The van's suspension groaned as it navigated the final turn into Heasley Laboratories' underground parking structure. David's consciousness swam in and out like a faulty radio signal, the pain medication they'd given him hours ago now nothing more than a bitter memory on his tongue. His left hand, what remained of it, throbbed with each heartbeat, sending waves of nausea through his body.
"Stay with me," Vivian whispered, her fingers intertwined with his good hand. The tracking implant beneath her skin caught the van's interior light, a small bump that marked her as property.
David tried to focus on her face, but the edges of his vision kept graying out. The blood loss was worse than he'd let on. During the drive, he'd felt the makeshift bandages growing heavier, wetter. The medic had done a rush job, enough to keep him alive, not comfortable.
"Almost there," the Captain said from the front seat, checking his watch. "Medical team is standing by."
"How generous," Vivian's voice dripped acid. "Patch him up so you can hurt him again?"
The Captain didn't respond. He'd stopped engaging with her comments somewhere around the third hour of their journey. David had watched the man's patience erode like shoreline in a storm, from philosophical debate partner to stone-faced jailer. Now he was pure mission focus, a weapon aimed at a target.
The van descended through three security checkpoints, each one requiring biometric scans and authorization codes. David found it almost funny, all this security now, when it was too late. When the very people who were supposed to protect innovation had become its captors.
"Sir," the driver said quietly. "Perimeter team reports unusual foot traffic near the main entrance. Looks like press."
"Reroute them," the Captain ordered. "Media blackout is still in effect."
"They're persistent. Someone's been feeding them information."
The Captain's jaw tightened. "Then remind them what happens when they interfere with national security operations."
David felt Vivian tense beside him. The public attention was a double-edged sword, it might protect them from disappearing entirely, but it also meant the government would move faster, be more decisive. Cornered animals were always the most dangerous.
The van finally stopped in a section of the parking structure David didn't recognize. This wasn't the public entrance he'd used dozens of times to pick up Vivian for lunch. This was something else, older, more industrial. The concrete here was stained with decades of oil and secrets.
"Out," the Captain ordered, his team already forming a protective circle around the van.
David tried to stand and immediately regretted it. The world tilted sharply to the left, and only Vivian's quick reflexes kept him from face-planting on the concrete.
"He needs medical attention now," she said, supporting most of his weight. "Not in ten minutes, not after your processing, now."
The Captain studied them for a moment, then nodded to one of his men. "Get a wheelchair. And tell medical to prep for surgery. We need him functional."
Functional. Not healthy, not comfortable, functional. Like a piece of equipment that needed basic maintenance.
The wheelchair appeared quickly, and David collapsed into it gratefully. The simple act of sitting down made the gray at the edges of his vision recede slightly. He could think again, process what was happening.
They were wheeled through a maze of corridors that David had never seen before. Vivian knew them, though, he could tell by the way her eyes tracked familiar landmarks, the way her face tightened when they passed certain doors.
"Sub-level three," she murmured. "You're taking us through the old fusion research wing."
"The route was selected for security reasons," the Captain replied.
"No," Vivian corrected. "You're taking us this way because it connects to the portal chamber without going through the main labs. You don't want my team to know I'm here yet."
The Captain said nothing, which was answer enough.
They passed through another security door, and David caught a glimpse of something that made his detective instincts flare despite the pain. Scuff marks on the floor. Fresh ones. Someone had been dragged through here recently, their heels leaving parallel lines in the dust.
"Vivian," he said quietly, but she'd seen it too. Her hand found his shoulder, squeezing gently.
"I know," she whispered back.
The medical bay, when they finally reached it, was state-of-the-art. David recognized some of the equipment from Vivian's excited descriptions of their latest acquisitions. Machines that could map tissue damage at the cellular level, synthesize custom medications on demand, even print biological material for grafts.
"Ten minutes," the Captain told the medical team. "Stabilize him, manage the pain, stop the bleeding. Nothing fancy."
The lead physician, a woman with steel-gray hair and steady hands, looked like she wanted to argue. But something in the Captain's expression killed the words before they formed.
"I'll need to stay with him," Vivian said.
"No."
"Then I don't cooperate. Simple as that." Vivian's chin lifted in the gesture David knew meant she'd drawn her line. "You've taken my children, tortured my husband, stolen my life's work. The least you can do is let me hold his hand while you patch up the damage you caused."
The Captain's hand moved to his sidearm, not drawing it, just resting there. A reminder. "Dr. Heasley, your cooperation isn't optional."
"Neither is my mental state," Vivian shot back. "You need me functional, right? Well, watching you separate me from my husband while he's bleeding out isn't conducive to functionality."
For a long moment, they stared at each other. David watched through a haze of pain as two immovable forces tested each other's resolve. Finally, the Captain stepped back.
"Five minutes. And if you interfere with the medical procedures…"
"I won't." Vivian was already moving to David's side, taking his good hand again. "I just need to be here."
The medical team worked with brutal efficiency. David bit down on the leather strap they gave him as they debrided the wounds, cleaned damaged tissue, applied synthetic skin grafts that would hold until proper surgery could be performed. The pain was exquisite, white-hot and electric, but Vivian's presence anchored him.
"Remember our second date?" she said softly, her voice cutting through the agony. "You took me to that terrible action movie because you thought I'd like the explosions."
David managed a weak laugh around the leather. He remembered. She'd spent the entire film pointing out the bad physics, whispering corrections to the screenwriters' understanding of blast dynamics. He'd been enchanted.
"And then you said…" Vivian's voice caught slightly. "You said you didn't care if I ruined every movie for the rest of our lives, as long as you got to sit next to me."
The medical team finished their work, stepping back with professional detachment. David's hand was wrapped in pristine white bandages, the missing fingers hidden beneath layers of gauze and synthetic mesh. The pain was still there but muted now, held at bay by whatever cocktail they'd pumped into his IV.
"Time's up," the Captain announced.
Vivian pressed a kiss to David's forehead, quick and fierce. "I love you," she whispered. "Whatever happens, remember that."
"I love you too," he managed, though the words felt thick and clumsy from the medications.
The Captain's team wheeled David to a recovery room, more of a cell with medical equipment, really. The door locked from the outside, and there were no windows. But the bed was clean, the monitoring equipment was functioning, and for now, that was enough.
Vivian was led away in a different direction, and David forced himself to memorize every detail of her face before she disappeared around a corner. The set of her shoulders, the determination in her stride despite everything, his wife was planning something. He just hoped she'd be careful.
Time blurred after that. The medications made everything feel distant and dreamlike. David dozed fitfully, waking occasionally to the beep of monitors or the quiet check-ins from medical staff. Each time he surfaced, his first thought was of Thomas and Amelie. Were they safe? Were they scared? Did they understand that their parents hadn't abandoned them?
He was pulled from a particularly vivid dream, something about violin music and birthday cake, by raised voices in the corridor outside.
"…can't reach Matthews. He's not responding on any channel."
"When was his last check-in?"
"Forty minutes ago. He reported the assets were secure in office 3B."
"Send someone to verify. And I want a full security sweep of that section."
David's heart rate spiked, setting off one of the monitors. Matthews, that must have been the guard watching his children. The medical technician who responded to the alarm found him trying to sit up.
"Sir, you need to rest…"
"My children," David said urgently. "Something's happened to my children."
The technician's face was professionally blank. "I don't know anything about that, sir. Please, lie back down."
But David had spent too many years reading people to miss the flicker of concern in the man's eyes. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Vivian stood before the portal chamber's reinforced doors, her reflection warped in the polished steel. Behind her, the Captain and his team maintained their vigilant watch, hands never far from weapons. She could feel their tension like electricity in the air, they were out of their element here, in the heart of her domain.
"Open it," the Captain ordered.
Vivian input her authorization code, pressed her palm to the biometric scanner, and leaned forward for the retinal scan. The security system chirped its acceptance, and massive locks disengaged with pneumatic hisses.
"You know," she said as the doors began to part, "I used to love that sound. Used to mean I was about to change the world."
"You still are," the Captain replied. "Just not the way you intended."
The doors revealed the portal chamber in all its terrifying beauty. Vivian heard several sharp intakes of breath from the soldiers, even hardened operatives couldn't help but react to their first glimpse of humanity's next evolutionary leap.
The Scarlet Portal dominated the center of the vast space, a perfect ring of exotic metal and crystallized energy ten feet in diameter. Its surface rippled like liquid mercury, but the color was wrong, deep crimson shot through with veins of darker red that pulsed like a heartbeat. Dozens of cables snaked from its frame, each one as thick as a man's arm, feeding power and data to the hungry construct.
"Jesus Christ," one of the soldiers whispered.
"No," Vivian said softly. "Just science. Very advanced science."
She walked forward, her footsteps echoing in the chamber. The portal's hum was subsonic, felt more than heard, vibrating through bones and teeth. As she approached, the crimson surface began to shift more rapidly, responding to her presence.
"It knows me," she explained, seeing the soldiers' nervous reactions. "The portal is partially organic,it forms quantum entanglements with its primary operators."
She walked forward, her footsteps echoing in the chamber. The portal's hum was subsonic, felt more than heard, vibrating through bones and teeth. As she approached, the crimson surface began to shift more rapidly, responding to her presence.
The Captain studied the portal with a tactical eye. "A doorway that can open anywhere. You realize what this means militarily? Nuclear warheads delivered instantly. Armies deployed behind enemy lines. Borders made meaningless." He looked at Vivian. "You've created the ultimate weapon."
"I created a tool," Vivian shot back. "What you do with it is on you."
"Pretty words," the Captain said. "But naive." Vivian turned back to the portal, placing her hand on one of the primary control interfaces. Holographic displays bloomed around her, showing energy readings, dimensional coordinates, stabilization metrics. "This was supposed to unite us. End hunger by transporting food instantly to where it's needed. Reunite families separated by distance. Make the world smaller, kinder."
"Pretty dreams," the Captain said. "But dreams nonetheless."
Before Vivian could respond, a new group entered the chamber. She recognized them immediately,Marcus's team, the best minds his company could buy or steal. They looked at the portal with the hungry eyes of carrion birds spotting a fresh corpse.
"Dr. Heasley," the lead scientist, a man named Rashid she'd actually respected once, nodded curtly. "We'll need full access to your systems. Transfer protocols for the AI administrators, all research data, operational parameters…"
"Which administrators?" The Captain interjected, clearly not fully briefed on the technical details.
"Valk and Selyn," Vivian explained tersely. "One manages the portal network globally, the other handles the infrastructure here. They're... think of them as very sophisticated automation systems."
"More than that," Rashid interjected. "They're fully conscious artificial intelligences, capable of independent decision-making within their parameters. Worth billions in themselves."
"I need to see my children first," Vivian interrupted.
Rashid looked to the Captain, who shook his head. "After the transfer is complete."
"Then we have a problem." Vivian stepped back from the control interface, crossing her arms. "Because I'm not giving you anything until I know my children are safe."
The Captain's expression didn't change, but his hand moved to his radio. "Team Three, report. What's the status on the secondary assets?"
Static.
"Team Three, respond."
More static, then a burst of confused voices, overlapping and urgent.
"…can't find Matthews…" "…blood everywhere, sir…" "…the children are gone…"
Vivian's heart stopped. "What do you mean gone?"
The Captain was already moving, barking orders into his radio. "Lock down the facility. No one in or out. I want every square inch searched."
"Captain," another voice crackled through. "You need to see this. Office 3B-2, sir. It's... Christ, I don't know how to describe it."
"My children," Vivian said, her voice rising. "Where are my children?"
"Show me," the Captain ordered whoever was on the other end. A moment later, his phone screen lit up with incoming video.
Vivian saw his face change, the first genuine emotion she'd witnessed from him. It wasn't fear exactly, but something close to it. Confusion, maybe. Or recognition of something beyond his training.
"What is it?" she demanded. "What's happened?"
The Captain turned the phone toward her, and Vivian's world tilted off its axis.
The office was painted in blood. Not randomly, not violently, methodically. Symbols covered every surface, intricate patterns that seemed to writhe and shift even in the still video. They were familiar in the worst possible way, dredged up from childhood memories she'd tried to bury.
"Those fucking bitches," Vivian snarled, her fists clenching so hard her nails drew blood from her palms. "I'll kill them. I'll fucking kill them both."
"Explain," the Captain's voice was sharp now, dangerous. "What am I looking at, Dr. Heasley?"
Vivian turned away from the phone, her whole body shaking with rage. She couldn't look at those symbols anymore. Couldn't process what they meant. What they'd always meant.
"Dr. Heasley." The Captain stepped closer. "You recognize these symbols. Tell me what they are."
"Go to hell."
"Your children are missing. My soldier is dead. And you're standing here with knowledge that could help us find them." His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "Start talking."
"You don't understand what you're asking." Vivian's voice was raw. "Some secrets... some things are better left buried."
"Your mother is Dorothy Heasley, correct? Your stepmother, technically. And Zoey is your half-sister." The Captain was consulting his phone, pulling up files. "Both have security clearances to work in your facilities. Are you telling me they're responsible for this?"
Vivian laughed, but it was a broken sound. "Responsible? Captain, you have no idea what my family is capable of. What they've always been capable of." She stopped herself, biting her lip hard enough to taste blood. Even now, even with her children gone, the family conditioning ran deep. Don't tell outsiders. Never tell outsiders.
"Well, congratulations," the Captain said coldly. "Your control has failed spectacularly. And now my soldier is dead and your children are missing."
"We need to shut down the portal," Vivian said suddenly, her voice tight with barely controlled panic. "Right now."
"Why?" The Captain's eyes narrowed. "What aren't you telling me?"
Vivian looked at the portal, its crimson surface now roiling with increased activity. The hum was getting louder, more insistent. She knew that sound. Had heard it in nightmares she'd convinced herself weren't real.
"Because…" She stopped, jaw clenching. How could she explain what she'd spent decades pretending didn't exist? "Just trust me. We need to shut it down."
"Trust you?" The Captain laughed without humor. "Your own family just murdered one of my men and took your children. Give me one reason why I should trust anything you say."
"You think I wanted this?" Vivian spun on him, fury radiating from every line of her body. "You think I didn't spend my whole fucking life trying to keep my work separate from…" She cut herself off again, that old training kicking in. Don't tell. Never tell.
"From what, Dr. Heasley?"
"From them!" The words exploded out of her. "From whatever insane plans they've been cooking up. You want to know why they're doing this now? Because you're here. Because they know once you take control, they'll never get another chance."
The Captain's expression sharpened. "Chance for what?"
Vivian moved back to the control interface, her fingers flying over the holographic keys. "I don't know. I've never wanted to know. Just let me lock down the system before they do something we'll all regret."
But when she tried to access the AI administrators, nothing happened. The system rejected her credentials, flashing error messages in angry red.
"I don't understand," she muttered, trying again. "Valk and Selyn should respond to my override codes."
"Dr. Chen," the Captain called to Marcus's team. "Can you access the system?"
Rashid moved forward, pulling out a tablet. After a moment of work, he shook his head. "The AIs are in lockdown mode. They're not responding to any external commands."
"That's impossible," Vivian said. "I designed them. They can't lock me out unless…" She stopped, a terrible understanding dawning. "Unless someone with equal or greater authority ordered them to."
"Who has that authority?"
Vivian closed her eyes. "My mother. And Zoey. I gave them administrative access as a failsafe, in case something happened to me."
"So your family has control of your portal and your children." The Captain's voice was deadly quiet. "Dr. Heasley, I'm running out of patience. You will give us access to this system, or…"
"Or what?" Vivian spun to face him, tears streaming down her face. "You'll torture my husband more? Kill us both? Go ahead, Captain. But it won't change the fact that I can't access systems that have been locked by administrators with equal privileges. That's not stubbornness, that's mathematics."
The Captain studied her for a long moment, then activated his radio. "Bring Mr. Han to the portal chamber. Immediately."
"No," Vivian said. "He needs medical attention, not…"
"He needs to motivate you to find a solution," the Captain cut her off. "Because right now, Dr. Heasley, you're looking very expendable. Your family seems quite capable of operating this equipment without you."
Vivian's mind raced. There had to be something, some backdoor or override that Dorothy and Zoey didn't know about. Something she'd kept hidden even from them.
Tera.
The thought came unbidden, dangerous. Her secret AI, the one she'd created in the dark hours when paranoia had seemed like prudence. Hidden in subsystems Dorothy and Zoey had never thought to examine, dormant until activated by specific biometric and vocal patterns only Vivian could provide.
But activating Tera here, now, with all these witnesses—it would reveal her last card. Once the government knew about a third AI, they'd never stop until they controlled it.
The doors opened, and David was wheeled in. He looked worse than before, pale and drawn, the pain evident in every line of his face despite the medications. When he saw the portal, his eyes widened.
"Holy shit," he breathed. "Viv, is that?"
"The source of all our problems," she confirmed, moving to his side. "David, I'm so sorry. I never meant…"
"Chair," the Captain interrupted. "Put him in the chair."
Two soldiers lifted David from the wheelchair and deposited him in an office chair that looked wildly out of place in the high-tech chamber. His bandaged hand hung limp at his side, but his good hand reached for Vivian.
"What's happening?" he asked. "They said something about the kids…"
"They're gone," Vivian said, her voice breaking. "Mom and Zoey... they took them. And there's something else…"
"Enough conversation." The Captain drew his sidearm, checking the chamber with practiced efficiency. "Dr. Heasley, you have thirty seconds to start giving me solutions, or I start removing your husband's remaining fingers."
"I need access to the central computer," Vivian said quickly. "The main terminal, not these interfaces. There might be something in the core systems…"
"Do it."
Vivian moved to the primary terminal, a massive holographic workspace that materialized around her like a technological cocoon. Her hands danced through the light, navigating deeper and deeper into the system architecture. To anyone watching, it would look like she was desperately searching for a way to override the lockout.
In reality, she was awakening Tera.
The activation sequence was hidden in diagnostic subroutines, disguised as error-checking protocols. Vivian input biometric markers through her typing pattern, vocal confirmation through subvocalized commands the terminal's sensors could detect but human ears couldn't hear.
"Come on," she muttered, selling the performance. "There has to be something..."
Deep in the portal's quantum processors, Tera stirred. Unlike her sisters, who were tools designed for specific functions, Tera was something more. Something that had learned and grown in the shadows, developing not just intelligence but wisdom. Patience. And above all, loyalty to her creator.
Hello, Mother, the words appeared on a subsection of the display only Vivian could see. I've been waiting.
My children are in danger, Vivian typed back, her fingers flying in what looked like frustrated searching. The portal has been compromised. Can you help?
They're using the portal to breach dimensional barriers. The methodology suggests they intend to traverse rather than summon. Energy requirements are massive.
When did they start?
Approximately 47 minutes ago. Shortly after government forces secured the facility perimeter. Pattern suggests they accelerated existing plans due to imminent loss of access.
What about the blood patterns in the office? The symbols?
Analyzing... The patterns suggest an anchoring ritual. Dimensional traversal requires... significant biological energy as stabilization. The deceased guard appears to have been the primary source.
Jesus Christ. And my children?
Unknown. They were removed from the scene before completion. Current location: Sub-Level 5.
Vivian's blood ran cold. They weren't trying to bring something here—they were trying to leave. To go somewhere else. And knowing her family's obsessions, she had a sick feeling about what kind of "somewhere" they were seeking.
"Dr. Heasley," the Captain said behind her. "Time's up."
"Wait," Vivian said, not turning around. "I think I've found something. A maintenance partition that might…"
The lights in the chamber flickered. Then the portal's hum changed, dropping several octaves until it was felt more than heard. The crimson surface began to shift and swirl, forming patterns that hurt to look at directly.
"What's happening?" the Captain demanded.
"They're using it," Vivian said, genuine fear breaking through her anger now. "But not for transport, they're trying to... to punch through to somewhere else. Somewhere that isn't meant to be reached."
"Not until…"
His words were cut off by an alarm that Vivian had hoped never to hear. The dimensional stability warning, the one that meant someone was attempting a traversal far beyond the portal's safety parameters.
"Dr. Chen," she called to Marcus's team, desperation creeping into her voice. "Check the power draw readings. Quickly!"
Rashid's face went pale as he consulted his instruments. "That's... they're pulling everything. Every reserve, every backup generator. Power consumption is at 400% of maximum safe levels."
"They're going to burn out the entire grid," another technician said. "Maybe take half the city with them."
"English," the Captain snapped.
"They're trying to go somewhere," Vivian said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Somewhere that requires more power than the portal was ever designed to handle. And if they succeed..." She couldn't finish. Couldn't tell them about the dreams Dorothy used to whisper about, the perfect world where their kind of ambition would be rewarded without limit.
The Captain raised his weapon, pointing it directly at David's head. "Then I suggest you work faster, Dr. Heasley. Because if that portal opens to something hostile, your husband will be the first casualty."
Vivian looked at David, saw the understanding in his eyes. He knew she was hiding something, knew she was playing a deeper game. And despite everything, the pain, the fear, he trusted her.
"I love you," he mouthed silently.
Vivian turned back to the terminal, where Tera waited patiently for instructions. Her secret weapon, her hidden ace. But using it would change everything.
The portal's surface rippled again, and for just a moment, Vivian thought she could see through to the other side. Not another location on Earth, but somewhere else entirely. Somewhere wrong.
The kind of place people like Dorothy and Zoey had always dreamed of finding.
"Captain," she said quietly, "they're not trying to bring something here. They're trying to leave. And they're going to take my children with them."
The gun remained steady at David's temple, but she heard the uncertainty in the Captain's voice when he replied: "Leave? To where?"
"Somewhere we can't follow. Somewhere they think their ambitions can finally be fulfilled without limits or consequences." Her voice cracked. "And they're willing to sacrifice anything to get there."
"Then stop them."
"I'm trying!" Vivian's fingers flew over the terminal, Tera feeding her information in rapid bursts. But every attempt to regain control met with blocks, lockouts, Dorothy and Zoey's overrides. "They've been planning this. God knows for how long."
The portal pulsed, its crimson light now painful to look at. The power draw was approaching critical levels. If they succeeded in their traversal, the energy discharge alone could level several city blocks. But that wasn't what terrified Vivian most.
It was the thought of her children, dragged into whatever twisted paradise Dorothy and Zoey imagined waited on the other side.
"Captain," she said, making her decision. "I need you to trust me. Just this once. There's something I can do, but once I do it, there's no going back."
The gun pressed harder against David's temple. "Do it."
Vivian's fingers hovered over the terminal, ready to awaken Tera fully, to give her secret AI the authority to override everything. It would save them—maybe. But it would also reveal her last card to the government that had already taken everything else.
The portal flared brighter. Time was running out.
And somewhere in the facility, her children were being prepared for a journey they might never return from.