Countdown: 5 minutes.
The Genesis Core trembled with the weight of its own destruction.
Alarms blared. Steam hissed from ruptured pipes. Flames licked the steel walls.
Elias Thorne stood at the threshold of the collapsing chamber. Grimm and Ash flanked him, muscles taut, their eyes scanning every shadow.
Behind him, Chambers, Isaac, Sara, Vance, and the surviving conscious clones gathered—those who had chosen defiance over submission.
There was no going back.
Only through.
---
THE LAST CHOICE
Sara's voice cut through the chaos.
— "South exit is still viable. But suppressants are converging from the east."
Chambers loaded a fresh magazine into her rifle. "No time to debate."
Isaac helped Elias-17—one of the free clones—stand. The young man bled from a wound in his side but waved off assistance.
Elias scanned the survivors. Thirty-eight in total. Fighters, medics, techs, and eight clones who had chosen freedom.
Elias's gaze hardened.
— "We move."
---
THE FLIGHT BEGINS
They sprinted down the auxiliary corridor.
Grimm led the way, nose low, tail rigid. Ash followed, ears alert.
The walls groaned. Sparks showered from overhead conduits.
T-minus 4 minutes.
---
A MOMENT OF MERCY
As they passed a row of remaining cryo pods, Elias paused.
Inside the last few, conditioned clones slept—awaiting awakening, unaware of the war raging around them.
Sara touched his arm. "We can't carry them all."
Elias stared at the faces—his faces.
— "Then I won't let them die slaves."
He disabled the mind-control inhibitors on the pods.
If they survived the blast, they'd wake free.
Or not at all.
---
AMBUSH AT THE VENT SHAFT
The corridor narrowed.
Three suppressants blocked the path.
Massive. Armored. Augmented.
Vance fired the first shot. A suppressor fell.
Grimm and Ash lunged, attacking with surgical precision.
Chambers and Isaac flanked, driving the other two enemies back.
T-minus 3 minutes.
---
THE WESTERN TUNNELS
The escape tunnel loomed ahead—a maintenance shaft leading to the outer plateau.
Explosions rocked the ground. The air grew hotter.
Sara activated an old lift system. "It'll hold two loads. Fast."
Elias ordered the wounded and non-combatants aboard first.
As the lift rose, more suppressants charged.
Chambers detonated charges placed earlier. The blast collapsed the corridor behind them.
---
THE FINAL PUSH
The last group boarded the second lift.
As they ascended, Grimm growled—a warning.
Above, an enemy drone hovered.
Ash sprang from the lift cage, seizing the drone's camera arm and tearing it free.
The drone spun out of control, crashing below.
T-minus 1 minute.
---
THE SURFACE
The lift emerged onto a rocky plateau.
Night cloaked the landscape. The stars overhead were pale against the distant fires below.
Three armored transports waited—prepped by Sara days before the mission.
Vance ran to man the roof gun of the lead vehicle.
Elias ushered everyone aboard.
Grimm and Ash leapt into the cabin beside him.
T-minus 30 seconds.
---
THE EXODUS
The transports roared to life.
As they sped from the blast radius, the Genesis Core behind them collapsed inward.
A blinding light consumed the night.
The earth shuddered.
Then, silence.
The core—and Aurora's greatest weapon—was gone.
---
AFTERMATH — SAFE ZONE
Hours later, the transports arrived at a safe zone deep in the northern mountains.
Medical tents awaited. Refugees gathered.
Word of the Genesis Core's fall spread quickly.
More defectors arrived. Fighters. Engineers. Survivors.
The resistance had not just endured.
It had grown.
---
COUNCIL IN EXILE
Elias gathered Chambers, Isaac, Sara, and Vance in the command tent.
A holo-map displayed Aurora's remaining outposts.
Sara spoke first.
— "Volrek escaped. We have confirmation he retreated into a subterranean network—the Ashen Wastes."
Isaac frowned. "Reports indicate it's not just a hideout. It's where the Council's Deep Assembly convenes."
Chambers crossed her arms. "If we strike now—"
Elias held up a hand.
— "We need intel. Not another blind assault."
---
THE CLONES' CHOICE
The free clones gathered outside.
Elias addressed them.
— "You owe us nothing. You've earned your freedom. You may stay or go."
Elias-17 stepped forward.
— "We fight. Not because we were made to. Because we choose to."
Others nodded.
The resistance grew stronger still.
---
THE MYSTERIOUS TRANSMISSION
That night, Sara intercepted an encrypted signal.
A voice—distorted, synthetic.
— "Elias Thorne.
I possess knowledge the Council fears.
Meet me at coordinates embedded.
Come alone. Or all will be lost."
Coordinates blinked on the screen—deep within the Ashen Wastes.
---
THE DEBATE
Chambers scowled. "Obvious trap."
Vance shrugged. "Or an opportunity."
Isaac added, "At worst, we learn something. At best, we gain a new ally."
Elias remained silent for a moment.
Then nodded.
— "We investigate. But I won't go alone."
---
THE UNDERGROUND ATTACK
Before dawn, seismic tremors rippled through the camp.
Sara's eyes widened.
— "Multiple heat signatures. Underground."
Chambers grabbed her rifle. "Aurora? Already?"
The ground ruptured.
Suppressants—new, modified—burst from hidden tunnels.
Elias drew his blade.
Grimm and Ash growled.
— "No running," Elias said. "We hold."
The reckoning wasn't over.
It had only begun.