The tunnel's walls hummed faintly, the mechanical voice fading into silence.
Adrian's flashlight trembled slightly in his grip as he scanned the darkness ahead.
"Stay close to me," he murmured.
Lena didn't answer. She was still staring at the place where the words Subject 01 had echoed from the shadows, her heartbeat loud in her ears.
They walked deeper, the air growing colder. The tunnel widened into a metal corridor lined with glass panels—each one blackened from smoke and age. Inside the panels, faint outlines of machines slept beneath layers of dust.
"Was this where your father worked?" Lena asked.
Adrian nodded once. "The original Phoenix lab. I thought it was destroyed."
"Then what is all this?"
He shone his light across a console, his voice rough. "Proof that someone rebuilt it… and kept it running."
---
A faint hum rose from somewhere behind them.
Lena spun, her light cutting through the gloom. "Adrian—"
Before she could finish, a figure stepped from the shadows.
Dr. Alvarez.
Her white coat was streaked with soot, her calm eyes now sharp and cold.
"Doctor," Adrian said slowly, his tone half disbelief, half fury. "Why?"
Alvarez sighed, lowering the small pistol in her hand but keeping it ready. "You think I wanted this? Victor gave me no choice. They said if I didn't cooperate, they'd finish what Marcus started—with her."
Lena's stomach twisted. "You could've told us."
"And said what?" the doctor snapped. "That the government still owns your DNA? That the project never ended?"
Adrian's voice hardened. "You experimented on her mind."
Alvarez's hands shook. "I tried to fix what was done! You think you can live with those memories, Miss Hart? You think you'd survive the truth?"
"I'd rather drown in truth than choke on lies," Lena said.
---
The doctor's expression cracked for a moment—regret flickering in her eyes. "He used you both," she whispered. "Marcus wanted to rebuild memory to erase guilt. But guilt is what makes us human."
"Where's Victor now?" Adrian demanded.
Before Alvarez could answer, a sudden alarm shrieked through the corridor. Red lights flared, painting the walls in warning.
Alvarez's face drained of color. "He's coming. He knows you're here."
Adrian raised his gun. "You led him to us."
She shook her head frantically. "No! He tracked the signal when I brought you in. I was supposed to stall you until he arrived."
"Then you've done your job," Adrian said coldly.
Alvarez stepped back. "Please. There's still time to run."
Lena's voice trembled. "Why help us now?"
"Because," Alvarez said softly, "Marcus once saved my daughter's life. I owed him a debt… but I won't owe Victor my soul."
---
She turned, typing something rapidly into the console. The alarms shifted tone—from warning to countdown.
"What did you do?" Adrian barked.
"Set the system to self-purge," she said. "Everything here will be wiped in five minutes. If Victor wants his data, he'll have to pull it from the ashes."
Lena grabbed her arm. "Come with us."
The doctor smiled sadly. "I can't. Someone has to stay to make sure it finishes."
"Doctor—"
But before Lena could say more, Alvarez pressed a key and slammed a gate shut between them.
"Run," she said through the glass. "And don't look back."
---
Adrian pulled Lena away just as gunfire erupted from the far end of the tunnel. The red lights strobed, illuminating Victor Hale and his men flooding in through the smoke.
"Move!" Adrian shouted.
They sprinted down a narrow passage, the roar of machines and the crack of gunfire chasing them. Heat rippled through the corridor as flames ignited behind them—Alvarez's final act of defiance.
They burst through a side door and into the rain-soaked night just as the ground rumbled beneath their feet. The lab collapsed inward, swallowed by fire.
Lena stumbled to her knees, staring at the rising smoke. "She stayed behind."
Adrian's voice was quiet. "She bought us time."
---
A single black car waited at the edge of the ruins. Adrian recognized it instantly—his own, though he hadn't parked it there.
On the windshield, a small silver bracelet glinted in the headlights.
Lena picked it up. The engraving was new.
> Trust is the first to burn.
Her hand trembled. "He's always one step ahead."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "Not for long."
They climbed into the car. The engine started automatically—no key, no button, as if summoned by unseen hands.
On the dashboard screen, words appeared:
> HELLO, ADRIAN. READY FOR ROUND TWO?
---
Lena looked at him, fear and fury battling in her eyes. "What now?"
Adrian's expression hardened. "Now we stop running."
The car sped into the storm, the glow of the burning lab fading behind them.
Somewhere in the flames, a voice whispered through the static of the destroyed intercom—Dr. Alvarez's final words.
> "Phoenix… always rises."