13 years ago.
In a frozen laboratory buried beneath Mount Salvador, a child opened his eyes for the first time.
Not born.
Engineered.
Scientists huddled behind reinforced glass, their eyes wide with disbelief. His vitals were off every chart they had. But he didn't cry. He didn't move. He only stared—calm, quiet, aware.
"He's… perfect," whispered Doctor Nyrix.
"He's a vessel," said the Collector. "Nothing more."
They called him Specimen 0013.
Codename: Lengaza.
They didn't expect him to speak until age six.
He spoke at three.
They didn't expect him to walk until age four.
He ran at two.
They taught him equations, strategy, war.
They never taught him love, music, wonder.
That was their mistake.
Present Day.
Lengaza stood in the mirror, staring at the lines on his arms—scar-like patterns glowing faintly beneath his skin.
"I was built," he whispered. "Not born."
His reflection didn't answer. But something behind it did.
A faint memory—
A woman's voice. Soft. A lullaby.
"You are more than what they made you. You were meant to be... free."
He turned.
No one was there.
Just his reflection—and a faint hum from beneath the floorboards.
Bzzt.
His communicator lit up.
Nyra: "Raya's gone. She vanished."
Lengaza: "What?"
Nyra: "We traced the signal. She's at Mount Salvador."
Lengaza's blood ran cold.
"She's at the lab?"
"Worse. They opened it."
Elsewhere, in the mountain's depths, Raya stood surrounded by black glass walls and flickering lights.
She had followed the trail. The old files. The fragmented whispers.
But she hadn't expected this.
An entire wing dedicated to Project Revenant.
And in the center—floating in a stasis tank—was another Lengaza.
Identical. But… colder. Void of humanity.
Suddenly, the lights shifted.
And a voice echoed overhead:
"Welcome, Miss Raya. We've been expecting you."
She turned just as a steel door hissed open.
Behind it…
The Collector.