The door creaked open like it hadn't been touched in years, groaning against the push of time itself. Dust swirled in the beam of light from Kade's wristband, slicing through the dark as he stepped into the stairwell. The concrete walls bled moisture, stained with moss and rust trails. Every step echoed like a countdown.
He descended quickly, keeping his hand close to the grip of his pistol. The deeper he went, the quieter the world above became—like it was holding its breath.
Twenty steps down, the system pulsed softly.
You are entering a red zone. Chrono-stability reduced by 4%.
He paused. "Why?"
This location does not exist in recorded public history.
Of course it didn't. This lab was wiped from every database, every file, even black-site records. He'd only found it seven years too late the first time—charred walls, melted servers, and no trace of Dr. Vexin.
Now it was intact.
He reached a sealed door at the base of the stairwell. A biometric pad blinked beside it, dark from disuse. Kade touched it. Nothing.
"System, override."
A hiss. Then:
Access granted. Decryption in process. Opening door.
The lock disengaged with a groan, and the door slid open halfway before sticking. Kade forced it the rest of the way with his shoulder, stepping into what looked like a forgotten shrine to bleeding-edge science.
Screens lined the walls, dusty but still functional. A central workstation blinked faintly in standby mode. And at the far end of the room, partially collapsed beneath a broken pillar, was a stasis pod.
Inside it—someone moved.
Kade drew his weapon instinctively, heart racing. He stepped forward slowly, shining his light over the pod.
Marei Vexin.
She was alive. Breathing. Unconscious.
Her vitals fluttered across a cracked monitor screen beside her pod—stabilized, but low. Something was keeping her alive, but barely.
Target located. Secondary objective triggered: Protect the Timeline Witness.
Kade holstered his weapon and knelt beside the pod. He remembered how Vexin had been vilified. Painted as a traitor. But she'd tried to warn them. About Catalyst. About what lay beneath it.
And she'd paid the price.
He reached for the console. The system guided his fingers through the interface, bypassing the ancient security layers like it had been built for him.
Then the lights changed.
A soft hum vibrated through the floor. He turned—one of the back panels in the lab slid open with a mechanical whine. Behind it: a long hallway. Newer construction. Clean. Cold.
Someone had been here. Recently.
He tensed.
New signal detected. Unregistered lifeform entering proximity. Estimated arrival: 3 minutes.
"Fantastic," he muttered.
He had to move—wake Vexin, extract intel, and escape before whoever was coming decided to finish the job history couldn't.
"System, what happens if I remove her now?"
Stasis disruption will reduce stability. Potential for timeline bleed: 17%.
"What if I leave her?"
Permanent deletion within 4 hours. No recovery possible.
Kade stared at her face through the glass. Pale. Tired. Still clutching secrets the world was never meant to know.
He touched the release valve.
The pod hissed, steam curling into the cold air as it slowly lifted open. Vexin's eyes didn't open, but her body jerked slightly—somewhere between shock and reflex.
"Easy," he whispered. "You're safe. Kind of."
He lifted her gently, surprised by how light she felt. He barely had time to turn when a voice called from the dark hall behind him.
"You shouldn't be here."
It was female. Calm. Cold.
From the shadows stepped a figure in a black coat, face half-masked, eyes glowing faintly blue.
Recognition hit him like a blade.
Not because he knew her personally—but because she wasn't supposed to be alive either.
He had seen her die in the original timeline. In a crater. Vaporized.
Which meant…
"You're not real," Kade said.
She tilted her head. "And yet, here I am."
He lowered Vexin behind the workbench and stood up straight. His hand hovered near his weapon, but he knew this wasn't a fight he could win—not yet.
System combat HUD available.
"No," he whispered. "Not unless I have to."
The woman raised her hand slightly, a gesture of peace. "I'm not here to kill you."
"Could've fooled me."
"I'm here to see if it's true."
Kade narrowed his eyes. "If what's true?"
"That the King remembered."
Silence.
She stepped back into the shadows.
"You've just set things in motion, Kade Fallon. The world won't be ready for you."
And then she was gone.
No sound. No light. Nothing but the echo of his racing heart and the hiss of Vexin's pod.
He turned back to her, checked her pulse. Steady now.
Whatever came next, they'd face it together.
And if the world wasn't ready?
Too bad.
He was.