Chapter 64 - Fractured Allegiances
"You died in Bavaria," Daniel spat, setting Julian down behind a thick bulkhead and drawing the tactical sidearm he had retrieved from the armory. His knuckles were raw, split by cold and shrapnel.
"Bavaria was a ledger audit," Vance replied calmly, stepping forward across the vibrating gantry while his security team laid down suppressing fire at Elena’s damaged gunship circling overhead. "The woman in that aircraft is not the Magistrate's proxy. She is a rogue splinter of the Zurich Directorate. She wants to liquidate the four subjects to wipe the genetic records before the international tribunals take custody. We, however, intend to activate them."
"Activate them?" Daniel's voice was lethal, low and razor-sharp. "They're children, Vance. You turned my wedding into an extraction drill, you planted a puppet bride in my life, and you took my real son's DNA to grow these subjects in vat tanks!"
"Look at them, Daniel," Vance said, gesturing with an open palm toward Leo and Julian. "Look at your boy."
Daniel glanced back. Leo had dropped the tablet. The boy was standing rigid, his head tilted back toward the sky. Julian stood beside him, mirroring the posture precisely. Fifty yards away, up in the hovering gunship, Subject Four was pressing her palms against the window glass.
A high-frequency hum resonated through the air—a sound that bypassed the ear canal and vibrated directly against the bones of the skull.
The storm seemed to mute. Raindrops hung in the air like suspended mercury as an invisible electromagnetic field emanated from the three children. All the electronics on Platform Null-Seven began to flicker erratically; monitors sparked, emergency floodlights shattered one by one, and the engine whine of Elena’s gunship dropped an entire octave as its avionics choked on the sudden surge.
"Dad..." Leo whispered, though his mouth barely moved. His eyes had taken on an eerie, pale luminescence in the flashing red emergency lights. "She’s not Elena."
"What?" Daniel demanded, keeping his gun leveled at Vance's chest.
"The woman in the aircraft," Julian spoke in unison with Leo, their voices overlapping in an impossible, harmonic timbre. "She isn't our mother. She isn't your bride. She's Chassis Nine. The real Elena never left the vault in Svalbard."
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Before Daniel could process the words, the sky split open with an deafening roar.
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