PH_Blackwood

In a city where justice is a myth and shadows whisper louder than truth, former cop Matthew Hale walks the tightrope between redemption and ruin. Haunted by his partner's death and driven by a buried conspiracy, Hale is dragged into a secret war waged in the alleys, boardrooms, and digital backdoors of New York City.

When a crime syndicate's façade begins to splinter, a rogue AI project resurfaces—threatening to erase not just lives but identities. With enemies closing in and allies who might be traitors, Hale must trust a haunted tech prodigy, a conflicted double agent, and a detective who still believes in justice.

As the game escalates, the line between man and machine begins to blur. What began as a personal mission becomes a final stand for truth, memory, and the soul of the city.

But in New York, the ghosts never stay buried for long… and some were never truly human to begin with.

Chasing Ghosts: Echoes of Control

Moretti's voice lingered like poison in the air.

"Let's see which of you survives the reset."

Hale and the clone stared at the monitor as it went black. Then the walls shuddered again—louder this time. The sound of breach charges. The sound of Blackstar closing in.

"She's here," Hale muttered. "Or close enough to pull the strings."

The clone moved first, sprinting down the dim corridor. "We don't have time to deal with her—not yet. The core's ahead."

They reached a vault-like door—ten inches of reinforced alloy, humming with biometric sensors. Beside it, a double-panel scanner blinked red. Two handprints. Two identities.

SUBJECT M-008

SUBJECT M-007

Without speaking, they placed their palms flat against the glass.

The machine hesitated. Then beeped.

Inside was a circular chamber bathed in sterile white light. In the center: a massive cylinder of pulsing data—a live neural backup of every clone Blackstar had ever engineered. Their personalities, their memories, their control triggers. Hale could almost hear the whispers. The identities fighting for space inside that digital tomb.

"This is where they keep the minds," the clone said. "Not just yours and mine. All of us. Every experiment they ran. Every person they replaced."

Hale stepped closer. "And if we shut it down?"

"They lose everything. No way to rebuild. No way to copy or rewrite us."

"But we die with it, don't we?" Hale asked. "We're tethered to this system."

The clone didn't answer. He didn't need to.

"We trigger the wipe manually," he finally said. "It'll give us ten minutes before the data disintegrates. Long enough to escape, if we're lucky."

They stood over the console. The clone reached for the override.

A dark bloom spread across his chest.

Hale spun around, gun raised—too late.

Moretti stepped from the shadows, dressed in black, her pistol steady. A Cleaner flanked her. Silent. Motionless.

"I gave you everything," she said. "A second chance. A new life. You weren't supposed to remember."

Hale stepped in front of the console, jaw tight. "You built me in your image. Now you're scared I think for myself."

"You were never designed to think," she snapped. "You were designed to obey."

The clone collapsed to one knee, blood seeping from his side. But he was still alive—still reaching.

Hale glanced at him, then back at Moretti.

"You can't kill us both," he said.

She smiled coldly. "I don't have to. Just the one that still matters."

The clone slammed his hand onto the override.

SYSTEM WIPE INITIATED

TEN MINUTES TO TOTAL NEURAL PURGE

The lights turned red. Sirens blared. Moretti cursed—firing again.

Chapter 24 – Blood Code