The broken sign above the old tunnel was barely legible now.
DAWNKEEP REGIONAL STAGING HUB – ACCESS RESTRICTED
Yu Ren stared at it like it owed him an explanation.
Rye crouched by the edge of the collapsed entrance, brushing aside shards of twisted metal.
"We can't go through the front," she muttered. "Caved in."
She scanned the debris, then her eyes lit up. "But vents? Vents are our friends."
"Are you sure?" Yu Ren asked.
"Of course not."
---
Ten minutes later, they were crawling on elbows through a maintenance shaft that smelled like rust, fungus, and despair.
Yu Ren grunted. "If we die here, I'm blaming you."
"If we die here," Rye replied, "blame the pre-apocalypse engineers who thought it was fine to run vent shafts over acid coolant lines."
That did not comfort him.
They dropped down into a crumbling sub-level hallway lit by emergency red strips still flickering after all these years.
Yu Ren's boot splashed into stagnant water.
His system pulsed immediately.
Memory Signature Detected
Warning: Proximity to Project Dawnkeep Lab Node
Rye's eyes narrowed. "This is it."
The lab doors ahead were welded shut.
Yu Ren pressed his hand against the panel—something deep in his core buzzed.
---
Override Protocol [14-C] Recognized
Access Granted
The heavy steel creaked open.
Rye whistled. "You've got magic fingers."
Inside, the lab was silent except for the low hum of dormant generators. Holoscreens lined the walls, frozen on data feeds and unread messages.
Yu Ren approached the largest console.
Dust covered the interface.
His fingers hovered—then touched the surface.
The system reacted.
---
LMEMORY INTEGRATION IN PROGRESS
Subject 14: Yu Ren
Accessing Black Box Logs…
A projection blinked to life.
It was a video file—blurry, but sound was clear.
[LOG: Project Dawnkeep | Entry 087]
Dr. Marrick speaking.
"Subject 14 has survived batch C. Unexpected response to neurological suppression. Shows adaptive memory filtration. Emotional bonding with Subject 9—Kai—has intensified. Recalibrating containment strategy."
Yu Ren flinched. Rye leaned in.
Another log played.
[LOG: Entry 088]
"Administrator D requested full lockout on Kai. Claims he's 'destabilizing the experiment.' But I've reviewed his logs—he's protecting 14, not sabotaging it. There's something else going on."
Static crackled. Then:
[LOG: Entry 090]
"If 14 ever escapes… God help us."
The screen went black.
---
Memory Fragment Retrieved: 4/15
Trait Upgrade:
[Mental Firewall – Tier 1]
Grants passive resistance to psychic or emotional manipulation
System Stability: 59%
Yu Ren staggered backward.
Rye caught him again. "What the hell is Project Dawnkeep trying to keep?"
Yu Ren's voice was thin. "Not what. Who."
---
They moved deeper into the lab.
Most of it was abandoned—but one door still had power.
"Storage Vault – Bio-Class C"
Yu Ren opened it.
Inside were rows of locked cryo-pods—some cracked open, others still sealed.
Each bore a marking:
"Subject 1"
"Subject 2"
...
"Subject 13"
And then, an empty space.
Subject 14.
Rye's breath caught. "You weren't the first."
Yu Ren stared. "No."
He reached out—
SYSTEM WARNING
Hostile Entity Approaching
They froze.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Rye drew her knife.
Yu Ren held the rifle loosely. "How many bullets do we actually have?"
"Four," Rye said. "Maybe five if the bent one behaves."
The sound grew louder.
Then stopped.
A voice spoke.
"Subject 14?"
They turned.
A tall figure stood in the doorway. Leather coat. Mask over the face. On the shoulder—an insignia of a broken sun.
Yu Ren's heart dropped.
That was Project Ascension's logo.
"Who the hell are you?" Rye hissed.
The figure tilted its head. "I was assigned to retrieve you. Alive, if possible. Dead, if necessary."
Yu Ren raised the rifle. "Yeah? Try me."
The figure moved faster than expected.
Rye lunged—her blade glanced off reinforced armor.
Yu Ren activated his new Trait.
[Pain Delay – Tier 1] Activated
He took a punch square to the ribs, felt nothing.
He fired—missed.
The second shot struck the figure's arm—it jerked, but kept moving.
Rye flanked from behind, slashing at the knees.
Yu Ren tackled forward, shoulder-first, driving them all into a cabinet.
It collapsed with a crash.
The figure reeled—reached for something on their belt.
Yu Ren saw it—
A containment collar.
System: Countermeasure Detected – Threat Level HIGH
He acted on instinct.
Grabbed the cryo-coolant hose from the broken pod and yanked it free.
The freezing vapor hissed out.
He sprayed the figure full blast in the face and chest.
The mask cracked.
The figure screamed.
Yu Ren and Rye didn't wait.
They ran.
---
They didn't stop until they were outside the lab.
Yu Ren gasped. "What… was that?"
Rye coughed. "Someone sent to bring you back."
"To where?"
She looked grim. "Wherever the rest of Project Ascension still lives."
Yu Ren turned back toward the tunnel, still hearing echoes.
He didn't want to know what happened to Subjects 1 through 13.
But he had the growing feeling they weren't all dead.
Some might still be hunting.
Or worse—
Waiting.
---
To be continued.