Pelumi_David

“Heroes killed my parents. Now I wear the mask of one. Until I can bury them all.”
At seven years old, Hernan Vale watched his parents — two powerful heroes — brutally executed in their own home by the very people they trusted most: the legendary super-team known as the Zodiac 13.
They thought he was dead.
 They made sure the world blamed villains.
 They covered their tracks.
 But Hernan survived — and never forgot.
Ten years later, under a false name, Hernan enters the prestigious Hero Academy, hailed as a prodigy. To the world, he’s a rising star. To his classmates, he’s charming, calm, unstoppable.
But inside?
 He’s a weapon. Waiting. Smiling. Counting names.
As he trains to become a licensed hero, fights real villains, and rises through the ranks, Hernan plays the long game — earning the trust of the Zodiac, learning their routines, studying their weaknesses. One by one, he’ll bring them down.
And this time, he won’t hide in the closet.
But the deeper he goes, the more blood he spills — the more he wonders if he’s becoming worse than the monsters he’s hunting.
 And when love, loyalty, and lies collide, Hernan may have to decide:
Will he save the world like they think he will...
 or finish burning it down?

BLOODCAPE

They built the clone. They wrote the script. They embedded control into her breath. But Echo walked off the stage — and now she's coming back with a pen of her own.

Scene: Sector 9 — Refuge Enclave, 2:30 a.m.

The room was dim. Underground. Reinforced.

And Echo sat across from Rook Vale for the first time.

He just watched her — this girl who looked like Ava but moved with hesitation.

Ava stood behind him, arms crossed, unreadable.

Then Echo slid a chip across the table.

Tessa joined them fifteen minutes later with Aya in tow.

The chip uploaded directly to an off-grid terminal.

Blueprints. Thousands of them.

But the entire psychological conditioning framework Concord used to build obedience into Ava, Echo, and the 17 other clones that never made it to activation.

Most were tagged FAILED.

One was marked DECOMMISSIONED: SENTIENT RESPONSE – CLASS RED.

DR. KALEN VIREXProject Lead. Founder of Celestial Psychology. Original Echo Designer.

Scene: Deep Lab Overview – File Logs

"Subject E-3 responded to emotion triggers at 73.4% reliability.Implanted Ava memory loop corrupted after 18 days.Emotional autonomy approaching critical mass. Recommend reset."

"Note: E-3 has begun drawing without prompt. Unscheduled sketches reflect unknown source — possibly organic recall. Terminate if behavior persists."

"I saw a hand. Reaching.I didn't know whose it was.But I wanted to take it."

Coordinates: Virex Station, Black Sub-Tier Facility 14.

Buried beneath a decommissioned science wing. Fully Concord-sealed.

The room shifted as a 3D hologram of the full lab interior bloomed upward.

"I can get us in.Not because I remember it.But because they left me with the lock."

Scene: Ava Alone – Observation Room

Later, Ava stood watching Echo sleep in a makeshift cot.

Ava's internal monologue logged quietly:

"What they tried to replicate… was never the glitch."

"It was the moment I decided to be more than what they gave me."

"And now she has it too."

Scene: Final Planning Table – Project Reclamation Initiated

Rook dropped the next mission title into the command slate.

PROJECT: RECLAMATIONObjective 1: Infiltrate Virex LabObjective 2: Extract surviving data and clonesObjective 3: Detain or destroy Dr. Kalen Virex

Echo added one last line in her own handwriting:

"We're not breaking in to burn it."

"We're going to take back what they stole."

Chapter 56: Project Reclamation