In Chachapoyas Highlands – Peru, South America
The helicopter's blades chopped through the thin Andean air, buffeted by crosswinds as the craft descended into a hidden valley. Damien sat beside Nora, eyes narrowed beneath dark-tinted glasses. They had flown in under forged diplomatic identities. No military backup. No visible tech. Just them—and the ghosts they hoped to confront.
Below, nestled between jagged cliffs, was an abandoned monastery repurposed by Nexus. Intelligence said it housed Project Rebirth—where memory and loyalty could be reconstructed… or erased.
Nora tightened the strap on her thigh holster. "If Luciana is here, and if she's been reprogrammed…"
"We bring her back," Damien interrupted. "Alive."
She studied him. "Even if she no longer remembers us?"
He didn't answer. His silence said everything.
---
Interior – Monastery Lab Complex
They moved with surgical precision through echoing hallways. Scanners jammed. Motion-triggered traps disarmed. Nora's cousin, Sophia, who had accompanied them remotely via satellite uplink, fed them visuals from the thermal scans.
"Two hostiles in the west corridor. Luciana's signature is near a vault-level bio-chamber," her voice crackled in Damien's earpiece.
He nodded and ducked past a crumbling stone arch. "Confirmed."
When they breached the chamber, what they found chilled them both.
Luciana stood inside a containment zone—hair longer, eyes glassy, but undeniably her. Electrodes trailed from her temples into a console. A Nexus doctor turned, startled. Before he could raise the alarm, Nora's blade met his throat.
Luciana didn't flinch. Didn't scream. She simply stared at Damien.
"…Do I know you?"
His breath hitched.
"I'm Damien," he said gently. "Your cousin. We grew up summers in Marseille, remember? You once dyed my hair blue to hide me from my father."
Luciana blinked, confusion flickering. "My file says you're… dangerous."
Damien turned to the console. "How much did they take from her?"
Sophia's voice buzzed in again. "They didn't just erase—they rewired. Triggered memories are now weaponized commands."
Nora's expression hardened. "She's a sleeper."
Just then, Luciana moved.
A rapid swipe. A concealed blade at Damien's throat.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't want to hurt you… but I have to."
Nora lunged, intercepting with a flash of her dagger. Luciana staggered, clutching her head, trembling violently as a seizure overtook her.
Damien caught her before she fell. "She's fighting it. The real Luciana is in there."
Later – Extraction Zone, Mountain Perimeter
Night had fallen. A rescue drone hovered nearby, preparing to lift Luciana to a safehouse clinic in Lima for deprogramming.
"She remembered the blue hair," Damien whispered, watching her unconscious form.
"She hesitated," Nora added. "That means something."
"But Victor got what he wanted," Damien said. "He turned one of us. If he can do it once…"
"He'll try again."
Sophia's voice interrupted them. "Brace yourselves. I decrypted the secondary server. Luciana wasn't the only one… There's a list."
Damien's gaze sharpened. "How many?"
A pause.
"Forty-seven. All high-value targets. All embedded within elite families—including yours."