Neo-Tokyo — Sector 9 Substructure
Time: 3:09 a.m.
Location: Ruins Beneath the Skyport
The old Skyport had long since fallen into disrepair—its towers collapsed into jagged ribs of concrete and steel, like the fossilized carcass of some ancient god. Beneath it, under layers of corrupted datawire and forgotten architecture, lay something far older.
The lab of Ryonnosuke Shizuma.
Lin moved like a shadow across broken scaffolds and rusted walkways, every step calculated. Beside him, Nel crouched low, her coat fluttering like smoke in the stagnant air. The vents hissed with recycled pressure, and somewhere below, a generator pulsed like a mechanical heart.
"You're sure this is it?" Lin whispered, gripping the suppressed pistol at his hip.
Nel tapped the holo-chip in her wrist brace. "Positive. The seal matches the biometric residue on Rune's cloned shell. This was the origin site."
They reached a security panel sealed behind corroded glass.
Lin pressed his thumb to it. Nothing.
Nel stepped forward, pulled a slender blade from her boot, and popped the interface casing.
"Give me sixty seconds," she muttered.
As she worked, Lin's gaze wandered to the rusted walls. Old warnings, faded beyond readability. Blood-stained boot prints that never led back out. His hand tightened around the locket in his coat pocket.
Rune. I'm coming.
With a final spark, the panel lit up green.
"Hack complete," Nel said.
The door slid open with a hydraulic sigh.
They stepped inside.
---
Interior: Lab Subsection A – Cryo Research Wing
The air was colder here—unnaturally so. Blue light pulsed from vertical chambers embedded in the walls, most dark, one flickering. Inside one, a half-formed body floated—missing a face, its chest hollow. A failed clone.
Nel's eyes narrowed. "They didn't just replicate bodies. They reprogrammed identities."
Lin stepped closer to a console. Dust choked the screen, but the interface still buzzed faintly.
"Can you access the logs?"
Nel nodded. Her fingers flew over the interface, bypassing obsolete encryption. Screens lit up one by one: medical footage, behavioral tests, synaptic overlays.
One clip stood out.
It showed Rune—no older than nine—sitting in a white room. Smiling. Drawing something. A sun.
Then the voice off-camera:
> "Subject R-01 shows successful memory imprinting. Her speech patterns are stabilizing. She believes herself to be real."
Lin's breath hitched.
"Pause it," he said.
The frame froze on her face—so much like his sister's. But the eyes were… wrong. Empty, like someone was looking out from behind a mask.
"I never knew she smiled like that," Lin whispered.
"She was built to," Nel replied gently.
Lin's jaw clenched. "She died, and they built a puppet in her place. Why?"
Nel tapped deeper. More logs loaded.
Then she stopped. Her voice went cold.
"…They weren't just cloning Rune."
Lin looked at her sharply. "What?"
She turned the display.
Hundreds of entries. Not just Rune. Not just children.
Helix Variant Programs.
Cognitive Suppression Trials.
Spirit-Gene Mergers.
Weaponized Identity Loops.
And one folder—sealed in red:
> PROJECT: HELIX
Nel tried to open it.
> ERROR: ACCESS RESTRICTED – ADMIN ONLY
"This… this wasn't about reviving Rune," Nel said, backing away. "This was a military experiment. They were building weapons. They were building you."
Lin's vision blurred with rage. The Reaper in him stirred.
"I'm not a weapon," he hissed.
"You were. But not anymore."
She touched his arm.
Before he could respond, an alarm shrieked overhead. Red lights burst into life.
"Unauthorized access detected. Security drones active. Lockdown in 90 seconds."
"Shit," Nel spat. "They must've set failsafes."
Lin pulled his blade from his back. "Then we burn it all."
"No!" Nel shouted, grabbing his arm. "Not yet. This data—these files—if we leak them to the public, we expose Helix Division. We end this system, not just one lab."
More footsteps in the hall.
Lin nodded tightly.
"We get out," he said. "Then we kill the name Shizuma."
---
Exit Sequence – Underground Elevator Shaft
The drones arrived fast—three spider-legged sentries with plasma rifles mounted beneath their bodies. Lin threw smoke. Nel fired EMP darts. The two moved like a single rhythm—fluid, precise, deadly.
They reached the old elevator shaft, wires swinging like veins in a dead god's throat.
"No power," Nel muttered. "Manual descent."
They clipped to the wires and rappelled down, the lab burning above them.
As they reached the bottom, Lin looked back—eyes haunted but clear.
He had seen the face of the lie.
And he would burn the truth into the world with fire.
---
To be continued…