Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Welcome Back, Children

“Division assets returning to primary control.”

The distorted voice echoed through the warehouse like a ghost crawling through old wounds.

“Welcome back, children.”

Every second division operative froze instantly.

Including Cassian.

The shift was immediate.

Terrifying.

One second they were fighting with deadly precision

The next they stood unnaturally still, eyes unfocused like something invisible had reached inside their skulls and flipped a switch.

Luca’s blood ran ice cold.

“No,” he whispered.

Because he knew that voice.

Not the person.

The system.

The old neural conditioning protocol.

Buried commands.

Emergency override sequences.

Psychological triggers designed years ago by Hale’s original network.

Impossible.

Luca remembered Hale destroying the system personally.

He remembered the servers burning.

The files erased.

So how

Cassian staggered slightly.

Just once.

But it was enough.

Damon noticed immediately.

“What’s happening to them?”

Luca grabbed Damon’s arm hard.

Too hard.

“We need to leave.”

Not fear.

Panic.

True panic.

Because if the recall protocol was active

Then someone had gained access to the deepest parts of their conditioning.

The parts even Hale buried.

Another operative suddenly dropped to his knees screaming.

Hands clutching his head violently.

“No no stop”

Gunfire erupted accidentally from his weapon as he convulsed against the concrete floor.

Seraphine swore sharply.

“What the hell is this?!”

Hale looked furious now.

Actually furious.

“Deactivate it,” he snapped toward Elias.

Elias looked horrified.

“I can’t.”

That stopped everyone.

Hale stepped toward him slowly.

Dangerously.

“What did you say?”

Elias swallowed hard.

“The recall system shouldn’t even exist anymore.”

Another operative screamed.

Then another.

The warehouse descended into chaos again

But this chaos was different.

Not tactical.

Psychological.

Second division soldiers staggered through the smoke clutching their heads while distorted commands echoed faintly through hidden speakers.

“Return to formation.”

“Eliminate instability.”

“Obedience ensures survival.”

Luca physically recoiled at the words.

Fragments slammed violently through his head.

Training rooms.

Electroshock conditioning.

Hale’s voice repeated for hours until language itself stopped feeling real.

Damon grabbed Luca’s shoulders immediately.

“Hey.”

Luca barely heard him.

Because another memory surfaced.

Young Cassian sitting motionless in a chair while technicians forced commands into his subconscious.

And young Luca watching.

Terrified.

“You said they were worse than you,” Damon said quickly.

Luca’s breathing staggered.

“Because they erased more.”

Humanity.

Fear.

Choice.

Everything.

Cassian suddenly dropped to one knee.

A sharp sound escaping him for the first time.

Pain.

Real pain.

The sight stunned Luca.

Because Cassian never showed pain.

Never.

The distorted voice echoed again:

“Division Two returning to primary behavioral alignment.”

Cassian grabbed his own head violently.

“No…”

For the first time since meeting him

He sounded human.

Damon stared.

Because suddenly he understood.

Cassian wasn’t empty naturally.

He’d been hollowed out.

The same way Luca almost was.

Luca moved instinctively toward him.

“Cassian.”

Cassian looked up sharply.

Eyes unfocused.

Wild.

“Don’t let them”

He choked hard against the words.

“inside again.”

The sentence shattered something quietly inside Luca.

Because underneath all the violence

Cassian was terrified too.

Hale stepped toward the center of the warehouse.

Voice sharp now.

Controlled fury.

“Who activated the protocol?”

Static crackled overhead.

Then

A new voice answered.

Female.

Cold.

Familiar.

“You taught us redundancy, Arthur.”

Hale froze.

Actually froze.

Luca’s pulse stopped cold.

No.

Impossible.

A woman stepped slowly from the smoke above the upper walkway.

Black coat.

Silver gloves.

Sharp eyes devoid of warmth.

Seraphine whispered in horror:

“…Dr. Vale.”

Damon looked sharply toward her.

“You know her?”

Seraphine’s face had gone pale.

“She designed the behavioral architecture.”

Luca felt sick instantly.

Dr. Evelyn Vale.

The neuroscientist behind the conditioning programs.

The woman who helped turn children into programmable weapons.

Everyone thought she died years ago.

Clearly

Everyone was wrong.

Vale looked down at the warehouse calmly.

Like she was observing lab rats.

“You became sentimental, Arthur,” she said to Hale.

Hale’s voice lowered dangerously.

“You were supposed to be dead.”

Vale smiled faintly.

“And you were supposed to remain useful.”

Damon looked between them sharply.

This wasn’t partnership.

This was a power struggle.

The realization spread fast through the warehouse.

Even the operatives noticed.

The monster who created the system…

Had lost control of it.

Vale’s gaze shifted downward slowly.

Landing directly on Luca.

And her smile widened slightly.

“There you are.”

Every instinct inside Luca screamed instantly.

Because unlike Hale

Dr. Vale terrified him.

Hale created weapons.

Vale experimented on children while they screamed.

“You survived better than expected,” she said softly.

Luca’s hand shook around the gun.

Damon noticed immediately.

And moved closer without hesitation.

Vale’s eyes tracked the movement.

Interested.

“Fascinating,” she murmured.

Then she looked at Damon.

Really looked at him.

“You’re the emotional anchor.”

Damon’s expression hardened instantly.

“I’m not part of your experiment.”

Vale smiled slightly.

“Oh, but you are.”

Luca stepped forward immediately.

Protective.

Dangerous.

“Don’t talk to him.”

Vale tilted her head.

Studying Luca carefully.

“And yet you continue exhibiting attachment despite trauma revelation.”

A pause.

“How disappointing.”

Luca’s jaw tightened painfully.

Because part of him still reacted to her approval instinctively.

Years of conditioning.

Years of being examined like an object instead of a person.

Vale noticed the hesitation instantly.

“There it is,” she said softly.

“The old obedience response.”

Damon grabbed Luca’s hand immediately.

Firm.

Grounding.

Luca’s breath caught.

And just like that

The hesitation vanished.

Vale’s expression changed slightly.

Interest.

Real interest.

“…remarkable.”

Then suddenly

Cassian screamed.

The sound ripped through the warehouse violently.

Raw.

Human.

He collapsed hard against the concrete floor,

shaking uncontrollably as blood ran from his nose.

The recall protocol was tearing through him.

And Luca realized the horrifying truth instantly.

The second division wasn’t being reactivated.

They were being erased.