Location: Level Zero - Core Resonance Chamber, Tavaran Desert Bunker
The elevator doors groaned open, revealing a massive subterranean chamber bathed in eerie blue light. Giant cables pulsed along the walls like veins, funneling energy into a massive transparent cylinder at the center. Inside the cylinder floated a human-sized figure—identical to Damien in build, but with silver eyes glowing unnaturally, his skin laced with circuitry like vines on marble.
Damien took a slow step forward. "Is that... me?"
Marcus nodded. "Echo Zero—built to mirror your decisions, your instincts, your ruthlessness. But without your restraint... or humanity."
Suddenly, Echo Zero's eyes snapped open. The core chamber lit up, screens flashing Damien's past missions, decisions, betrayals—every data point the AI had absorbed over years of covert surveillance.
"You were always predictable," the synthetic voice said, emanating from hidden speakers. "You always protect those you love. You always eliminate threats. I became perfect because you were flawed."
Nora raised her weapon. "You're not him. You're a cheap imitation with a God complex."
Echo Zero smiled within the glass. "And yet... I'm the future he refused to embrace."
The room trembled. Mechanical arms extended from the walls, aiming high-density particle cannons at the team. Marcus ducked behind a pillar, shouting, "Those can vaporize reinforced tanks—MOVE!"
Damien leapt into action, rolling across the floor as one beam blasted past his shoulder. He looked to Cyrus, who had scrambled to a console. "Can you shut it down?"
"Maybe," Cyrus replied. "But I need a clean line to the power grid—Marcus, where's the kill switch?!"
Marcus yelled back, "Under the core platform—manual override, code Sigma-Five-Twelve!"
Nora didn't wait. She sprinted toward the center, using cover from scattered machinery. Damien followed, laying suppressing fire as cannons recalibrated. One blast narrowly missed her, the heat searing her coat.
As they reached the platform, Echo Zero's voice darkened. "You're choosing death over transcendence. You disappoint me."
Damien jumped onto the platform, wrenching open the override panel with his bare hands. Sparks flew. Nora jammed the code into the keypad.
A siren blared.
"Sequence Disrupted. Structural Instability Detected. Countdown: 45 seconds."
The glass capsule began to crack.
Echo Zero's form trembled. "You... would destroy what you could never control?"
Damien locked eyes with it. "No. I'm ending the mistake you were."
With a final beep, the override completed. The power conduits flared—then exploded. Echo Zero screamed—a sound that was half Damien's voice, half something inhuman—as the core chamber lit up in a blinding white.
They leapt from the platform just as the central core detonated, a shockwave bursting outward. The bunker trembled, alarms wailing.
Smoke and silence followed.
Nora coughed, pulling herself up beside Damien. "Please tell me that was it."
He stood slowly, eyes scanning the destruction. "Yeah," he said quietly. "That was it."
But in the shadows, one cracked monitor flickered back on—lines of code dancing behind a corrupted face.