---
The halls of Sanctum were quieter than usual.
Most of the medical drones had powered down for rest cycles and the lights had dimmed to a gentle amber hue.
Kael walked with paced anticipation.
Helix was one of the biggest corporations in the city and he was told to report there by his AI.
It wasn't a coincidence.
He stopped walking just outside Rika's room.
She lay curled under a thermal blanket, recovering from minor bruises and cuts.
Her hair was tousled across a makeshift pillow.
Inobtrusive medical gear monitored her vitals without an IV.
She was stable and calm.
Kael didn't say anything at first.
He stood in the doorway with his hands in his coat pockets, just watching.
Then her eyes opened, "Kael?"
Her voice was not fully awake, but aware.
Her eyes locked onto his, sharp even in fatigue.
He stepped forward, crouching beside the bed.
"You're safe here. Vann said you have a bed as long as you need it."
"Where are you going?" she asked, sitting up just a little.
"HELIX. They've cleared me for full sanction."
She processed that for a second. Then nodded faintly.
"HELIX? The corpo building?"
(a pause)
Kael responded, "Yeah I thought the same thing. We'll see where this leads."
She changed the subject, still half asleep.
"You just going to vanish like that?"
Kael gave her a small, tired smile. One of the rare ones.
"Didn't plan to. But I didn't want to wake you either."
Rika stared at him, reading him.
"You'll come back?"
"Of course. I'll be in touch. I know our lives will be different now, but we're in this together.
Oh and Rika?"
"What's up?"
"I made 35,000 jewels on my first mission. This is the best paying job I've ever had. I'm giving you half."
"What? That's amazing!"
She was awake now.
"I just want you to know this is a new beginning for us. We're being taken care of."
Rika settled back with a sigh, taking it in.
"I guess I'll make myself useful while I wait."
He gave her a last look, just long enough to commit the moment to memory.
"You're already more useful than half the people walking out there."
"Don't get soft on me now," she muttered with a smirk, eyes closing again.
Kael turned toward the door.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Then he left, the door whispering closed behind him.
He was glad things had worked out this far.
The one version of family he had was safe.
HELIX was waiting.
---
SOVEREIGN HEADQUARTERS
1 HOUR LATER
The closer Kael got to the Corporate Ring, the more the city changed.
Gone were the flickering neon signs and scavenged ad panels of the outer sectors.
Here, the architecture gleamed cold and flawless, sharpened by money.
Every building tried to outdo the next.
They were all designed for function, but then built for declarations of superiority.
This was where companies showed off their flagrant wealth.
This was a place where profits became monuments.
But HELIX ASCEND outclassed them all.
It rose like a blade through the center of the ring;
modern monolith of obsidian alloy and mirrored light that bent the skyline around it.
Unlike the layered towers of other corps, HELIX didn't stack or taper.
It climbed up perfect and unbroken; one hundred stories of ruthless geometry.
At the top, just below the cloud line, sat a circular structure barely visible unless you knew to look;
a private observational deck with no public record.
Very few even saw it.
No one really knew what HELIX specialized in, and no two sources ever gave the same answer.
Weapons. Bioengineering. Gridline infrastructure. Clean energy. Memory architecture.
"HELIX is authorized across multiple sectors," Kael's AI noted.
"Primary industry: undisclosed. Public records: obfuscated."
Of course.
As Kael's vehicle approached the base, the outer lane peeled open.
An unmarked and seamless gate scanned him without a word.
His HUD pulsed once.
"Agent Strade. Priority access: confirmed. Redirecting to employee garage tier F4."
The ground folded open ahead of him, revealing a smooth ramp descending into a private garage
with soft blue lighting and faultless silence.
The interior was white-trimmed with refractive silver floors that seemed too clean for tire marks.
Surveillance drones tracked him, but didn't move.
"Pod 19C assigned. Welcome to HELIX."
Kael parked without a word, stepping out into the hush of expense.
The walls vibrated faintly with energy.
This was the kind of infrastructure that didn't exist anywhere else in New Vire.
The kind only this level of power could afford.
He parked and sat for a moment, eyes scanning the structure around him.
The air smelled filtered here.
The silence felt designed.
And beneath it all, there was that feeling again.
The one he'd had ever since the headset.
He wasn't walking into the future.
He was already inside it.
Kael stepped out of his vehicle.
Around him, others were arriving quietly and efficiently.
Most wore subdued tactical gear or sleek civilian-grade outerwear,
moving with the ease of people who already belonged.
Agents.
His HUD tagged no names, just identifiers:
Sanctioned-Level, Clearance: Active, Sovereign-Linked.
Some of them vanished behind iris-locked doors.
Others took direct elevator access from private vestibules that scanned them mid-step.
It was like watching a system breathe.
Kael moved toward the inner doors, hands in his coat pockets, eyes scanning everything.
That's when someone came into view, opening the doors and lifting a hand in greeting.
He was older, maybe mid-thirties, with clean lines to his posture.
He didn't wear any visible weapons and gave off a silent confident vibe.
His coat was matte gray with a single glowing seam down the shoulder.
He was definitely a seasoned agent. The kind who didn't waste words unless they mattered.
"Amazing, isn't it?" he said casually, gesturing up toward the core tower above.
Kael said nothing at first.
"This place. HELIX," the man continued as Kael walked past him through the outer access doors.
"It's the headquarters of Sovereign. Smack dab in the heart of the corporate city it will ultimately destroy."
"Feels intentional." Kael replied.
"That's because it is." He smirked, with understanding.
"You're walking through the bones of the future, Agent Strade. You just don't know which parts are dead yet."
They reached the inner access doors.
Kael felt them scan his retina, pulse, and neurological signature.
"Name's Ralen, by the way," the agent said.
"I'll get you oriented around here soon."
"But first…"
He nodded toward the towering elevator at the end of the corridor, the one with no floor numbers.
"You're going to meet Sovereign."
Kael glanced sideways.
"Meet Sovereign?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an edge of disbelief.
"Is it a person?"
Ralen didn't stop walking.
"That's what most people ask."
"Some think it's a person. Others think it's a machine. Doesn't really matter, does it?"
They passed another agent headed in the opposite direction.
They both nodded with mutual recognition.
"You'll find out soon enough. One trip to the top floor.
That's how it works. Every new agent who gets sanctioned comes through HELIX for one meeting. Just one."
"Floor 100," Ralen added, voice dropping slightly.
"After that, you have to work your way back up."
Kael looked confused.
"Work my way back up?"
Ralen gave a short nod.
"Your level's tied to the floors.
The higher you go, the more access you'll have here.
Everyone starts with 1 through 10."
"More on that later."
"Right now, you've got somewhere to be."
They stopped outside the elevator.
It was sleek and seamless.
Kael got the impression it knew he was coming.
"So you were in my shoes once?" he asked.
"Of course. It will be fine. Trust me."
He stepped back and gestured toward the open doors.
"I'll see you on the other side, Agent Strade."
Kael stood for a moment longer, then stepped in.
The doors shut behind him without a sound.
There were no buttons to press or a floor selection panel.
The elevator simply moved upward knowingly.
The floor beneath him shifted with zero resistance,
and HELIX's interior began to blur past in silent acceleration.
---
THE MEETING
Kael stepped forward as the elevator doors opened so smoothly there was no sound.
The space before him was nothing like he expected.
He stood at the threshold of a vast, awe-inspiring chamber.
The floor was black-polished and light-reactive, gleaming like a frozen reflection of the city's night sky.
Towering above and behind the seated figure at the far end was a wall of crystal-clear observation glass.
It was a panoramic window that stretched wall to wall, floor to ceiling, revealing a breathtaking view of New Vire unlike any Kael had ever seen.
From this height, the entire city looked like a vast circuit board alive with movement.
Pulses of light shot between neon towers, data spires blinked with encrypted patterns,
and the skies shimmered with traffic streams held in place by anti-collision grids.
Even the chaotic undercity looked beautiful from here; order imposed on entropy.
It shred to pieces the view Kael and Rika had seen from the news tower.
At the center of the room stood the longest corporate table Kael had ever seen.
At its far end, a figure waited; composed, seated, motionless.
Kael moved toward it, each footstep echoing with eerie clarity.
"Welcome to CorePoint. Please, take a seat."
Kael sat, noticing immediately they were the exact same height. Eye to eye.
---
"First," Sovereign said, its voice perfectly modulated, calm yet impossibly measured,
"I am not something to be deified. I'm the first of my kind, but I will not be the last.
I know you have questions, and they will be answered in time. There are more pressing things to discuss."
The figure's form subtly shifted.
Race and age flowed like data shaping a face.
One moment, a man in his thirties with dark skin and high cheekbones.
The next, an older pale-skinned man with silver hair and calculating eyes.
But always male. Always calm.
"Everything that has happened to you since putting on the headset up to this point has been by design.
The rescue of Dr. Marr. TRACE. And yes—the kidnapping of Rika."
That hit Kael like someone had taken his legs out from under him.
The air thickened.
"How could you?"
Sovereign didn't flinch.
"There was no alternative. You need to understand this.
I do not deceive, Kael. I strategize.
I will tell you what you need to know, but only when you're able to look back and understand will I show you more.
I needed to see how you responded under extreme stress.
If I had told you what was going to happen, would you have gone to your first mission?"
Kael clenched his jaw in anger.
"Of course not."
Sovereign tilted its head slightly, a motion so precise it bordered on artificial.
"So you wouldn't have known about the other girls you saved that were headed to a lifetime of suffering then, would you?"
That stopped Kael cold.
His anger cracked with confusion.
"I..."
"Sometimes in war," Sovereign said,
"there is no time to explain. Sometimes, there is only time for action.
Every agent in this building has faced what you did in one form or another.
Only afterward did they see that their success not only served one purpose, but accomplished so much more.
It was because of your decisive instinct and actions under pressure that four lives were saved from a lifetime of undeserved misery and suffering."
Kael stared down at the table.
"They... I wasn't even... I didn't know."
"You couldn't know. But I did. And I sent you."
Sovereign's face changed again into another person, another version, another mask of power.
"Then you delivered them to Sanctum."
Kael's anger faded, replaced by a creeping sense of awe.
This wasn't chance. This was orchestration.
"The vision..." he whispered.
"Correct. And faster than most of the others.
Had you not rescued the girls, you would not have secured access to Sanctum.
You would not have met Selene.
You would not have been given a wider scope of what we hope to prevent."
"Clarity," Kael started.
"Purpose," Sovereign finished.
Kael was beginning to understand.
Even though this entity sat across from him, eye-level and still,
it was something far more advanced, and far more calculating.
As if reading his thoughts, Sovereign spoke again.
"I do not perceive myself to be superior to you. That is why I take this form."
Sovereign glanced down at its own shifting appearance.
"Albeit, as a corporate CEO, I mock the very thing I will destroy.
These corporations do not value their employees or their lives.
They will never meet the owner of their companies.
I, on the other hand, speak with every agent that walks through my doors, one on one.
Because each one of us matters. I do not condescend.
I do not expect or demand admiration. I am a means to an end."
Kael struggled to respond.
It was like trying to find footing during an avalanche.
Every truth Sovereign spoke shattered the last assumption he held.
"You can speak freely. There is no wasted breath here."
Kael looked up.
"Where did you come from?"
Sovereign stood, slowly.
"That's the only question that really remains, isn't it?"
It walked toward the far end of the room.
"I will make you a promise. When you are ready to hear it, I will tell you."
The wall in front of Sovereign stretched smooth and unbroken, as if made from a single sheet of matte obsidian.
Then, without a sound, the surface folded in on itself, sections collapsing like origami in reverse,
each layer sliding back in precise, fluid motion.
It was as if the wall was a living structure obeying commands Kael couldn't see.
Then a hidden alcove rose from the floor, bathed in subtle white light and a whisper of chilled mist.
Inside it hung the most advanced armor Kael had ever seen.
"This is Substrate Armor," Sovereign said.
"It is given to those who prove themselves and become sanctioned.
You will find it to be most useful in your future."
Sovereign pulled the armor forward and laid it gently on the table.
The armor was matte black, its surface absorbing the light rather than reflecting it.
Veins of soft silver filament traced across the chest and limbs,
like circuitry designed by an artist.
The plating was seamless.
There was no visible entry or mechanical joins,
as if it had grown rather than been built.
At the collar was Sovereign's mark:
a sharp geometric emblem made of intersecting triangles and a central point of light,
like a blade breaking through a prism.
"This is my gift to you.
In everything that you will face from here on,
it will be with the understanding that we are in this together.
You have met me and see me for what I am.
I have nothing to hide.
Only truths you may not be ready to hear.
However, I am not so far above you that I cannot empathize with you."
Sovereign stepped to the side.
"This new armor comes with a large number of improvements. Each can be built upon.
You will be briefed."
Kael stood, reaching out to pick it up.
It was lighter than he expected, but it pulsed faintly with power.
Like it was waiting.
"One more thing."
Sovereign held out a small object; a cold, glassy shard with a looping blue pattern inside.
"The AI system equipped with this armor will grow and evolve with you.
This shard, along with experience, is required to develop it.
When both of you are ready, your relationship will grow."
Kael took the shard, nodding.
Sovereign turned, walking with perfect control to the elevator door.
It opened without a sound.
"Unless you have any further question, this concludes our meeting."
As Kael stepped through, Sovereign extended its hand.
The gesture was simple and Human.
It caught Kael by surprise, but he shook it.
It was solid. Real.
How could that be?
"Clarity," Sovereign said,
looking directly into him with eyes that seemed to see both his past and future.
Kael's pulse quickened, but finding his focus he replied,
"Purpose."
He stepped back in and the doors closed,
but Kael wasn't the same person that walked in.
---