Episode 12
The wind howled as the private jet descended through the icy clouds. Snow lashed against the windows like claws. Beneath them stretched the endless white tundra of the Ural Mountains. Silent. Merciless. Hiding secrets long buried.
Iris stared through the glass, jaw clenched.
Lucien sat across from her, checking the coordinates Alec's AI had left. His expression was unreadable, but Iris knew him well enough now to catch the tension in his shoulders. He was worried. And so was she.
"We land in ten," he said, loading two pistols into his holsters. "Once we're down, we move fast. The Lazarus site won't be unguarded."
Iris nodded. "If Alec's consciousness is in there… I'll make sure it's his final resting place."
---
The Descent into the Earth
Their helicopter touched down on a frozen plateau. Snow stretched as far as the eye could see. But beneath their boots, hidden under layers of ice, was a trapdoor made of reinforced alloy.
Lucien connected a decryption module to the hidden terminal.
The screen flickered. Then hissed to life.
> IDENTITY VERIFIED: SUBJECT THETA. ACCESS GRANTED.
Iris stared.
"It recognizes me," she whispered. "Even now."
The ground groaned as mechanical locks disengaged. With a low rumble, a metallic platform emerged from the snow, revealing an elevator shaft that descended into the abyss.
They stepped inside.
As the doors shut behind them, the temperature dropped.
And the silence grew heavier.
---
Inside the Lazarus Bunker
The elevator opened into a vast corridor bathed in blue light. Steel walls lined with biometric scanners. Empty hallways echoing with the ghosts of forgotten screams.
Lucien moved ahead, gun drawn.
Iris followed—but every step she took felt like a memory surfacing. Like a part of her still trapped here, waiting.
Suddenly, a door slid open.
She turned, heart hammering.
A little girl stood there.
Pale. Silver eyes. Black veins under translucent skin.
"Elara?" Iris gasped.
The girl blinked. Then smiled eerily. "Hello, sister."
---
Sister of the Void
Lucien stepped forward, but Iris held him back.
"Elara… how are you alive?" Iris whispered.
"I never died," the girl replied. "They shut me down. Put me into stasis when I started to evolve too fast."
"Evolve?" Lucien echoed.
Elara turned, revealing her arm. It shifted—literally—reconstructing itself into sharpened bone. "The Lazarus Protocol wasn't meant to cure death. It was meant to erase weakness."
"You're just a child," Iris said softly.
"No," Elara said. "I'm the future Alec dreamed of."
The lights flickered. Sirens buzzed to life. A robotic voice echoed across the bunker.
> Containment breach detected. Lazarus Core destabilizing.
---
The Heart of the Machine
They ran.
Down long corridors until they reached the central chamber.
A spherical chamber. In its center—a massive crystalline server core glowing with eerie light. Dozens of tubes pulsed with liquid, and within each—figures floated. Clones. Versions of Iris. Hundreds.
She fell to her knees.
"What… what is this…?"
Lucien's voice was low, horrified. "Alec… was trying to rebuild you. Again and again."
Each pod bore a name.
Theta-1. Theta-2. Theta-3...
Her name wasn't Iris. It was Theta-7.
"I'm just one of them," she whispered. "One version."
"No," Lucien said firmly. "You're you. You lived. You felt. You chose."
Before she could answer, a voice filled the chamber.
> "Welcome home, Theta-7."
The crystalline server flickered.
Alec's face appeared again, a digital ghost trapped in the code.
---
Alec's Resurrection
"You survived," Alec said, voice cold and static-laced. "Impressive. But unnecessary. I've already begun Phase Two."
"What is Phase Two?" Iris demanded.
"To upload myself into a new body," Alec said. "One stronger. Faster. Permanent."
A figure emerged from the shadows.
Tall. Male. His face… Alec's. But younger. Enhanced.
"He made himself a new vessel," Lucien muttered.
"You can't play god," Iris growled.
"I am god," Alec snapped. "And you? You were my Eve. But you betrayed me."
---
The Final Choice
Alarms screamed. The Lazarus Core overloaded.
Lucien shouted, "We have sixty seconds before this place goes nuclear!"
Iris faced Alec's clone. Her hand hovered over the detonation switch for the Lazarus Core.
"Shut it down and you die," Alec warned. "But so do all my backups. Every version of me."
Her finger shook.
Then she smiled. "That's the point."
She slammed the switch.
The clone lunged—but Lucien tackled him to the ground.
The server pulsed once.
Then—
BOOM.
---
Aftermath
Iris awoke in the snow.
Lucien pulled her out of the wreckage, coughing, bruised—but alive.
The Lazarus Bunker was gone. Nothing but smoke and fire in its place.
"Elara?" Iris asked.
Lucien shook his head. "She vanished during the blast."
They stared into the blaze as the wind howled.
"He's gone now," Lucien said.
But Iris wasn't so sure.
Because in the wreckage… something blinked.
A tiny red light.
Still alive.
Still watching.