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Chapter 24: The Clone Protocol
The hum of fluorescent lights echoed off sterile white walls deep inside the Bastion Facility—a subterranean fortress buried beneath the city’s crust, invisible to satellite and shadowed from the public eye.
Subject 09 sat still in the observation chamber, a black bodysuit clinging to his frame, veins glowing faintly with bio-reactive energy. His eyes—Dante’s eyes—stared forward, unblinking.
“Vitals steady,” the technician murmured. “Neural pathways fully synchronized. Cortical stability within the 98th percentile.”
Beside the observation glass stood Celeste Romano, arms crossed, dressed in a tailored suit that gleamed under the soft blue lights of the control room. Her eyes flicked to the screen where Subject 09’s vitals pulsed in steady waves.
“He
