Chapter Eight: Greetings To Hades.
Council Headquarters – Same Night
.....
The chamber was in chaos.
Boots echoed and voices clashed. Red alerts blinked like dying stars.
An emergency meeting was underway.
"She escaped," someone whispered, disbelief cracking in his voice. "From Alcum."
"How in heaven's name did she get out?" one of the Councilmen snapped, gripping his temples like he could squeeze the headache out. "That place was a fortress!"
A voice cut through the panic like ice through bone.
"Pull up Alcum's footage.
All movement stopped.
The Chairman had spoken.
He stood at the far end of the room shrouded in shadow, only his silver insignia catching the light. Known for his ruthless decisions and inhuman calm, he never raised his voice. He didn't need to.
At once, the tech team moved. Fingers flew over keys. Lines of code streamed across the main screen.
Then, there was silence.
One of the hackers slowly stood. His face had gone bone white.
"Alcum's footage is... gone."
The Chairman's eyes glinted.
"Gone?" he repeated, low and calm.
"Wiped," the hacker whispered. "Every backup. Every mirror. Like it was never there."
The room held its breath. Immediately there was a flicker.
The center screen lit up.
Gasps filled the chamber.
A girl in black stared straight into the lens.
Blood streaked her cheek. Fire danced in her eyes. Behind her, Alcum burned.
Her voice was calm. Cold. A promise written in vengeance.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance," she said.
"But don't worry… I'll return the favor. Slow."
Static.
Then there was darkness.
No one dared to speake.
Even the air seemed to shiver.
The Chairman didn't move. He didn't even blink. Only turned slightly to face the council.
"Begin protocol," he said, voice quieter than ever.
And in that moment everyone understood.
They hadn't just lost a subject.
They had made a ghost angry.
.....
Minutes After Broadcast
In an unknown safehouse..
The screen fizzled out.
Lia sat back in the chair, the blood still fresh on her cheek was not hers.
She could still hear the echo of her own voice.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance…"
She hadn't blinked once during the message. Not because of courage.
But because she saw it again.
The fire.
The needles.
The screams.
And Lioara's final breath.
Her twin had looked just like her.
That was their mistake.
They killed the wrong girl.
And then tried to bury it under sealed files and burned records.
But ghosts don't stay buried.
She brushed her fingers over the ink burned into her arm—Morse code that only she could read.
Project Echo Black
They thought they ended it.
But they hadn't accounted for the flaw in their system.
They hadn't accounted for Lia Druleo.
Or the rage she'd been harvesting for years.
...
Flashback – Five Years Ago
Location: Laurel Estate
Time: Evening
Occasion: Their Birthday
Rain whispered against the cracked headstones in the cemetery.
Lia stood still, soaked to the bone, staring at the marble grave marker she and Liora had carved together.
"Happy birthday, sis," she whispered.
This year, Liora didn't come, she said she didn't feel right.
Lia had teased her, lightly.
"Fine. I'll go alone. But you owe me a movie night."
She didn't know it would be their last conversation.
---
When Lia returned home, everything felt… off.
The estate gates were ajar. The breeze whistled through them like a warning.
Inside was too silent. It was heavy, too pressing and it felt Soo wrong.
Immediately she knew that something wasn't right, so Lia didn't call out.
She moved like a shadow, quiet as breath, heart pounding louder than her footsteps.
Then she heard it. Screams.
And blood.
In the main hall, through a gap in the doors, she saw Liam, blood pooling beneath him.
Liora, was strapped to a chair, with her hands pinned,her face pale, and her body shaking uncontrollably.
Lia's soul cracked.
She surged forward only to be yanked back by a strong arm.
"Don't," Damien hissed.
"Let me go!" she growled, twisting hard.
Damien lost his grip. Lia broke free. And just as she got to the door, Lioara looked up and met her eyes.
As she mouthed her final goodbye.
Then Bang!
A hole in her head. A splatter on the wall.
Lioara went still.
"Noooooo oOoOO!"
---
Lia moved like fire.
She snatched Damien's gun without him noticing, kicked down the doors, and unleashed hell.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
She shot to disable, not kill. But to let them bleed. Let them scream.
Let them suffer.
Once the room was filled with pain and fear, she stopped.
One man gasping, pinned under a fallen chair tried to crawl away.
Lia stepped on his back, flipped him over, and shoved the gun under his chin.
"Talk."
He groaned, coughing blood.
"Who sent you?"
He was silent. Out of extreme anger and annoyance she fired into his leg.
"Who sent you?!"
"The Council," he gasped. "We...We were ordered to retrieve her. But she resisted. S-She was a failed asset."
Lia's blood ran cold.
"What Council?" she hissed.
"The one that made you both. That owns you."
That's when she snapped. Then shot him right in the head.
She rushed out the main hall and began a killing spring.
---
She didn't walk. She stalked from one downed attacker to the next, dragging their broken bodies together. A trail of blood followed her path.
She poured kerosene over them and lit a match.
"Send them a message," she said coldly.
"Send my greets … to Hades."saying that she dropped the match and the room went up in flames.
Their screams didn't move her.
She didn't even blink or fear.
---
When Damien returned, the house was already to smoke and in fire, and Lia sitting calmly on the stone steps at the front of the burning mansion with her hands stained red, her eyes were empty.
"You need to run!" Damien said urgently. But Lia shook her head she looked at him with a twisted calm.
"No. I want them to come."
Damien frowned. "What?!"
"They'll want to know who did this. They'll send more men."
Staring at the horizon. She whispered.
"Let them. I need to know why they killed my sister. And to do that…"
She raised her bloody hands, surrendering to the night.
"…I need to get inside the Council."
The rumble of engines grew louder.
Black vans surrounded the ruins of the estate.
As they stepped out with rifles drawn,she wasn't scared Lia simply sat and smiled.
The trap wasn't theirs.
It was hers.
To Be Continued...