Chapter 141: The Name Beneath the Mask

The sun came up slow and strange the next morning, as if even it wasn’t sure it wanted to rise over what was left of the university. The air still smelled of smoke and iron, the kind of morning where even the birds sounded unsure.

I woke up before everyone else. The silence was heavy — the kind that presses on your chest and makes you aware of every heartbeat. Aidan was still asleep on the couch, his arm thrown over his eyes. The light made his skin look too pale, and for a split second, fear punched through me that he wasn’t breathing.

Then he stirred. Relief hit me so hard I had to sit down before I fell.

Ethan walked in carrying a tray of coffee, wearing the same hoodie he’d had on since last night. His eyes were red, but his brain was clearly still running a thousand miles per hour. “Good,” he said when he saw me. “You’re up. I’ve got something.”

“Morning to you too,” I muttered, taking one of the cups and inhaling the bitter steam. “You look like you haven’t slept in years.”

“Who’s got time for sleep when someone’s trying to turn an entire campus into a lab experiment?” he said.

That woke Aidan instantly. He sat up, alert. “You found something?”

Ethan nodded, dragging his laptop onto the table and spinning it around so we could see. “Dr. Anthony Leland. Faculty head of Applied Genomics. The guy’s record looks clean at first glance — no criminal charges, no off-campus affiliations except a few research grants from the Horizon Initiative.”

Elena, who had just walked in with her hair in a messy bun and a bag of chips at seven in the morning, frowned. “Sounds fancy. What’s the catch?”

Ethan zoomed in on the document. “The Horizon Initiative is a front. It’s owned by a shell company tied to the Creed.”

That got everyone’s attention.

Rhea, who’d been quietly reading through her own stack of notes, looked up sharply. “So he’s been working for them this whole time?”

“Looks like it,” Ethan said. “But that’s not all. He’s been accessing restricted data from the university’s genetic archives for months. Files labeled ‘Subject A-0’ through ‘A-7.’ That’s seven test subjects we didn’t even know existed.”

A chill went through me. “And you think they’re part of Selene’s plan?”

“I don’t think. I know.” Ethan tapped the screen again. “She’s been using Leland to recruit test subjects for hybrid development. Human volunteers, mostly. Promising them medical cures, scholarships, even job placements. But the data says none of them walked out.”

The room went dead silent.

Elena’s voice was low when she finally spoke. “So we’re talking about missing students. From the university.”

Aidan’s jaw tightened. “That’s it. We’re bringing him in.”

“No,” I said quickly.

He turned to me, surprised. “No?”

“If we move too fast, he’ll vanish before we even reach him,” I said. “He’s smart. You don’t run a double life this long without backup plans. If we confront him, he’ll destroy everything that connects him to the Creed.”

“So what do you suggest?” Aidan asked.

I hesitated, the idea forming slowly. “We go undercover again.”

Elena groaned. “Oh, for crying out loud, Roxanne, can we not go back to another ‘pretend we’re students’ phase? I’m still traumatized by the cafeteria food.”

I ignored her. “Not as students this time. As researchers. Assistants. The kind of people Leland trusts.”

Ethan leaned back, considering. “She’s right. He’s been hiring new lab assistants every semester — cycling through them so no one stays long enough to ask questions. If we pose as the next batch, we can get close.”

Aidan didn’t look thrilled, but he nodded. “Alright. We infiltrate his lab. Quietly. We find whatever’s left of his research and expose him from the inside.”

“And if Selene shows up?” Echo’s voice came from the doorway. She’d been there the whole time, silent and watching.

“Then,” I said, “we finish what we started.”

\---

The plan took shape fast. Too fast.

By noon, Ethan had forged our credentials — fake IDs, employment letters, the works. Elena and Rhea were already arguing about their cover names (“I’m definitely not answering to Kimberly,” Elena complained). Aidan went over every possible escape route on campus. Echo made sure we had weapons small enough to hide under lab coats.

We moved like we’d done this before — and, depressingly, we had.

When we finally walked into Leland’s research building, the world went unnervingly normal again. Students walked past laughing, professors carried coffee and paperwork, the receptionist smiled and waved us through like we belonged there.

The contrast made my stomach twist.

Inside, the lab was spotless. Too spotless. Everything gleamed: the floors, the counters, even the glass tanks filled with pale blue fluid. Computers hummed softly. The air smelled like antiseptic and lemon.

Dr. Leland himself stood at the far end, typing into a terminal. He was younger than I’d imagined — maybe mid-thirties, tall, wearing thin glasses and a lab coat that somehow looked tailored. His smile when he saw us was easy and polite.

“Ah,” he said, crossing the room to shake Aidan’s hand first. “You must be the new recruits from the genetics fellowship. Welcome to Applied Genomics.”

“Thank you, sir,” Aidan said, his voice steady but his eyes cold.

I kept mine friendly, curious — the perfect eager assistant act. “We’re really excited to learn, Dr. Leland. I’ve read your papers on bio-augmentation. Fascinating work.”

He smiled modestly. “Flattery will get you far here, Ms…?”

“Roxanne.” I hesitated half a second, then added, “Roxanne Hart.”

“Well, Roxanne Hart,” he said, his gaze unreadable, “let’s see how curious you really are.”

He turned back to the console, motioning for us to follow. “This lab is where we study adaptive DNA sequences — the future of human potential. The university likes to call it ‘applied science.’ I call it evolution.”

Something about the way he said that word — evolution — made my skin crawl.

Behind me, Ethan whispered under his breath, “Creepy villain monologue alert.”

Elena elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

Leland kept talking. “Our work here could redefine the boundary between species. Imagine a world where human limitations don’t exist — where strength, speed, and healing aren’t gifts but birthrights.”

“Sounds like you’re playing god,” I said before I could stop myself.

He turned to me slowly. “God doesn’t play,” he said. “He creates. We merely… follow His lead.”

That sent a shiver down my spine.

Aidan stepped in before I could reply. “And what about the test subjects? The ones who didn’t make it through?”

Leland’s expression didn’t flicker. “Every great discovery requires sacrifice. You’ll understand that soon enough.”

His eyes lingered on me for a second longer than necessary. And in that moment, something in the air changed. The hum of the machines seemed to pulse in sync with my heartbeat.

He knew.

He didn’t say it out loud — but I could see it in the faint curve of his mouth. He knew exactly who I was.

And he was daring me to keep playing.

\---

That night, when we regrouped in the safe house, I slammed my hands on the table. “He knows.”

Aidan frowned. “You’re sure?”

“I saw it in his eyes,” I said. “He looked at me like he’d been waiting for me to walk in.”

Ethan nodded. “Makes sense. He probably knows everything about Selene’s opposition — she wouldn’t work with someone that deep without warning him about us.”

Elena threw a handful of chips at the table. “So what do we do now? Because I, for one, am not a fan of being a lab rat.”

Rhea closed her journal softly. “We let him think he’s winning,” she said. “People like Leland always talk too much when they think they’re in control. He’ll expose himself.”

“And if he doesn’t?” I asked.

Aidan looked at me, his voice low. “Then we make him.”

The room went quiet again, but this time it wasn’t fear — it was resolve.

We had a new enemy.

We had a new war.

And this time, we weren’t just fighting for answers — we were fighting to end this before the city turned into Selene’s next experiment.