Location: Mirage Headquarters – Sector 7 Underground Facility
Time: 11:02 PM
Vashti stood in front of the giant metal gate, dressed head to toe in tactical black. Her neural chip had been upgraded—thanks to Arya—and a transmitter stitched into her sleeve connected her to Shabd and Arya's team.
Shabd's voice crackled softly in her earpiece:
> "Last chance to back out, Vashti."
"I'll blow the whole damn building if I have to. You know that, right?"
Vashti smirked, even though her heartbeat felt like thunder.
> "That's why I'm not afraid."
The guard approached, scanning her ID chip—a falsified identity Arya hacked from Mirage's old intern list.
Name: Viya Sharma. Role: Data Retrieval Intern.
"Clear," the guard said, waving her through.
She walked in.
---
Inside Mirage – The Lab Floors
Everything felt… familiar.
The white walls. The metallic scent of sterilized rooms. The eerie quiet. She passed doors marked "Test Chamber 4," "Memory Sync Lab," and "Subject Archive Wing."
Every step she took, a whisper of her childhood echoed:
A scream.
A lullaby.
A voice saying, "You're doing so well, Vi."
She gritted her teeth.
She wasn't here to remember.
She was here to end them.
---
POV: Shabd – Listening From the Van
Arya sat beside him, eyes on the monitors. One screen tracked Vashti's heartbeat. The other showed heat signatures in Mirage.
Shabd clenched the edge of the table.
"She shouldn't be doing this alone," he muttered.
"She's not alone," Arya said calmly. "She has us."
"But I'm the one who's supposed to protect her."
Arya turned. "Maybe now, she's protecting you."
---
Back Inside – Restricted Wing
Vashti approached a locked lab. The tag on the door sent a chill down her spine:
"Project Revenant: Rebirth Candidates – V. Dhiman / S. Heer / A. A."
Her.
Shabd.
Arya.
She opened the door slowly.
Inside: cryo-chambers. Data screens. A wall of childhood photos. Some torn. Some… burned.
And in the corner—
A child's drawing.
It showed a tall boy holding the hand of a smaller girl.
"Shabd & Vi – Forever Team."
Her eyes blurred.
Then—
Footsteps.
A man stepped out of the shadows. Slick hair. Mirage insignia tattooed on his wrist.
"Welcome home, Vi."
It was the agent from the Dusk Market. The one who had whispered in her ear.
"You don't remember me fully yet, do you?" he smiled. "But I remember you. I raised you. I trained you."
Vashti didn't flinch.
"I'm not Vi anymore."
He grinned. "Then I suppose you won't mind if I test that."
He snapped his fingers.
Two men grabbed her from behind.
But Vashti had waited her whole life for this.
She broke one's nose with her elbow, slammed the other into the wall, and twisted out of the hold. Before the third could move—
She had a blade at his throat.
Shabd's voice roared in her ear.
> "Vashti?! What's happening?!"
She answered through gritted teeth:
> "Phase one of my plan just started."
---