Chapter 1: The Ghost's Last Mission
They called him Liam Blackwood, but to the government, he was only Specimen K-01, the first successful product of Project Kairon.
He wasn't born; he was engineered. His childhood was mere data, his memories fabricated simulations, and his emotions chemical calculations. Scientists molded him into something more than human. From the day of his awakening, Liam was taught three things: Obey. Execute. Erase.
He didn't question, didn't hesitate. For years, he served as the invisible hand of death for nations that wanted their wars won in the dark. His missions never made the news or public because no one who saw Liam Blackwood lived long enough to tell the story.
Governments changed. Enemies shifted. But Liam remained a ghost in human skin, an instrument of embodiment of destruction. Liam Blackwood.
Tonight, the ghost was sent to kill again.
He effortlessly jumps down an automated flying jet of about 12,000fts through the dense mist above Baltimore's Valley, a remote settlement far from any city's light. Liam sat motionless, rifle resting between his knees, eyes cold and empty. Across from him sat Agent Genos, his handler, a man with silver hair and a permanent smirk that hid decades of guilt.
"Target coordinates uploaded to your visor," Genos said, his tone casual. "No survivors this time. Command says total erasure. The village is full of insurgent Culprits."
Liam didn't answer. He never did. The only sound was the soft click of his weapon as he loaded a fresh round.
Beside Genos sat Dr. Evelyn Cross, the chief scientist of Project Kairon. She watched Liam with fascination, part admiration, part fear. She'd built him, molecule by molecule, but something about his silence made her uneasy. She knew too well what he could do.
"Remember," Evelyn murmured, "no hesitation. The serum will keep your conscience dormant. Just… follow the protocol."
As he landed silently on the wet soil, his boots sinking slightly into the mud. The visor on his helmet flickered to life, scanning his surroundings. Red motion outlines appeared in his vision, thirty targets, all armed. Civilians or rebels? It didn't matter. The program labeled them Hostile. That was enough.
He moved like a shadow. Every motion efficient, every breath measured. Within seconds, he was behind the first guard, his knife flashing across the throat. No sound. The body fell into the mud, lifeless.
The next two went down in synchronized precision, one with a silenced shot through the skull, the other with a snapped neck. Liam was a ghost, unseen, unstoppable.
Inside the largest hut, light flickered. A man praying, a woman sobbing. Liam kicked down the door, rifle raised. His finger twitched on the trigger, ready to cleanse.
And then he saw it, a child.
A boy, maybe seven. Curled against his mother's side, eyes filled with terror. The man wasn't holding a weapon, just shielding his family.
"Please… don't shoot," the man begged, voice trembling. "We're not soldiers. We're...."
Error.
Liam's vision blurred. His neural HUD glitched, flashing warnings. "Emotional interference detected."
For the first time, his mind disobeyed. His finger froze on the trigger. His breathing changed.
Why am I hesitating?
The serum burned in his veins, fighting to suppress the surge of emotion clawing through his chest. Memories not his, but someone's flickered. A mother's smile. A child's laughter. Warmth. Humanity.
The man moved to shield the child, and instinctively Liam aimed but something inside screamed No.
He's not a target. He's just... human.
The inner voice shocked him. He hadn't heard his own thoughts in years. The ghost was waking up.
From his handler's position, Genos frowned as Liam's camera feed froze.
"He's hesitating," Genos said. "What the hell is he doing?"
Dr. Evelyn's eyes widened. "That's not possible. The inhibitors....."
"Deactivate him if you have to," Genos snapped. "We can't afford another incident like Cairo."
Evelyn's fingers hovered over the console. Her heart pounded. She had created a monster without a conscience… but now, she saw a spark of something she'd long buried, a man.
She hesitated.
Back in the hut, Liam's system rebooted. The commands screamed in his mind:
EXECUTE MISSION. ELIMINATE TARGETS. NO EXCEPTIONS.
He dropped his weapon.
The family stared in disbelief as the legendary killer, the man governments feared, stepped back. His hands trembled. "Run," he whispered, voice gravelly and human for the first time. "Now."
They didn't wait to ask twice.
Gunfire erupted outside. Reinforcements had arrived.
Liam turned sharply, eyes blazing. Four armored soldiers approached, his own unit. Project Kairon retrieval team.
"Blackwood!" one shouted through the comm. "You're compromised! Stand down!"
He didn't answer.
He moved faster than sound. His blade sliced through the first man's armor, spraying the walls with blood. The second soldier raised his rifle, Liam disarmed him with a brutal twist, slammed his face into the mud, and crushed his neck beneath his boot.
The third soldier screamed, firing wildly. Bullets tore through the air, grazing Liam's side. He didn't flinch. He rushed forward, tackled the man, and drove his knife into the soldier's chest again, again, again until the screams stopped.
The last one turned to flee. Liam threw the knife at him with perfect aim, embedding it through the back of his skull. The body hit the ground, lifeless.
Rain poured harder. Lightning flashed illuminating the massacre he'd created. Liam stood in the center of it all, covered in mud and blood, breathing heavily. His visor cracked, his systems sparking.
And for the first time, he felt alive.
Genos's voice crackled through his earpiece.
"Blackwood, you've just killed your own unit. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Liam ripped the communicator from his ear. His eyes burned with something new, rage.
"Yes," he whispered. "I disobeyed."
Silence filled the moment. Then came Genos's cold response:
"Then you're no longer one of us, soldier. You're an enemy of the state."
The sound of distant helicopters echoed through the valley, reinforcements were inbound. Dozens of them. Searchlights pierced the night sky.
Liam looked up, drenched and surrounded by the corpses of the men who once called him brother. His heart pounded, not in fear, but in clarity.
The ghost was no longer their weapon.
He turned toward the forest, disappearing into the storm. Behind him, the valley burned. The once quiet settlement now lay in ruins, flames consuming what remained.
Dr. Evelyn watched from the monitor, trembling, as Liam's signal vanished.
"He's gone," Genos said.
"No," Evelyn whispered, eyes narrowing. "He's awake."
The screen flickered one last time before going black.
And somewhere in the forest, a voice cold, human, and free muttered through the rain:
..... "If they want their ghost back… they'll have to kill him first."