Chapter 9 – The Weapon She Was (Continued)
1039 Words
Nova didn't sleep again.
Her body lay still in Cassian’s bed, but her mind refused to rest. Every time she blinked, the darkness cracked open, spilling distorted images—metal walls, rubber gloves, red stains. The humming of machines. And always, the screaming. Her screaming.
But this time, the dream changed.
In the vision, she wasn’t strapped down. She was standing.
And everyone else… was running from her.
In her hands, she held a blade.
It was dripping.
Her own reflection stared back at her from a glass panel. Not frightened. Not confused. But cold. Fierce.
Smiling.
She jolted upright with a gasp, drenched in sweat, heart thundering in her chest like a war drum.
Cassian stirred beside her. “Another one?”
Nova nodded. “Worse than before.”
He reached for her, but she slid out of bed, grabbing her clothes and the tablet.
“I need answers. I can’t keep doing this.”
He followed her into the living room where city lights flickered through the windows, casting eerie shapes across the floor.
“We know where they are,” he said softly. “At least close enough. Lark sent over a scrambled signal ping from one of their internal access cards. It’s dirty, but we cleaned up the data.”
“And?”
“There’s a location—abandoned biotech facility 200 kilometers north, near Lake Halden.”
Nova stared out the window, fists clenched. “Then we go.”
Twelve hours later, they reached the outskirts of the abandoned facility.
It was cloaked in mist and silence, tucked deep into pine-covered hills. The building was shaped like a bunker, its roof half collapsed, vines crawling over the concrete. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than another forgotten government shell.
But underground?
Something very alive pulsed beneath.
Cassian parked the SUV behind a cluster of old supply crates. Nova zipped up her black thermal jacket, her eyes already scanning the perimeter.
“You sure about this?” he asked.
“No.”
She adjusted the small comm-link in her ear. “But I’m going in.”
Cassian moved to join her.
Nova stopped him. “No. You’ll be the backup. If I don’t come back in 30 minutes, you pull me out.”
He looked like he wanted to argue. But he didn’t. He just handed her a sidearm.
“Don’t die,” he said.
“I’ll try.”
She slipped inside through a rusted side door.
And the air changed immediately.
It was cold. Too cold. The kind of cold that came from machines running beneath your feet, not weather. The scent of bleach and blood still lingered in the walls. Lights flickered faintly down the hallway, powered by some hidden generator.
As she moved deeper, memories began to throb in her skull.
Hallways she knew. Doors she’d walked through. The metallic clang of boots. Her name—or was it a number?—echoing through the speakers.
She passed a corridor lined with empty cells.
Stopped in front of one with a rusted mirror inside.
And she saw her reflection again.
Except it wasn’t her.
It was a version of her she hadn’t become yet.
Hair slicked back. Blood on her cheek. Eyes dead.
Just then, a voice whispered behind her.
“You came back.”
Nova turned so fast her boots scraped the floor.
A man stood at the end of the hall.
Unarmed. Young. Maybe thirty. Tall, with glasses and a lab coat streaked in dust.
She raised the gun. “Don’t move.”
He didn’t. He lifted his hands. “I’m not your enemy.”
“Name.”
“Dr. Isaac Vonn. Neuro-link technician. I helped monitor your cognition sessions.”
Nova’s lip curled. “You helped torture me.”
“No,” he said quietly. “I helped protect you. Every time Orion tried to push your consciousness over the edge, I pulled it back. I changed your dosage. I hid your EEG spikes.”
“Why?”
“Because you reminded me of my sister. She died in here. Subject 03. You were the only one who fought back.”
Nova didn’t lower the gun.
“I know things,” he said. “Things Orion doesn’t even know I still have.”
“Show me.”
He motioned her to follow.
They descended three levels underground, through a broken elevator shaft, into what looked like an observation center. The walls were lined with monitors, some shattered, some blinking faintly.
He powered one on manually.
A screen buzzed to life.
Surveillance footage began to play.
And Nova saw herself.
In a padded room. Screaming at a wall.
Only this time—it was different.
There was another woman in the room.
Strapped down.
Not Nova.
Another girl.
And the girl was identical to her.
Down to the scar beneath her left eye.
Nova staggered back.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Isaac swallowed. “Her name was Vega. Subject 08. She was your clone.”
Nova’s breath hitched.
“They made her after you escaped. Tried to recreate your resistance. But it failed. She rejected the memory override. She... she went feral. Killed two guards. Then herself.”
Nova’s knees nearly buckled.
Cassian’s voice crackled in her ear. “Nova, your vitals just spiked. What’s happening?”
She didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
Because suddenly the memories weren’t just coming back. They were bleeding into her mind like ink in water.
She remembered Vega.
The girl who looked like her. Moved like her. Screamed like her.
She remembered watching her die.
She remembered what Orion whispered into her ear afterward.
“There’s only one of you, Nova. And soon, you’ll belong to me completely.”
She dropped to her knees.
But then—something snapped.
Not in fear.
In fire.
Her heartbeat slowed. Her vision sharpened.
And she stood.
Gun in hand.
“I’m done being haunted,” she said. “Tell me where Orion is.”
Isaac hesitated. “He’s off-grid. But he always returns to the core facility. Two floors below. Lab Zeta. That’s where the last active testing is still happening.”
Nova stepped forward.
“You’re coming with me.”
- Writer
