In Blackwood Safehouse, Outskirts of Tavara City
The alarm blared just after midnight.
Red lights bathed the underground chamber as automated defenses hummed to life. Damien jolted awake, his hand instinctively reaching for the pistol beneath his pillow. Nora was already moving, barefoot but lethal, gun in hand.
"Breach on the south corridor," she hissed, checking the monitor.
"Impossible," Damien muttered, tapping the biometric panel. "This safehouse hasn't been accessed in fifteen years."
That was the problem. It had been forgotten—even by their enemies. Whoever triggered it had knowledge no outsider should.
Steel doors sealed behind them as they raced down to the vault. The room had once been a training facility, a hideaway where Blackwood heirs learned to kill without leaving a mark. Now, it felt like a tomb.
Then the vault doors exploded inward.
From the smoke emerged a man Damien hadn't seen in over a decade—Vincent Blackwood, his father's younger brother, long presumed dead after a Nexus ambush in Russia. His beard was trimmed, his eyes colder than the Arctic mission where he vanished.
Damien lowered his weapon. "Vincent…?"
But Nora didn't. "Don't," she warned. "Look at the mark."
Vincent's wrist bore a faint sigil—the Nexus brand, half-erased.
"I survived because I adapted," Vincent said coolly. "I gave them what they wanted. My blood, my oath… but never my soul."
Damien narrowed his eyes. "So what are you now?"
"A messenger," Vincent said. "And a warning."
Nora scoffed. "You barge into our vault and expect a warm welcome?"
"No." He stepped forward, tossing a sleek black cube toward Damien. It projected a 3D feed—covert footage of Damien's niece, Eliza, being escorted into a Nexus compound in Singapore. Her face was blank. Conditioned.
Damien's face darkened. "How?"
Vincent's jaw clenched. "Her mother was compromised—your sister, Amelia. She gave them Eliza willingly. She's... one of them now."
"No," Damien growled, a rare crack in his composure.
"I've been inside Nexus long enough to know what they plan," Vincent continued. "They've activated the sleeper line. Every compromised relative in the bloodline is being turned into an asset. You are next."
Nora inhaled sharply. "And me?"
Vincent looked at her. "You were always the anomaly, Nora. The wild card. But your uncle? He's no longer hiding. He's the one pulling the strings."
She froze. "General Kael."
Damien glanced at her. "Your mother's brother? The one in exile?"
"He never left. He went dark… and now he runs Nexus' special directive."
Vincent nodded. "He calls it Project Sovereign. And unless you dismantle it from within, it will dismantle everything you love."
---
Later That Night – Safehouse Surveillance Bay
Sophia appeared on screen, visibly shaken. "We traced Eliza's implant signal to the Singapore base. We'll need to infiltrate—quietly."
Nora whispered, "She's only thirteen."
Damien said nothing. He was already pulling up old Blackwood blueprints.
Vincent rested a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "You have a chance to end this. But you'll have to sacrifice something far greater than money or power."
Damien didn't flinch. "What?"
"Your faith in blood."