Helena Vale stood at the edge of the wreckage. Her coat was clean. Her face showed no
rush. Rain slicked her hair. Her eyes were calm and sharp.
"Give me the drive," she said.
Ayla's fingers tightened on Elian's hand. His pulse was thin under her palm. Blood dried
along his jaw. The beam pinned his leg. Smoke stung her eyes.
"No," Ayla said. Her voice broke. "You hurt people."
Helena stepped closer. Firelight cut patterns across her face. She looked older than the
portrait in the science wing. Older and harder."You started this," Ayla said. "You erased lives. You experimented on kids."
Helena tilted her head. "You use dramatic words for a girl who set a lab on fire." She said
the words slowly, as if tasting them.
Ayla wanted to strike her. Her hands shook. Instead she pushed against the beam again.
It did not move.
"You want the drive," Helena said. "Give it to me. I will fix what remains."
Elian coughed. He opened his eyes. He looked at Helena like a man seeing a ghost.
"Vale," he whispered. His voice was thin.
"You're alive," Helena said. Her face did not change.
"You left him to burn," Ayla said. She spat the words. The world narrowed to anger and
pain.
Helena's mouth tightened. "Survival asks choices," she said. "Some choices leave
scars. Other choices save futures."
Ayla shook her head. "You used us," she said. "You wiped our minds. You hid the files.
You blamed Karim. You ruined lives."
"You burned our records," Helena said. "You forced my hand. You stepped into a gun
barrel and expected mercy."
Ayla did not answer. Her memory fell into broken frames. A lab room. A match. Smoke.
Children crying. A small hand reaching for a boy. Then blackness.
Elian's fingers found hers. He squeezed once. He looked at her like someone saying
goodbye.
"You must choose," Helena said. Her voice held no mercy. "Give the drive. Walk away.
Leave this school. I will erase the evidence. You will have a new life."
Ayla felt the words as a blade. New life. New lies. New amnesia.
"No," she said again. "I will not run."Helena sighed. She reached into her coat and pulled a small device. It was a slim
rectangle with a red light. Ayla had seen one before. Lara used one in the library. The
device hummed.
"Give the drive," Helena said. "For his survival."
Elian's eyes brightened. "Take it," he said. He tried to lift his head. Pain flared across his
face. "It's mine."
"You will not bargain with me," Helena said. "Not now."
Ayla looked at Elian. The rain washed his hair into his forehead. His breath came in short
pulls. Every second felt heavy.
The man who had taken the drive in the courtyard earlier was nowhere in sight. The van
had already fled. The lab behind them still burned. Fire flicked across the edges of the
stairwell.
Ayla thought of the faces in the file. Her name with a number. Subject 017. Clinical
notes. Photos. Experiments. Memory rows. The drive held paper and proof. Names and
dates. The truth about Project Nova.
If she gave it away, Helena would erase the records from public view. She would erase
the chain. The crime would vanish again.
If she kept it, Helena would take Elian by force. Or worse. The man with the gun would
return with a dozen others. They would drag them both to a lab. Phase two would begin.
"Choose," Helena said.
Ayla's chest hurt. She looked at Elian. He smiled, small and fierce. "You finish this," he
said. "You go to Vale. You bring the files to light. I will hold on. Live for the truth."
Her mind raced. Images collided. The life painted by her mother. The blank years. The
photos in the archive. Elian's battered face. Lara's screams in the tower. The hooded
man in the courtyard. The note that led her back to Room 403.
She thought of the children in the files. Their names. A list of experiments. The words on
the screen: memory reconstruction. Behavioral response testing. Genetic stabilization.
She thought of Karim Vale. Of police reports. Of a life destroyed. A man who paid foranother's choice.
She closed her eyes. The rain hit her face like a cold answer.
"Get him somewhere safe," she heard Helena say. "Walk away. I will take the drive. I will
remove you from everything. No more pain."
Alya opened her eyes. "You think erasing me will fix your guilt," she said. "You think
hiding your work will make you right."
Helena's jaw flexed. "I do what I must to protect progress. History must have a price."
"No," Ayla said. "You pay a price now."
She moved. The flash drive lay under her shirt, warm against her ribs. She palmed it and
felt the plastic edge. A plan formed like a thin wire across her mind.
"Tell me where your lab is," she said.
Helena hesitated. "Why would I tell you anything?"
"Because if I die tonight, your secrets die with me," Ayla said. "If I keep the drive, I will
expose you. If you want to save your work, you must bargain. Give me one name. The
main doctor. The funder. The place where the rest of the data sits."
Helena's eyes narrowed. "You think you can trade with me?"
Ayla shrugged. Her shoulders felt heavy under rain and smoke. "I think I can bargain
with truth."
Helena stepped back, measuring the risk. "Name one person," she said.
"Dr. L. Hargrove," Ayla said. The name surprised her. It came from a note on the drive, a
single line found under the subject list. "And a safe house near the river. A lab code
name Nova-7."
Helena's face did not change. "You guessed."
"I did not guess," Ayla said. "You left your mark in a log. Hargrove filed a transfer. The
drive shows it."Helena's eyes flashed. For the first time, her calm cracked. She lifted the device. The
red light pulsed.
"Prove it," she said.
Ayla dug the drive from her pocket and held it out. "I will give it to you if you promise
two things. One, you release Elian to a neutral doctor for treatment. Two, you leave the
school and surrender Nova files to public custody."
Helena's breath left her for a second. She looked to the sky, toward the fire. Rain
slowed.
"You offer terms to a thief," she said slowly. "You would bargain with me like a
merchant."
Ayla's nails bit into her palm. "I offer terms because you offered a choice. You wanted
the drive for his survival. Accept or refuse."
Silence fell. Even the fire seemed to hold its breath.
Helena studied Ayla for a long moment. Then she lowered the device. "I accept one
term," she said. "I will send a neutral team to treat him. I will not interfere with their
work."
Ayla exhaled. A sliver of hope cut through the smoke.
Helena continued. "The second term is impossible. I will not relinquish my research to
public hands."
Ayla's hands dropped. The world narrowed again.
"Then you lie," she said.
Helena's face hardened. "I make no promises to rebels."
A sound came from the shadows. Footsteps. Multiple feet. A figure moved into the light.
The man from the courtyard stepped forward. He wore a jacket with no badge. His face
was blank.
"You breach terms," he said. "Orders are orders."Elian's hand twitched. Blood slicked his palm.
Ayla's body moved before her mind. She dropped the drive into the gutter. It bounced
once and skidded toward the stairwell. The man lunged for it.
Elian shouted, a raw sound. He pushed with the last of his strength. The beam shifted a
fraction. Men shouted. Rain pounded like a drum.
Ayla sprinted after the drive. It slid under a loose stone and vanished into the dark
narrow pipe that ran beneath the walkway.
The man cursed. He reached for the pipe. The crowd closed in. Helena stepped forward,
fury replacing her calm.
"You will not take my research," she said.
Elian's grip loosened. His eyes met Ayla's. He smiled, small and fierce. "You chose," he
whispered.
Ayla scrambled back to his side. Rain soaked her hair. The pipe gurgled. Somewhere,
under metal and stone, the drive lay out of reach.
The man raised his gun.
Helena's voice cut through. "Stop."
He froze.
Her hand moved to her coat. She opened it to show a badge. A government emblem
gleamed. She had allies.
"You made a choice," she said, cold and final. "You chose exposure. You chose
consequence."
Elian's breathing hitched. He coughed. Smoke filled his mouth. His eyelids fell.
Ayla clutched his hand. "Hold on," she said. "Hold on."
A distant engine sounded. Sirens approached. Footsteps neared from the far side of the
quad.Helena's face shifted. For the first time since the night began, uncertainty showed. She
straightened, looking between the burning lab and the river dark below.
"You forced the hand of fate," she said. Her voice lacked warmth. "We will finish this
another day."
She stepped back into the smoke and walked away with her men.
Elian's fingers went limp.
Ayla held him. Rain dampened his skin. Blood mixed with water.
"Live," she whispered. "Live for the truth."
His lips moved. A weak sound came out. "Find Hargrove."
The sirens grew louder.