Chapter 37: Shadows That Bleed

Ruins of Relay Site — 02:43 PM

The wind shifted. Not just in temperature or speed — but in weight, in presence. It carried with it more than ash now. It carried memory. Pain. Possibility.

Liana stood at the threshold of what remained of the underground complex. The hidden facility beneath the Ashlands had collapsed behind them, crushed under the tremors caused by Reaper-3's activation signal. Dust hung in the air like ghosts, refusing to settle.

Beside her, the clone — the other Liana — had her eyes fixed on the horizon, as if she could see the future unrolling like old film stock over a burning reel. Behind them, Daniel leaned against a shattered pylon, blood staining the edge of his shirt. Mason sat on a jagged rock, elbows on his knees, gaze hollow.

No one spoke for a long time.

Then finally, the clone broke the silence. "They were never going to let you be free."

Liana turned to her, her voice low. "They weren't supposed to let me survive."

Daniel spat dust. "And now we know why."

Mason didn't look up. "The Mirror Protocol wasn't just a fallback. It was a purge."

"A reset," Liana said, her voice tightening. "Destroy the original, activate a replacement. And if that failed…"

Daniel finished for her, "Burn it all down."

The clone nodded. "And now Reaper-3 is awake."

---

🛰️ Ashlands Perimeter Defense Zone — 04:10 PM

The walk to the perimeter was silent but tense. Their gear clanked quietly. The sun was beginning to set, bleeding red into the soot-gray clouds. The Ashlands responded with distant thunder—perhaps a storm, perhaps something else.

Mason stopped first.

A sensor array tower, half-collapsed, still hummed with faint energy. He crouched and accessed a backup terminal buried under loose debris. His fingers worked quickly.

"Local comms are down," he said. "But the outer defense beacons… they're blinking."

Liana frowned. "Meaning?"

"Meaning someone else is already out there. Watching us."

Daniel raised his rifle. "Is it Reaper-3?"

"No," Mason said. "Worse."

He tapped the display. An emblem flared briefly—one they hadn't seen in years.

Nova Helix Command.

The clone flinched. "I remember that name."

Daniel's face tightened. "They were disbanded."

"No," Liana corrected him. "They just went dark."

---

🛡️ Abandoned Bunker – 06:20 PM

They took shelter in a collapsed bunker east of the ruined relay site. Liana sat with her back to the wall, rifle within arm's reach. The clone sat cross-legged across from her, still clutching the blanket from earlier. Daniel was outside on watch. Mason rummaged through old supplies, trying to piece together a battery for his scanner.

"Do you remember your name?" Liana asked the clone quietly.

The clone hesitated. "I remember your name."

"That's not the same."

A long pause.

Finally, she said, "I think I was called Solace."

Liana blinked. "That wasn't a designation. That was... personal."

"I think they gave it to me before they froze me," the clone—Solace—said, voice unsteady. "To trick me. To make me feel human."

Liana nodded slowly. "You are."

Solace's eyes shimmered. "Am I? Or just a design?"

"You bleed. You hurt. You make choices. That's what makes us human."

---

💉 Flashback Sequence — Unknown Time

The lab was clean, sterile, silent.

Steel beds. Bright lights. Monitors. Tubes. Cold.

She—the original—was screaming. Not out loud, but inside. Her body jerked under restraints as currents surged through her. On the other side of the glass, scientists murmured. One of them was Mason. Younger. Less tired.

"She's adapting," archive-Mason said. "Memory cohesion is holding."

Another voice: "Initiate Mirror Sync."

Liana's back arched. And something was copied. Torn. Duplicated. Sent into the void.

Then—darkness.

---

⚡ Present – Bunker – 07:11 PM

Solace gasped, tearing out of sleep. Liana was there instantly, steadying her.

"I saw it," Solace whispered. "I saw what they did."

Liana nodded. "I remember it too. Every second."

Mason entered, holding a makeshift communicator. "Signal flare from the Helix perimeter. They're coming."

Daniel followed, rifle in hand. "How many?"

"Too many," Mason said.

"Then we split," Daniel offered. "Draw them off."

"No," Liana said. "We finish what they started."

---

🔥 Outskirts of Nova Helix Base – 09:42 PM

They crept through the skeletal remains of what used to be the Nova Helix Research Wing. Firelight danced across broken concrete and shattered glass. Drones hovered, scanning, but Liana knew their blind spots.

Inside, files were burning. Old data cores. Final purges.

Mason swore. "They're erasing Mirror."

Daniel growled. "No. They're erasing evidence."

Solace froze before a door.

"I remember this room."

They entered.

Pods. Again. But this time — empty. Not clones. Not replacements. Prototypes.

Hybrid weapons.

"Dear god," Liana whispered. "They weren't just building replacements. They were building Reaper-human hybrids."

And one pod was open.

Fresh.

---

⚔️ Encounter – 10:16 PM

From the shadows stepped a figure.

Not machine.

Not human.

Both.

Its face was almost Liana's, but not quite. Augmented. Hardened. Eyes glowing faintly.

"Protocol: Origin Confirmed," it said. "Termination required."

Solace stepped forward. "You're one of us."

The hybrid's voice was cold. "I am what you were meant to be."

Mason raised his rifle. "That's far enough."

The hybrid moved.

Faster than anything they'd seen.

Daniel fired—missed. Liana ducked. Solace screamed as the creature barreled toward them.

Then—impact.

Liana tackled it.

They crashed through the wall into the next room.

Fists. Blades. Screams. Sparks.

"I am not your failure!" Liana shouted, driving her elbow into the hybrid's neck.

"You are obsolete!" it screeched.

But Solace was already there. She held the old pulse core. She jammed it into the hybrid's chest.

Light flared.

The hybrid convulsed.

Then—silence.

Smoke.

Ash.

Breathing.

---

🌒 Ashlands – 11:55 PM

They stood outside the facility. Broken. Burned. Alive.

Liana leaned against the ruins. Solace sat beside her.

"We did it," she said softly.

"No," Liana replied. "We survived it. There's still more."

Daniel crouched near the cliffside. "I intercepted a signal."

Mason turned. "From who?"

"From whatever's deeper. Reaper-Prime."

They all froze.

Mason exhaled. "Then this was just the beginning."

Liana looked to the stars.

"Then we go further."

TO BE CONTINUED...

---

🔥 PROMO – Chapter 38: "Ashes Like Us"

> The ruins whisper of forgotten truths. As Solace begins to unravel more than just memories, Liana must confront the shape of the future — a future molded by fire, pain, and impossible choices.

> Reaper-Prime watches.

> The team fractures.

> And in the shadows — the origin is rewritten once more.

Coming soon in Chapter 38: Ashes Like Us — only in The Silent Core.