In a Facility Helix-002 – Lower Sector Gamma, Amazon Rainforest
The alarms thundered like war drums, drowning out every breath of logic. Sirens wailed. Strobe lights flashed red against slick steel walls. Damien's senses honed in—hyperfocused, lethal, unshaken.
"Multiple hostiles approaching from three access points," Elijah reported, eyes fixed on the digital schematic. "They're armed with tech-jamming explosives and carbon-penetrating rounds. Archer's not playing."
Cassian's voice was calm, detached. "Of course not. He's here to erase everything—me, this facility, and you."
Damien turned to face him fully. "Then help us end this, Uncle. You made me into this—now use your expertise to fix it."
Cassian studied him for a beat, then gave a reluctant nod. "Fine. But if you think this ends here, you're still naive."
He reached into a wall panel and triggered a concealed switch. A hidden passage opened—lined with lead plating and sealed biometric vaults. Nora, Kiyomi, and Elijah followed Damien down as the first explosion rocked the upper levels.
---
Sector Gamma – Neural Archive Vault
The group halted before a massive core glowing with bio-neural energy.
"There," Cassian said. "Node Helix-002. But it's tethered to a sentient AI-host. Removing it will wake the guardian."
"And what exactly is the guardian?" Nora asked cautiously.
Damien's heart sank as he scanned the nearby cryo-tube. It held… him.
Or something close.
It was a clone—his age, his face, but its aura reeked of synthetic perfection. Its muscles twitched inside the ice. Its mind had never tasted emotion, only programming.
Cassian confirmed their worst fear: "Code name: Nexus. I made it from your DNA, Damien. It is the evolution of everything I started with you. Cold. Strategic. Flawless."
"Elijah, get that node extracted," Damien barked. "Now."
As the younger man scrambled to decrypt the safeguards, Nexus's containment lights blinked—yellow. Then orange.
"Cassian, how do we shut it down?" Nora asked.
"You don't," Cassian replied grimly. "It shuts you down."
---
Upper Levels – Archer's Retrieval Squad
Heavily armored mercenaries in jet-black exo-suits cleared hallway after hallway. One held a photo—Damien, circled in red. The order: retrieve the node. Terminate everyone else.
"Thermal's picking up movement in lower levels," a soldier reported.
"Set the charges. Collapse the exits. We push them toward the guardian," their leader replied.
---
Back in Gamma
With a hiss, the cryo-tube released steam. The clone's eyes opened—pure obsidian.
Nexus stepped out, cracking his neck. Then, with one fluid motion, he blurred forward and slammed Cassian into a wall. Bones cracked.
"I know you," Nexus said. "You are obsolete."
Damien lunged, trading brutal blows with his mirror. Nexus was faster. Cleaner. Every hit Damien threw was met with predictive counters. But Damien wasn't fighting for dominance—he was fighting to buy time.
Nora and Kiyomi worked in tandem—disabling auto-turrets and rewriting the neural sync system. Elijah gave a thumbs-up. "Node extracted!"
"Run!" Damien shouted.
---
Escape Route – Collapse Sequence Activated
The team sprinted through collapsing tunnels. Nexus pursued, but the ceiling gave way, buying them seconds.
Cassian, bloodied but still mobile, handed Damien a data chip. "This has the map to the next node—in Russia. Arkhangelsk. Deep beneath the White Sea."
Damien took it.
Cassian added, "We can't run forever. Either you become what you were designed to be… or you die fighting what you could've been."
A final explosion flung them all into the humid jungle outside as the facility crumbled behind them.