The city lights of Virel burned bright beneath the rain. Neon signs flickered in foreign languages, casting eerie colors onto the wet streets. Ash walked alone, his coat soaked, his collar turned up against the chill. He blended into the crowd with practiced ease, eyes flicking between reflections in glass and shadows that danced under street lamps.

It had been three days since the incident at Sector Twelve.

Solomon had vanished again. The boy in the cryo-pod—what Solomon had called the "answer to control"—was now missing too. Reina and Kade had taken temporary shelter at a safehouse. Ash had chosen the streets instead. He needed answers, and the only way to find them was to follow the threads Solomon had left behind.

He stopped under a broken canopy, checked his encrypted communicator, and found what he was waiting for. A blinking signal.

Incoming Message: ‘Foxglove found something. Rooftop. East Wing Tower. 12 minutes.’

Ash slipped into the alley and disappeared.

The East Wing Tower was a half-abandoned skyscraper on the edge of the industrial zone. Most of its lights were off. Only one floor still pulsed dimly through the smog—Floor 42. Ash reached it silently, bypassing faulty security panels and climbing the emergency stairwell.

On the rooftop, a figure waited.

She wore a hooded cloak, sleek gloves, and a silver earpiece. Her name in the network was Foxglove. She had once been part of the same covert agency Ash worked for. Now, she was a free agent—information broker, spy-for-hire, and the last person who trusted Ash unconditionally.

“You came fast,” she said, tossing him a datapad.

“I don’t waste time when it comes to Solomon.”

“Then you’ll want to see this.”

Ash scanned the screen. A list of locations. Lab reports. Financial movements. But one word stood out.

Seraphix.

“What is this?” Ash asked.

Foxglove leaned on the railing. “It’s not just a word. It’s a biotech company hidden under layers of shell corporations. They fund orphan programs. Medical clinics. But behind it? They’ve been working with Solomon.”

Ash’s jaw tightened. “He’s building something.”

Foxglove nodded. “More like perfecting something. Remember that child in the pod?”

“How could I forget?”

“There are more.”

Silence fell. Only the sound of rain.

Ash exhaled. “Where’s their nearest base?”

“Underground research lab, east of the Virel subway system. Sealed tight. But I have a way in.”

Ash grinned, the cold in his eyes softening for just a second. “Of course you do.”

The entrance to the Seraphix Lab wasn’t easy to find. Hidden behind a maintenance tunnel in the abandoned subway lines, it was protected by layers of retinal scans, encrypted locks, and toxic defense traps. But Ash, Foxglove, and Kade—who rejoined the mission the next day—worked through it in near silence.

Reina stayed back to keep their escape route open.

The lab’s interior was unlike anything Ash had seen before. Sterile white corridors. Artificial lighting. Automated surveillance drones that flew silently across the ceilings.

“This place looks too clean,” Kade whispered.

“That’s the dangerous kind of clean,” Foxglove replied.

They reached a chamber labeled ‘Chrysalis Room’.

Inside were rows of artificial growth tanks.

Children floated within. No older than ten. Each hooked to machines. Some moved. Some were still.

Ash froze.

“It’s a cloning experiment,” Foxglove said. “Memory insertion. Genetic enhancement. They’re creating ‘controlled assets’—super spies that don’t ask questions.”

“They’re children,” Ash muttered. “Weapons born in silence.”

Then an alarm blared.

“Someone knows we’re here!” Kade shouted.

Ash turned to run—but the exits slammed shut.

From a hidden passage, footsteps approached.

It was Solomon.

He wore a white coat, gloves, and a tired smile.

“You keep ruining my projects, Ash,” he said. “But this time, you’re too late.”

“Those children—”

“Are safer than you ever were,” Solomon snapped. “You were built in pain. I’m giving them purpose.”

Foxglove raised her gun. Solomon didn’t flinch.

“You shoot me,” he said, “and this place self-destructs.”

Ash stepped forward. “Then you’re coming with us.”

“No,” Solomon said, and tapped his wrist.

Gas hissed from vents. Lights turned red.

Ash grabbed Foxglove and Kade and pulled them into a side corridor. Alarms screamed. Lights flickered.

They found a broken maintenance hatch and crawled through to the lower levels.

The lab was collapsing. But behind them, they saw the children’s tanks being lowered—protected by automated systems.

“We’ll come back for them,” Ash swore. “We’ll expose everything.”

They escaped into the subway tunnels as explosions echoed above.

At the safehouse, Reina was already preparing new intel.

“We need to move fast,” she said. “Seraphix has other labs. And Solomon won’t stop.”

Ash nodded. He looked out the window, where the rain had finally stopped.

“For every shadow he casts,” Ash whispered, “we’ll light a flame.”

The mission had changed. It was no longer about stopping Solomon.

It was about saving what was left of the truth.