Steel corridors groaned under the weight of sirens.
Red lights spun like vultures overhead. Alarms blared. Smoke curled from fractured wires. In the heart of the underground lab, chaos bloomed and she was its spark.
They had raised her as Asset X-9.
Fluent in ten languages by age six. A cybernetic strategist. Racer. Hacker. Fighter. A girl sculpted by needles, formulas, and code. They called her progress.
But behind closed doors, she was a prisoner.
They never stripped her of one thing: a jade pendant worn since infancy. Smooth, ancient, inert—or so they believed. It was the one thing they couldn't replicate. Couldn't explain. And soon, couldn't control.
She ran.
Barefoot, blood pounding in her ears. Her fingers clutched the pendant like a lifeline as she dashed through twisting corridors. Scientists shouted. Doors sealed. Surveillance drones shrieked and swooped.
"X-9, halt immediately!"
She ignored them. Every step was freedom. Every breath was defiance.
She reached the main terminal, override codes ready. One keystroke away from leveling the entire lab.
Then—
Bodies crashed into her from behind. Cold grips. Hot wires. One, two, six arms pulling her down. Her body twisted, fists flying, legs kicking. Bone cracked. One scientist screamed as she shattered his knee. Another fell, clutching a bloodied mouth.
"Sedate her now!"
The needle sank into her neck.
A numbing chill spread fast, but her mind burned brighter.
And slowly… she smiled.
Her captors froze.
"Why is she smiling?"
"She shouldn't be conscious."
Dr. Li stepped back, horror in his eyes.
Her smile widened—peaceful, eerie, radiant.
"You think I'm afraid of dying?" she murmured. "I've been doing it my whole life."
Her pulse fluttered. The pendant began to glow.
Then it changed.
Blood leaked from the injection site, tracing down her skin like prophecy. A drop landed on the jade.
It hissed. Cracked. Turned crimson.
Then—light.
A screamless flash.
The pendant pulsed with heat, and from its core rose a shape no lens could capture: a shadow of wings, long and regal, unfurling across the lab's ceiling.
A phoenix.
Silent. Proud. Eternal.
Scientists stumbled. Consoles shorted. Flames burst from vents. The air shimmered like glass seconds from breaking. Her body slumped—but her smile never left.
And the pendant—drinking her blood like flame devouring paper—flashed one final time.
Then—
Black.
No screams. No survivors. Just a name that no longer belonged to anyone...
And somewhere beneath the ash, where blood met pendant, where flame kissed fate—
a smile curled on her lips. Not of madness. Not of defiance.
But freedom. At last.
Until she rose again.