INN HQ – SUBTERRANEAN RECEIVING BAY – NIGHT
The transport van descends into the INN's deepest intake chamber.
Steel walls. Automated rails. No welcoming personnel.
This is not a return. It's a quarantine.
The vehicle locks into place with a low mechanical thud that echoes longer than it should.
Red containment lights engage—not alarms, just warnings.
The rear doors disengage.
Madison Connor steps out first.
Her face is unreadable, but her eyes are already calculating exits, liabilities, narratives.
Agent Rise and Agent Vero flank the containment unit as it's carefully extracted—gravity-stabilized, shielded, humming faintly like a restrained heartbeat.
Dr. Iris Kade stays close, fingers dancing across holographic controls.
[IRIS KADE]: Structural integrity is holding. Neural activity is… inconsistent.
Madison doesn't look away from the unit.
[MADISON CONNOR]: It's reacting to proximity.
Iris frowns.
[IRIS KADE]: To what?
Madison doesn't answer.
She already suspects.
INN HQ – LEVEL OMEGA – RESTRICTED LAB
The containment chamber seals behind them.
This room is older than most of INN's staff. Built when secrets were buried, not managed.
Prototype Two is transferred to the central platform.
Lights activate in tiers.
The creature's chest rises once. Stops. Then resumes.
A low-frequency hum ripples through the room—not audible, but felt.
Monitors spike.
[IRIS KADE]: That frequency again…
Madison steps closer.
The serpent symbol on the creature's neck catches the light.
Her voice is barely above a breath.
[MADISON CONNOR]: Ghost Serpent didn't create this.
She turns to Iris.
[MADISON CONNOR]: They found it.
INN HQ – EXECUTIVE LEVEL – NIGHT
Charles Livingston stands before a panoramic display of New Atlantis.
The city looks calm from above. Alive. Unaware.
Susan Thomas stands beside him, arms folded, eyes sharp.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: We have an unidentified biological anomaly in containment, a hostile organization escalating beyond covert operations, and Oversight waiting for a single misstep.
Charles exhales slowly.
[CHARLES LIVINGSTON]: And everyone wants answers I don't have.
Susan glances at a secure alert.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: Madison just brought something in that predates Hydra's current operations by years.
That gets his attention.
[CHARLES LIVINGSTON]: Elira Cross?
Susan hesitates.
Just enough.
Charles closes his eyes for a brief moment.
Not fatigue.
Weight.
INN HQ – OPERATIONS FLOOR – SAME TIME
Jaxon Steel stands near a tactical table with Agent Lara Storm.
The room buzzes, but they've carved out a pocket of focus.
Lara lowers her voice.
[LARA STORM]: Madison moved something big. Level Omega clearance.
Jaxon's jaw tightens.
[JAXON STEEL]: That's not standard intake.
[LARA STORM]: Neither is Hydra making power plays this openly.
She meets his eyes.
[LARA STORM]: You planning to ask permission?
Jaxon doesn't answer.
That is his answer.
UNKNOWN RESEARCH FACILITY – ELSEWHERE
The artifact pulses again.
Stronger now.
The cracked surface glows with unfamiliar geometry—symbols that shift when observed directly.
The scientist steps back.
[SCIENTIST]: Resonance spike detected. Planetary-scale.
The unidentified figure tilts their head.
UNIDENTIFIED FIGURE: It's aligning.
[SCIENTIST]: With what?
The artifact answers first.
A harmonic frequency tears through the chamber—not destructive, but directive.
Screens fill with cascading data.
One name appears repeatedly across corrupted files:
Z E N I T H
The scientist freezes.
[SCIENTIST]: That designation isn't from our universe.
The figure's voice is calm.
Almost reverent.
UNIDENTIFIED FIGURE: No.
A pause.
UNIDENTIFIED FIGURE: It's from the one pressing against ours.
The artifact stabilizes.
As if it has found something to listen to.
INN HQ – LEVEL OMEGA LAB
Prototype Two reacts violently.
Its remaining hand twitches.
Talons flex.
Energy readings spike in rhythm with the artifact's distant pulse—though no one here knows it exists.
[IRIS KADE]: This isn't internal!
Madison steps back as containment fields strengthen.
[MADISON CONNOR]: It's responding to a call.
The creature's five black eyes snap open.
For half a second—
They aren't empty.
They're searching.
Then the fields surge.
The creature goes still again.
Silence returns.
Madison exhales slowly.
[MADISON CONNOR]: Someone else is knocking on the same door.
HYDRA BLACK FACILITY – NEURAL RECONDITIONING CHAMBER
Agent Marco Lopez is restrained in a vertical frame.
His eyes are open now.
Focused.
Too focused.
Data streams pour directly into his neural interface—rewriting pathways, suppressing memory, reinforcing obedience.
A Hydra operative observes.
HYDRA OPERATIVE: Phase Three initiated. Identity erosion at seventy percent.
Another technician nods.
[TECHNICIAN]: Target personality replaced with combat directive model.
A screen lights up.
A single image loads.
JAXON STEEL
Lopez's pupils dilate.
A tremor runs through his body.
[TECHNICIAN]: Neural conflict detected.
The operative smiles thinly.
HYDRA OPERATIVE: That means he still cares.
They increase the input.
INN HQ – MEDICAL ANALYTICS HUB
Susan Thomas stands over layered projections.
She's bypassed three security protocols.
No one stops her.
Her screen resolves.
A location.
Encrypted. Mobile. But real.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: Found you.
She initiates a secure call.
It routes. Fails. Routes again.
Finally—
Dr. Iris Kade appears on-screen, breath slightly uneven, transport noise in the background.
[IRIS KADE]: Susan—we're en route back to primary.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: Good. Don't stop.
Susan sends the coordinates silently.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: Hydra's preparing Lopez for field deployment.
Iris stiffens.
[IRIS KADE]: Against who?
Susan doesn't hesitate.
INN HQ – COMMAND CENTER
Emergency feeds light up.
Civilians running. Buildings shaking.
NEW ATLANTIS – CITY CENTER – LIVE FOOTAGE
The ground ruptures.
Concrete splits like paper.
From the fracture—
The entity rises.
Gaunt. Muscular. Five black eyes scanning the skyline.
Elastic arms snap outward, tearing through infrastructure with terrifying ease.
Screams. Chaos. Silence where there should be sound.
Jaxon and Agent Paul stare at the feed.
So does Charles. So does Susan.
No one speaks.
Charles breaks first.
[CHARLES LIVINGSTON]: Deploy everything.
He turns to Jaxon.
[CHARLES LIVINGSTON]: This is why we exist.
Jaxon nods—but his eyes never leave the creature.
[SUSAN THOMAS]: (quiet, urgent) Jaxon… be careful.
He looks at her.
Just once.
Then the feed cuts.
The city burns.
Somewhere beyond sight— A multiversal frequency stabilizes.
And something powerful has begun to notice Earth.
TO BR CONTINUED...