CHAPTER 32: THE VAULT
No one spoke when the signal appeared.
The moment the Vault pinged from the Moon's surface, the Beacon network adjusted like it had been waiting for it to happen. Light curved toward the sky. Pulse readings shifted. And the entire world held its breath.
Anthony stared at the signal on Confidence's display.
> "New Source: Lunar Origin"
"Designation: VAULT-ONE"
"Status: UNLOCKED"
"Message Waiting…"
Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes. "You sure this isn't some weird satellite relay?"
"No," Confidence replied. "Whatever it is... it's not man-made. And it's not broadcasting to Earth."
Ken raised a brow. "Then what's it doing?"
Anthony answered quietly.
"It's calling me."
---
Hours later, in a hidden hangar near Kainji Lake, the squad gathered in front of a stolen E.E.A. orbital drop ship — repurposed, reinforced, and ready to fly.
Confidence patched into its systems while Emmy calibrated the Beacon stabilizer in the cargo bay. Ken loaded weapons into racks along the wall, humming a war hymn he half-remembered from old Pulse resistance broadcasts.
Chi-Chi stood beside Anthony on the loading ramp, scanning the distant sky.
"You sure you're ready for this?"
Anthony didn't answer immediately.
Then: "No. But I wasn't ready for the Pulse either."
She smirked. "Fair."
---
Inside the ship, Emmy tapped the Vault message one last time.
> "Voice File: Pre-Pulse Era. Unclassified ID."
"Code Fragment: STK-01-L"
"Timestamp: 12 years before Event Zero."
She hit play.
A woman's voice echoed in the ship.
Calm. Clear. Familiar.
> "If you're hearing this, you made it through the collapse. That means the experiment worked."
"That means he lived."
"His name was always meant to be Anthony. Not Unit Zero. Not Subject-X."
"He's more than a container. He's a choice."
"Don't let the Watchers decide for him. And if he makes it to the Vault… tell him I'm proud."
The file cut.
Silence.
Emmy turned.
Anthony was frozen.
Chi-Chi stepped closer. "Do you know who that was?"
He nodded once.
"My mother."
---
He'd never heard her voice before.
Never even seen a real photo.
Only clinical records. DNA tags. Cold files stamped "Deceased — Classified Loss."
But now, in a digital vault buried in the Moon's surface, she had left him a path.
---
As they strapped in for launch, Confidence ran diagnostics. "Everything's stable. But we'll only have two hours of shielding before the drop ship starts screaming for air."
Ken cracked his neck. "That's okay. I only need one to blow something up."
Emmy slid into her seat beside Anthony. "I still don't know what's inside the Vault, but… I think your answers are there."
Anthony looked at her.
"Not just mine."
She tilted her head.
"Everyone's."
---
The engines ignited.
Pulse thrusters roared.
And for the first time, the Ghost Squad left Earth.
As the atmosphere fell behind them, clouds swirled into memory.
Chi-Chi sat beside Anthony in the cockpit, guiding the controls.
He watched her hands — steady, precise.
"You're not nervous?" he asked.
She snorted. "I'm piloting a stolen government ship into space with a ticking Beacon reactor and a half-stable god sitting next to me. Of course I'm nervous."
He smiled. "Still here, though."
She turned.
"Still yours."
---
The Moon approached fast — a pale graveyard in space.
And in the shadow of the crater known as Mare Ingenii, a black vault waited.
It wasn't buried.
It wasn't hidden.
It was waiting.
Confidence tracked the descent. "We land in ninety seconds. No defense fields, no automated turrets. Either it's safe... or it doesn't need defense."
Ken checked his last charge clip. "If anything moves, it's getting vaporized."
Emmy stood, Beacon shard pulsing in her palm. "It's not going to attack us."
Anthony looked out the window.
"It's going to judge us."
---
They landed hard.
Dust flew.
The Vault loomed before them — a monolith carved from material that didn't reflect light. It swallowed it. Smooth. Seamless. Silent.
Chi-Chi scanned it. "There's no door."
Emmy stepped forward. "There doesn't need to be."
She pressed the Beacon shard to the wall.
It dissolved.
---
Inside was a chamber of mirrors.
No walls. Just reflections.
Each mirror showed a different version of the Pulse:
A world where Anthony died as a child.
A timeline where Chi-Chi became the Prime Rewrite.
A reality where the Pulse never happened at all.
Confidence gasped. "Are these… possible futures?"
"No," Emmy said. "They're discarded ones."
Ken stepped back. "You mean someone already ran these… and deleted them?"
Anthony walked forward.
The mirrors turned to follow him.
Then, at the center of the chamber, a pedestal rose.
On it: a core of light, swirling with the same symbols that had marked him since Chapter One.
He placed his hand on it.
The Vault spoke.
> "WELCOME BACK, STARK-01."
"THE OBSERVATION IS COMPLETE."
"ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINAL TRUTH?"
He looked at Chi-Chi.
At Emmy.
At Confidence.
At Ken.
Then back at the core.
"Yes."
The light exploded.