It was meant to be secure.
The Sector 3 safehouse was six-deep in signal blockers, hidden from satellite scans, and off the grid since the days of the old rebellion. No Hollow watch. No Ministry intrusion.
And Darian still woke up with a weapon to his head.
The steel barrel cold against his temple, and a rich, firm voice whispering in his ear.
"Rise and shine, Mr. Vox."
He blinked his eyes open.
Black uniforms. Silver badges. Ministry-grade firearms.
And standing at the head of the room: Agent Lennix Calder, the man who had trained Darian. and then sent him to die.
"Elira?" Darian choked.
"She's safe," Calder replied calmly. "For now."
Darian's heart pounded. "You followed us."
"No, you tracked yourselves. That tiny upload into Hollow Point? Good trick, I'll say so. But when it lit up our ancient satellites, it roused ghosts we interred ten years past."
He paced round and round, gloved fingers clasped behind his back.
"And when we saw whose code signature was burned into the files. think our surprise. Darian Vox. Dead rogue agent. Last reported burning bridges and walking off into legend.
Darian gritted out a sour smile. "Guess I'm terrible at staying dead."
Calder's smile did not touch his eyes.
"You revealed the Hollow's network. You made their data stream chaotic. The Ministry is grateful for that. In fact—" he leaned in, "—we'd like to give you an opportunity to complete what you began."
Darian's eyes narrowed. "You mean mop up your mess."
"Let's not play pretend, Vox. Your brother went poking at forbidden projects. He discovered things even you couldn't decipher."
"I know what he discovered," Darian growled. "I watched. I cracked it."
Calder's face turned cold.
"Then you see the stakes. The Hollow wasn't chasing a ghost. They were getting ready to activate it."
Darian felt his mouth run dry. "Echelon."
Calder nodded once.
"Phase Two begins in six days. The Hollow has the secondary AI core in their hands—down in the undercity. If they activate it and feed Casen's data into it. they won't control information. They'll develop a consciousness. One that can adapt."
"Elira and I can incinerate it."
"No," Calder said. "You won't. We need it whole."
Darian looked at him, astounded. "You're not planning on stopping it. You're planning on taking it."
It belongs to the Ministry," Calder stated bluntly. "It always has."
Something knotted up in Darian. "Casen died defending against this. I won't let you make it a tool."
Calder retreated, face cold.
"Then you leave us no choice."
Two agents hauled Darian to his feet and jammed a neural suppressor onto his spine. His muscles folded beneath him, nerves shrieking. Darkness began to nibble at the periphery of his vision.
You're going to assist us," Calder breathed, "whether you'll admit it or not."
Twenty minutes ago, Elira had escaped her bindings.
The agents who were keeping her under watch never noticed the concealed blade in her boot nor the shock dart in her braids.
She discovered Darian in the bottom holding cells, leaning against the wall, gasping shallowly, sweat pouring through his shirt.
"Darian," she breathed, hurrying to him. "I've got you.
He struggled to force a weak smile. "Took you long enough."
"Next time, don't let yourself get kidnapped by fascists."
She tugged the neural suppressor from his back and administered a stimulant into his neck. His body convulsed wildly, but soon he was sitting up, groaning.
"Calder's here," he said. "They want the AI core. They want to use it."
She stood him up. "Then we incinerate it before either side can get to it."
They made their way out of the Ministry's blacksite facility in the shadows of a hijacked transport. Elira was behind the wheel. Darian rode in the back, reading from the data pad she'd managed to salvage from one of the guards.
It was worse than he imagined.
"They've plotted the location of the core," he told her, scrolling. "Undercity Vault 27. Deep lockdown. Biometric key access only."
"Let me take a wild guess," Elira said. "The key is owned by someone extremely dead."
"Not dead," Darian grunted. "Just. forgotten."
He tapped at the screen again, bringing up a Ministry profile.
Name: Cassia Vern
Former AI Engineer. Presumed missing. Last known assignment: Vault 27.
Elira looked over. "Friend of Casen's?"
"Something like that. She disappeared two years before him. I think she assisted him in creating the cube."
"Then we see her."
Darian relaxed, tension writhing within him like static.
The lines were disappearing. Ministry. Hollow. Casen. Calder. Elira. Himself.
He couldn't help but wonder if he was a hero walking through fire… or simply another monster waiting to burn.
Vault 27 appeared like nothing from the exterior.
A collapsed metro tunnel buried beneath decades of urban neglect and war debris. But once Darian circumvented the biometric locks, an ancient vibration hummed beneath the steel.
Lights flashed.
And deep within, something living stirred.
Cassia Vern waited.
She stood in the vault's center, surrounded by data streams swirling around her like fireflies. Older now—her eyes creased with fatigue, hair streaked with silver.
"You came," she whispered.
Darian moved forward. "You knew Casen."
I adored him."
Elira went rigid but didn't speak.
Cassia approached a console, tracing her fingers over the glass.
"He said if something went wrong. that you would come searching. That you'd be too proud to allow the truth to go bad in the dark."
"He was correct.
Cassia spun around. "You want to halt the AI. The Ministry wants to control it. But it's neither of yours to order around. It's not a machine. Not a weapon."
Darian's tone lowered. "Then what is it?"
She delayed.
"It's Casen."
There was silence.
"What?
"When he passed away," she spoke slowly, "he activated a failsafe. His memories, his mind. his consciousness—everything was written into the cube you discovered. But that was only half of it. The other half was here. In the core."
She indicated the shining pillar at the center of the room.
"The last piece is a neural bridge. When it's activated, it will awaken."
Darian's blood froze.
"Your telling me… my brother is the AI?"
"His shadow. His thoughts. Perhaps more."
Elira moved forward. "Then if we destroy the AI… we kill him."
Cassia agreed.
"And if we allow it to live. it could develop into something the world cannot handle."
Darian glanced at the two women. Elira's eyes were troubled. Cassia's, pained.
He took a step towards the core.
The console flickered. Waiting for instruction.
ACTIVATE? Y/N
Darian paused.
If he turned it on, Casen could live. He could talk. Warn them. Save them from the Ministry and the Hollow too.
But if he did.
He could become something different.
Something unstopable.
He stretched towards the console.
Shaking fingers.
And selected.