Smoke still curled from the upper floors of Vance Tower, dissolving into the cold night sky.The city moved on as if nothing had happened — cars, neon lights, people rushing through the streets — all unaware that one of its power centers had just gone dark.
On the 89th floor of Ward Corporation, Elena Ward stood before a long glass wall, her reflection sharp and motionless.
Behind her, the door opened.
"Miss Ward," her assistant began carefully, "the Chairman wants to see you. Now."
She didn't turn around. "He's early."
"Yes, ma'am."
She gave a thin smile — the kind that never reached her eyes — and headed toward the private elevator.
[Ward Mansion – Private Study]
Her father, Charles Ward, sat in his armchair by the fireplace, the flames reflecting off his glasses. He was a man whose presence filled a room even when he didn't speak — and tonight, he wasn't in the mood for silence.
"Elena," he said, voice steady but cold, "care to explain why my building just made the evening news?"
She remained standing. "Damage control's already underway. Nothing public connects us."
"Nothing public," he repeated. "But internally? You've been playing your own game with the Vance boy."
Her eyes flickered — a split-second reaction she couldn't hide."I'm handling it."
He stood, walking closer. "You're not handling it. You're provoking it. Project Nadir was meant to stay buried."
"I didn't unearth it," she said quietly. "He did."
Charles stopped a few feet away, his expression unreadable."Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Yes," she said, meeting his gaze. "I've made him start asking the right questions."
"Adrian Vance is a liability, not a weapon."
"He's both," she countered. "And if you'd seen what they did to his father, you'd understand why I can't stand by anymore."
His jaw tightened. "They?"
She hesitated. "The Board. The ones who signed off on Nadir's final test."
A beat of silence.The fire crackled — soft, accusing.
"You were never supposed to know about that," Charles said finally.
She smiled faintly, bitterly. "You forget, father. You trained me to dig where I shouldn't."
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Elena… if you keep going down this path, they'll come for you too. You're already being watched."
"I've been watched my whole life," she said softly. "The only difference now is that I'm watching back."
He turned to face her fully. "You think you're protecting him — but you're not. Adrian Vance died twelve years ago."
Her heart froze.
"What?"
Charles met her gaze, calm and final."The man you're protecting… is something else."
[Meanwhile – Safehouse, Outskirts of the City]
Adrian sat by the window of a dimly lit apartment, staring at the flickering skyline. Lydia slept restlessly on the couch behind him, the exhaustion of the past 24 hours finally catching up.
His mind wouldn't stop turning.The files, his father's voice, the message — She knows now.And the whisper that haunted him since his rebirth:
"You shouldn't have come back."
He opened his wristwatch — an old heirloom of his father's — and looked inside the hidden compartment.A microchip. Engraved with a single word: "Ward."
His hand tightened around it.
"So this is where it begins…"
Outside, a sleek black sedan slowed to a stop across the street.A man in a gray trench coat stepped out, speaking into a small earpiece.
"Visual on Subject V. He's alive. Moving to next phase."
He turned toward the shadows — where another figure waited, unseen.Only the faint glow of a cigarette revealed her presence.
"Good," she said softly. "Keep him alive. For now."
Her voice was smooth, calm… and unmistakably Elena's.
[Back at Ward Mansion]
Charles Ward stood by the window long after she left, staring at the faint trail of smoke from Vance Tower.
He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out an old photo — faded, torn at the edges.
Two men stood in the picture, smiling beside a prototype server core.
Raymond Vance and Charles Ward — partners. Brothers in ambition.And behind them, scribbled faintly on the wall, were the words:
Project Nadir – Prototype Phase 0.
Charles exhaled, whispering to himself:
"I told you not to bring him back, Ray… now we'll both pay the price."