Chapter 67 The Proof

Chapter 67 The Proof
Emma Stone - POV
The chamber stayed frozen after Mitchell said her name.
Chancellor Margaret Blackwood. Running Project Ascension for forty years from inside Blackwood University itself.
Dr. Vance's face went smooth. Too smooth. Practiced blank expression that made my stomach tighten. His son stood beside him with the same carefully empty face.
"Captain Mitchell." Dr. Vance's voice came out dangerously calm. "That's a serious allegation. I assume you have proof."
"I do." Mitchell gestured to one of his soldiers. "Cooper."
The soldier reached into his vest. Pulled out something small. A USB drive. Tossed it to Mitchell.
Mitchell caught it one handed. Held it up like evidence in a trial. "Everything's here. Financial records. Experimental logs. Communication transcripts. Forty years of documentation."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "How did you get that?"
"Been collecting evidence for three years." Mitchell's voice stayed flat. Professional. "Every operation. Every facility. Copied files. Recorded conversations. Built insurance." He looked at me. "In case I needed leverage to survive leaving."
"Fabricated." Dr. Vance stepped forward. "Falsified evidence to cover your own crimes."
"Then let's look at it." Blake appeared beside me. When had he moved? "Right here. Everyone sees what's on it. If it's fake, we'll know."
Dr. Vance's jaw went tight. "We don't have equipment."
"I do." Marcus pushed forward from the prisoner group. Still weak. Still shaking. But moving. "Can display it. If someone has a projector."
He pulled a battered tablet from inside his shirt. Where had he been hiding that?
"Use this." One of Mitchell's soldiers produced a compact projector. Military grade. Because of course they carried projectors.
Marcus took it with trembling hands. Started connecting cables. The projector hummed. Cast harsh white light against the concrete wall.
"Financial records first," I said. My voice didn't shake. Small mercy.
Marcus plugged in the drive. Files bloomed across the wall. Hundreds of them. Organized. Labeled. Years of documentation.
He opened the first folder.
Financial Records 1985-2025.
Bank transfers appeared. Dollar amounts that made me dizzy. Millions flowing from accounts labeled Blackwood Educational Trust. To shell corporations with meaningless names. To Project Ascension operational budgets.
All signed Margaret Blackwood. Chancellor. Administrator. Founding family descendant.
"Could be faked," Dr. Vance said. But his voice had lost its edge.
"Next folder." Mitchell's voice held no mercy. "Experimental Logs."
Marcus opened it.
Clinical reports filled the wall. Test results. Subject profiles. People reduced to numbers. Subject 47. Subject 89. Subject 112.
Some marked deceased. Most marked transferred. Or terminated.
My stomach turned over.
"What's transferred mean?" Cole asked. His voice had gone dangerous low.
"Moved to other facilities." Mitchell's face showed nothing. "When subjects stopped providing useful data. Transferred to continue experiments elsewhere."
"Or killed." My grandmother's voice cut through. "Terminated means killed. Transferred often meant the same thing. Just took longer."
Marcus scrolled. More documents. More numbers. Then names appeared. Real names attached to the subject numbers.
I recognized some. Students who'd disappeared from campus over the years. Missing person cases. Assumed runaways.
They'd been here. In facilities like this. Being used.
"Show us who authorized it," Blake said quietly.
Marcus opened another folder. Authorization Forms.
Signatures appeared. Hundreds of them. All approving experimental protocols. Procedures on unwilling subjects.
Margaret Blackwood's name was everywhere. But other signatures appeared too.
Dr. Richard Cross. Ryan's father.
Alexander Rivers. Blake's father.
Thomas Mason. Cole's grandfather.
David West. Kai's father.
Every founding family. Every heir's parent or grandparent. All signing. Approving. Authorizing.
My knees went weak. "No."
Blake had gone white as paper. Cole looked like someone had struck him. Through the bond I felt their shock bleeding through. Horror. Disbelief. Denial trying to hold against truth.
"Our families." Blake's voice cracked. "Our families built this."
"Not just approved." Mitchell pointed at another document. "They funded everything. Designed the infrastructure. Project Ascension exists because the founding families created it."
"Why?" I couldn't make sense of it. Couldn't process. "Why would they do this?"
"I told you already." My grandmother spoke up. Her voice sounded ancient. Tired. "Controlled evolution. The families needed test subjects. Guinea pigs. To perfect the process before using it on their own bloodlines."
"That's insane." Cole's hands were fists. "That's just evil."
"It's pragmatic." Dr. Vance had recovered. "Sacrifice the few to advance the many. Standard research ethics."
"Nothing about this is ethical." I gestured at the wall. At the names scrolling past. Real people. Dead people. "You tortured them. Killed them. Used them like lab equipment."
"We advanced humanity." Dr. Vance's voice went cold and certain. "Created protocols that let enhanced individuals activate safely. Developed training methods. Built support systems. Yes, some subjects died. But thousands survived activation because of our research."
"Did they consent?" Blake asked. "Any of them. Did anyone volunteer?"
The silence was answer enough.
"You kidnapped people." Blake's voice shook. "Imprisoned them. Experimented without consent. Called it progress."
"It was necessary." Dr. Vance wasn't backing down. "Enhanced abilities manifest dangerously. Without research we'd have newly awakened individuals dying. Killing others. We prevented that."
"By killing first." My grandmother moved beside me. "I was an early subject. Before they made me a conduit. They took me at sixteen. Ran tests for three years." Her voice went hollow. "Then decided I was useful enough to bind. Keep alive. Controlled."
My chest felt too tight. "Grandmother."
"They broke bones to test healing." She kept talking. Couldn't seem to stop. "Pushed my mind until I screamed for death. Over and over. Then bound me to heirs and said I was fortunate."
The chamber had gone silent. Even the soldiers looked uncomfortable.
"Show the recent files," Mitchell said. "This year's experiments."
Marcus scrolled. Found files from the past six months.
My name appeared. Emma Stone. Subject 237. Enhanced conduit. Extreme amplification potential.
My file. My experiments. Everything they'd done to me in clinical language.
Blood extraction. Genetic sampling. Psychological stress protocols. Amplification trials.
All authorized. All approved. All signed by the fathers of men I was bonded to.
Through the bond I felt Ryan and Kai. Getting closer. Almost here. Their emotions bleeding through distance. Determination. Fear. Something breaking.
"The heirs knew." Blake's voice sounded dead. "Our fathers built this. And we inherited everything. The power. The abilities. All built on torture."
"You didn't know," I said automatically. Defending them. Needing it to be true.
"Does that matter?" Blake looked at me and I saw something breaking in his eyes. "Our families murdered people. We benefited. Whether we knew doesn't change what we are."
"Blake." Cole moved closer. "We didn't choose this."
"But we used it." Blake gestured at the documents. "Every advantage we had. Every ability. Built on suffering. On people like Emma's grandmother. Like everyone on that wall."
He was right. I hated that he was right.
The bond between us felt different now. Poisoned. Built on foundations made of bodies.
"Emma." My grandmother touched my arm. "What do you want to do?"
I wanted to run. Scream. Somehow undo everything.
But the bond was permanent. The awakening was happening. Thousands coming here.
And the men I was bonded to, the ones I'd started trusting, maybe loving, came from families who'd done this.
"I need Ryan." My voice came out small. Broken. "And Kai. Need to hear them say they didn't know. Wouldn't have participated."
"They're close." Cole pointed toward the tunnel. "Can feel them."
Dr. Vance moved toward the exit. "This changes nothing. The awakening needs management. Only the founding families have the infrastructure."
"No." I stepped forward. "I don't trust them. I don't trust anyone who thinks this is acceptable."
"Then who do you trust?" Dr. Vance asked.
I didn't have an answer.
Footsteps echoed. Running. Getting closer.
Ryan and Kai burst through the entrance. Bloody. Exhausted. Ryan carried the case with my samples.
Relief flooded me. They were alive.
Ryan's eyes found mine. Something passed between us through the bond. Understanding. Recognition.
Then Mitchell raised his weapon. Pointed it at Ryan's chest.
"Stop." Mitchell's voice went hard as concrete. "Put the case down. Step away."
Ryan froze. "What's happening?"
"Your father authorized experiments on innocent people." Mitchell didn't lower the gun. "Your family funded this. Built it. And now you show up with samples from the most powerful conduit in history."
"I'm trying to destroy them." Ryan's voice stayed calm. Too calm. "Prevent Project Ascension from using them."
"Or deliver them to your family." Mitchell's finger moved toward the trigger. "To the founding families running this operation."
"No." I stepped forward. "Ryan wouldn't."
"How do you know?" Mitchell asked. "You just saw proof. Their families did this. Who says the heirs aren't continuing it?"
I looked at Ryan. At the exhaustion carved into his face. At something that looked like breaking.
"Tell me you didn't know," I said. Needed to hear it. "Tell me you weren't part of this."
Ryan met my eyes. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know."
"Prove it." Mitchell's weapon stayed steady. "Destroy the samples. Right now. Prove you're not working for them."
Ryan looked at the case. At me. At Mitchell.
"I can't." His voice cracked. "Only Emma can destroy them. Her power is the only thing that neutralizes conduit DNA."
"Convenient." Mitchell's jaw tightened. "Bring them to her. Make her dependent on you. While really planning to hand them over."
"That's not what's happening." Kai stepped forward. "We almost died getting these. We're not the enemy."
"Your families are." Mitchell didn't back down. "Until you prove otherwise, you're the same."
His finger started squeezing.
"Wait!" I screamed.
The gun fired.