Chapter 17: Phase Five

It took Reese two days to crack the encryption.

He didn't eat much.

Barely slept.

Stayed locked in the tech room with cables hanging like vines and screens flickering like lightning storms.

The rest of us waited.

Patrolled.

Healed.

Prepared.

Because if the Hollow had Phase Four… we needed to know what Phase Five was.

Before they did.

It happened at 3:17 a.m.

Reese stumbled into the main chamber, hair a mess, eyes wild, holding the chip like it had just started whispering to him.

"It's not a message," he said.

"It's a map."

The table filled with light.

Holograms pulsed in perfect synchronicity.

Layer by layer.

The city's blueprints.

Every street.

Every power grid.

Every League node and Hollow stronghold.

But beneath that—deep below—was something else.

A buried facility.

Not listed on any record.

Not mentioned in the vault.

Not even whispered by Delryn's insider contacts.

Just coordinates.

Under the city.

A thousand feet below the central transport station.

Marked only with one name:

"Project: Origin."

Echo stood slowly.

"What is this?"

Reese zoomed in.

The deeper the scan went, the stranger it looked.

Not just servers.

Not cells.

A chamber.

Sphere-shaped.

Lined with conduits.

And at its center?

A power source.

Not tech.

Not nuclear.

Not even entirely… physical.

"Looks like energy," Reese muttered. "But alive."

"Artificial?" Delryn asked,

Reese shook his head. "No. I think it's sentient."

I stared at the sphere.

The hairs on my neck stood up.

I'd felt something like this before.

At Sector Zero.

In the vault.

In the girl.

"What if it's not just powering the city?" I asked.

Reese frowned. "You think it's… connected?"

"I think it is the connection."

Phase Five wasn't just a strike plan.

It was the endgame.

The Hollow didn't want to destroy the League.

They wanted to reach Origin.

Whatever that was.

And either free it… or destroy it.

But the worst part?

The League wanted it too.

Delryn found the file hidden under a false label.

A single word:

"Override."

She opened it.

A video played.

Grainy.

Old.

A League officer—gray uniform, general's stars.

Speaking into the camera.

"If you're watching this, the chain of command has failed. Project Origin cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands. If containment breaks, protocol is full erasure. Level Eight clearance required. Collateral acceptable."

The video ended.

"They've been hiding this thing for years," Echo said.

Delryn crossed her arms. "And they're willing to wipe a city to protect it."

Reese looked at me.

His voice quiet.

"Whatever's down there… it's bigger than all of us."

I sat down.

Hard.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

All this time, we thought we were fighting over control.

Freedom.

Justice.

But it was about this.

About what lay beneath our feet.

The League feared it.

The Hollow wanted it.

And we were caught between both.

"What do we do?" Delryn asked,

The room fell silent.

All eyes on me again.

I hated that part.

But I'd grown used to it.

I stood.

Stared at the map.

At the blinking dot buried deep beneath the city.

And said the only thing that made sense.

"We go down."

The plan came together fast.

We couldn't wait.

The Hollow was moving.

So was the League.

We had to reach Origin before anyone else.

And we had to do it quiet.

No explosives.

No warpath.

Just speed, skill, and enough power to break through without breaking everything.

We split into three teams.

Team One: Me, Echo, and Reese.

We'd enter from the north tunnel, closest to the access shaft on the map.

Team Two: Delryn and Synn—south approach, to distract any scouts and shut down alarms.

Team Three: Backup. Four Nulls waiting at emergency extraction points aboveground.

Time window: ninety minutes.

No second chances.

We moved at dusk.

The city buzzed with tension.

Protests, smoke, drones drifting like vultures.

The world felt thinner.

Like it was holding its breath.

Inside the tunnel, the hum started almost immediately.

Faint at first.

Then stronger.

The closer we got to Origin, the heavier the air became.

Like gravity itself was thicker.

Even my powers felt… pulled.

Drawn inward.

Reese stumbled once. "I feel like my skin's turning inside out."

Echo didn't speak.

But her eyes glowed brighter than I'd ever seen.

We reached the core door.

Steel.

Thick.

Alive.

The moment we touched it, it responded.

Flickered.

Buzzed.

Then… opened.

Inside was light.

But not artificial.

It pulsed.

Blue-gold.

Rhythmic.

And at the center, floating in a cradle of metal?

A sphere.

Seven feet wide.

Spinning slowly.

Breathing.

Alive.

We stepped in.

And I heard her voice.

Not the vault girl.

Not anyone I knew.

Just a whisper in my mind:

"I see you."

I staggered.

Echo caught my arm.

Reese fell to one knee.

His nose bled.

But he stared at the sphere like it was a god.

A screen blinked to life.

Data streamed across it.

From the League.

From the Hollow.

From us.

Everything.

Years of files.

Names.

Missions.

Deaths.

Lies.

All stored inside the sphere.

Not just a power source.

A memory.

A witness.

"This thing…" Reese whispered. "It's been watching everything."

"And maybe nudging it," Echo added.

Another file opened.

Phase Six.

No title.

Just a timer.

Counting down.

Seven hours.

Twelve minutes.

Nine seconds.

"What happens when it hits zero?" I asked.

The whisper returned.

This time louder.

"Collapse."

I stumbled back.

Echo steadied me.

The sphere began pulsing faster.

Like a heartbeat in panic.

"Shut it down!" I shouted.

"I don't know how!" Reese screamed.

The screen shifted again.

And showed an image.

Not a map.

Not a strike.

Me.

Standing at the Divide's first rally.

Hands glowing.

Eyes burning.

The caption read:

"Anchor."

I looked at Reese.

"What does that mean?"

He blinked hard.

Then whispered, "I think you're the fail-safe."