CHAPTER 23: DEAD MAN’S SIGNAL

The tunnel lights flickered.

Then went dark.

For a full minute, there was nothing but the sound of dripping water and breathing.

Then… the signal came.

A low-frequency pulse.

Not Beacon. Not military. Something older.

Confidence's console lit up with static.

Chi-Chi leaned over her shoulder. "Is that E.E.A. encryption?"

"No," Confidence whispered. "It's pre-Pulse tech. Hybridized. Like it was... reborn."

Anthony stepped forward, heart beating faster.

A pattern repeated across the console. Four glyphs — pulsing in crimson.

Chi-Chi read them aloud. "Signal Origin: Subject—G-212. Classification… Echo-R?"

Emmy frowned. "Echo-R?"

Ken's jaw clenched. "Resurrected."

Anthony stared at the screen as the fourth glyph decoded.

A name.

> SIMEON RICHARD.

The blood drained from Anthony's face.

"My brother is dead."

---

Two years ago, Simeon Richard had been declared lost during a Beacon breach in Kogi State — presumed consumed in a Pulse collapse. There had been no body. Just fragments of DNA, and a field of scorched ground where the Beacon had gone critical.

Anthony had never stopped hearing the echo of his brother's last message:

> "Keep your sister safe. Don't trust the ones in white coats."

Now the Riftborn were pinging that name.

Chi-Chi put a hand on his shoulder. "You sure it's not fake?"

Anthony shook his head slowly. "I felt something when the signal hit. Something familiar."

Confidence turned to him. "If they've recovered Simeon's DNA, and they're using Beacon tech…"

"They're making a soldier out of my brother."

---

Hours later, the signal pulsed again — this time from the surface.

A Riftborn carrier hovered over a demolished plaza in Abuja's old finance district, projecting a live broadcast.

No spoken words.

Just a figure walking from the smoke.

Tall. Broad shoulders. Black armor laced with glowing red seams.

His hair was shorter than Anthony remembered. His eyes burned with a foreign glow — not Vanta-blue. Rift-born red.

But it was him.

Simeon Richard.

Alive.

Or at least... something made from him.

---

Chi-Chi's voice cut across the comm line. "Anthony, don't go."

He was already moving.

"He was my brother."

"He's not anymore."

Anthony stopped at the tunnel threshold.

"I have to know if there's anything left of him."

Chi-Chi's voice was quiet. "And what if there isn't?"

---

The team rose to the surface under nightfall.

A soft rain had begun to fall, mixing with ash in the air.

The Riftborn didn't attack.

They were waiting.

As Anthony approached the plaza, the Riftborn soldiers backed off.

A path cleared.

At the center: Simeon, standing still, face unreadable.

"Anthony Richard," he said.

His voice was real. Familiar. But something underneath it echoed — like two voices layered together.

"You look like hell," Anthony said.

Simeon tilted his head. "You shouldn't have destroyed the Echo lab."

"You shouldn't be alive."

"I'm not," Simeon replied. "I'm corrected."

---

Chi-Chi stood at the edge of the plaza, eyes locked on Simeon. Every instinct in her body screamed trap — but Anthony had to see it through.

She watched as the two brothers stood less than five feet apart.

One breathing. One... possibly not.

Anthony raised his hands. "Simeon. If there's anything left of you — fight it. I know you. You wouldn't stand with these monsters."

"I was chosen," Simeon replied. "You were not."

"You told me to protect Emmy. You told me to run when the E.E.A. started testing people."

"I remember," Simeon said.

Then… his eyes flickered.

For a moment — just one breath — the glow faded.

And Anthony saw him.

The real him.

Then it was gone.

---

Simeon raised his arm.

A Riftblade unfolded from his wrist — curved, humming with anti-Beacon energy.

> "The Unmeasured is a threat to the stability of this world," Simeon said.

"My directive is to end you."

Chi-Chi moved instantly, flinging a kinetic shield between them.

The battle began.

---

Simeon was fast.

Too fast.

Chi-Chi darted left as he swung the blade, countering with a gravity punch to his ribs — but he didn't flinch. He backhanded her across the plaza like a doll.

Anthony blinked in front of her, catching her fall.

"You okay?"

"Fine," she growled, coughing. "He's using Rift anchors. You have to disrupt them or he'll phase through every hit."

Anthony stood, wiping blood from his mouth.

"I'm not fighting my brother," he whispered.

Chi-Chi grabbed his collar, yanked him close.

"Then I will," she hissed. "But you'll lose him forever."

---

The next clash was brutal.

Simeon warped between points, attacking from impossible angles.

Anthony and Chi-Chi moved in sync — one bending reality, the other reshaping physics.

But it wasn't enough.

Simeon adapted too quickly.

Every strike was a test.

Every dodge calculated.

He wasn't fighting to win.

He was fighting to analyze.

Then Chi-Chi slipped.

One kinetic jump misfired.

One Rift anchor snagged her leg midair.

Simeon was on her in a blink.

Blade raised.

No hesitation.

---

Anthony screamed.

"SIMEON, STOP!"

The blade froze inches from Chi-Chi's neck.

Simeon's hands trembled.

His eyes glitched — red flickering with Vanta-blue.

Chi-Chi didn't breathe.

Simeon stared down at her — and for a second, he spoke in a different voice.

Softer.

> "Tell... Emmy... I tried…"

Then he turned the blade toward himself.

And drove it into his chest.

---

Light exploded outward.

The Riftborn signal died instantly.

Simeon's body collapsed in a flash of static.

Gone.

Just ash and a fragment of Beacon crystal left behind.

Anthony dropped to his knees.

Chi-Chi knelt beside him, gripping his hand.

He didn't cry.

But the rain did it for him.

---

Back in the tunnels, Emmy held the Beacon fragment in silence.

"I felt him," she whispered. "Just for a second. It was him."

Anthony nodded slowly.

"He broke their programming."

Chi-Chi stepped into the room and stood beside him.

Quiet.

Then, softly:

"If you lose yourself… I'll stop you."

Anthony turned to her.

"I know."

She didn't let go of his hand this time.