Chapter 32: Ash Protocol
The silence after battle was deceptive. The echo of collapsing walls, the fading hum of the Reaper network dying, it all seemed to dissolve into the rising wind of the ashlands. The fire had subsided, but the heat remained—clinging to their skin, their lungs, and their minds.
Mason sat with his back against a rusted panel, arm protectively curled around Liana, who leaned into him, her breathing even now, soft. Her wounds had been bandaged, the adrenaline faded, but her heartbeat hadn't slowed. Not completely. Not while she lay there pressed against him, her face half-hidden against his chest.
Daniel was ten meters away, seated against a collapsed steel beam, watching them. His side ached—not just from the healing wound, but from something deeper. He remembered last night.
The moment he'd stirred, the painkillers dulling everything but his ears. The soft gasps. The whispered names. Her voice.
Liana.
Not just Liana. Liana with Mason.
The sound of her laughing gently, breathless between kisses.
His fingers tightened around the strap of his rifle.
He told himself it didn't matter. That what they did was none of his concern. But it wasn't just any woman. It was her. The one who had dragged him out of ruin a dozen times. The one who used to reach for his hand first.
Now she reached for Mason.
He turned his face away, blinking fast.
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🌫️ Outer Perimeter – Ashlands, 04:43 AM
"Wake up," Liana murmured to Mason, kissing the side of his jaw.
He stirred. The sky above had paled to early dawn. The ash was lighter now—less choking. Their shelter had held through the night.
"We need to move."
Mason stretched and kissed her briefly. "One more minute."
"No," she said, sitting up. "Ash Protocol's location won't wait."
Daniel was already up, avoiding eye contact, double-checking his rifle.
"Where's the drive?" he asked, voice clipped.
Mason pulled it from his coat. "Here. We can track the source server from it."
They began walking.
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⛓️ Zone Theta – Memory Wreck
The terrain changed as they approached the coordinates. Jagged server spires jutted from the ground like broken bones. The land here had once been part of the primary neural network that powered the original Reaper project—now reduced to ruin. But one server remained online, buried under ash and silence.
The Ash Protocol.
They stood before a shattered facility, half-submerged in black sand. Mason scanned the air.
"EM field is unstable here," he noted. "Something's still active."
Liana turned toward a collapsed doorway, her eyes narrowing. "I can feel it. There's something familiar."
Daniel was the first to step in. Torchlight revealed the descent—an intact stairwell spiraling into the dark.
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🌀 Ash Core Chamber
At the base of the structure, a massive chamber flickered to life as they entered. Lights buzzed. A screen unfolded from the wall.
And in the center of the room… a containment pod.
Within it—her.
Liana gasped.
It was her. Or someone who looked just like her. Same face. Same body. But she was suspended in cryostasis, tubes feeding into her arms, her chest rising and falling with mechanical rhythm.
Daniel stared.
Mason froze.
"That's not possible," Liana whispered. "That can't be me."
A distorted voice rang through the room.
> "Ash Protocol recognized. Command Presence: Unauthorized. Scanning genetic signature… Match: 98.2%."
"She's not you," Mason said slowly. "But she was... before you."
Daniel looked between them. "You're a clone."
Liana staggered back, rage and disbelief contorting her face. "No. I was born. I remember things. I have a past."
Mason caught her. "You were born, Li. But maybe not the way they told you."
The pod hissed. The clone's eyes fluttered open.
Mason raised his weapon. Daniel joined him.
"Stand down," Liana said sharply.
The clone stared at her with glassy, unfocused eyes.
> "You're not the first," she said softly. "I was. Before they copied the fire."
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🔧 Ash Protocol Engagement
Before they could respond, alarms screamed.
"Multiple targets inbound!" Mason yelled, checking the feed. "Reaper-2's signal just triangulated here."
Outside, the ash shifted.
A new Reaper unit rose—sleeker, faster, more brutal. Its head snapped toward the building.
"MOVE!" Daniel shouted.
Gunfire erupted. The clone fell back into the pod, curling in on herself. Liana fired at the approaching drones.
Mason grabbed her. "We need to destroy the server. The protocol lives in this core."
Liana hesitated.
The clone reached out to her. "They'll never let you live as you are. But maybe I can end it."
Liana looked to Mason.
He nodded.
She pressed the emergency purge.
The pod hissed. The clone smiled faintly, lips whispering something inaudible.
Then the chamber went white with flame.
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🏃♀️ Retreat – Minutes Later
Covered in ash, blood, and fire, the three escaped into the upper levels. Daniel was limping again, but silent.
They didn't speak as they found a recon hideout two kilometers out.
Not until night fell.
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🔥 That Night – Tension Unspoken
Daniel sat cleaning his weapon. The wind outside howled.
Mason was off checking the perimeter. Liana walked in, sat across from Daniel.
"You haven't said a word to me since we left the server."
He shrugged. "Not much to say."
"That's not true."
Silence.
"I didn't mean for things to go the way they did," she added softly.
Daniel looked at her finally, his eyes hard. "Did you? Didn't you choose him?"
Liana's breath hitched.
"You were unconscious, Daniel. Bleeding out. I thought we were all going to die. And Mason... he was there. We were there for each other."
He looked away.
"I know," she said. "But you also have to know—I still care about you. Just not the same way."
Daniel nodded slowly. "Yeah. I figured."
A beat.
Then, a half-smile. "But I'll still be jealous when he touches you."
Liana laughed softly. "I'd be insulted if you weren't."
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🌘 Edge of the Ashlands – Moments Before Dawn
Mason returned. His coat was torn, his face smudged with soot. But he smiled when he saw them talking again.
Liana stood and walked to him. He wrapped an arm around her.
Daniel turned away and said nothing.
The wind carried a whisper—metallic, electric.
Something was coming.
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🔥 PROMO – Chapter 33: "The Ghost Signal"
> When the remnants of the Ash Protocol trigger a forgotten beacon, the team is forced to head into the wreckage of an orbital uplink station long thought dead.
But something inside is still awake.
And it remembers Liana.
> Next time on The Silent Core: Chapter 33 – "The Ghost Signal."