The Eclipse Protocol

The Red Room didn't just shake—it screamed.

Concrete rained from the ceiling like rotten teeth. Kieran threw himself over Lana as a steel beam crashed where her head had been seconds before. Dust choked the air, thick with the smell of ozone and spilled cryo-fluid.

Jason stood frozen, his face pale under the strobing emergency lights. His words still hung between them like a noose:

"I'm Eclipse's sleeper agent."

Lana shoved Kieran off her, claws punching from her fingertips. "How long?" Blood trickled from her temple where debris had grazed her. "When did you sell us out?"

"I didn't—!" Jason flinched as LC-07's tank shuddered beside him. The creature inside pressed tiny hands against the glass, black-red eyes fixed on Lana. "Evelyn planted me! To protect you from them!" He gestured wildly at the ceiling. "Eclipse is coming! They want it!"

Kieran snarled—a sound that vibrated the cracked tiles underfoot. His pupils bled from storm-gray to molten gold. "Protect her? By leading killers here?"

CRACK!

A fissure split the wall. Beyond it, Lana saw figures rappelling down from the shattered ceiling—men in bone-white armor, helmets glowing with pale blue optics. Eclipse Troopers.

Jason lunged for the main terminal, yanking a silver pendant from his neck—a double helix swimming with liquid light. "Evelyn's backdoor! Swipe it on the—"

Kieran grabbed his wrist. "Why should we trust you?"

"Because I loved her too!" Jason's voice broke. "And she died because I hesitated!"

Lana's breath caught. He was there. When Mom died.

Before she could speak, the terminal exploded.

The blast threw Lana backward. She hit the floor hard, LC-07's tank rolling from her grip. Glass shattered. Cryo-fluid soaked her jeans, freezing her skin.

"Kieran!" Kieran hauled her up as gunfire chewed the wall behind them.

Jason slammed his pendant into a secondary console. "Here! NOW!" A section of the floor hissed open—a jagged maw leading into darkness.

Kieran didn't hesitate. He shoved Lana toward the hole. "Go!"

She jumped.

Cold, wet air swallowed her. She landed ankle-deep in foul-smelling water. Above, Kieran fought two Eclipse troopers—claws against neural batons. Jason scrambled down after her, clutching a bleeding arm.

"Kieran!" Lana screamed.

He dropped, landing catlike beside her as a trooper's body tumbled after him—throat torn open.

The hatch sealed above them. Darkness swallowed everything.

Jason flicked a lighter. The flame revealed a tunnel carved from raw stone, dripping with slime. "Evelyn's escape route. Follow the pipes."

Kieran gripped his shoulder. Blood soaked his torn shirt. "Eclipse poison," he rasped. "Slows healing." Black veins crawled toward his collarbone.

Lana's throat tightened. She scooped LC-07 from the wreckage of its tank. The creature—no bigger than a toddler—shivered against her chest, its obsidian skin icy. "It's alive," she whispered.

"For now," Kieran said grimly. "Move."

They waded through stagnant water. The tunnel narrowed, forcing them single-file. Lana focused on the rhythm of her footsteps—anything to drown out Jason's ragged breathing and Kieran's pained grunts.

"Why?" she asked suddenly. "Why help us if Eclipse owns you?"

Jason didn't look back. "Because your mother saw the future. She knew Noctis would fall. Knew Vanir would merge with Eclipse. Knew Lysander would become… what he is." His voice dropped. "She built me to be your shield. But Eclipse reprogrammed me. Put triggers in my head. Sleeper commands."

Kieran's growl echoed off the walls. "What commands?"

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

Jason froze. Pale blue light flooded his eyes. His head jerked toward LC-07.

"Directive activated: Retrieve Omega Asset."

He lunged.

Lana twisted away. Jason's fingers scraped LC-07's skin, leaving smears of blood.

"Jason! Fight it!"

Kieran tackled him. They crashed into the sludge. Water splashed as they grappled—Kieran weakened by poison, Jason fueled by artificial fury.

"Asset LC-01," Jason chanted, his voice robotic. "Surrender the Omega."

Lana flinched. Asset LC-01. Her mother's clinical designation for her.

Kieran pinned Jason, claws at his throat. "Wake. Up."

THWIP!

A neural dart buried itself in Kieran's neck. He convulsed, collapsing into the muck.

Lana whirled. Eclipse troopers dropped from ventilation shafts ahead, weapons humming. Their leader stepped forward—bald, with a pulsing neural implant on his temple.

"Director Alden sends his regards," he sneered. "And the Omega."

Lana backed against the slimy wall, LC-07 clutched tight. The creature's eyes met hers—ancient and terrified.

What would Mom do?

The answer came like a hammer blow:

Break everything.

She slammed LC-07's body onto the tunnel floor.

Glass shattered. Cryo-fluid spread like liquid frost.

Silence.

Then—a wet, gasping cough.

LC-07 crawled from the wreckage. It raised its head, obsidian skin gleaming under the troopers' helmet lights.

"…Mother?"

The Eclipse leader laughed. "Pathetic." He raised a neural disruptor. "Target acqui—"

LC-07 tilted its head.

SCREEEEEEE!

The sound didn't hit Lana's ears—it exploded inside her skull. Troopers screamed, clawing at their helmets as neural implants shorted out in sprays of sparks.

Lana dropped to her knees, blood dripping from her nose. "Stop! Please!"

The screeching ceased. LC-07 crawled into her lap, shivering. Its skin was parchment-thin, veins glowing silver beneath.

Jason groaned, rubbing his temples. The blue light in his eyes had vanished. "Lana…?"

The Eclipse leader staggered up, his implant sparking. "Freak!" He lunged, a vibro-blade flashing—

SNAP!

Kieran stood behind him, holding the man's broken neck. His eyes glowed full gold, fur receding from his jawline. He dropped the corpse.

"Nobody touches her."

LC-07 whimpered, burying its face in Lana's shirt.

Kieran stared at the creature. "What is it?"

"Her name," Lana whispered, cradling it, "is Nyx."

They emerged in a derelict subway station. Moonlight bled through cracks in the ceiling, painting the rubble in silver and shadow.

Jason bandaged Kieran's shoulder with strips torn from his shirt. "Eclipse will scorch the city to find us now."

Kieran watched Lana rock Nyx. The creature had fallen asleep, its breathing soft as snowfall. "We need shelter. Somewhere they won't look."

Lana touched her mother's pendant—a tiny silver wolf. "I know a place."

She led them to a rusted service door stenciled:

CARTER GENETICS - LAB 1

Kieran forced it open. Dust cascaded like grey snow. Inside, motion-sensor lights flickered on, revealing a small lab frozen in time. Microscopes. Gene sequencers. A cot piled with moth-eaten blankets.

A faded photograph sat on a desk:

Evelyn Carter, laughing, holding a baby Lana.

Nyx stirred, pointing at the photo.

"Grandmother."

Kieran tensed. "It speaks?"

"She," Lana corrected softly. "And she's hungry."

As Nyx nuzzled her neck, Lana's eyes glowed gold in the dark.

Mom… what did you make?

Outside, a shadow detached from the tunnel wall.

Specter. She licked fresh blood from her claws, smiling at the security camera above Lab 1's door.

"Found you, big sister."