Episode 7
The wind outside howled against the windows like an angry whisper. The fire in the safehouse crackled, but it did nothing to warm Iris Vale.
She sat cross-legged on the floor, a worn leather journal in her lap. Isolde's journal.
Each page was a knife — filled with test logs, coded entries, and haunting sketches of machinery that looked like they belonged in nightmares.
> Subject IV-2: Memory rejection is incomplete. Emotional fragments persist.
Hypothesis: Familial bond trauma is the anchor.
Directive: Terminate ties. Replace memory anchors.
Her hand trembled over that line.
They had targeted her family.
---
Senator Dorne's Call
The encrypted phone buzzed. Iris answered immediately.
"Miss Vale," came Helena Dorne's voice, calm but tight with urgency. "We reviewed your drive. You were right. NIGHTSHADE is operating under multiple shell companies—Blackwell Biotech, NovaQuant, and…" she paused, "Draven Enterprises."
"I know," Iris replied. "But I also know there's more. Those files weren't everything."
"They weren't," Dorne agreed. "But we traced something from your original case file, back before your disappearance. You listed a next of kin. A cousin. Lucien Vale. Ring any bells?"
Iris's chest froze.
Lucien.
The name rang faintly like a bell in a dream.
"I didn't know I had any surviving relatives," she said slowly.
"Well, he's alive. Living under a sealed identity. Off-grid. He used to work for NIGHTSHADE's parent company. He may be the only person who knows the full extent of your modifications."
Modifications.
The word cut deep.
"I want to meet him."
Dorne sighed. "That's the problem. He doesn't want to be found."
---
Two Hours Later — Abandoned Observatory in Glenridge
The night was moonless. Shadows curled around the broken steps of the old observatory. Iris stepped out of the black SUV, her boots crunching on gravel.
"Stay here," she told the agent. "If I'm not out in 20 minutes, leave and burn this location."
She gripped her sidearm — a sleek matte pistol Calder had stashed in her safehouse bag — and pushed the rusted door open.
Inside, the space reeked of old chemicals, damp wood, and dust.
The air felt watched.
Then, from the shadows, a voice she couldn't place but felt deep in her bones:
> "They finally sent you."
She turned sharply. A man stepped out.
Mid-thirties, tall, hair silver at the edges. Scar running from his jaw to his temple. He had the same hazel eyes as her mother in old photos.
"Lucien Vale?" she whispered.
He nodded once.
"You're the one they couldn't erase. The variable. That's why they fear you."
She stepped closer. "Why didn't you ever come for me?"
"I did. But they buried you under so many false identities, fake deaths, and psychological rewrites that even I couldn't tell who you were anymore." He paused. "Until now."
He handed her a vial.
A tiny, frosted glass container filled with something iridescent blue.
"What is it?"
"The catalyst. The original serum NIGHTSHADE used to fracture you."
Iris's throat went dry.
Lucien continued, "They didn't just erase your memories, Iris. They reprogrammed your entire personality matrix using neuro-responsive serums. But the cracks in the programming started when you met Nina. When you made your first emotional decision not built into their scripts."
"So I'm… fake?"
"No. You're more real than anyone they've ever made. Because you broke the script."
---
The Warning
Lucien walked to a table cluttered with tech. On one of the screens was security cam footage. One frame showed two Alecs—walking side by side.
"That's not a deepfake?" Iris asked, voice tight.
"No. That's the prototype and the perfected model. Alec isn't the original anymore. He died five years ago. What remains is Version DRVN-07, and the one hunting you…"
Lucien paused.
"…is DRVN-09. The apex predator. And he knows you've begun to wake up."
Iris backed away. "How do I stop them?"
"You don't." Lucien looked at her with grim eyes. "You replace them."
Before she could speak, the alarms blared.
"Shit," Lucien hissed. "They found us. That fast—he's tracking your biometric pulse!"
Iris pulled her gun. "Do we run?"
"No," Lucien said. "We burn everything."
---
Attack on the Observatory
The walls exploded inward, throwing them both to the ground. Night-ops soldiers poured in, laser sights cutting through the dust.
Lucien grabbed a remote and triggered the ceiling to drop UV flares.
In the chaos, he shouted, "Go to the sub-basement! Room 13! That's where the failsafe is!"
Iris sprinted down spiral stairs, gun drawn. Behind her, gunfire and screams echoed.
She reached a heavy vault-like door marked 13.
Inside: rows of machines. Cryotanks. And in one of them—
A child.
A girl.
No older than six. Floating in fluid. Identical to Iris.
A clone.
The plaque read: Subject IV-3: Emergency Seedline.
A video log began to play automatically on the nearby screen.
> "This is Dr. Isolde Merek. If you're seeing this, Iris, they've begun Project Reset. Your clone will be used to wipe the evidence. You must destroy it before it activates."
Iris stared at the child.
Her face.
Her blood.
Her guilt.
Lucien's voice came over the intercom: "Iris, they're breaching! What did you find?!"
She hesitated.
Her hand hovered over the tank controls.
Kill or save?
The clone opened her eyes.
They were blue.
Not hazel.
Not hers.
Something else entirely.
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