Chapter 16 – The Phoenix Protocol
1166 Words
The morning after capturing Sera Kim was anything but ordinary.
Gone was the illusion of a normal university life. Gone were the lingering hopes of blending in. What remained was the cold, calculating weight of impending war.
I stared at the decoded screen, still running deep diagnostics on Sera’s memory chip. Jungkook and Taehyung stood behind me in silence.
> Activation Time Remaining: 68 hours 32 minutes
Phase Omega had begun ticking.
And unless we moved first, we’d be nothing more than ghosts in a classified folder.
"She wasn't lying," I muttered. "She really did try to delay the upload. These corrupted entries—this was her doing."
Taehyung folded his arms. “So… do we trust her?”
I turned toward Sera. She was unconscious on the couch, still under the mild sedative Jungkook had given her. Her face looked softer now, almost childlike. But that didn't erase the fact that she’d tried to betray me.
“No,” Jungkook answered for me. “But she’s our only way in.”
---
We needed a plan.
Leonhart was still missing, Soobin was compromised, and Raven… well, Raven was only in this for the war. Not for us.
Which meant the Phoenix Protocol was our only card left to play.
It was something I’d hidden even from myself. Buried deep in a vault only I could access, hidden behind layers of misdirection and old-agent codes, the Phoenix Protocol was never meant to be activated… unless my identity was threatened beyond recovery.
And it was.
But activating it came at a cost.
Once launched, the protocol would not only expose Phase Omega’s deepest secrets—it would also mark me for immediate execution by the agency.
Burn notice. Full-spectrum alert.
I looked at my reflection in the black screen of the laptop.
Was I ready?
---
1:34 PM – Rooftop Garden, North Wing
Taehyung leaned against the rail, a soda in one hand and his eyes on the city skyline.
“I’ve never seen you like this,” he said when I joined him.
“Like what?”
“So… human.”
I raised a brow. “Thanks, I guess?”
He smirked. “No, I mean it. Back when we met, you felt distant—like a perfect statue. Untouchable. But now…”
He paused, serious now. “Now you’re breaking rules. Letting people in. Feeding us lunch. Sharing your dessert.”
That made me laugh—just a little. “Don’t get used to the dessert.”
We stood there for a long time, the silence oddly comforting.
Finally, he asked the question I was dreading. “After this war ends… what happens to us?”
I turned to him.
“To us, or to me?”
He didn’t answer. And I didn’t either.
Because deep down, we both knew—if I survived this, I wouldn’t be the same.
---
Meanwhile, Jungkook had taken Sera to a hidden room in the library’s lower archives—the kind of place that didn’t exist on any university map. A war bunker of the academic elite.
“Is she awake?” I asked, stepping in.
Sera blinked slowly, wrists unbound but body still trembling from fear and exhaustion. “I thought you were going to kill me.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes. “If we wanted to, we would’ve let the agency take you.”
She looked at me. “You’re Phoenix. I’ve read your file. You’re not just a legend. You’re their worst nightmare.”
“I want to be their last one too,” I said coldly. “Help me access the Core. The mainframe behind Phase Omega. You have access. Use it.”
Sera shook her head. “Even if I do… the Core is located in Sector 9. That’s deep inside Helix Tower. Guarded by neural recognition, two-layer biometrics, and retina locks.”
I smirked. “Good thing I have the original retina.”
“You’ll still need a handler pass to get through the first door.”
Jungkook tossed her the file she handed Raven. “You mean this?”
Sera’s eyes widened. “You intercepted it?”
“We’re better than we look,” Taehyung said from the door.
“We leave tonight,” I declared. “Pack light. No trackers. No comms. We breach Helix at 3:00 AM.”
Sera looked between us. “If we get caught—”
“We don’t,” I said.
Because we couldn’t afford to.
---
2:59 AM – Outside Helix Tower
The city slept unaware, unaware that just one wrong move tonight could determine the fate of millions.
Jungkook disabled the outer surveillance loop with a simple EMP pulse. Taehyung guided us through the maintenance shaft, while Sera uploaded our forged credentials into the agency’s inactive servers—servers she once monitored as an embedded agent.
I took the lead.
As we entered the lower corridors, I could feel the past clawing at my skin.
This was where I was made.
This was where I was caged.
And now, I would burn it all.
---
03:18 AM – Core Access Hall
Three doors.
Three codes.
Three chances.
I pressed my retina against the first scanner. It whirred, blinked… then flashed green.
[Access Granted: Phoenix-01]
Next, Sera input her handler key.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Green again.
The final door required two keys, turned at the same time.
Jungkook and Taehyung looked at each other, then turned them.
Click.
The vault hissed open, steam flooding out as we entered the heart of the beast.
The Core.
---
It pulsed like a living thing—towers of information, cables humming with energy, and at the center…
The control panel.
I approached it like a soldier walking into her last battle.
Sera handed me the device. “Once you insert this, your entire memory will be uploaded. If they’re tracking you, they’ll know exactly where you are.”
“I want them to,” I said.
I inserted the Phoenix Protocol chip.
The screen blinked.
> PHOENIX PROTOCOL ACTIVATED
Target: Phase Omega
Status: Uploading… 4%… 18%…
Suddenly, red lights flared.
Sirens.
Someone had triggered an internal lock.
“They’re here!” Jungkook shouted.
From behind the vault walls, footsteps echoed.
Taehyung raised his blade.
“I’ve got the right flank,” he said, voice calm.
“No,” I said, staring at the screen.
> 64%…
“Hold the door. You both. I’ll finish this.”
Jungkook growled. “You’ll die in here.”
I turned to him, eyes soft.
“No. I’ll rise.”
The door slammed shut behind them. I re-engaged the vault lock.
They pounded on it.
But I had made my choice.
> 98%... 99%... 100%...
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
I turned just in time to face the figures entering from the other side.
Agency soldiers.
Guns raised.
And I… just smiled.
Because they were too late.
The world now knew.
Phoenix was never a threat.
Phoenix was the truth.
---
End of Chapter 16
- Writer
