The storm that had brewed in the shadows for years was now stirring to life.
Aurora knew peace was always fleeting. But she hadn't expected its end to come so swiftly.
---
Somewhere in the Swiss Alps
The mountain base was silent save for the hum of machines. Snowfall cloaked the world outside, but deep within the facility, steel corridors led to a central chamber—a cylindrical sanctum pulsating with blue light.
Inside, the Revenant stood motionless.
He was young. Perhaps nineteen. A perfect fusion of genetic design and human essence. The culmination of the Helix Project's darkest ambition. He bore no name. Only a designation: R-1.
A team of scientists monitored his vitals, while two guards flanked the chamber with wary eyes. Dr. Helena Vos, lead on-site bioengineer, tapped away at the console.
"Vitals are stable. No signs of psychological disruption."
"He's been active for three days. How much longer until he's fully integrated?" asked a shadowed figure behind her.
Vos didn't look back. "Mentally, he's already surpassed predictive intelligence markers. Physically, he's ready now. We're only calibrating emotional regulation."
The shadowed man nodded. "He will be sent to London tomorrow."
"And his objective?"
The figure stepped closer. "Retrieve Noah Hudson. Eliminate all resistance."
---
Hudson Estate, 48 Hours Later
The morning sun painted the garden in warm hues. Aurora was in the greenhouse with Noah, helping him replant his first tomato sprout. It was something simple. Grounding. Something far removed from war.
Noah looked up. "Mom, will things ever be normal?"
Aurora hesitated. "What's normal?"
He thought. "A world where people don't want to use me."
She smiled softly. "That world is the one we're fighting for."
Across the estate, Damien trained with Maxwell and his handpicked security team. Since the discovery of Revenant's existence, the perimeter had been tripled, and satellite surveillance monitored all unusual heat signatures within 300 kilometers.
They were ready for anything.
Except how fast it came.
---
London—MI6 Intercept Center
"We've got a hit."
Agent Reid stormed into the ops center.
The satellite feed showed a series of charred vehicles on the Swiss border. A convoy meant to escort a package—classified cargo—with a dozen elite guards.
All dead.
The cargo was gone.
"It's begun," she said.
---
That Night
The Hudson Estate went dark.
Not power failure—something deeper. Aurora's instincts kicked in before her conscious mind caught up.
She grabbed Noah from his bed and whispered, "Hide. Go to the basement. Don't come out until I say."
Noah nodded, fear flashing in his eyes, but he didn't argue. He moved.
Aurora slipped into the hallway, weapon drawn.
Then she saw him.
He stepped from the shadows as if materialized from smoke. Dressed in matte black, no armor, no mask. Just a young man with ice-blue eyes and a face devoid of emotion.
He looked like… them. Like a Hudson. But cleaner. Sharper. Engineered.
"Aurora Hudson," he said calmly.
"Who are you?"
"I am R-1. I've come for the boy."
"You're not getting him."
"I don't need permission."
He moved.
Faster than Aurora had seen any human move.
She dodged, fired. The bullet struck him in the chest—he didn't flinch. He struck back, knocking her across the hallway.
Damien arrived then, barreling into the intruder with a roar. Their bodies collided like titans—bone and sinew reinforced by technology.
R-1 gripped Damien by the throat. "You are obsolete."
Aurora slashed his arm with a blade laced with an EMP charge. Sparks danced across his skin. R-1 hissed, his grip loosening.
Maxwell's men opened fire, filling the hallway with gunfire.
R-1 vanished through the smoke.
---
The Fallout
The attack lasted seven minutes. Three dead. Two wounded. Noah unharmed.
But the message was clear: They were outmatched.
Damien stood in the war room, arm bruised, eyes burning.
"He was fast. Strong. Not just genetically altered—programmed. He didn't even blink when I hit him."
Maxwell nodded grimly. "And he'll be back."
Aurora looked at the blueprint from Selene's files. "He was built to be the final stage. The clean version of what she failed to become."
"And he wants Noah."
Aurora exhaled. "Because Noah's blood is the code that unlocks him. Without it, Revenant's full evolution is incomplete."
---
Reid's Decision
Across the ocean, Reid received the footage.
She watched R-1's fluid violence frame by frame.
She turned to her aide. "It's time to deploy Cerberus."
The aide blanched. "Ma'am, Cerberus was decommissioned for ethical violations."
"And R-1 wasn't? Get them ready. Now."
---
The Calm Before the War
Aurora stood on the balcony, overlooking the gardens. Damien joined her, bruised but alive.
"We can't keep Noah here," he said.
"No."
"Where, then?"
"Somewhere even gods can't find him."
They kissed, a brief sanctuary in a world that was crumbling again.
Below, Noah stood at the window. Watching the stars. Wondering which ones held answers. And which ones carried the monsters.
Far away, in the cold mountains, R-1 stood before a new mirror. In his hand, a drop of Noah's blood stolen from a single trace on a hallway wall.
He injected it into his veins.
And he began to change.
---