Rebirth protocol

Chapter 29 – Rebirth Protocol

Ava’s POV

"Welcome to Eden. Initiate Phase III."

The voice that crackled through the intercom wasn’t Solace, or even her clone—it was deeper, colder. Mechanized, like it came from something that had no soul left. The screens blinked rapidly, each one displaying security footage of various labs. Most were empty. Some weren’t. Cells. Experiments. Failed and successful clones. Some were of people we recognized—ghosts we thought we buried long ago.

Damon stared, frozen. "That’s... my brother. He died in Beirut."

Jackson's voice was tight. "This isn't a lab. It's a resurrection farm."

I took a step forward, heart pounding. The pod containing the child hissed again, and the mist inside cleared completely. Her eyes opened—piercing and unnatural.

"She’s awake," I whispered.

The child sat up slowly, cords detaching from her spine. Despite her small frame, her gaze was unflinching. It wasn’t a child’s gaze. It was ancient. Tired. Calculating.

"Ava Carter," she said.

I flinched. "You know me?"

"I was built to."

Before I could react, the platform beneath the pod began to rise.

Damon drew his gun. "No sudden moves."

"You can’t shoot what you don’t understand," the girl said calmly. Then she looked to the far screen, where the clone of Solace reappeared.

"Protocol Athena was never about me," the girl continued. "I was the key. But you... you were the ignition."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jackson snapped.

The girl tilted her head. "You activated the sequence by surviving. Now, Eden activates fully."

The lab walls began to shift, revealing hidden corridors. The power surge from beneath our feet caused the rig to hum like a living thing.

"We need to move," Damon said. "Now."

Jackson checked the feeds. "Three exits, all closing fast. We pick one or we get entombed here."

The girl didn’t flinch. "You’ll need me. I know the map. I am the map."

Damon didn’t like it. Neither did I. But we didn’t have time to argue.

"You stay close," I warned her. "If you vanish, we don’t look for you."

"Deal," she said, stepping into the hallway like she’d always belonged here.

---

Eden Complex – Sub-Level Alpha

The deeper we moved, the more alive the facility felt. Lights flickered on as we passed. Doors unlocked in sequence, guided by the child.

"What’s your name?" I asked as we hurried down a descending spiral tunnel.

She didn’t look back. "Designation: ARIA. Acronym. Artificial Resilience. Intelligence. Adaptation."

"Of course it is," Jackson muttered.

We reached a corridor with biometric locks. Aria placed her palm on the scanner. It glowed green instantly.

The door slid open to reveal what looked like a cathedral made of steel and glass.

"The heart of Eden," she said.

In the center: a massive structure suspended mid-air. Glowing. Pulsing. Something between a server core and an artificial brain.

"That’s the Nexus," Aria said. "Every clone, every program, every backup... it all feeds into that."

I took a step closer. "If we destroy that..."

"You destroy everything," she finished. "But you destroy yourselves too. You’re in there. Every thought, every scan, every memory. Ava Carter. Damon Shaw. Even Jackson." She glanced at him. "Especially Jackson."

He scowled. "I hate being special."

Suddenly, alarms blared.

"They know we’re here," Damon said, raising his weapon.

"Correction," Aria said softly, "They've always known. They were waiting."

Turrets dropped from the ceiling.

I shoved Aria to the side. "Run!"

Damon fired the first shot. Jackson tossed an EMP spike that disabled two turrets, but three more replaced them. The room became chaos.

"We need to overload the Nexus!" I shouted.

Aria pointed to the ceiling. "Control relay’s above!"

Damon and I sprinted toward the scaffolding ladder. We climbed under fire, metal pinging with every near miss.

As we reached the top, I spotted it—the manual override. Damon covered me as I yanked it open.

"Three cables," Aria’s voice echoed from below. "Red, blue, and white. Pull them in that order."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But it’s our best shot."

I gritted my teeth and yanked the red. Sparks flew. The system groaned.

"Now blue!"

I pulled the second.

"White! Now!"

The moment I did, the Nexus let out a deafening whine.

Everything went still.

Then the floor split beneath us.

---

Lower Subterrane – Eden Crypt Level

I awoke with blood in my mouth and concrete dust in my lungs. Damon landed beside me, dazed but conscious. Jackson coughed nearby.

"Is everyone alive?" I asked, voice hoarse.

"Define alive," Jackson rasped.

Aria stood untouched, watching us from a stone stairwell that shouldn’t have existed in a place like this.

"What... is this place?" Damon whispered.

Aria stared up. "The original Eden."

"Original?"

"Before the labs. Before the tech. This was the foundation. A vault. A prison. A sanctuary."

The walls were etched with markings. Ancient. Not just scientific but... scriptural.

"This was never about cloning," Jackson murmured. "This was about rebirth. Ascension."

At the end of the crypt, a massive circular door began to open.

Beyond it stood figures.

Ten of them.

Clones? Maybe. But they weren’t like the ones we fought before.

They radiated something else.

Power.

"Phase III isn’t evolution," Aria whispered. "It’s judgment."

One of the figures stepped forward. Identical to me.

"Welcome to the final trial," he said. "Only one version of you walks out."

Damon lifted his weapon. "I vote me."

The clone smiled.

"Then let’s begin."

---

To Be Continued...