A name that shouldn't exist

Tricia's pulse thundered in her ears. The armed agents moved swiftly, surrounding her before she had time to react. She raised her hands slowly, her eyes locking onto Director Rhodes, who sat unfazed behind her desk.

"You set me up," Tricia said, her voice steady despite the rage bubbling beneath the surface.

Rhodes smiled coldly. "You walked in here expecting the truth. But did you really think it would be that simple?"

Tricia glanced toward the file still resting on the desk. The answers she had risked everything for, so close, yet just out of reach.

Two agents grabbed her arms, yanking them behind her back. She didn't resist. Not yet. She needed to think.

Rhodes leaned forward. "You're lucky, you know. Most people who dig too deep into S.O.L.A.C.E. don't get the courtesy of an audience."

Tricia clenched her jaw. "And who exactly am I speaking to?"

Rhodes let out a quiet laugh. "Not me."

The door behind her creaked open.

Footsteps. Slow. Measured.

Tricia forced herself to remain still as the presence approached. There was something eerily familiar about the rhythm of the steps, something that made the hairs on her arms stand on end.

Then, the voice. Deep. Unshaken. Calculated.

"It's been a long time, Tricia."

She turned.

And the world tilted beneath her feet.

Standing before her was Voss.

The man she had been hunting. The ghost who had manipulated her from the beginning.

But there was one problem.

Voss was supposed to be dead.

The Face of a Ghost

The air in the room shifted, suffocating with the weight of unspoken truths.

Tricia's mind reeled. She had seen the reports. The wreckage. The deaths he orchestrated.

But now, he stood in front of her. Alive.

A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Tricia's muscles coiled with tension. "You're dead."

"Clearly not." Voss spread his arms. "And you, my dear, are just as persistent as I expected."

Rhodes spoke up. "Kieran has been waiting for this moment for a long time."

Tricia's mind spun, connecting dots she hadn't even known existed. "You were never just a scientist."

Voss chuckled. "Oh, Tricia. S.O.L.A.C.E. was never about science."

Her blood ran cold. "Then what was it about?"

Voss tilted his head. "Control."

Tricia clenched her fists. "You experimented on children. You erased their memories, stripped them of their lives."

Voss took a slow step forward. "I perfected them."

Rage twisted inside her. "You turned them into weapons."

"And some weapons," he said, eyes gleaming, "are too valuable to destroy."

The Truth That Changes Everything

Tricia gritted her teeth. "What do you want from me?"

Voss sighed, as if disappointed. "You still don't see it, do you?"

She refused to respond.

Rhodes stepped beside him. "Kieran isn't just the leader of Project S.O.L.A.C.E., Tricia. He is the project."

Tricia's breath hitched. "What does that mean?"

Voss met her gaze, and for the first time, she saw something chilling in his expression, ownership.

"It means," he said slowly, "that you belong to me."

The words slammed into her like a sledgehammer.

No.

No.

She was not one of them.

She had escaped. She had survived.

Voss continued. "You weren't just another test subject, Tricia. You were the prototype. The blueprint. Every subject that came after you was modeled from the groundwork laid in your mind."

Her stomach twisted. "That's a lie."

"Is it?" Voss raised an eyebrow. "Or do you already feel it, deep inside? The gaps in your memory. The instincts you shouldn't have. The nightmares that don't belong to you."

Tricia's breath turned shallow.

She had always wondered why she was different. Why she was able to fight back when others couldn't.

Why she had survived when so many hadn't.

Rhodes slid the file toward her. "Go on. Read it. See for yourself."

Tricia hesitated.

The men loosened their grip and let her hands free.

Then, with a steady hand, she flipped open the first page.

The document was old. Stamped with government insignias, marked with redacted lines of text.

And then she saw it.

SUBJECT 01: TRICIA HALE.

The room spun.

Voss watched her reaction with quiet amusement. "Now you understand."

Her lungs constricted. Her vision blurred.

No.

This was impossible.

She wasn't his creation. She wasn't his,

"You were the first, Tricia." Voss's voice was gentle, coaxing. "The one who proved it could work. That we could erase, rebuild, and create something better."

Voss leaned in, his voice a whisper. "And now, it's time for you to come home."

Tricia's fingers tightened around the file.

Her entire body trembled.

Then, slowly, she lifted her eyes, and smiled.

Voss's expression flickered with confusion.

"Home?" she whispered, stepping closer.

The agents in the room tensed. Jared's voice crackled in her hidden earpiece, panic lacing his words. "Tricia, what the hell are you doing? Get out of there, now."

But Tricia wasn't listening.

She was already reaching for the gun tucked in Rhodes's holster.

She moved before anyone could stop her.

One shot.

Straight at Voss.

But the bullet never hit its mark.

Because, with an almost effortless motion, Voss caught it.

His hand closed around the shell, the metal glinting under the overhead light.

Then, he smirked.

"Now, now," he murmured. "Let's not be dramatic."

And with that, the world exploded into chaos.