In the International Waters – The Covenant's Undersea Base
The descent was unnervingly smooth. The deep-sea vessel Damien and Nora rode in was built for stealth, engineered to cut through pressure and time like a scalpel through flesh. Outside the reinforced window, the ocean turned darker by the second—sunlight choked away, swallowed by the depths.
Nora checked her oxygen monitor, the HUD glowing against her visor. "Depth, 11,000 meters and counting."
Damien stood still, hand resting on the magnetic rifle at his side. "We'll be hitting the docking chamber in less than three minutes."
Silence.
The tension was thick. Though she didn't voice it, Nora felt it—this mission was different. There was something ancient, something wrong in the air… or rather, the lack of it.
When they finally docked, the mechanical arms clamped onto the submersible with a hiss, and the door creaked open with the sound of a beast exhaling.
"Let's move," Damien ordered.
---
The corridor greeted them with an eerie blue glow. Water dripped from the pipes above, and faint hums echoed from unseen machinery. There were no guards. No resistance. Just rows of transparent tanks filled with suspended bodies—some human, others not entirely.
Nora shivered. "Experiments…"
Damien's voice was low. "These were the failed prototypes. The Covenant was trying to bio-engineer operatives with enhanced cognition, speed, and healing. They used LYXEN as the foundation."
"You were one of them?" she asked.
"No. I stopped it... or thought I did. But someone preserved the formula. Probably evolved it."
One of the tanks hissed as its display screen blinked to life: SUBJECT: ALECTOR – Status: Semi-Active.
The figure inside stirred.
"Keep walking," Damien said sharply. "We're not here to fight ghosts."
---
They reached the heart of the facility—a chamber pulsing with neon circuits and humming power coils. At the center stood a figure in a black tactical suit, back turned.
"I was wondering when you'd arrive," the voice said, calm, melodic, unmistakable.
Nora froze. Her mouth went dry.
Damien stepped forward, his voice strained, quiet. "Tyler?"
The man turned.
He looked identical to Damien—same height, same eyes, same stance. But there was a coldness in him that Damien never had. A synthetic aura.
"No way…" Nora whispered. "He's… you?"
"Not quite," Tyler said with a chilling smile. "I'm what you would've become if you embraced the LYXEN evolution. I'm the prototype perfected. The Covenant's crown jewel."
"You were declared KIA years ago," Damien hissed.
Tyler stepped forward. "That's what they told you. But I was resurrected. Rebuilt. Now I lead the next phase."
"You're leading a terrorist faction," Damien spat.
Tyler's smirk didn't fade. "You're still thinking too small. We're not terrorists—we're the future. Genetic perfection. Controlled evolution. Nora isn't just the world's best doctor—her DNA holds the very sequence we need to stabilize the next generation."
Nora's eyes widened. "You want to clone me."
Tyler nodded. "And you, Damien, were always the key to unlocking me."
A blaring alarm cut through the room. On the monitor, red signals flickered: INTRUDERS: HANGAR 2 – BREACH DETECTED.
"Leona," Damien said. "They've landed."
Tyler drew a blade. "Then let's skip the philosophy. I'll offer you both one chance—join us, or die like Seraphine."
Damien's voice dropped an octave, rage simmering. "You shouldn't have said her name."
And then chaos erupted.
The fight was swift and brutal. Metal clashed, bullets ricocheted, and the air smelled of scorched circuitry. Nora ducked behind a lab terminal, fingers flying across the panel. She uploaded a worm virus into the base's mainframe—crippling the facility's backup power and trapping Tyler's reinforcements behind locked bulkheads.
Meanwhile, Damien traded blows with his synthetic twin—Tyler moved like lightning, enhanced muscles slicing through the air. But Damien wasn't just muscle; he was precision, strategy, grit.
A feint. A sweep. A calculated strike to Tyler's neck.
The blade dropped from Tyler's hand as he staggered back. "You've… improved."
"Thanks," Damien muttered. "I had someone to fight for."
He drove his elbow into Tyler's temple—hard.
Tyler collapsed.
The chamber shook as Leona's voice cracked through their comms. "Extraction team is in. Ten minutes before we blow the entire place!"
Nora rushed to Damien's side. "Let's go!"
They ran, sprinting through collapsing tunnels as sparks rained and flames licked the walls behind them.
---
Location: Tavara – Sinclair Estate, 12 Hours Later
Nora sat on the garden steps, bandaged, bruised, but alive. Damien joined her, dropping beside her with a soft grunt.
"They scanned every inch of the facility," he said. "Tyler's body vanished before the explosion. No trace."
She looked at him, voice soft. "You think he's still out there?"
Damien nodded. "We wounded the serpent… but its head might grow back."
They sat in silence, watching the sun rise over Tavara.
Eventually, Nora whispered, "You'd really burn the world for me?"
Damien took her hand and kissed her knuckles gently. "I'd rebuild it for you too."