Flame Squad · Reassembly
The night receded.
The first strand of dawn touched the metal shutters of the gas-station hideout.
A tattered flag rattled in the wind, humming a hollow tremor.
Flame Squad had regrouped.
On the table lay the chip Su Li had left behind—
a sliver of silver-gray alloy, gleaming faintly like a riddle that refused to speak.
Yuna's fingers blurred across the terminal keys.
"Encryption level—Omega. E.DEN's top-tier clearance."
Kane stood nearby, arms folded, face set in stone.
The bandages on his torso had yet to come off; faint currents still pulsed beneath the healing seams.
"Why would she give us something like this?"
Ling Yan regarded the chip in silence.
"Because she doesn't trust the people around her."
Elena's voice was low. "Or because she wants us to finish what she couldn't."
Silence thickened.
A soft chime broke it—beep.
Decryption complete.
Red text crawled across the display:
PROJECT RESONANCE — Core Synchronization Initiative
Yuna read aloud.
"Objective: to forcibly synchronize the energy cores of ability-holders,
creating a single 'Resonant Entity' under central control."
Lain's eyes narrowed. "Central control? You mean E.DEN will command every gifted human?"
"More precisely," Yuna replied, "they'll lose themselves—keep only their power.
It turns people into… weapons."
Kane swore under his breath.
"Damn it. They're erasing an entire species."
Elena's fists clenched. "Su Li's in there. Could she—"
"She won't be controlled," Ling Yan cut her off.
"She knows the stakes. She's gambling with her life."
Kane's gaze hardened.
"You're sure she didn't set us up? Maybe this chip's bait."
Ling Yan said nothing.
Wind moaned through torn sheet metal, echoing hollowly.
Finally he murmured,
"Even if it's a trap, we'll walk into it—
because it's the only fragment of hope she left us."
---
E.DEN Headquarters · Su Li's Line
The metal doors slid apart.
The corridor beyond was immaculate, the light scalpel-bright.
Su Li stepped forward between two armored guards.
"The Director is expecting you."
She entered without hesitation.
In the center of the sterile office, Warren stood with his back to her,
watching surveillance feeds ripple across a holographic screen.
"You've returned."
"Yes."
Warren turned, his familiar, practiced smile in place.
"You did well—though some suspect you of leaking data."
Su Li answered softly, "Suspicion isn't proof."
He came closer, voice level and cold.
"You know why we trust you?
Because you're the first subject to survive the Core Synchronization Project.
You are E.DEN's creation, not its traitor."
Su Li met his eyes.
"Creations have a way of turning on their creators."
For an instant, the warmth left his face.
"Your emotions have been unstable.
Effective immediately, you'll undergo another round of consciousness calibration.
Don't worry—it won't hurt long."
He left. The guards did not.
Su Li's palm slicked with sweat.
Consciousness calibration—
they were questioning her heart.
She drew a slow breath, slipped a tiny module from her sleeve:
a hidden transmitter wired into the comm-net.
Flame Squad… you must unlock the chip's second layer, she prayed.
Inside it lies the real origin—Project Origin Mind.
---
Flame Squad · Briefing Room
"I've broken through the second layer," Yuna said.
A new file flared onto the screen:
PROJECT ORIGIN MIND
Objective: To engineer a unified consciousness entity,
merging mind and ability into one network for absolute control.
Director: Warren — E.DEN Central Research Division.
Kane frowned. "A unified mind? Sounds like a god."
"Or a monster," Yuna whispered.
Elena turned to Ling Yan. "What is she facing in there?"
He pressed both hands to the table; a spark flared and died between his fingers.
"She's fighting alone."
Lain's voice cut through. "And us? Keep hiding—or strike back?"
"Strike back," Ling Yan said quietly.
"We've run long enough. Time to shatter their resonance."
Kane's mouth curved. "Heh. Finally sounds like a commander."
Yuna keyed in the final sequence.
"Then I'll light the first flame—target locked: E.DEN Research Division Seven."
Wind hissed through the broken shutters.
Fire danced on the reflected glass.
Flame Squad's banner rose again,
fluttering in the wind before dawn.
---
Epilogue · Ashes Will Dawn
The energy cell dimmed by degrees.
Su Li leaned against the frozen wall, feeling her heartbeat merge with the machine's rhythm.
And in that rhythm, she realized—
she, too, was part of the experiment now.
She lifted her gaze toward the observation slit.
Beyond the reinforced glass, shadows moved in the corridor.
Muffled voices of guards drifted past—urgent, mechanical.
That was E.DEN's pulse, the heartbeat of the tower itself.
"Consciousness calibration protocol initializing."
The synthetic female voice echoed.
Su Li exhaled, slow and steady.
Energy stirred beneath her skin; she could hear her blood moving,
like waves from a distant sea.
Then she smiled—quietly, bitterly.
"You think you can calibrate my heart?"
Her whisper cut through the silence.
"Let's see whose system endures longer—yours, or my will."
---
Elsewhere, beneath the same fading night.
Kane leaned against the armored truck, eyes fixed on the ruined skyline.
Wind scraped across his half-healed wound, burning faintly.
He touched the scar; lightning still throbbed beneath the skin.
"You're not fully healed," Elena said, setting a steaming cup beside him.
"Keep pushing like this, you'll break."
Kane gave a short laugh. "I've broken before."
"That was your body," she murmured. "Don't let it be your mind."
He was silent for a while.
"You know," he said at last, "that day in Sector 13—I saw her."
"Su Li?"
"Yeah. On the tower. Wind at her back. She looked like she was on fire."
Elena lowered her gaze. "That wasn't an illusion."
"I know." Kane looked toward the faint light edging the horizon.
"She's betting her life. We won't let it be in vain."
Ling Yan approached, terminal in hand.
"Yuna's scrubbed the traces. We've got a twenty-hour window."
"Enough to infiltrate?" Lain asked.
Ling Yan nodded, his tone calm, his eyes burning.
"Enough to start a war."
Kane drew his gloves tight.
Wind tore at their cloaks; ash swirled up from the cracked ground.
In the newborn light, the ash glimmered faintly—
as if last night's fire refused to die.
Elena's voice was barely a breath.
"Su Li… we'll find you."
Kane didn't answer. The wind carried his whisper away:
"Wait for me."
The sky brightened.
Far across the wastes, the E.DEN tower loomed through the fog,
its summit bleeding a cold white light—like an open wound.
Flame Squad's banner rose once more.
The wind swept over each hardened face, carrying both warmth and defiance.
It was the color of dawn.
Ash pierced by light—
and a new war awakening.