Chapter 21: In the Belly of the Flame

The air inside the hidden Jeju compound tasted like sterile death metal, chemicals, and scorched ozone. Lucien Ricci stepped through the shattered corridor with his Glock drawn low, flashlight slicing through the haze. His mind was still processing the coded intel Yuna had sent moments before the blackout. Project Phoenix had evolved. Again.

Behind him, Kazuo Shin moved silently, blades drawn rather than a firearm his Sable instincts flaring. "They were experimenting here," he muttered, scanning the empty operating rooms. "But it's not just genetics. It's integration. Synthetic memory overlays, neural reconditioning. This is war prep."

Lucien nodded grimly. His fingers brushed a wall panel coated in blood, and the holographic interface flickered alive. A distorted voice spoke through the static:

"Protocol Ignition initiated. All subjects marked K-Class must be contained. Firebreak engaged."

A low rumble vibrated the floor beneath them. The lab wasn't just abandoned it was rigged to burn.

"Phoenix always erases its sins," Lucien said darkly.

They turned the next corner into a central atrium. Steel tables lay overturned. Screens displayed corrupted images of young adults names, data streams, DNA sequences running like fire across the code. One name looped repeatedly on a cracked monitor: Kim Hyun-Ki.

Lucien stared.

Yuna's brother.

Alive. Here.

But something was wrong with the face on the screen. The eyes were unrecognizable cold, pale, and haunted. And then the power cut out again, plunging the facility into pitch black.

Ten Hours Earlier – Seoul

Yuna Kim leaned over the terminal inside the Ricci Korea satellite base, fingers flying across encrypted pathways as she traced the last data packet from Jeju. Her body still trembled from the surge of energy earlier that day her power had activated again, in full force. She barely controlled it. The Phoenix strain inside her was waking up.

Min-Jae hovered near the door, watching with silent worry. "You shouldn't be doing this alone. Whatever you saw in Jeju, it triggered your power."

Yuna ignored him, focused on the DNA logs. The names lined up like a dirge children born in the '90s, orphaned, marked with test IDs, experimented on. But one name locked her breath in her throat: K-001. The very first experiment. The anomaly. The only one still marked "active."

Kim Hyun-Ki. Her brother.

He had vanished after the fire that killed their parents. Everyone assumed he died in it. But the Phoenix files told another story he'd been taken. By Drevin. Tested. Weaponized.

And he might still be in Jeju.

Yuna whispered, "He's alive."

Min-Jae moved beside her, cautious. "Then we need Lucien."

"He's already there," Yuna said. "But if he finds Hyun-Ki first… I don't know what state he'll be in. I need to go."

"You'll lose control again."

"I don't care. If I don't go now, we might never find him."

Back in Jeju – Present

Kazuo scanned the ceiling. "Something's watching us."

"Not something," Lucien murmured. "Someone."

He activated a pocket drone, which zipped through the corridors ahead. The footage streamed into his contact lens. The drone paused at a sealed chamber marked K-Class Subject 001.

Inside, standing motionless, was a man in a hospital gown tall, lean, with cables attached to his spine. His eyes stared directly at the drone.

Then he moved faster than the feed could process, lunging, smashing the camera.

Lucien flinched.

"That's him," Kazuo said. "Your girl's brother."

Lucien narrowed his eyes. "He's not human anymore."

They moved fast, guns up, toward the containment chamber. The door was already open, pried loose from the inside.

Empty.

The only trace left was a message carved into the steel with fingernails:

"FIRE CLEANSES ALL LIES."

The facility shook again.

Lucien tapped his comm. "Amari. Report."

Her voice crackled from the jet outside. "We've got a storm coming in. Sensors just picked up seismic charges under the lab. It's set to implode."

"How long?"

"Seven minutes."

Lucien's voice turned sharp. "Prep for evac. We'll extract the subject or burn with him."

Elsewhere in Jeju

Hyun-Ki moved barefoot across the compound's upper level, eyes scanning walls he didn't recognize yet felt deep in his bones. Flashes of his past flickered being dragged into cold metal rooms, needles in his arms, doctors whispering about K-Classes. He didn't remember his sister's name, but her face haunted his dreams.

He whispered it now.

"Yuna."

The name stung his skull. A suppressed memory unlocked: her crying by the fire, screaming as masked men took him away.

Something in him snapped. The Phoenix strain surged through his veins, pulsing red behind his eyes. He didn't know who he was anymore only that someone had stolen everything from him.

They would all burn for it.

Underground Sector – Two Minutes Left

Lucien and Kazuo reached the core generator. The seismic detonators were wired directly into the fusion cells classic Drevin design. Self-destruction meant no one could salvage data, not even other Syndicates.

Lucien crouched at the control panel. "I can reroute the core surge. Give us time."

Kazuo's voice tightened. "I'll cover you. But if that kid shows up again"

"He won't," Lucien interrupted. "Not yet. He's hunting memories."

Above them, a scream echoed through the steel ducts a sound between anguish and rage.

Hyun-Ki.

Lucien froze.

"He knows we're here."

Near the Extraction Point – 60 Seconds

Yuna dropped from the descending jet platform, running across the broken tarmac toward the facility. Flames licked at the compound edges. Amari called after her, but she didn't stop.

She felt him.

Her brother.

Alive. But twisted. Tainted by years of pain.

She entered the facility just as the emergency lights failed completely.

And then she saw him.

Hyun-Ki stood at the far end of the hallway, shirtless, eyes glowing with Phoenix fire. Wires trailed from his back. He blinked once, and recognition flickered.

"...Yuna?"

Tears welled in her eyes. "It's me. It's me."

He stepped closer. Then winced, clutching his head. "They… told me you were dead. They made me forget. Why did they..."

The explosion ripped through the left wall. The corridor shook.

Lucien tackled them both to the ground just as flames erupted.

He shouted, "Move! We're out of time!"

Extraction – Seconds Before Detonation

Lucien, Yuna, Kazuo, and Hyun-Ki burst from the collapsing corridor, sprinting toward the jet ramp as it descended. Amari leaned out, firing suppressive rounds at falling debris.

Hyun-Ki collapsed at the foot of the ramp, convulsing. The strain had destabilized him.

Yuna clutched him, tears mixing with ash. "I found you. I found you, oppa. Please stay with me."

Lucien grabbed her shoulder. "We have to go. Now!"

The ramp lifted just as the compound behind them erupted in a roaring fireball, lighting up the Jeju sky like a phoenix reborn.

Inside the jet, silence fell.

Hyun-Ki's breathing steadied, unconscious in Yuna's arms.

Lucien looked out the window, jaw set. "This war just changed."