The elevator chimed softly as it reached Sublevel Two.Adrian stepped out, the faint metallic echo of his shoes slicing through the silence. The emergency lights painted everything in shades of crimson — too quiet, too still.
"Lydia?" he called out.
No answer.
He pulled out his flashlight, sweeping it across the hall. A security door stood ajar at the end — the one leading to the safe room.His stomach tightened.
He pushed it open.
Inside, the monitors were still running. A single screen flickered, looping the same audio clip again and again — fragmented words, barely audible through static.
"…contain the situation… if he refuses, remove him quietly…""…Vance can't go public…"
And beneath it, a voice Adrian recognized immediately — his father's.
He froze. The sound of it hit him harder than he expected — a voice he hadn't heard since childhood, now cold, commanding.
"This isn't murder. It's preservation."
A soft sound came from behind him.
He turned sharply.
Lydia stood near the entrance, her face pale, her eyes wide and glistening with something between fear and disbelief.
"Lydia…" he began.
"You knew." Her voice trembled, quiet but sharp as glass. "All this time, you knew your father ordered—"
"I didn't," he said quickly, stepping forward. "I just found this."
"Then how do you explain this?" she said, throwing a small drive onto the desk. "It was hidden in your private archive, Adrian! The same code signature, same encryption as the other files!"
He looked down at the drive — his own encryption, yes… but from years ago.His past life.
Before the rebirth.
No… not again.
He took a slow breath. "Lydia, listen to me. I didn't hide that file. Someone's using my old data from before—"
"Before what?" she cut in. "Before your rebirth? Before you decided to rewrite everything like you're the victim?"
Her words hit deeper than he expected.Because she wasn't entirely wrong.
"Lydia," he said softly, "I'm not trying to rewrite the past. I'm trying to fix it."
She stared at him — anger flickering into confusion, then something sadder."I believed in you," she whispered. "I thought we were uncovering a cover-up, not creating one."
He stepped closer. "And we still are. But this—this isn't the whole picture. My father wasn't a killer."
"Then explain the order in his own voice!"
"I can't," he admitted, his voice dropping low. "Not yet. But if there's one thing I've learned… it's that every truth comes wrapped in someone's lie."
Before Lydia could respond, the building's lights cut out completely.Darkness swallowed the room, followed by the hum of a power surge. Adrian moved instantly, reaching for her arm.
"Stay behind me."
The door slammed shut with a metallic click — automatic lockdown.
The speakers came alive, a distorted voice echoing through them:
"Vance. Ward. Harris. All tied to the same root. The tree dies tonight."
Adrian's jaw clenched. "Who are you?"
Static.
Then, faintly: "The one your father tried to erase."
A mechanical hiss filled the air — gas release.
Adrian pulled Lydia toward the emergency hatch on the floor. "Go! Vent shaft, now!"
They dropped into the narrow crawlspace, coughing as the smoke spread.The heat sensors above sparked — someone was burning evidence, sealing every room.
As they crawled through the passage, Lydia whispered, "They're not after the files. They're after you."
He didn't answer. His mind was spinning too fast.Whoever orchestrated this — the message, the blackout, the gas — wasn't just erasing traces of the past.
They were erasing him.
Minutes later, they emerged into an underground parking bay.The smell of oil and burnt wiring filled the air. Adrian pulled out his communicator and sent a single encrypted ping to his AI contact.
Status:Code Black. Initiate Shadow Protocol.
The system confirmed, and a sleek black car unlocked itself a few meters away.
Lydia caught her breath, still shaken. "Where do we go?"
"Somewhere even ghosts don't know how to find," Adrian said, starting the engine.
As they drove off, she looked out the window, voice soft:"You really think your father was innocent?"
He stared ahead, the city lights flickering across his face."I think," he said finally, "he was guilty of trying to protect something far worse."
Far above them, in Ward Corporation's top floor, Elena Ward stood at her window, watching the smoke rising from Vance Tower in the distance.
Her phone buzzed — a single message flashing across the screen.
Phase One complete. Vance in motion.
She didn't reply.Just whispered to herself, almost sadly:
"Let's see if you can survive this one, Adrian."