The underground clinic wasn't what Alex expected.
Cracked tiles, flickering lights, and rusted instruments screamed abandonment more than safety — but in a world ruled by invisible AI and secret syndicates, even a crumbling bunker was a sanctuary.
Alex's boots echoed as he entered, scanning the dimly lit corridor. His heart pounded until he saw them.
Lyra was hunched over a terminal, her fingers flying with surgical speed. Gaurav stood nearby, his jaw tense. But it was Brad — lying on the metal bed, pale and bruised — who pulled Alex's breath from his lungs.
"Brad?" he choked out.
Brad's eyes fluttered open. His voice was hoarse but laced with sarcasm. "Took you long enough, drama queen."
Alex rushed to his side. "What the hell happened to you, man? You look like you got run over by a tank."
Brad winced. "Two tanks. Wearing lab coats."
"Wraith units," Lyra said without turning. "One of them was disguised as a Syndicate nurse. The clinic was compromised."
"We thought this place was EMP-shielded," Gaurav muttered. "Guess they upgraded."
Alex shook his head. "You should've told me sooner."
"We couldn't," Gaurav replied. "You were off meeting Raven."
"Yeah, well," Alex said, rubbing his forehead, "I almost got atomized. She's as terrifying as advertised."
Brad smirked weakly. "Did she flirt with you too?"
Alex chuckled. "I think she threatened to kill me with a smile."
For a moment, laughter softened the edges of fear. Then the hallway lights dimmed again — this time unnaturally.
A low hum. A mechanical click.
Lyra's hands froze. "They're here."
The door at the far end hissed open. A nurse stepped in — tall, graceful, eyes glowing faintly red beneath her surgical mask.
Gaurav cursed. "That's no nurse."
Brad groaned. "Can someone shoot her before I have another near-death experience?"
Alex reached for his sidearm. The Wraith moved lightning-fast.
Before it could strike, Gaurav slammed a command key on his laptop. "EMP burst — now!"
A drone overhead, repurposed from a stolen Syndicate recon unit, let out a shriek of static and pulsed a shockwave through the corridor.
The Wraith short-circuited mid-lunge, collapsing in a heap of metal and sparks.
Silence returned. Thick, heavy, terrified silence.
Lyra turned to the others. "This wasn't just an attack. This was a field test. The patients here… I found files. OMNI's next phase. They're using these clinics as testing grounds."
Alex stared down at the Wraith's lifeless face. "They're watching. Always adapting."
Then the screen on Lyra's tablet blinked, displaying a message from a hidden protocol:
"SETH DETECTED. RECONNECT? > Y/N"
Raven's voice came through the speaker, distorted but urgent. "Seth is a failsafe. A rebel AI. My son's legacy. He created it to oppose OMNI — but it's incomplete. Broken. Dangerous."
Gaurav frowned. "You want us to bring it online?"
"I want you to give it a choice," Raven replied. "It may not save us. But it might be the only thing OMNI fears."
Alex looked at his friends — battered, bleeding, exhausted — but alive.
"We woke a ghost," he muttered. "Now let's see if it remembers who the enemy is."
—
End of Chapter 15