Episode 21
4:42 a.m. — Cain-Moretti Estate, East Wing Infirmary
Nira lay still beneath a heat blanket, eyelids fluttering. The sedative worked to dull her pain, but not the memories.
She whimpered.
Lucien watched her through the reinforced glass. "How long until she can talk?"
Dr. Miko crossed her arms. "Physically? A day. Mentally? Maybe never."
"She's stronger than that."
"She also spent seventy-two hours being reconditioned by Warden," Miko said softly. "What they used wasn't just psychological. It was empathic programming. Memory inversion, grief loops, auditory conditioning."
Lucien's fingers clenched. "They're using people's pasts as weapons."
Miko nodded. "It's not just war anymore. It's redefinition."
⎯
6:15 a.m. — Cain-Moretti Estate, Courtyard
Cassian stood in the grass barefoot, watching the sunrise. Sera joined him with a steaming mug of cocoa. He didn't turn.
"Mom?"
She froze. "What did you say?"
He looked up. "Is it okay if I call you that?"
Tears rose without warning.
She knelt. "You can call me anything."
Cassian whispered, "They tried to make me forget you. But you kept coming back. In dreams. Like a fire I couldn't put out."
Sera pulled him into her arms. "No matter what they take from us — we get to keep what we choose."
⎯
9:00 a.m. — Cain-Moretti HQ, Black Conference Room
Vivienne tapped the encrypted map on the screen.
"This is where they moved Warden's operations — out of Europe. The servers now route through Jakarta, but the power core is housed in South Korea. Underground. Remote."
Lucien leaned forward. "What's it protecting?"
"Not just files," Collins said. "Test subjects. All psychological prototypes Halberd couldn't control — those they locked away."
Sera's voice was low. "So they learned from their failures."
Vivienne added, "We have two options. One: breach and burn. Two: extract the remaining survivors."
Lucien didn't hesitate. "We do both."
⎯
10:45 a.m. — Cain-Moretti Hangar
The strike team loaded up. Vivienne, Collins, and Sera suited up. Lucien stood at the command panel, inputting coordinates.
Sera came to him. "You don't have to go."
He looked at her.
"I left too many ghosts in places like this. It's time I bring some of them home."
She touched his cheek. "Then we make sure this time, we come back."
He smiled faintly. "Together."
⎯
3:22 p.m. — South Korea, Hwaeom Mountain Bunker
The snowstorm raged outside. The Cain-Moretti team descended the final slope with stealth bikes and activated exo-suits. The bunker was hidden beneath a decommissioned weather station — layers of titanium doors and infrared sensors.
Vivienne synced to the internal network.
"Signal dampened. But there's movement — thirty meters underground."
Lucien cocked his weapon. "Then we're knocking."
⎯
4:04 p.m. — Sublevel Omega
The air was hot. Too hot.
Lucien swept the first hallway. Empty. Then the lights flickered — and a sound echoed.
Crying.
Sera paused. "That's a child."
They followed it.
Down four halls.
To a cell.
Inside — a boy. Age seven. Blonde. Wild-eyed.
He looked up as they entered.
"Are you real?"
Lucien knelt. "Yeah, kid. We're real."
The boy blinked. "They said I'd forget everything. But I still remember the screams."
Sera pressed a soft hand to his back. "Not anymore. You're safe now."
Behind them, a siren blared.
Collins shouted through comms. "The servers triggered an auto-wipe. Fifteen minutes till meltdown."
Lucien lifted the boy.
"Time to go."
⎯
4:22 p.m. — Upper Corridor
As they ascended, gunfire cracked behind them.
Two Halberd guards emerged, firing plasma rounds. Sera dropped one clean. Lucien shielded the child, bullets ringing off his vest.
Vivienne deployed smoke.
In the chaos, another figure stepped forward.
Tall. Thin.
Warden.
Lucien froze.
"Drop your weapons," Warden said, voice calm.
"You're outnumbered," Sera snapped.
Warden raised his hands.
"I'm not here to fight."
Lucien frowned. "Why?"
Warden tilted his head. "Because you already won. This facility is gone. But others remain."
"Then why show yourself?" Lucien asked.
"To warn you," Warden said. "What's coming next isn't Halberd. It's worse."
⎯
4:28 p.m. — Extraction Helicopter
The boy clung to Lucien's coat.
Vivienne watched the receding bunker. "We should've killed Warden."
Lucien shook his head. "He wanted to be seen. That's not like him. He wanted us to know he's not in charge anymore."
Sera exhaled. "Then who is?"
No one spoke.
The only sound was the whir of blades.
⎯
9:10 p.m. — Cain-Moretti Estate
Nira sat at the piano in the east parlor. Her fingers hovered above the keys. Slowly, she played a melody — fractured, imperfect.
Cassian approached.
"Can I sit?"
She nodded.
He touched the lower keys.
"Are you better?"
Nira said nothing for a long time.
Then: "I don't know."
"But you're not alone."
Her lips trembled.
Then she began to play again — this time with him.
⎯
10:34 p.m. — Private Quarters
Lucien lay beside Sera in silence. Moonlight spilled through the tall windows. She traced the scar on his chest.
"We'll never be normal, will we?"
"No," he whispered. "But we can be real."
She kissed him gently.
"I'd rather bleed beside you than sleep in peace without you."
He smiled.
Then paused.
"They're planning something bigger. Something global. Warden was just a prelude."
Sera nodded. "Then we hit them first."
He reached for her hand.
"And we do it together."