detected. Lockdown sequence initiated.”Dickson grabbed Celeste’s arm. “Move!”The gate behind them slammed shut. A siren blared, low and mechanical. A metallic voice filled the air, “Containment protocol active.”A section of the floor split open, mechanical turrets rising like claws. Celeste fired first, sparks burst from the nea
CHAPTER 4: THE DESCENT — PART 1
The elevator dropped in silence. No hum, no gears, just gravity and the faint vibration of air moving past steel.Celeste pressed her back to the wall, arms crossed, the small cabin light flickered red across Dickson’s face, carving sharp shadows into his jawline. He looked carved from stone, unflinching, unreadable.“How far down does this go?” she asked, voice tight.He didn’t look at her. “Deep enough that no one finds it by accident.”“That’s not an answer.”“I wasn’t giving one.”She glared at him. “You have a habit of talking in riddles, Mr. Ford. That stops now.”He exhaled through his nose, eyes fixed on the digital floor counter, an old display flashing downward, –01, 02, 03.“You really want answers?” he asked quietly.“I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”“Then start by accepting that your father’s empire wasn’t just steel and glass. He built a war machine, buried under your feet, and I think you already knew that.”Her pulse quickened. “I knew he had side projects. Strategic ass
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