The Carter Industries broadcast looped on every screen in the city.
Julian's frozen face stared down from billboards, his mouth half-open mid-sentence. The words CONTAINMENT BREACH flashed in crimson, but the truth was worse:
They weren't trying to contain the Hollow Men.
They were trying to breed them.
Rook who was still trembling from the hive integration, hacked into the broadcast's source. "It's not a warning," he muttered, wires snaking from his temples into a Hollow Man's severed head. "It's a beacon."
The decrypted data unfolded:
Project Prime Directive
- Stage 1: Harvest Ariella's DNA (✔️)
- Stage 2: Mass-produce Hollow vessels (✔️)
- Stage 3: Upload Julian's consciousness into the Prime body
I crushed the Hollow skull under my boot. "He wasn't running from Lillian. He was continuing her work."
Rook's new golden eyes flickered. "Wait—there's a fourth file here. Encrypted with biometrics." He swallowed. "It needs your fingerprint."
I pressed my hand to the screen.
The file opened.
And the world dropped out from under me.
The video showed a laboratory I'd never seen.
Julian stood beside a cryo-pod, his suit immaculate, his voice clinical:
"If you're seeing this, Ariella, I'm already dead. Lillian lied to us both. The System was never hers, it was on loan from The Architect. And now? He wants it back."
The camera panned to the pod.
Inside floated Kai.
Not my Kai.
A younger version.
Julian's voice turned grim: "The real Kai Grey died protecting you twelve years ago. The man you know? That's the Architect's failsafe. A clone programmed to deliver you to him."
The video cut to security footage:
My Kai—no, the impostor—standing over Julian's bleeding body, whispering, "She's ready now."
Rook grabbed my arm as I swayed. "Ari—"
I ripped free.
Because the video wasn't done.
The final frame showed coordinates.
And a countdown:
48:00:00
Julian's last words:
"He's coming for you. And he's bringing an army of real monsters."
THE SECOND BETRAYAL
The safehouse exploded at dawn.
I barely dragged Rook through the fire escape before the white-clad soldiers descended.
Not Hollow Men.
Something worse.
Their movements were liquid, their faces shifting between identities, a thousand people in one body.
Rook choked on smoke. "Shapeshifters?!"
System Alert:Entity Detected: Mimic-Class Hostiles. Origin: Architect's Personal Guard. Threat Level: Critical.
I fired blindly into the smoke. "We need to move!"
A voice answered from the flames:
"You've moved enough, little sister."
Kai—no, the thing wearing his face, stepped through the inferno, unharmed.
His eyes were pure white.
His smile was wrong.
"Miss me?" he asked, in a voice that wasn't his.
I shot him point-blank between the eyes.
He caught the bullet.
And crushed it to dust.
The Architect's message was simple:
"Come willingly, or I'll burn every Hollow Man every piece of you off the planet."
Rook wiped blood from his lips. "We can't fight that."
The System whispered alternatives:
Option 1:Surrender. 87% chance of assimilation.
Option 2:Flee. 42% chance of survival.
Option 3:Unlock the System's final protocol:Apotheosis.
I stared at Kai's—no, the Architect's, smug face on the surveillance feeds.
I made my choice.
I opened my arms to the remaining Hollow Men.
"Merge with me."
Their bodies dissolved into black mist.
And my skin began to shine.