Chapter 13
1167 Words
*Title: Chapter 13 - Operation Ashfall*
*Word count: 1,649*
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The lab smelled like chemicals and bleach.
Ava stepped forward, hands raised. “Where’s my father?”
Selena circled her, heels clicking on steel flooring. “Safe. For now. You’re more useful alive than dead, Ava.”
Selena stopped in front of her, studying her face. “Your father’s DNA didn’t work. Yours does. You’re the key.”
Ava didn’t answer. Her eyes scanned the room. Cameras. Armed guards. A glass chamber in the center with vials of pale liquid.
“That’s it?” Ava said. “That’s Ashfall?”
Selena smiled. “Not yet. But it will be.”
She nodded to a guard. He grabbed Ava’s arm and dragged her toward the scanner by the chamber.
“Press your hand here,” Selena said. “Open the door. Give me access.”
Ava looked at the scanner. Then at Selena.
“And if I don’t?”
Selena pulled out her phone. Played a video.
Miguel. Bound to a chair. Gag in his mouth. Alive, but scared.
“Then your brother dies,” Selena said. “Live stream. Ten million viewers.”
Ava’s jaw tightened. She placed her hand on the scanner.
The glass chamber hissed open.
Selena exhaled like she’d been holding her breath for months. “Good girl.”
Behind her, the door slammed open.
“Get down!”
Lucas burst in with Elise and six of Black Industries’ security team. Gunfire erupted instantly.
Selena dove behind cover. “Kill her!”
Ava hit the floor as bullets flew overhead. She rolled, grabbed a fallen guard’s pistol, and fired.
“Lucas!” she shouted.
He was already moving toward her, cutting through two men in seconds.
“Get to the chamber!” Lucas yelled. “I’ll handle Selena!”
Ava didn’t argue. She ran.
Selena was at the control panel, typing fast.
“Stop her!” Selena screamed.
Ava hit her before she could finish. They went down together, fighting on the floor.
Selena was stronger than she looked. Her elbow cracked against Ava’s ribs. Pain flared in her healing wound.
“You’re just like him,” Selena hissed. “Stupid. Self-sacrificing.”
Ava headbutted her. “Shut up.”
She grabbed Selena’s wrist and slammed it against the edge of the panel. The vial in Selena’s hand shattered.
Green gas hissed out.
Ava rolled away, coughing.
Selena laughed, blood on her teeth. “Too late. It’s airborne. In ten minutes, this whole lab vents into Batangas City. Fifty thousand people.”
Lucas grabbed Ava and pulled her back. “We need to seal it!”
Elise was already at the panel, typing. “I can vent it into the incinerator. But I need ten minutes.”
“We don’t have ten minutes,” Ava said.
Gunfire was getting closer. Selena’s men were pushing them back.
Ava looked at the chamber. At the controls.
She knew what to do.
“Get everyone out,” Ava said.
Lucas froze. “Ava—”
“Now!” she shouted.
Lucas understood. He grabbed Elise and dragged her back.
Ava walked to the chamber and stepped inside.
The door began to close.
“Ava!” Lucas slammed his fist against the glass.
Ava pressed her palm against it from the inside.
“Get my brother out,” she said. “And tell my father… I’m not mad anymore.”
The door sealed.
Ava hit the purge button.
The chamber flooded with heat. The vials melted. The gas burned away in seconds.
On the other side, Lucas watched, face pale.
“Time to incinerator vent,” Elise said, voice shaking. “Three… two… one.”
The system roared to life.
When the smoke cleared, the chamber was empty.
And Selena was on her knees, screaming.
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*Outside the lab. 12:47 AM.*
They found Reyes in the back of a van two blocks away. Alive. Handcuffed, but alive.
Miguel was with him, cutting the restraints with shaking hands.
“Dad,” Miguel said.
Reyes looked up, eyes red. “Is she…?”
Lucas walked out of the lab, covered in soot, jaw tight.
“She stopped it,” Lucas said. “The city’s safe.”
Reyes sagged in relief. Then his face fell.
“And Ava?”
Lucas didn’t answer right away.
Elise stepped forward. “We found her.”
They led him to the back of the ambulance.
Ava lay on the stretcher, oxygen mask over her face. Burned. Breathing, but barely.
Reyes dropped to his knees beside her.
“Ava,” he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Dad,” she said, voice weak.
Reyes took her hand. “I’m sorry. For everything.”
Ava smiled faintly. “I know.”
Lucas stood behind him, watching. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.
Ava’s eyes found his.
“Divorce papers,” she whispered. “Tear them up.”
Lucas swallowed hard and nodded.
Ava closed her eyes.
“Good,” she said.
The monitor beeped steadily.
She was alive.
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*One week later. Manila Hospital.*
Ava woke up to sunlight and the smell of flowers.
Miguel was asleep in the chair beside her. Lucas was in the other chair, awake, watching her.
“You’re staring,” Ava said, voice rough.
Lucas smiled. It was the first real one she’d seen in months.
“You’re awake.”
Ava tried to sit up. Pain shot through her side, but it was manageable.
“Selena?” she asked.
“In custody,” Elise said from the doorway. “Talking. A lot.”
Ava nodded. “And my father?”
Lucas hesitated. “He turned himself in. Trial starts next month.”
Ava closed her eyes. “Good.”
Miguel woke up and grinned when he saw her awake. “About time. I was starting to think you liked the drama.”
Ava laughed. It hurt, but she did it anyway.
Lucas stood up and took her hand.
“So,” he said quietly. “About those divorce papers…”
Ava looked at him. Really looked at him.
“Tear them up,” she said again.
Lucas exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for a year.
“Done,” he said.
Elise cleared her throat. “Can we do the romantic reunion later? We have a problem.”
Ava frowned. “What now?”
Elise held up her phone. On the screen was a photo.
A man. Late 50s. Sharp suit. Standing next to Selena in an old photo.
“Meet Victor Voss,” Elise said. “Selena’s father. And the real head of Project Eclipse.”
Ava’s blood ran cold.
Victor Voss was smiling at the camera.
And behind him, on the wall, was a map of Manila.
With red pins on every major hospital.
Ava looked at Lucas.
“It’s not over,” she said.
Lucas squeezed her hand.
“No,” he said. “But we’re not alone this time.”
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*End of Chapter 13*
- Writer
