Chapter 10: Phase Two
The words appeared on the screen.
PHASE TWO BEGINNING.
Nobody moved.
Not me.
Not my mother.
Not Detective Hayes.
Not even William Carter.
For the first time, my grandfather looked like someone waiting for an answer.
Not a scientist.
Not a businessman.
A man desperate to know if he was right.
And that terrified me more than anything.
Because monsters who know they are monsters are easy to understand.
But monsters who believe they are saving the world...
are much harder to stop.
"What happens in Phase Two?"
My voice sounded different.
Calmer.
Not because I wasn't afraid.
Because I was done showing fear.
William looked at me through the screen.
"Your body has already demonstrated extraordinary recovery."
"I don't care."
He ignored my words.
"Your mind has demonstrated something even more valuable."
I frowned.
"What?"
"Adaptation."
The screens around us changed.
Images appeared.
My therapy sessions.
My conversations.
My reactions.
Everything.
Every moment from the past three years.
Recorded.
Watched.
Analyzed.
I felt sick.
"You monitored me."
"Of course."
"Every day?"
"Every day."
My hands tightened.
"You watched me suffer."
William didn't answer immediately.
That was worse.
Because the answer was obvious.
"Pain reveals the truth about people."
"No."
I looked at him.
"Pain reveals what people do when someone hurts them."
A pause.
"And you chose to hurt people."
For a moment, William said nothing.
Then he smiled slightly.
"Your father was right about you."
I froze.
"What?"
"He always said your greatest strength was your ability to see people."
I looked away.
Hearing my father's name still hurt.
Even after discovering his secrets.
Even after learning his mistakes.
Because somewhere beneath all the lies...
he was still my father.
"What is Phase Two?"
William finally answered.
"The transfer."
I frowned.
"Transfer of what?"
He looked at my mother.
Then back at me.
"Everything."
The room became silent.
My mother stepped forward.
"Ethan, listen to me."
I looked at her.
She looked terrified.
"William doesn't want your recovery."
"Then what does he want?"
Her voice became quieter.
"He wants your brain."
The words felt unreal.
"What?"
William continued calmly.
"The human body is replaceable."
"The mind is where true value exists."
My stomach turned.
"You want to put my memories into another person?"
"No."
He looked almost offended.
"I want to understand why you survived."
I stared at him.
"Then why call it Phase Two?"
"Because now we remove the final variable."
"What variable?"
William's eyes focused on me.
"Choice."
A door behind us suddenly opened.
Several people entered.
Not soldiers.
Doctors.
Researchers.
All wearing the symbol of Novacore.
Rachel stepped back.
"They're still working with him."
William smiled.
"Of course."
Rachel looked angry.
"You said the project was finished."
"It was."
He looked at her.
"Until Ethan returned."
The doctors approached.
Hayes immediately moved in front of me.
"Nobody touches him."
One of the doctors stopped.
"We don't want a confrontation."
Hayes laughed.
"Then you came to the wrong room."
The tension grew.
But William didn't seem concerned.
He pressed a button.
The entire facility changed.
The doors locked.
The lights turned red.
An alarm started.
A calm voice echoed through the building.
"Phase Two security protocol activated."
My heart sank.
We were trapped.
My mother grabbed my arm.
"There's a way out."
I looked at her.
"You know this place?"
She nodded.
"I helped design it."
Of course.
Another secret.
She led us through a side hallway.
As we moved, I noticed something.
The walls.
The rooms.
The equipment.
This wasn't just a laboratory.
It was a prison.
A place built to study people who had nowhere to escape.
Then we reached a small room.
My mother stopped.
"This is where they kept you."
I looked inside.
A child's room.
A bed.
A desk.
Drawings on the wall.
I walked closer.
My breath caught.
The drawings were mine.
A mountain.
A car.
A family.
And one picture stood out.
A person standing alone.
Surrounded by broken pieces.
Underneath, written in childish handwriting:
"I will remember."
I touched the paper.
A memory returned.
I was young.
Maybe seven.
I was sitting here.
Crying.
My mother was beside me.
She was crying too.
"I am sorry, Ethan."
Young me looked at her.
"Why are they doing this?"
She hugged me.
"Because they are afraid."
"Of what?"
She whispered:
"Of what you might become."
The memory disappeared.
I stepped back.
My mother watched me.
"You remembered."
I looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She cried silently.
"Because William had people everywhere."
"Doctors."
"Police."
"Business partners."
"Even family."
She looked down.
"I tried to protect you from inside."
I shook my head.
"You left me alone."
"I know."
Her voice broke.
"And that is the thing I regret most."
For the first time...
I saw something different in her.
Not the scientist.
Not the person connected to Novacore.
A mother.
A woman who had failed.
But still loved her son.
A loud explosion interrupted us.
The building shook.
Hayes looked toward the hallway.
"That wasn't part of the plan."
Rachel looked confused.
"What plan?"
Another explosion.
Then gunfire.
Everyone froze.
William's voice came through the speakers.
"Interesting."
His tone changed.
Not fear.
Curiosity.
"An unexpected variable."
I looked up.
"Who is attacking?"
No answer.
Then the security cameras activated.
The screen showed the entrance.
A group of armed men entered the facility.
But they weren't wearing Novacore uniforms.
They wore black masks.
The same symbol was on their jackets.
A symbol I had never seen before.
My mother looked terrified.
"No..."
I looked at her.
"Who are they?"
Her face turned pale.
"People your grandfather was afraid of."
William's voice interrupted.
"Ethan."
I looked at the speaker.
"Do not trust them."
I almost laughed.
"Now you tell me not to trust someone?"
"They are not here to save you."
"Then why are they here?"
Silence.
Then William answered:
"Because they know what you are."
My blood ran cold.
The masked group moved deeper into the facility.
They knew exactly where they were going.
Exactly where we were.
My mother grabbed my hand.
"We need to leave."
But before we could move...
One of the attackers appeared at the end of the hallway.
He removed his mask.
I froze.
Because I knew him.
Not personally.
But from the files.
From the photographs.
From the past.
A man who was supposed to be dead.
A man connected to my father's old investigation.
He looked at me.
"Ethan Carter."
His voice was calm.
"Finally."
He stepped forward.
"The first successful Phoenix subject."
I stared at him.
"Who are you?"
He smiled.
"The person who knows what your grandfather was really afraid of."
A pause.
"The person who knows what happened before you were born."
The building shook again.
The lights flickered.
Then he said:
"Because Ethan..."
"You are not Subject Zero."
My heart stopped.
"Then what am I?"
He looked at William's camera.
Then back at me.
"You are the reason Project Phoenix failed."
The screen went black.
And for the first time...
William Carter sounded afraid.
"Do not listen to him."
May you like
But it was too late.
Because the stranger had just opened a door to a truth even my grandfather wanted buried.
