Chapter 69: Hearts of Iron
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Location: Temporary Base – Fortified Meeting Room
Everyone sat around the large table, which was nothing more than the door of an old tank salvaged from a ruin, exchanging glances in heavy silence.
Marco (tapping the table with his finger):
"Okay… we have a robot with feelings, a scientist on the run, and a map to the evil bunkers. All we need is a clown and a traveling circus."
Savio (replies sarcastically):
"I think you're the clown, but the circus has been our life since the war began."
Gabriel (looking at them absentmindedly):
"You don't understand. Phantom isn't just a machine… he took something from me. Something human."
Rocco (laughing):
"He took your salary? Your respect? Your honor? Tell me which one so we can console you."
Gabriel (in a confessional voice):
"He took my son."
Everyone fell silent. Marco stopped joking, and Savio blinked twice as if the air had become heavy.
Franco (quietly):
"Your son... is him?"
Gabriel:
"Yes. His human brain... his artificial heart... his aborted emotions. Phantom is me... and I am him."
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Colombo enters quickly, waving a strange device.
Colombo:
"I found something on the map! There's a hidden lab in the Black Valley, the last time contact with Domitian was recorded. It's the only place where satellite signals don't reach."
Irina (reading the data):
"There are electronic barriers, jamming devices, and unexplained sounds. Records say even animals refuse to go near there."
Marco (getting up):
"Unexplained sounds? Excellent. We're finally going to a place where psychological horror is not the usual bullets."
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Next Location: Black Valley - Hours Later
The air was thick, fog swirling around like ghostly fingers. The trees are twisted, as if they're watching them.
Savio (whispering):
"I feel like these trees are breathing."
Rocco (pointing to a hole):
"Oh, look! First trap! Thanks for the welcome."
Irina (analyzing magnetic fields):
"The field here... is like a heartbeat. Not human, not robotic. Something third."
Luca Ferri (in a low voice):
"It's like the Earth is watching us."
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The team entered the lab. It was dark, the walls covered in strange drawings.
And suddenly... a Phantom appeared.
Phantom (in a human voice, a mix of a child and a man):
"Why did you come? You don't belong here."
Gabriel (advancing toward him):
"To take you home, son."
Phantom:
"Home... is a ridiculous idea. Humans don't have a home. They just wander among the ashes."
Franco (raising his weapon):
"And you? Where are you traveling to?"
Phantom:
"To the past... where you were all dead... and you didn't know it yet."
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The walls explode, and robots modified with human bodies emerge, their screams a death melody.
Marco (firing):
"Ah, the bullets are back! I've been missing them! How emotional I am!"
Colombo (running with a detonator):
"I only need 20 seconds!"
Savio (covering his back):
"I'll give you 20... and four slaps if it doesn't work!"
Gabriel (approaching Phantom):
"Look at me, I'm your father!"
Phantom (coldly):
"My father died... when he decided to turn his son into a project."
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A fierce battle ensues. Franco approaches Phantom, confronting him face to face.
Franco (firmly):
"If you have a heart... prove you're alive!"
Phantom (hesitantly):
"The living... don't kill their own father."
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A massive explosion rocks the lab...
Then... silence.
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Location: Temporary Base - Hours Later
Everyone's back, exhausted. Gabriel is in intensive care. Phantom? Gone.
Franco (looking up at the sky):
"Every time we think it's the end... another face of the enemy appears."
Marco (pouring coffee):
"Well, until his new face appears... who wants coffee that tastes like burned memories?"