They drove through the night—no headlights, no noise.
The only sound was the hum of the encrypted laptop in Celeste's lap, loading a file that didn't exist on any known server.
Project ZER0.
Alfreda sat up front, her shoulder stitched and blood seeping through her sleeve. Nathaniel drove like the devil was behind him—which, considering the thing wearing Dano's face, might've been true.
Tracy was in the back seat with Celeste, two guns on her lap, eyes wide and quiet.
"Why didn't we ever hear about this project?" Celeste muttered. "Not even whispers."
Nathaniel's jaw ticked. "Because even the Vault wasn't supposed to contain it."
Alfreda added, "My mother mentioned something once. She said there were secrets buried deeper than the bones of the Widowmakers. She called it the Ghost Key."
Celeste stared at the flickering screen.
"Welcome, user."
The voice was glitchy. But feminine.
Then a loading bar.
Decryption in progress: PROJECT ZER0
Status: COMPROMISED
Active Subject Count: ONE
Last access: The Saint
The screen glitched again.
And suddenly—
Footage.
—
Video File 1: DATE UNKNOWN
The Saint stood in a sterile room, younger. His eyes darker, voice colder.
"I built the Vault for leverage," he said to the camera. "But Project ZER0 is the insurance policy no one should ever activate."
He stepped aside.
A surgical table. Strapped to it—Celeste's father.
Alive.
Screaming.
Implants in his brain. Wires in his chest. Machines keeping him breathing.
"Subject #001," the Saint said. "Reconstructed from the remains of the traitor once known as Elias Valez. Father of my heir. Widowmaker by blood. Ghost by design."
The footage cut.
Celeste's heart stopped.
Tracy whispered, "That's… your dad?"
"He died in the Valencia massacre," Celeste said. "There was nothing left. They said—"
"They lied," Alfreda cut in softly. "The Saint didn't just kill your father. He resurrected him."
—
File 2: 13 years ago
Elias—the ghost—spoke from the screen.
"Celeste. If this ever reaches you… I didn't leave you. I was taken."
He paused. The machines in his chest whirred louder.
"I loved your mother. I fought for the Widowmakers until the Saint decided love made us weak."
Another flicker.
"He took me apart. Bit by bit. And rebuilt me with tech pulled from Vault Zero. He called it evolution. I called it hell."
Tears streamed down Celeste's face. Not weakness—just decades of betrayal finally surfacing.
"Find me," the recording said. "End me, if I'm not… me anymore."
—
They stopped the car on a bridge over dead water.
No one said anything for a long time.
Until Nathaniel asked the question that mattered:
"Where is he now?"
The file responded.
"PROJECT ZER0: LOCATION—THE NECROPOLIS."
Alfreda paled.
"No," she whispered. "That place doesn't exist anymore. It was destroyed after the prototype riots. We buried it in concrete."
"Clearly, we didn't bury it deep enough," Celeste muttered.
She looked at the photo on the screen—grainy, infrared, but unmistakable.
A man inside a containment pod. Wires in his skin. A scar shaped like a Widowmaker's fang on his throat.
Her father.
Alive.
Or something pretending to be.
—
Six hours later.
They stood at the mouth of a forgotten underground facility outside Prague. Covered in vines. No power. No life.
The Necropolis.
Tracy kicked the steel door open.
Inside, darkness poured like oil.
Celeste went in first.
She followed the map blinking on the laptop—each hallway colder, tighter, the walls echoing with long-abandoned screams.
And then they found it.
The chamber.
Pods.
Thirteen total.
Twelve empty.
One glowing.
Inside—him.
Elias.
Barely breathing.
But eyes… open.
He stared at her.
"Celeste," he rasped.
She choked on a sob.
"I found you," she whispered.
He smiled. "No. You found him."
Before they could react—
The pod hissed.
And the thing inside screamed.
Not her father.
Not anymore.
Not quite.
"ZER0 has become me," the voice whispered. "And you are the next host."
The walls shook.
Alarms blared.
Alfreda shouted, "We need to kill the power!"
Nathaniel sprinted to the generator—blasting it with three rounds.
The lights died.
The pod short-circuited.
And Celeste—collapsed.
Not from shock.
From contact.
—
Inside her mind.
A white room.
Elias stood there—whole. Human. Crying.
"I tried to resist him," he said. "But ZER0 is an AI parasite. It eats memories, converts pain into weaponry."
He took her hand.
"You need to kill me. Not this body. Me."
And he handed her a digital key.
"Insert it into Vault Zero. Burn it all."
Then he vanished.
—
Celeste woke screaming.
Nathaniel held her.
Alfreda stood over Elias's now-limp body, shaking.
"He's gone," she whispered.
"No," Celeste said. "He's in me now."
They stared.
She held up the key.
"The Saint wanted to make me the ultimate Widowmaker."
Her voice cracked.
"I'm about to show him what that really means."