A full twenty-four hours had passed since the explosion of red lights and lockdowns at Vale Tower, but Elena Carter hadn't slept. The USB Nicholas had handed her—after disabling the building's system breach with terrifying ease—was still warm in her pocket when she'd slipped away under the chaos. She hadn't plugged it in yet. Not until she was absolutely sure no one was watching.
The city outside her apartment window pulsed with nightlife, glowing and deceptive. The same city that had swallowed her sister whole.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Her laptop sat on the counter in front of her like a bomb waiting to detonate.
She plugged in the USB.
Immediately, the screen flickered black. Then: a wall of encrypted data. No folders. No files. Just a blinking cursor.
Then words began to type themselves.
"Do you want to see what she saw?"
Elena froze. Her stomach churned. Her fingers hovered over the touchpad like it might burn her.
The cursor blinked again.
Y/N?
Her breath caught. She typed: Y.
The screen glitched—and then an audio file began to play.
A woman's voice.
Kate's.
"If you're hearing this… I'm probably already gone. I thought I could outsmart them. I thought Vale might actually be the key to ending it, not running it. I was wrong. I was so wrong."
Elena clapped a hand to her mouth, tears rushing to her eyes. It was her. Her sister. The voice she hadn't heard in over a year. But Kate sounded scared. Desperate. The bravado Elena remembered was stripped away, leaving something raw and terrified.
"Project HERON isn't just about AI. It's not software—it's surveillance. Control. They're not trying to predict behavior. They're trying to manipulate it. Rewrite it. Everyone at Vale is a pawn—including Nicholas. But the real threat… is something deeper. Something beneath the code. If you found this, you need to find Mira."
Mira?
Elena's pulse jumped.
A new name. A new trail.
Before she could process more, the screen flashed red. The audio cut.
"This device has been traced. You are not safe."
Then it wiped itself clean.
The USB sparked.
Elena yanked it out as the metal casing burned her fingers.
Her apartment lights went out.
Total blackout.
Someone was coming.
She grabbed her bag, boots, and the taser she never left behind anymore.
Who the hell was Mira? And why hadn't Nicholas said her name?
---
Across Town — Vale Technologies Underground Server Room
Nicholas Vale stared at the rotating 3D image on his encrypted wall screen. It wasn't just code anymore. The HERON project had evolved.
Lines of human neural patterns mapped onto algorithmic behavior loops. It was uncanny.
"I didn't authorize this update," he muttered.
"You didn't need to," said a voice behind him.
Nicholas turned fast.
Victor Darnell.
His lead developer.
And once, his best friend.
"I shut the project down six months ago," Nicholas said. "You were there. You signed off."
Victor's smile didn't reach his eyes. "You really think you can unplug the future, Nick?"
Nicholas stepped forward, jaw tightening. "You've kept it running behind my back?"
Victor's face hardened. "You stopped because of her, didn't you? Because of Kate Carter."
Nicholas said nothing.
Victor snorted. "You think she was innocent? She broke into Tier 4 files, Nick. She wasn't just some intern. She was planted."
Nicholas narrowed his eyes. "By who?"
Victor didn't answer. Instead, he tossed a folder onto the server console. A still photo paperclipped to the front.
Elena Carter.
"She's in deeper than you think," Victor said. "She's not just chasing ghosts. She's becoming one of them."
Nicholas flipped open the folder. Surveillance images. Conversations. Her movements tracked.
But one image stood out—Elena entering the back entrance of an abandoned subway station. Last night.
"I didn't order this surveillance," Nicholas snapped.
Victor's tone shifted. "You don't give orders anymore. You just pretend to lead. But someone else is writing the code now."
Nicholas stared at him. "Who?"
Victor walked out without answering.
Nicholas clenched the folder, every instinct screaming that things were far worse than he thought.
And Kate? Maybe she hadn't been the only one planted.
---
Underground — 74th Street Abandoned Subway Station
Elena descended into the damp, graffiti-covered stairwell where the audio file had led her.
Mira. Find Mira.
The deeper she went, the less the city existed. Shadows clung to walls. Water dripped from rusted pipes like a ticking clock. Her breath fogged in front of her in the stale air.
A light flickered ahead. A figure stepped out.
A woman.
Tall. Lean. Dreadlocks pulled into a tight bun. Sleeves rolled to the elbow to reveal intricate tattoos—barcodes, runes, even a string of binary.
"You're Elena Carter," the woman said. Her voice was husky, weary. Like someone who'd been running for too long.
"Mira?" Elena asked.
The woman nodded once.
"I knew your sister."
A pause.
"She tried to stop the awakening protocol. That's what got her killed."
Elena's heart stopped. "Awakening protocol?"
Mira leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "The final phase of HERON. Once it's fully active, the system won't just influence people. It will rewrite them. Memories, emotions, impulses. It'll turn free will into a myth. That's what Nicholas started."
"No," Elena whispered. "He said—he said he shut it down."
Mira laughed darkly. "He built the cage. Even if he regrets it now, the monster's already out."
Elena's mouth went dry. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because your sister made me promise—if anything happened to her, I'd bring it to you." Mira pulled a thin drive from her coat pocket. "This is what she died protecting."
Elena reached for it—when a bullet shattered the wall beside her.
Gunfire echoed in the tunnel.
"Run!" Mira screamed.
They bolted into the darkness.
Behind them, masked figures emerged—armed, fast, tactical.
But Elena wasn't just running anymore.
She had the next key.
---
Back at Vale Technologies — Nicholas's Office
Nicholas sat alone, staring at a frozen security feed. Frame 437.
Kate Carter. In his lab. The night she disappeared.
But someone was standing behind her.
A figure in a black coat.
Not Victor.
Someone else.
Nicholas zoomed in.
His stomach dropped.
It was his security chief. His most trusted advisor.
And in his hand—Kate's ID badge.
Nicholas whispered, "She didn't disappear."
He leaned back, realization hitting him like a brick to the chest.
"She was taken."
The screen glitched.
A line of text appeared where none should have.
"Stop looking."
Then—
"Or she dies too."
---
Final Scene — Unknown Location
A dark room.
A humming server rack.
And Kate Carter.
Alive.
Chained to a chair. Bruised, but still conscious.
A voice behind her whispered: "Your sister's getting too close. Time to bring her in."
Kate's head snapped up, blood crusted at the corner of her lip.
"If you touch her," she croaked, "I'll kill you."
The voice laughed.
"Oh, Kate. You don't get it yet. She's not being hunted anymore…"
A screen lit up in front of Kate—Elena, running through the subway tunnels with Mira.
"…She's being recruited."