The Loyalty Test

The sky over Blackridge was gray when the summons came. No thunder, no lightning—just a quiet message delivered through Lucas's Cipher ring. A pulsing black light. A single word appeared on his encrypted screen: Ascend.

Lucas knew what it meant. Cipher was calling him deeper into the fold. He was being tested.

He met Ava and Kai at their usual rendezvous beneath the academy, their voices low beneath the rumble of passing trains.

"They're pulling you in fast," Ava said, studying his face. "Too fast."

Lucas shrugged, trying to stay calm. "Maybe I'm just that charming."

Kai didn't laugh. "They're testing you. This won't be a mission. It'll be a trap."

Lucas leaned against a rusted pillar. "I'm already on the inside. If I back out now, they'll know. We lose everything."

Ava stepped forward and pressed something small and round into his palm. "This mic links directly to us. No matter where they take you, we'll be listening."

Lucas nodded and slipped it into his collar.

That night, he followed the ring's pulsing signal to the top floor of Blackridge's north tower. A hidden elevator waited behind a panel in the wall. As soon as he stepped inside, the doors slid shut and the floor began to descend—deep below the earth.

When the elevator stopped, Lucas found himself in a cavernous room filled with black screens, glowing red data lines, and the soft hum of invisible machinery. Waiting for him in the center was a man in a charcoal-gray suit with silver eyes and a voice like silk over steel.

"I'm Cipher," the man said. "The real one."

Lucas didn't speak. He'd imagined this moment so many times. In every version, Cipher was a shadow. A ghost. He didn't expect him to be… this calm. This human.

"You've done well," Cipher continued, walking slowly around him. "Agent Voss says you're promising. That you think differently. And that's what we need."

Lucas stayed silent, calculating. Waiting.

"I have one final task," Cipher said. "Complete it, and you'll be one of us."

A door opened. Two guards dragged in a prisoner, hooded and bound. They dropped him at Lucas's feet.

Cipher leaned close. "He was spying on our operations. We believe he's working with MAYHEM. I want you to finish him."

Lucas's heart slammed against his ribs. He glanced at the prisoner—then back at Cipher.

He needed to stall.

"What if he talks?" Lucas asked.

Cipher smiled slightly. "He won't."

The guards handed Lucas a pulse pistol. Fully charged. The weight in his hand felt heavier than anything he'd carried before.

His mic buzzed faintly in his ear. Ava's voice whispered: "Don't do it, Lucas. We're tracing your location. Just keep him talking."

Lucas raised the pistol slowly, pretending to aim at the prisoner. "Before I do anything," he said, "I want to know something."

Cipher tilted his head. "Curious. Go on."

"Why me?" Lucas asked. "Why pull me into this? You could've chosen anyone."

Cipher studied him, then said, "Because you're the echo of a ghost I couldn't kill. You carry Agent Zero's instincts. His questions. His doubt. I want to see if I can shape them into something better."

Lucas smiled faintly. "You're not great at compliments."

Cipher chuckled. "I'm better at building legacies."

Lucas turned back to the prisoner and, in one quick motion, fired—at the floor.

Smoke exploded across the room.

Kai crashed in through the ceiling panel a second later, throwing a flash grenade into the control booth. Alarms blared as Ava's voice shouted through the comms: "Extraction in forty seconds!"

Cipher's eyes narrowed. "Disappointing."

Lucas sprinted toward the prisoner, ripping off the hood. The man looked up, dazed—but familiar.

Lucas froze. "Mr. Ramos?"

His old high school science teacher blinked at him. "Lucas? What the hell are you doing here?"

"No time," Lucas snapped, cutting the restraints.

Kai landed beside them. "We've got to move!"

Cipher raised one hand and the floor panels shifted, revealing automated drones rising from beneath. "Kill them all."

The room turned into chaos. Drones fired stun bolts. Lucas and Kai ducked behind a column, returning fire with shock pistols. Ava's voice was shouting directions into their earpieces.

"Left corridor, then up the vent shaft—now!"

Lucas dragged Ramos with him, dodging fire, slipping through smoke and alarms. He leapt into the shaft just as the drones locked onto their position. A final blast rocked the tunnel behind them as the entrance collapsed.

When they emerged into the night air above the cliffs beyond Blackridge, the stars never looked so bright.

An extraction van waited nearby. Ava was already behind the wheel. They piled in and sped away as Cipher's compound lit up behind them.

Lucas sat back, heart pounding.

Mr. Ramos coughed and looked at him. "You got taller."

Lucas grinned. "You got captured."

Ava glanced at him through the rearview mirror. "Well? How did the job interview go?"

Lucas sighed. "He said I was an echo of Agent Zero."

Kai whistled. "Pretty poetic for a supervillain."

Lucas looked down at the ring still glowing faintly on his finger.

"I think he meant it," he said quietly. "And I think we just showed him… echoes can still fight back."