Location: Outpost Theta, Neo-Tokyo Undercore – Abandoned Metro Sector
Time: 5:42 a.m.
The city above still slept beneath clouds of neon smog and synthetic dawn. But beneath its skin, in a forgotten tunnel lined with rusted bones of ancient bullet trains, Lin sat in the dark—sweating, trembling, alive.
Smoke and blood still clung to his coat. His hands, stained black from combat ash and old circuitry, gripped the locket like it was the last piece of reality he could hold onto.
Across from him, Nel crouched by the old command terminal of Outpost Theta—one of the Resistance's long-abandoned drop-points. The screen flickered erratically, struggling to decrypt the drive they had stolen from the Helix Lab.
> [Drive Integrity: 92%]
[Decryption Progress: 11% — Standby for Secure Access]
"This place smells like oil and ghosts," Nel muttered, trying to break the silence.
Lin didn't answer.
His gaze was locked on the half-burned dog tag around his neck—etched with the name RUNE MIKAZUKI. But she had never worn one. She'd hated metal around her neck. He knew that. This tag was a fabrication. A token of someone else's idea of her.
A copy. A lab-crafted echo.
He took a deep breath and finally spoke. "They didn't just take her body. They rewrote her smile."
Nel winced. "Lin…"
"I watched that footage," he said. "And I kept asking myself—was that Rune at all? Or was she gone long before they told me she died?"
Silence fell again.
Then the screen beeped.
> [Secure Log Unlocked: HELIX DIVISION INTERNAL MEMO]
Nel leaned forward, scanning the document. Her breath caught.
"It's not just cloning. Look at this…" she said, flicking through sections of text.
> 'Subject Reaper-22 (Codename: LIN) exhibited unanticipated memory fusion. Previous family ties remain embedded. Attempts to overwrite failed.'
> 'Psychological immunity to Protocol Redraft. Memory bonds tied to "RUNE" are resilient. Subject retained humanity despite exposure to Hollow Spirit catalysts.'
> 'Recommend extraction and reintegration into Project Helix Tier-2. Asset potential: High. Threat: Critical if rogue.'
Nel turned to him slowly. "They tried to rewrite you too."
Lin's fingers curled into fists. "And failed."
Another file blinked open—archived video footage from seven years ago.
> [Helix Lab Core—Observation Room, Live Feed]
The video played. A girl sat in a white room, eyes closed, hooked up to a neural wireframe. Rune—older now than the version they'd seen before. Maybe fourteen. Her face gaunt. Her lips moving.
She was… humming.
Then a voice.
> "Stability is weakening. Begin sequence purge."
> "Sir, her brainwave signature matches the Reaper's sister—"
> "She is not his sister. She is a tool. Begin the purge."
Lin's heart stopped.
Rune opened her eyes. She looked to the camera, as if she saw him through the screen. Her mouth formed a word:
"Brother…"
Then the feed cut.
The next file was locked.
> [ADMIN ACCESS ONLY: SUBJECT 'OMEGA ZERO' – Project: Helix Command Directive]
Clearance Required: Shizuma]
Lin and Nel froze.
"Shizuma…?" Nel whispered. "But—he died in the incident. He burned with the lab. You saw the records."
Lin stepped forward. "Try opening it."
Nel did. Her fingers moved swiftly across the interface. A bypass command. A decoy admin code. A brute force crack—
> Access Denied.
Voiceprint Required: Dr. Ryonnosuke Shizuma.
Suddenly, the screen flickered. Then glitched.
And then—
It began to speak.
A deep, cultured voice—familiar and cold—filtered through the old speaker, distorted but alive.
> "Ah. So the Reaper survived."
Lin froze.
The voice continued, deliberate. Almost amused.
> "I wondered how long it would take before one of my children returned to the cradle."
> "Lin Mikazuki. Or do you prefer your designation? R-22."
The screen cleared—static forming into a dim visual feed.
And there he was.
Ryonnosuke Shizuma.
Older. Scarred. Clad in an oxygenated coat, mechanical veins visible along his neck and skull. One eye replaced with a glowing implant. The other—human, pale, and cold.
Very much alive.
> "You were not supposed to see this."
> "But I must admit… I'm impressed."
> "You've become… more."
Lin's breath caught.
"Shizuma…" he hissed.
The man smiled faintly.
> "Project Helix wasn't just a lab. It was an inheritance. You were all fragments of a new species. Not born. Forged."
> "And now? You've proven my hypothesis."
Shizuma leaned in toward the camera.
> "You will return, Lin. You were made to."
The screen cut.
Silence.
Nel stepped back, her hands trembling.
"He's alive," she said. "Shizuma… the man who built the whole system…"
"No," Lin said, voice low and trembling with fury. "He didn't build the system."
He looked toward the burned locket again.
"He is the system."
Then he turned, eyes glowing faintly with a dull crimson flicker—like something long buried had just awakened.
> "And I'm going to break him."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…