4:12 AM — Helix Vault, Sublevel Sigma
The air shook with sirens.
Ryoji pulled Aiko behind a cluster of shattered consoles as the vault doors groaned open. Lights from above flickered, casting long shadows across the stasis pods. Footsteps—measured, synchronized—echoed down the corridor. Division Zero soldiers in white armor spilled into the room like a rising tide.
"They're early," Ryoji muttered, drawing both knives. "Too early."
Helix-0 remained still, standing in the mist like a statue sculpted from grief and war. Its head slowly turned toward the incoming soldiers, and for the first time—Ryoji saw hesitation in its stance. Not rage. Not violence. Something closer to memory.
Then everything erupted.
Gunfire tore through the chamber. Sparks flew. Ryoji lunged out, blades flashing—cutting down the first two soldiers before vanishing into the shadows. Aiko ducked low, scrambling for cover. She pulled a disruptor from her belt, then paused.
Helix-0 moved.
Like a phantom.
It didn't attack. It walked forward, ignoring the bullets slicing past it, arms down, eyes locked not on the soldiers—but on her.
"Aiko…"
That voice again—splintered, broken, human beneath the digital fractures.
Aiko's heart cracked. "Kenji?"
Another explosion. A support beam crashed down, splitting the room. Smoke rolled in waves.
Then the room fell silent.
The remaining Division Zero troops stepped aside.
And from behind them… a tall figure emerged.
Impossibly clean, untouched by war. White coat. Pale gloves. Eyes sharp as knives.
The Director.
Aiko's blood froze.
Ryoji's jaw clenched. "No…"
The Director walked with quiet precision, hands behind his back. He looked at Helix-0 as one might regard a failed experiment.
"So," he said. "The prodigal code returns."
Helix-0's gaze locked onto him—and something shifted in the air. Rage, slow and rising.
"You—" it began, but the Director raised a single finger.
"Sleep."
A low hum pierced the vault.
Helix-0 screamed—body convulsing, sparks firing from its implants. It dropped to one knee, clawing at its own skull.
Aiko rushed forward, but Ryoji grabbed her.
"He's triggering a failsafe," Ryoji said. "They built him with a kill switch."
"I won't let him die!" she screamed.
The Director looked toward them now, a faint smile on his lips.
"I remember you," he said to Ryoji. "The ghost with knives. The one who broke."
Ryoji stepped forward. "You took everything."
"And you still don't understand why," the Director replied calmly. "That's what makes you weak."
Aiko stood beside Ryoji, fury in her eyes. "We're not afraid of you."
"No," said the Director, glancing at Helix-0, still writhing. "But he is."
Behind him, a squad activated a new device—like a portable stasis field. Blue light surged.
Ryoji's eyes narrowed.
They weren't here to kill Helix-0.
They were here to take him back.
The Director turned away as the field enveloped Helix-0's body. "You'll follow," he said without looking back. "You always do."
Then he was gone.
The vault was quiet again.
Aiko fell to her knees where her brother had stood. "He remembered me. I saw it…"
Ryoji placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're not done."
She looked up, fire behind the tears.
"Then let's burn them all."
To be continued in Chapter 37…