Location: Subterranean ONYX Facility – Level Z
Time: 4:18 a.m.
Ryan could feel it in his bones—this was the last stand.
A hidden elevator—one even ONYX CORE didn't know existed—had rumbled open beneath the pasta warehouse. Don Castini's secret project was awakening.
Ryan, Emily, Bella, and Version Zero descended into the abyss.
They were leaving behind the safehouse, the woods, the smoke-filled aftermath of battle... and heading straight into Don Castini's endgame.
The Phoenix Protocol.
Ryan tapped his earpiece. "Girls are secured?"
"Yup," said Holly's voice over comms. "Faith's eating marshmallows and watching cartoons. We've also booby-trapped the front lawn with glitter mines and exploding paint cans. You're welcome."
"Love you both," Ryan said.
Faith chimed in, "Daddy, kick the bad guy in the pasta!"
Ryan smiled grimly. "You got it."
Location: Subterranean Core – Phoenix Protocol Chamber
Time: 4:25 a.m.
The chamber stretched like a cathedral of steel and code. Glowing containment tanks lined the walls—each one pulsing with unstable energy. Holograms flickered across the room, depicting multiple world leaders with red Xs across their faces.
And at the center stood Don Castini—no longer the frail crime lord, but a cybernetically enhanced terror.
His voice boomed, distorted. "Welcome to my inheritance, Bruce."
Behind him, rising from the shadows like titans, were two massive mech units—each operated by brain-linked clone pilots. Both bore Ryan's face.
Emily froze. "That's... not narcissism. That's weaponized daddy issues."
Don sneered. "You stole my family. Now I'll destroy yours—using yours."
Ryan cracked his neck. "Bella?"
"On it," she said, sprinting for the control terminal.
Then all hell broke loose.
Mechs lunged forward, seismic footsteps shaking the chamber. Emily opened fire, leaping onto scaffolding to draw one mech's attention. Ryan activated his exo-rig, flames sparking from his shoulders.
Version Zero tackled the second mech, climbing up its arm like a spider, slamming his pulse blade into its optic core.
Bella typed frantically. "Override codes are corrupted! He fused ONYX AI with his own biometric key—there's no backdoor!"
"Then make one," Ryan shouted, dodging a wrecking-ball-sized fist.
Location: Mid-Battle – Overload Conduit Grid
Time: 4:33 a.m.
Emily flipped off a catwalk, landed on a moving mech, and ripped open a circuit panel with her bare hands. "I found the override relay! But someone has to stay behind to keep it open."
Ryan paused. "Define 'stay behind.'"
Bella looked up, eyes wide. "It's gonna trigger a core meltdown unless we vent manually—"
"—from inside the control node," Zero finished, already moving.
"No," Ryan barked. "I'm not losing you."
Version Zero turned, bleeding, smiling. "You won't. You'll remember me."
He looked at Emily. "Take care of them."
He looked at Bella. "Tell my sisters I never stopped fighting."
And with that, he dove into the core.
Location: Control Node – Final Minutes
Time: 4:41 a.m.
Inside the reactor, Version Zero fused himself with the failing AI system. Wires snaked into his arms. The mech units froze.
Don Castini screamed. "NO—YOU WERE MINE!"
Ryan leapt across the platform and tackled him into a wall of sparking coils. "You never owned anything but your own guilt."
Bella fired a single shot. Clean. Through Don's chest.
He dropped.
Ryan turned to the core.
Version Zero's voice echoed: "Legacy isn't what you leave behind. It's who you protect."
The chamber began to collapse.
Emily pulled Ryan into the escape elevator. Bella slammed the controls.
Behind them, Phoenix Protocol self-destructed.
The fire took Don's empire with it.
Location: Safehouse 7 – Morning
Time: 7:12 a.m.
Ryan, Emily, Bella, and the girls sat around a scorched but standing kitchen table.
Faith handed Ryan a drawing. It showed two dads. Both smiling.
Holly spoke softly. "Is he... gone?"
Ryan nodded. "He saved us."
Emily kissed his cheek. "Just like you did."
A long silence.
Then Bella muttered, "So... I guess we don't have to fight anymore?"
Ryan raised a mug. "To new family. Even the weird ones."
They clinked cocoa mugs.
Location: Unknown
Time: ???
A stasis pod hissed open in a hidden lab.
One last monitor flickered.
Text scrolled:
PHOENIX PROTOCOL BACKUP – INITIATED
SUBJECT: REDACTED
STATUS: INCOMPLETE
FILE NAME: LEGACY_02
(TO BE CONTINUED...)