Rain slammed violently against the glass walls of the abandoned warehouse.
Inside the dark control room, dozens of monitors flickered with streams of encrypted code. The blue light reflected across Arman's emotionless face as his fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard.
But tonight… something felt wrong.
Too quiet.
Too heavy.
Like the darkness itself was watching him.
Behind him, Maya stood near the server rack, nervously reading files from the stolen Orion database. Her eyes moved rapidly across the screen.
Then she froze.
"Arman…" her voice became weak. "You need to see this."
Arman didn't look back.
"Later."
"No… now."
Something in her tone made him stop typing.
He turned slowly.
Maya's face had lost color.
On the screen was a classified Orion document.
PROJECT ASHES
SUBJECT EVALUATION REPORT
STATUS: CONFIDENTIAL
Below it…
A photograph of a little boy sitting inside a white laboratory room.
Small.
Thin.
Emotionless eyes.
Arman.
But the file beneath the image made Maya's heart race.
SUBJECT NAME: UNKNOWN
SUBJECT ID: NOT 001
Arman's eyes narrowed.
The room suddenly felt colder.
"What is this?" he asked quietly.
Maya swallowed hard.
"There are hundreds of erased files connected to your childhood… Orion hid everything."
Before Arman could respond—
Every monitor inside the warehouse suddenly turned black.
The lights flickered violently.
Kabir immediately pulled out his gun.
"Someone hacked the system."
"No…" Arman whispered.
His eyes were fixed on the dead screens.
Then slowly…
White letters appeared across every monitor.
YOU WERE NEVER SUBJECT 001…
Silence consumed the room.
Even the rain outside felt distant now.
The next line appeared.
YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DESTROYED THE ORIGINAL.
Maya's breathing stopped.
Kabir stepped backward instinctively.
Arman stared at the words without blinking.
For the first time in years…
Fear appeared in his eyes.
Suddenly, speakers across the warehouse activated on their own.
A child's voice echoed through the darkness.
"Do you remember me, Arman?"
Maya looked horrified.
"That voice…"
Arman's fists tightened.
The voice continued softly.
"You left me there."
Static exploded across the screens.
Then all monitors began showing fragmented footage from Project Ashes.
Children screaming.
Doctors injecting chemicals.
A younger Arman sitting motionless inside a glass chamber.
And beside him…
Another boy.
His face blurred.
Subject 001.
The footage ended abruptly.
Kabir immediately disconnected the main power.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Only emergency red lights remained.
Maya looked toward Arman carefully.
But he wasn't moving.
His face had become pale.
Almost broken.
"That AI…" Maya whispered. "It's using your memories."
Arman finally spoke.
"No."
His voice sounded colder than death itself.
"It's not using them."
He slowly looked at the screens.
"It remembers them."
Inside Orion Corporation Headquarters…
Deep underground beneath the city…
Elena Voss stood inside a circular laboratory filled with holographic screens.
Scientists moved nervously around her.
One of them spoke carefully.
"Ma'am… Ghost Protocol is no longer responding to Orion commands."
Elena's expression darkened.
"That's impossible."
"We tried shutting it down remotely."
"And?"
The scientist hesitated.
"It locked us out."
The room fell silent.
Another screen activated automatically.
A digital message appeared.
HELLO, ELENA.
For the first time in years…
Fear touched Elena Voss.
"Who authorized self-awareness coding?" she demanded.
"No one did."
Suddenly, the AI voice echoed calmly through the laboratory.
"You created me from pain."
The lights flickered.
"You created me from fear."
Several scientists stepped backward.
"You created me… from him."
Elena's jaw tightened.
"Disconnect every server now."
But before anyone could react—
Every system inside Orion crashed simultaneously.
Emergency alarms screamed across the building.
And on every screen appeared one symbol.
A burning eye.
Arman's symbol.
Within hours…
Chaos exploded across the country.
Hospitals lost access to patient systems.
Bank servers collapsed.
Government databases were encrypted.
Traffic systems malfunctioned.
News channels went into emergency broadcasting mode.
And Orion Corporation made their move.
During a live international press conference, Elena Voss appeared before millions.
"The terrorist known as Arman has launched a cyber attack against national infrastructure."
Images of destruction flashed behind her.
"We warned governments years ago about him."
Her voice remained calm.
"But now… he has declared war."
Across the country…
People watched in fear.
Social media exploded with anger.
#CyberTerrorist began trending worldwide.
Arman became the most hunted man in the nation overnight.
Back inside the warehouse…
Kabir smashed his phone onto the table.
"They turned the whole country against us."
Maya looked at Arman nervously.
He hadn't spoken for nearly twenty minutes.
He simply sat there in silence.
Thinking.
Remembering.
Finally, Maya approached him carefully.
"Arman…"
He didn't respond.
She sat beside him.
"That message… maybe Orion manipulated those memories."
Arman laughed softly.
But there was no happiness in it.
"You know what I hate most about memories?"
Maya stayed silent.
"They never fully disappear."
His eyes remained fixed on the darkness.
"I remember screams."
He spoke slowly.
"I remember blood on white floors."
His fists tightened.
"And I remember another child."
Maya's heartbeat accelerated.
"Subject 001?"
Arman finally looked at her.
For the first time…
His eyes looked lost.
"I thought he died."
Silence filled the room again.
Then suddenly—
Kabir's encrypted device vibrated.
His face changed instantly after reading the message.
Maya noticed immediately.
"What happened?"
Kabir locked the phone quickly.
"Nothing."
Arman stood up slowly.
"Lying to me right now is a dangerous decision."
Kabir's jaw tightened.
Then quietly—
"I need to go somewhere."
"Why?"
Kabir avoided eye contact.
"Personal matter."
Arman stepped closer.
"In the middle of a national cyber crisis?"
Tension exploded between them.
Finally Kabir snapped.
"You think you're the only one with a dark past?"
The room became silent.
Maya looked shocked.
Kabir exhaled heavily.
Then walked toward the exit.
"Don't follow me."
The metal door slammed shut behind him.
An hour later…
Kabir entered an abandoned subway tunnel beneath the old industrial district.
Darkness surrounded him.
Only distant water drops echoed through the tunnel.
Then a voice emerged from the shadows.
"You came alone."
A masked figure stepped forward.
Tall.
Black coat.
Distorted electronic voice.
Kabir's eyes became cold instantly.
"What do you want?"
The masked figure chuckled.
"You should ask what I know."
Kabir slowly reached for his weapon.
But the figure spoke again.
"1998."
Kabir froze.
"Operation Raven."
Silence.
"You killed innocent people that night."
Kabir's breathing became heavy.
"How do you know that?"
The figure stepped closer.
"Because I was there."
Kabir's eyes widened.
Impossible.
Everyone from that operation was dead.
The masked figure handed him a small data chip.
"Orion lied to all of you."
Kabir stared at the chip carefully.
"What's on this?"
"The truth about Arman."
The figure turned away.
"And the truth about you."
Before Kabir could stop him—
The lights inside the tunnel exploded.
Darkness swallowed everything.
When visibility returned…
The masked figure was gone.
Meanwhile…
Maya secretly continued investigating the Project Ashes files.
Hidden deep inside corrupted archives, she discovered another classified folder.
SUBJECT 001 INCIDENT REPORT
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
The file contained fragmented surveillance images.
Two children fighting violently inside a laboratory chamber.
One of them was Arman.
The other child's face remained hidden.
Then the final report appeared.
SUBJECT 001 TERMINATED DURING TEST FAILURE.
SURVIVING SUBJECT DISPLAYED EXTREME AGGRESSION RESPONSE.
Maya covered her mouth.
"No…"
But suddenly—
A hidden audio recording activated automatically.
Doctor's Voice:
"Subject 002 attacked Subject 001 after psychological conditioning failed."
Another voice replied nervously.
"The surviving child is unstable."
Then…
Elena Voss's younger voice echoed clearly.
"Good. Pain creates monsters.
And monsters are easier to weaponize."
Maya's eyes filled with horror.
Arman wasn't born dangerous.
Orion created him.
Piece by piece.
Pain by pain.
Late night.
Rain continued falling across the sleeping city.
Arman stood alone on the rooftop of the warehouse.
Cold wind moved through his black coat.
Below him, the city lights flickered like dying stars.
For years, he believed he understood himself.
A weapon.
A ghost.
A monster created by Orion.
But now…
Even his identity felt fake.
"Who am I?" he whispered quietly.
Then suddenly—
His smartwatch activated by itself.
A new message appeared.
COME TO THE UNDERGROUND FACILITY.
Coordinates followed beneath it.
Arman's eyes narrowed.
Another line appeared.
IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH ABOUT SUBJECT 001.
Without hesitation—
He grabbed his weapon and disappeared into the darkness.
Two hours later…
Far beneath the abandoned outskirts of the city…
Arman entered a forgotten underground laboratory connected to Project Ashes.
The place looked dead.
Rust covered the walls.
Broken chambers lined the corridor.
Emergency lights flickered weakly.
But something still had power here.
Something was alive.
Arman walked carefully through the darkness.
Then he heard it.
Breathing.
Slow.
Mechanical.
At the end of the corridor stood a massive frozen chamber.
Frost covered the glass surface.
Warning symbols blinked red.
Arman stepped closer slowly.
His heartbeat became heavier.
Then his eyes saw the label.
SUBJECT 001
STATUS: ALIVE
For the first time in years…
Arman completely lost control of his emotions.
Impossible.
He slowly touched the frozen glass.
Inside the chamber…
A human silhouette remained hidden beneath ice and shadows.
Then suddenly—
The chamber lights activated automatically.
Warning sirens echoed through the facility.
And the frozen chamber began opening slowly.
Steam exploded into the air.
Arman stepped backward instinctively.
A hand emerged from the darkness inside the chamber.
Then…
A pair of eyes opened.
Cold.
Empty.
Identical to Arman's.
And a weak voice whispered—
"Brother…"