Chapter 5: The First Strike
Amelia tightened her grip on the metal IV stand.
Her hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From muscles that had forgotten what strength felt like.
Seven years confined to a hospital bed had stolen nearly everything from her.
But not the instinct to protect her family.
Victor stood with his back to her, one hand resting on the transparent cover protecting the red Foundation Purge System switch.
Three armed guards surrounded him.
One press.
Five minutes.
An entire underground world would become a tomb.
Amelia inhaled slowly.
"For Ethan."
"For Lily."
Then she moved.
The first guard heard the footsteps a fraction too late.
He turned just as Amelia swung the IV stand with every ounce of strength left in her body.
CRACK!
The steel pole smashed against his temple.
He collapsed instantly.
The room froze.
Victor spun around.
His eyes widened.
"Impossible..."
Amelia's breathing became ragged.
"I've been proving you wrong for seven years."
The remaining guards raised their pistols.
Victor lifted a hand.
"No."
He smiled.
"I want her alive."
"She still has value."
The guards hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Amelia grabbed the fallen guard's flashlight and hurled it toward the ceiling.
The light shattered.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Only the emergency lights remained, flashing red every few seconds.
Victor cursed.
"Find her!"
Several corridors away...
Ethan's team heard the distant crash.
Alpha Team immediately stopped.
"Movement ahead."
The drone operator checked the thermal scanner.
"I've got multiple heat signatures."
"Six..."
"No..."
"Seven."
Hayes frowned.
"Seven?"
"There should only be six."
Ethan's pulse quickened.
"Amelia."
Meanwhile...
Bravo Three pressed his bleeding shoulder against the wall.
Victor's words still echoed through the darkness.
"I wanted you alive."
His radio crackled weakly.
"Ethan..."
"...if you hear this..."
Static interrupted.
He struck the radio.
"...he has explosives..."
"...the whole place..."
Another burst of interference.
Then silence.
His battery died.
Back inside the surveillance room...
Victor calmly adjusted his suit despite the chaos.
He wasn't angry.
He was fascinated.
Amelia had escaped.
Ethan had reached the underground level.
Lily had survived the poisoning.
Everything had gone wrong.
Yet...
He still held one advantage.
Knowledge.
He alone understood the true purpose of Foundation Seven.
He walked toward another biometric vault hidden behind a bookshelf.
The scanner confirmed his identity.
The wall slid open.
Inside rested dozens of thick folders.
Each marked with a different family name.
Each belonging to one of the country's wealthiest dynasties.
Blackmail.
Illegal adoptions.
Forged inheritance records.
DNA substitutions.
Children exchanged for fortunes.
Decades of corruption.
Victor quietly loaded every file into a fireproof briefcase.
If he escaped...
He could rebuild everything.
Elsewhere...
Amelia staggered into a children's ward.
Tiny beds lined the walls.
Most were empty.
Dust covered the floor.
It had been abandoned years ago.
She looked around.
Then froze.
The ceiling glowed.
Hundreds of tiny fluorescent stars.
Exactly as Lily had remembered.
Tears filled Amelia's eyes.
"My baby..."
She crossed the room.
Near one bed stood a faded wooden cabinet.
Inside...
A small yellow stuffed rabbit.
The same one she had placed beside Lily in the maternity ward seven years ago.
She hugged it tightly.
Someone had kept it.
Someone had wanted Lily to remember.
Then she noticed something sewn inside one ear.
A folded piece of paper.
Her fingers shook as she unfolded it.
Only one sentence appeared.
If you ever wake up... trust Eleanor.
No signature.
No explanation.
Just a name.
Eleanor.
At that same moment...
Ethan's team reached Blue Door Twelve.
The heavy steel entrance stood slightly open.
Alpha Team formed a defensive line.
One operator gently pushed it wider.
The room beyond looked untouched.
Tiny beds.
Children's drawings.
Broken toys.
Lily's memories had been real.
Ethan slowly entered.
His eyes landed on a wall.
Hundreds of photographs.
Children.
Some smiling.
Some crying.
Each picture included a date.
Height.
Weight.
Blood type.
Then...
One photograph stole the air from his lungs.
A three-year-old girl holding a yellow rabbit.
Lily.
Below it someone had written:
Subject L-07
Hayes whispered,
"They catalogued her..."
Ethan clenched his fists.
"Like property."
Suddenly...
A weak voice echoed from deeper inside the ward.
"Ethan..."
Every muscle in his body froze.
He knew that voice.
Even after seven years...
He would have recognized it among a million.
"Amelia?"
No answer.
Then again.
"Ethan..."
He sprinted through the corridor.
Turning the final corner...
He stopped.
There she stood.
Thin.
Scarred.
Barely able to remain standing.
Holding the yellow rabbit against her chest.
For several seconds...
Neither of them moved.
Neither trusted their own eyes.
Ethan whispered,
"Is it really you?"
Amelia smiled through tears.
"I told you..."
"...I'd find my way home."
He crossed the room in two strides and wrapped his arms around her.
For the first time in seven years...
The Blackwood family was no longer separated by lies.
Amelia buried her face against his shoulder.
"I thought I'd never see you again."
"You never lost me," Ethan whispered.
"I was just looking in the wrong place."
Behind them...
Hayes quietly wiped away a tear.
Even Alpha Team lowered their weapons.
For one brief moment...
The war stopped.
Then Amelia suddenly pulled away.
Her expression changed instantly.
"Ethan..."
"What is it?"
She looked directly into his eyes.
"Victor wasn't trying to protect his secrets."
"He was trying to hide someone."
"What do you mean?"
"There was another patient."
"Another prisoner."
Ethan frowned.
"Who?"
Amelia swallowed hard.
"The nurse..."
"The one who saved Lily from the hospital fire."
"She's still alive."
Before Ethan could respond...
The entire underground complex shook violently.
A computerized voice echoed through every corridor.
WARNING. FOUNDATION PURGE ACTIVATED.
May you like
SELF-DESTRUCTION IN 300 SECONDS.
The countdown had begun.
