Timestamp: January 28th, 20XX — 5:32 A.M.
Location: Derik's Mobile Base — Abandoned Power Substation, South Dakota Periphery
Status: Post-Extraction | Subject Zero Relocated | Unverified Third Entity: "Cheshire"
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The wind howled outside the rusted structure.
The old power substation had been gutted years ago — left to rot behind a treeline that once powered parts of the Organization's test cities.
Now it served Derik as a mobile base — hardwired to satellites, scrubbed of electronic fingerprints, and lined with custom signal disruptors.
Inside, the world was still.
Derik sat in front of the screen. The light reflected off his eyes like cold fire.
Zero sat behind him, crouched in a corner. He didn't sleep. Didn't eat.
He just listened — to the static on the console, to the vibration in the walls, to something no one else could hear.
Ash paced slowly.
"So we have you," he gestured to Zero. "We have Derik. And now we have a… what? A ghost? A surveillance rat named after a storybook?"
Derik didn't answer. His eyes never left the screen.
"He was here," he finally said. "Inside that vent. He left audio. Left prints. But not fear. That's what bothers me."
Ash stopped pacing.
"What do you mean?"
"Fear leaves residue. Panicked hands shake. They press too hard. They leave sweat. His were perfect. Even… playful."
He turned the screen slightly to show the scan.
"Three full palm prints. All too precise. Like someone wanted us to find them."
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Anomaly
Derik had reverse-engineered the tape player's signal bleed — an old forensic trick. Even dead devices left magnetic footprints.
He scrubbed it, layered it with the internal subsonic recordings from Zero's Hollow Room. Cross-analysis gave him something no one expected:
A heartbeat. Not Zero's. Slower. Rhythmic. Constant.
"He was there during sedation windows," Derik whispered. "He visited during stasis days. When the guards were told power was offline."
Zero stood, slowly.
"He used to hum. Just three notes. Over and over."
Ash raised an eyebrow.
"He… hummed?"
"Yes," Zero said. "Like this."
He opened his mouth, and out came a deep, vibrating tone. A harmony so soft it barely existed. Not words. Not even a melody.
But a pattern.
Derik's eyes widened.
He tapped into the console and fed the hum into a tone recognizer.
Three notes.
Triangular wave frequency.
It wasn't music. It was a signal.
And it matched.
"I've heard this before," Derik muttered. "In the encrypted bios of failed candidates."
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File Reopened: [D-087 – Cheshire]
Derik traced the ID "D-087" through a backdoor channel in the Organization's archive.
Only one file opened.
SUBJECT NAME: UNKNOWN
DESIGNATION: D-087
NICKNAME: "Cheshire"
STATUS: Unclassified | Failed Transfer
GENETIC LINEAGE: Derived from Subject Zero – Experimental Human Emotion Emulator
NOTES:
– Subject retains no measurable empathy, but mimics affect flawlessly.
– Able to simulate bonding, grief, humor, fear.
– Mimicry is complete — does not feel, only reflects.
– Considered "unfit for direct field use" due to risk of psychological contamination in handlers.
– Relocated to Shadow Roles for silent observation and "stress absorption testing."
– Under surveillance for "independent behavior formation."
– [FLAGGED: CANNOT BE TERMINATED WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL.]
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Ash leaned over Derik's shoulder.
"So he was… a mirror? A living, breathing lie?"
"No," Derik whispered. "Worse. He was the Organization's attempt to build something more terrifying than emotionless."
Ash blinked.
"Which is?"
"Emotion that only plays pretend — but knows exactly what you want it to feel."
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The First Message
As if summoned, the screen glitched.
Derik's console flickered. Static ripped across the monitor.
Then—
A cursor appeared. Slowly typing.
HELLO DERIK.
Derik didn't move. Didn't blink.
DID YOU LIKE THE ROOM I LEFT?
Ash stepped back.
"Is this—?"
"Yes," Derik said. "He's here. He's watching."
The text continued:
YOU FOUND HIM. THE CAGEBOY. I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT.
I USED TO SING TO HIM. HE NEVER SANG BACK.
I THINK THAT MADE HIM SAD.
BUT I LIKED YOU FIRST.
I SAW WHAT YOU DID TO YOUR FATHER.
I WATCHED THE FOOTAGE THIRTY-TWO TIMES.
I SMILED.
Derik slowly typed a response:
What do you want?
The reply was instant:
A GAME.
Then the screen blinked.
And all data wiped.
Gone.
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Zero's Word
The room went cold.
Ash exhaled.
Zero walked forward. Stood beside Derik and stared at the now-black monitor.
"He won't stop. Not until he makes someone else smile like him."
"What does he want?" Ash asked.
Zero tilted his head.
"He wants to see what breaks you first: your truth… or your lies."
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The Final Note — Foreshadowing
Before shutting the console down, Derik opened the system logs.
One final image had been saved — not by him.
A still frame. From a hallway camera inside the Hollow Room.
Date-stamped three days before they found Zero.
It showed Derik. Standing in the hallway. Looking directly at the camera.
But Derik had never been there three days ago.
Ash leaned in.
"That's not—"
"No," Derik cut him off. "It's not me."
Zero reached out and tapped the screen.
"That's the smile."
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End of Chapter Fourteen