Chapter 13: Echo Protocol
579 Words
The city looked different from above.
Aria stood on the rooftop of an unfinished high-rise, wind pulling at her hair as dawn bled slowly across the skyline.
Below, the world moved normally.
Traffic. People. Noise.
They had no idea what was buried beneath them.
Damian watched her from a distance. “You haven’t slept.”
“I don’t need to.”
That unsettled him.
She turned from the edge. “Project Lazarus wasn’t centralized.”
“No.”
“It was compartmentalized. Independent cells. Isolated labs.”
He nodded slowly. “In case one was exposed.”
“They wouldn’t risk a single server,” she continued. “Too vulnerable.”
Damian stepped closer. “So what are you thinking?”
“They built redundancy into people.”
Silence.
“You mean—”
“I’m not the only key.”
As if summoned by the thought, her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Damian stiffened. “Don’t.”
She answered anyway.
Static.
Then breathing.
Controlled.
Familiar.
“Hello, Aria.”
Her pulse didn’t change.
“You know my name,” she replied calmly.
“I know what you are.”
A male voice. Young. But hollow.
“Where are you?” she asked.
A faint laugh.
“Closer than you think.”
The call ended.
Damian moved instantly to trace it, but she stopped him.
“He wanted us to try.”
Below them, across the street, a man stood motionless on another rooftop.
Watching.
Same stillness.
Same posture.
Same awareness.
Her reflection.
He raised his hand slightly in acknowledgment.
Then jumped.
Damian cursed and ran to the ledge.
The man didn’t fall.
He landed three floors down, rolled flawlessly, and disappeared into the building opposite.
Aria didn’t move.
Her mind was racing.
“He’s activated,” she said softly.
Damian turned to her. “He’s unstable.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“He’s disciplined.”
The phone buzzed again.
This time a message.
ECHO SUBJECT: ONLINE
Attached: a set of coordinates.
Damian looked at the screen. “That’s outside the city.”
“A testing site,” she replied instantly.
“You recognize it?”
“I remember the smell.”
His jaw tightened.
“This could be a trap.”
She looked at him calmly. “Of course it is.”
Wind howled around them.
“If there are others,” she continued, “Marcus won’t control them all.”
“And you think you can?”
She met his gaze evenly.
“No.”
A beat passed.
“But I can reach them first.”
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message.
TWO KEYS REQUIRED
Damian saw it too.
He looked back at her slowly.
“You.”
“And him,” she finished.
Somewhere in the city, another enhanced survivor was moving.
Not hunting Marcus.
Not hunting Aria.
Hunting something else.
And if he reached the coordinates first—
Whatever was waiting there would unlock.
Aria stepped toward the stairwell.
“We move now.”
Damian followed, tension coiling in his shoulders.
“Aria,” he said carefully.
She paused.
“If he’s like you… and he’s unstable…”
Her expression darkened slightly.
“Then we don’t let him break first.”
Far across the city, inside a darkened room, a young man stared at a screen displaying Aria’s location.
His eyes were emotionless.
Calculating.
A voice behind him whispered:
“Phase Two begins.”
And the war stopped being personal.
It became evolutionary.
- Writer
