Chapter 28 Untitled Chapter
KAEL'S POV
Pain exploded through my spine as Dr. Kane injected another dose of enhancement serum.
I screamed. Couldn't help it. My bones were breaking and reforming. My muscles tearing and rebuilding. Every cell in my body was being rewritten into something other than human.
"Sixty-five percent complete," Dr. Kane said clinically, checking her monitors. "Enhanced strength developing nicely. Accelerated healing active. Subject tolerance is remarkable."
"Stop calling me 'subject,'" I gasped between waves of agony. "I have a name."
"Not for much longer." Cross appeared beside the table, looking down at me with cold satisfaction. "In a few more hours, Kael Ashford will cease to exist. You'll be Subject 248. My newest weapon."
"I'll die first."
"That's no longer an option." Cross showed me a tablet. Security camera footage of the medical facility. "Your rescue party just arrived. Aria, Marcus, Luna, and Dr. Park—the real Dr. Park, not your enhanced friend in the next room who thinks he's a scientist."
My heart stopped. "Aria's here?"
"Walked right into my facility trying to save you. Quite touching, really." Cross smiled. "They're currently unconscious from sedative gas. But they'll wake up soon. And when they do, I'm going to make you watch as I enhance every single one of them."
"No." I pulled against the restraints holding me to the table. They didn't budge. "Please. Do whatever you want to me, but leave them alone."
"But Kael, you don't understand." Cross leaned closer. "I'm offering you a choice. A genuine choice. Not many people get those from me."
"What choice?"
Dr. Kane paused the enhancement process. The pain receded to a dull ache. I could breathe again, think again.
"Choice one," Cross said. "You accept the full enhancement willingly. Serve the Legacy Program loyally. In exchange, I'll let Aria, Luna, and Marcus go free. They can expose me, testify against me, do whatever they want. You'll never see them again, but they'll be alive and themselves."
"And choice two?"
"You continue fighting. We complete your enhancement with full behavioral modification. You forget Aria completely. Forget you ever loved her. And then I enhance all three of them anyway. You'll exist as my weapon, hunting down the very people you once cared about, with no memory of why you should protect them."
My mind raced. There had to be a third option. A way to save everyone.
But Cross was right. This was binary. Sacrifice myself willingly or sacrifice myself and everyone else.
"How do I know you'll keep your word?" I asked. "That you'll actually let them go?"
"You don't." Cross shrugged. "But it's the only hope they have. So the question becomes: do you trust me enough to take that chance? Or do you choose pride over their lives?"
I thought about Aria. Her fierce determination. Her refusal to give up even when everything seemed hopeless. She'd hate me for surrendering. Would rather die fighting than live knowing I'd become Cross's slave to save her.
But I couldn't let her die. Couldn't let any of them be enhanced and lose themselves.
"I accept," I said. "Choice one. I'll serve you willingly if you let them go."
Cross smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. Dr. Kane, prepare the loyalty programming. We'll make this official."
"Wait." I needed to buy time. Needed to think of something. "If I'm going to be your weapon, I want to know why. Why create all these enhanced subjects? What's the endgame?"
"Fair question." Cross pulled up a chair like we were having a casual conversation instead of him enslaving me. "The endgame is evolution. Humanity is weak, Kael. Emotional. Irrational. We're held back by compassion and morality and all these messy feelings that prevent us from reaching our potential."
"Those aren't weaknesses. They're what make us human."
"Exactly." Cross's eyes gleamed. "And that's the problem. Being human means being flawed. But enhanced subjects? They're better. Stronger. More efficient. The next stage of evolution. In twenty years, everyone who matters will be enhanced. Those who refuse will be left behind. Irrelevant. Extinct."
"You're talking about genocide."
"I'm talking about progress." Cross stood. "But we're wasting time. Dr. Kane, begin the final enhancement phase."
Dr. Kane moved toward me with a new syringe—this one filled with black liquid instead of the clear serum.
"This is the loyalty programming," she explained. "It will make you physiologically incapable of disobeying Cross. Your body will shut down if you even think about betraying him. It's quite elegant, really."
The needle touched my neck.
Then alarms blared throughout the facility.
Dr. Kane stumbled backward. The syringe clattered to the floor. Red emergency lights flashed.
"What's happening?" Cross demanded.
An enhanced subject burst through the door. "Sir, it's Asher. He's broken free from his restraints. He's fighting the programming. He's—"
The enhanced subject's head snapped to the side as someone punched him. He flew across the room and crashed into equipment.
Asher stood in the doorway.
But not the mindless weapon I'd expected. His eyes were clear. Focused. Human.
"Kael," Asher said. "Sorry I'm late. Let's get you out of here."
"Impossible," Cross breathed. "Your programming should be complete. You should be loyal only to me."
"Yeah, about that." Asher smiled—Aria's smile, confident and defiant. "Turns out your programming has a weakness. When you tried to make me forget my sister, you accidentally triggered all my memories at once. Including the truth about what you did to me. To all of us."
He moved impossibly fast. Grabbed Dr. Kane before she could react and threw her into Cross. They both went down in a tangle of limbs.
Asher was at my side in seconds, breaking the restraints with his enhanced strength.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
"Barely." The partial enhancement made me stronger than normal, but I was still weak from the pain. "Asher, Aria's here. Cross has her."
"I know. That's why we need to move fast." Asher pulled me to my feet. "Dr. Park—Luna's father—freed me from the programming an hour ago. He's been working to free enhanced subjects for years. We have an army now, Kael. We're fighting back."
Hope flared in my chest. "Where's Aria?"
"Being held in the observation room with Luna and Marcus. Dr. Park is getting them out now. We just need to—"
Cross stood up, blood streaming from his nose. "Subject 247, I order you to stop. Restrain the prisoner."
Asher flinched. The programming was still partially active. His body wanted to obey even though his mind resisted.
"Fight it," I said urgently. "Asher, you're stronger than his programming."
"I know." Asher gritted his teeth. "But it's hard. So hard to resist when he gives direct orders."
"Then don't listen." I grabbed Asher's shoulders. "Look at me. You're not Subject 247. You're Asher Sinclair. Aria's brother. You investigated Cross because you wanted to protect people. That's who you are. That's who you choose to be."
Something shifted in Asher's eyes. The struggle faded. "You're right. I'm Asher. And I'm done being anyone's weapon."
He turned to Cross. "Your programming is broken. Your control is broken. And your empire is about to come crashing down."
"We'll see about that." Cross pulled out his phone. "Activate Protocol Omega. All enhanced subjects worldwide—eliminate the traitors."
My blood ran cold. Protocol Omega. The emergency command that would make every enhanced subject loyal to Cross attack anyone opposing him.
Hundreds of enhanced subjects around the world would suddenly become his army, hunting down everyone who knew the truth.
Including Aria.
"No!" I lunged for Cross's phone but I was too weak, too slow.
Cross pressed the button.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then enhanced subjects throughout the facility stopped moving. Their eyes glazed over. Programming activating.
Asher clutched his head. "No. No, I can feel it. The command. It's forcing me to—"
He looked at me with horror in his eyes.
"Kael, run. I can't fight this. The Protocol is too strong. I'm going to attack you. I don't want to, but I won't be able to stop myself. Run!"
"I'm not leaving you."
"You have to!" Asher's hands were shaking, reaching for my throat even as he fought against it. "Save my sister. Please. Don't let Cross enhance her. Promise me!"
"I promise," I said. "I'll save Aria. No matter what."
Asher smiled sadly. Then his eyes went completely blank.
He lunged at me with enhanced speed.
I barely dodged. His fist hit the wall where my head had been, cracking concrete.
"Asher, it's me! It's Kael!"
But Asher wasn't home anymore. Protocol Omega had taken over completely. He was just a weapon now, programmed to kill.
Cross laughed. "Beautiful, isn't it? No matter how much they fight, no matter how much they resist, they all come back to me in the end. Because I own them. Body and soul."
Asher attacked again. I tried to defend myself without hurting him, but he was too strong, too fast. His enhanced strength was beyond anything I could match in my weakened state.
A punch connected with my ribs. Something cracked. I fell.
Asher stood over me, preparing the final blow.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."
Asher's fist came down.
Then stopped inches from my face.
His body trembled. Sweat poured down his face. His blank eyes suddenly filled with pain and determination.
"Not... your... fault," Asher gasped. "Programming... can't... completely... control..."
He was fighting it. Fighting Protocol Omega through sheer willpower.
"Kill switch," Asher managed. "Luna's blood... main computer... frees everyone..."
Then his eyes went blank again and he collapsed.
The effort of resisting had knocked him unconscious.
I pulled myself up, every movement agony. Cross was already running, escaping while enhanced subjects poured into the room.
But Asher had given me the key. Luna's blood plus the main computer equals freedom for all enhanced subjects.
I just had to reach them before Protocol Omega turned every enhanced subject in the world into Cross's personal army.
And before Cross enhanced Aria.
I stumbled toward the door, using the wall for support.
Behind me, Asher lay unconscious—still fighting even in sleep.
Ahead of me, somewhere in this facility, Aria needed me.
I had one last chance to save everyone.
And I refused to fail.