1:10 PM – Safe Zone 9, Hidden Flat
Kairo sat in front of a salvaged broadcast rig, ancient by modern standards but hardwired and off-grid — the kind of tech the Organization couldn't trace easily. The screen in front of him showed a countdown timer:
00:04:12 until live broadcast.
He reviewed the files one more time. They were real — confirmed by metadata, encrypted signatures, and cross-referenced financial trails.
Project Echo: Classified government-funded psychological conditioning program targeting orphaned or abandoned children.
Subject 731: Kairo Vale — trained from birth under emotional duress, combat scenarios, and simulated trauma.
Architect: Director Julian Crowe — presumed clean, actually the lead designer of Echo and covert partner of Tang.
He felt sick. Not from fear. From the weight of the truth.
Silas leaned against the wall, watching him. "Once you do this, there's no coming back. They'll scorch every safehouse, every asset, every name connected to you."
Kairo looked over at Alicia, who was sitting quietly in the corner, holding a single flash drive in her hand — her father's. She hadn't spoken much since she read the files.
He nodded to them both.
"Then we make sure they can't erase us without burning the whole damn city."
1:14 PM – Crowe's Office, Organization HQ
Crowe's assistant burst in. "Sir. He's about to go public."
Crowe didn't look up. "Let him."
"Sir—"
"He won't get far," Crowe said coldly. "Activate Protocol Six."
The assistant paled. "But that means—"
Crowe looked up, eyes glinting.
"I know exactly what it means."
1:15 PM – Live Broadcast Begins
Kairo's face appeared on thousands of screens across the deep web, pirate news feeds, and encrypted darknet forums. It wasn't polished. It wasn't safe.
It was raw.
It was war.
"My name is Kairo Vale. Until 48 hours ago, I was a loyal operative of an unnamed intelligence organization that works in the shadows of your government.
I carried out over 63 sanctioned kills, most of them high-ranking members of gangs, corrupt officials, and traffickers — people they wanted silenced.
I thought I was cleaning the world.
But the truth is, I was only ever protecting their empire."
He clicked through files: Bexley's funding trails, video clips of forced recruitment centers, genetic logs from Project Echo.
"They built us like weapons. Broke us before we could grow. They didn't recruit us — they manufactured us.
I am Subject 731.
And I'm not the only one."
A flicker on the screen.
A voice.
[Incoming Feed Request: Subject 730]
Kairo's eyes widened.
He clicked accept.
Live Feed – Unknown Location
The screen split.
A new face appeared. Female. Early twenties. Dark skin. Short buzz-cut. Sharp eyes full of rage.
"Name's Jin. I was Echo before the program went dark. They called me Subject 730. I've been hiding. Waiting. Watching.
You're not alone, Kairo. And they're not ready for what's coming."
Silas stepped up beside Kairo, watching the stream go viral in real time.
"They're losing control," he muttered. "It's happening."
Kairo nodded.
"We just lit the fuse."
1:22 PM – Tang Compound, Eastside
Tang's top enforcer — a man known only as Mao — threw a monitor across the room.
"This ruins everything!"
A lower-ranking thug entered the room, pale.
"Sir… Alicia Morgan's name just went public."
Mao froze.
"That girl's still alive?"
"Yes."
Mao's expression darkened. "Then we take her. Now."
1:30 PM – On the Move
Silas drove the stolen SUV, hands tight on the wheel.
Kairo rode shotgun, pistol in his lap. Alicia sat in the back, silent.
"We can't stay in Safe Zone 9 anymore," Silas said. "After that stream, the whole world's either going to want to kill you or follow you."
Kairo nodded. "We head to the mountain safehouse."
"Too slow," Alicia said suddenly.
Both men turned.
"My father had a fallout shelter. Remote. Pre-Gatehouse days. He never let me near it — said it was for when 'the tide turned.'"
Kairo locked eyes with her.
"You know where it is?"
Alicia's face was stone.
"Now I do."
2:11 PM – Crowe's Private Files (Monitored)
Inside a hidden server farm, Crowe sat alone, flipping through images captured from the Black Archive blast site.
Silas. Alicia. Kairo.
And something else.
A sealed file labeled:
"Echo_Prototype_001 – Decommissioned"
He opened it.
The face that stared back at him was older, but unmistakable.
Kairo's biological father.
Crowe narrowed his eyes.
"So the ghost still breathes…"
"…and the son walks in his shadow."
He stood up, calm now.
"Time to finish what we started."