ADANNA P.O.V (point of veiw)
The room breathed, that was the first thing I noticed. Not literally but the walls hummed in a slow rhythm, like something alive had been buried inside them and forgotten how to sleep. The lights dimmed again, then steadied, casting my shadow long across the floor.
They thought they had isolated me, they don't know they were wrong. Eden was awake now.
I could feel it the way you feel thunder before it breaks, pressure behind the eyes, heat under the skin, memories surfacing that weren't memories but instructions.
The door slid open and three men entered this time. No uniforms, no visible weapons and that meant rank. The one in the center studied me the way scientists study a specimen they're afraid of breaking.
"You shouldn't be able to do this," he said.
I folded my hands in my lap and said "My father said people always confuse permission with access." and his jaw tightened.
"You know who we are."
"Yes."
"The Syndicate," he continued. "We don't ask twice."
I met his gaze. "Then you should've killed me."
Silence fell, then Eden reacted.
The table between us lit up and lines of code blooming across the surface like veins and the men stepped back instinctively.
"What did you trigger?" one of them snapped.
"I didn't trigger anything," I said softly. "It's responding."
The system asked again, not on a screen this time, but through sound, vibration, frequency.
CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
My heart started to race, but not from fear but from recognition. I placed my palm flat on the table.
"My father is dead," I said. "You killed him because he refused you."
The hum deepened....
INTENT CONFIRMED.
The men froze and one whispered, "It's listening to her."
"Yes," the leader said quietly. "Because Eden doesn't answer to power."
I leaned forward. "It answers to truth."
The lights flickered violently and for a moment, the entire room seemed to tilt.....and in that instant, I understood.
Eden wasn't a weapon,It was a lock against people like them.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
I took the long way in which is my old habits.
Front doors are for people who don't expect to leave.
The guard at the east entrance recognized me too late. His eyes widened, mouth opening..... i hit him before sound could follow thought and he dropped clean.
I dragged him into shadow and moved. Inside the facility, the air was too controlled, too clean. It stank of money and secrets. My comm buzzed once.
Azaan.
"She's inside the core wing," he said. ".....and Darian… Eden is active."
I closed my eyes for half a second.
"She's alive?"
"Yes."
That was all I needed then i moved through corridors using memory more than maps, the Syndicate builds everything the same....Fear likes symmetry.
Two men came around a corner but I didn't slow down.
One punch and one shot.. everywhere was quiet and blood followed me like a shadow.
Every contact I'd ever spared, every debt I'd ever left unpaid tonight, they were collecting in my favor. Doors opened, alarms delayed and cameras looped.
They'd underestimated one thing..... they always did. They thought I'd break, instead, I learned.
ADANNA P.O.V (point of view)
They tried to test me again in different room, different interface but same mistake.
They spoke in numbers and threats, but Eden spoke in patterns..... ones my father had taught me before I even knew what they were.
"Say the phrase," one of them demanded.
"There is no phrase," I replied.
"You opened it before."
"No," I corrected gently. "It opened for me."
And that angered them. The leader slammed his palm down. "Your father was brilliant but he was arrogant."
"No," I said. "He was careful." And the system chimed, a file opened without permission.
PROJECT EDEN: FINAL DIRECTIVE
My breath caught as lines of text scrolled. It's not schematics, not weapons but it was names, dates, transactions. Proofs
Eden wasn't just a lock but was a mirror.
Every crime they'd buried, every order, every execution, the Syndicate wasn't being protected by Eden.
It was being documented, the leader staggered back. "Shut it down."
"I can't," I said.
That wasn't entirely true.
I wouldn't.
Somewhere deep in the building, alarms finally screamed.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
Gunfire echoed from the core wing and that was my cue.
I took the stairs two at a time, breath steady, mind clear. A man lunged at me from the side.... I disarmed him and used his momentum to throw him into the wall.
I was done hiding, the door to the core wing was sealed. Ipressed my palm to the scanner.
It rejected me then paused...then the light changed to green.
I laughed under my breath.
"Of course," I murmured. "It's you."
The door slid open annd there she was.
ADANNA P.O.V (point of view)
I felt him before I saw him. That presence.... that gravity.
"Darian."
He stood in the doorway, soaked in rain and blood, eyes locked on me like the world had narrowed to this point, and for one heartbeat, everything stopped.
Then the room exploded into motion, shots fired and he moved fast, pulling me down, shielding me with his body. We rolled behind the console as glass shattered overhead.
"You okay?" he breathed.
"Yes," I said. "Eden listens to me."
He smiled..... sharp, proud, terrified. "I know."
I grabbed his jacket. "They know everything now."
"Good," he replied. "Then we don't run anymore."
Our foreheads touched briefly... a kiss without lips, intimate and desperate.
"I love you," he said quietly, like a confession.
"I know," I replied. "Now get us out."
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
We moved together with no hesitation or doubt.
She knew when to duck before I spoke. I knew when she was about to move before she did. Eden pulsed behind us, systems locking, data uploading, alarms overriding commands.
The Syndicate was bleeding from the inside.
At the exit, I turned once, firing into the control panel and the building screamed.
Outside, night swallowed us. We didn't stop running until the city lights thinned and breath burned our lungs.
Finally, under a broken bridge, and we stopped. She leaned into me, shaking now that the danger had loosened its grip.
I wrapped my arms around her, holding her like something sacred.
"You were right," I whispered into her hair. "You were always the key."
She looked up at me, eyes fierce and soft all at once.
"And you," she said, "were never the enemy."
Above us, sirens wailed and behind us, the Syndicate burned, while ahead of us...truth, exposure, war. But for this moment, under concrete and stars, we stood together.
Not running, not hiding but awake.
To be continued…....