Chapter 12 - I remembered the first laboratory.The first machine.
The first victim.
The first time Orpheus had erased someone.
And I remembered the truth about my father.
He had never intended to use the system for money.
Money was only the camouflage.
The real goal was control.
Erase a witness.
Erase a politician.
Erase a judge.
Erase a spouse.
Erase anyone.
Then replace them with someone loyal.
But I had discovered something more terrifying.
The procedure could also implant memories.
A person could be made to believe they had lived another life.
I had called it psychological identity reconstruction.
My father called it resurrection.
Because the dead could return.
Not physically.
Identity-wise.
The original person could disappear.
And someone else could take their place.
I had built the first prototype.
Then I discovered the resistance gene.
Madison.
My daughter.
Her brain rejected the implant.
That made her priceless.
I remembered the night everything fell apart.
I had confronted my father.
“You'll never touch my daughter.”
He smiled.
“Then I will touch her through you.”
Michael attacked me.
Daniel tried to protect us.
A gun went off.
I fell.
Blood filled the floor.
Daniel thought I was dying.
I wasn't.
My father ordered the procedure.
Daniel begged him to stop.
Then I made the choice.
I looked at Daniel.
“Erase me.”
He froze.
“Renee…”
“Erase the memory of this night.”
“Why?”
“Because if I remember, they'll use me to get to Madison.”
He did it.
But he made a mistake.
He didn't erase everything.
He hid fragments.
Because he knew I would eventually need them.
The copy was created accidentally.
A second consciousness emerged.
My father kept her alive.
He called her Subject Zero.
And then I remembered something else.
My mother's betrayal.
She hadn't been forced.
She had joined Orpheus willingly.
She believed it would save our family.
Instead, it destroyed us.
I opened my eyes.
I was back in the laboratory.
Madison was still held by Michael.
Daniel lay on the floor.
Blood spread beneath him.
My father stood nearby.
“You remember.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Then you know what happens next.”
“No.”
“What?”
I looked directly at Michael.
“You'll kill Madison.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And that's the plan.”
My father smiled.
“Exactly.”
“You're going to kill her because the resistance gene only activates under trauma.”
Silence.
My father's expression changed.
I continued.
“You don't need her alive.”
He stared.
“You need her brain.”
Michael looked at Jonathan.
“What does she mean?”
Jonathan didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“You've been studying her blood for years.”
My father tightened his grip.
“But blood isn't enough.”
I pointed to the machine.
“You need the neural response.”
Daniel suddenly moved.
He was alive.
He grabbed Michael's ankle.
Michael fell.
The gun slid away.
Madison ran.
I caught her.
My father screamed.
“Get them!”
Armed men entered.
The copy of me attacked the control system.
Lucas appeared above the chamber.
He triggered an electromagnetic pulse.
Every screen died.
The archive went black.
For five seconds, nobody moved.
Then the underground facility began shaking.
Explosions.
The ceiling cracked.
My father grabbed me.
“You don't understand!”
“You lost.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You haven't seen the final subject.”
The chamber doors opened.
A young man walked in.
I stared.
Daniel stared.
Lucas stared.
Because the young man had Daniel's face.
Exactly.
My father whispered:
“Subject 14.”
May you like
The clone looked at me.
And smiled.
