Ripples of Awakening

Location: Tavara – Northern Intelligence Hub, Operations Bunker

Ashford stood before the large, panoramic monitor, eyes fixed on the real-time satellite feed of Raven Safehouse Echo. The aftermath of the battle was unmistakable—collapsed corridors, scorched entry points, and residual heat signatures from high-energy discharges.

Behind him, the control room buzzed with low chatter and blinking consoles. Operatives moved with urgency, parsing through data, piecing together what had transpired. But even with all the tech, one fact stood out above all others: Subject Theta had awakened in full.

He turned as Damien's image stabilized on the holo-screen. Blood streaked his cheek. Nora was beside him, silent but alert. Behind them stood Theta, her aura now calmer, though unmistakably changed.

"You're telling me Mireille had access to the Legacy Directive and used it on Theta?" Ashford's voice was sharp.

Damien nodded grimly. "Not only that—she almost succeeded. But something inside Theta rejected the override. She's not just a subject anymore, Ash. She's evolving."

Ashford pinched the bridge of his nose. "This changes everything."

"She didn't kill Mireille," Nora said, stepping forward. "She chose not to. That means something."

Ashford's gaze shifted to Theta, who met it with unnerving clarity. "Why didn't you?"

Theta's voice was calm. "Because she's not the enemy anymore. She's the symptom."

There was a pause.

"Then who's the disease?" Ashford asked.

Theta's eyes narrowed. "The one who created the Directive. The one who laid the groundwork long before any of us were born."

Nora's breath caught. "You don't mean—"

"Yes," Theta said. "My father. And yours."

Silence. Even the ambient noise in the bunker seemed to vanish.

Damien stepped in. "We don't act on assumptions."

"I'm not guessing," Theta replied. "I remember now. Bits and fragments are falling back into place. Our families—our bloodlines—were never victims of war. They were architects of it."

Ashford sat down heavily, the weight of her words settling like a stone. "Then everything we thought we knew about the Raven Project…"

"Was only the surface," Damien finished.

A junior operative rushed into the room. "Sir, we've decrypted part of the remaining Falcon Protocol files. You're going to want to see this."

The screen behind them changed.

Lines of code transformed into schematics.

A facility—underground, massive—hidden beneath a remote glacier off the Tavaran border.

Ashford stood slowly. "It's real. The Citadel."

Damien's jaw clenched. "Then that's our next destination."

Nora nodded. "We end this where it began."

Ashford turned to Theta. "Can we count on you?"

Theta glanced at Damien and Nora—her newfound allies. "You can count on all of us."

Then, as if fate itself responded to their resolve, the room's emergency lights flashed red.

INCOMING ASSAULT: WESTERN FRONTIER BASE – LEVEL 6 BREACH.

Ashford grimaced. "Looks like they're not giving us time to breathe."

Damien smirked, already turning. "Then we take the fight to them."

And so, the ripple turned into a wave—spreading, crashing, reshaping everything they thought they knew.

This was no longer just a mission.

It was a reckoning.