Chapter 69

Chapter 69

“…Mira.”

The name escaped Luca like a ghost dragged from the bottom of his memory.

The corridor went silent around him.

Even the distant explosions above suddenly felt far away.

Muted.

Damon frowned immediately.

“Who’s Mira?”

Luca stared into the dark medical wing without blinking.

His face had gone pale.

“I…”

His voice caught roughly.

“I thought she died.”

Cassian stiffened beside him.

A sharp reaction.

Small.

But unmistakable.

Damon noticed instantly.

“You know her too.”

Cassian looked away.

Jaw tightening painfully.

The automated voice echoed faintly through the underground halls:

“Protocol synchronization at ninety-two percent.”

Time was collapsing around them.

But Luca couldn’t move.

Because memories were surfacing too fast now.

The little girl with dark curls.

Tiny hands shaking during testing.

Always crying quietly when the lights went out.

And Luca

Sitting beside her after procedures because she was afraid to sleep alone.

Another memory slammed into him violently.

Young Mira whispering through tears:

“Promise you won’t leave me here.”

Luca physically staggered.

Damon caught him immediately.

“Hey.”

Luca looked sick.

Not from the protocol.

From guilt.

“I promised her.”

Cassian finally spoke quietly beside them.

“She was division zero.”

The words turned the corridor cold.

Seraphine frowned sharply.

“There was a division before Luca?”

Cassian nodded once.

Slowly.

“The original experiments.”

A pause.

“Most didn’t survive.”

Damon’s stomach twisted violently.

Jesus Christ.

Vale and Hale hadn’t just created weapons.

They experimented on children until something worked.

Luca’s breathing became uneven again.

“Mira survived longer than expected,” Cassian continued quietly.

“But the procedures damaged her nervous system.”

Fragments kept crashing through Luca’s head.

Mira screaming during neural synchronization.

Vale taking notes while doctors restrained her.

Young Luca trying to reach her before guards dragged him away.

“She was seven,” Luca whispered.

Damon closed his eyes briefly.

Because every new truth somehow felt worse than the last.

Another tremor shook the underground corridor.

Dust falling from the ceiling.

Seraphine checked the timer again.

“Ninety-four percent in less than ten minutes.”

They were running out of time.

Fast.

“We keep moving,” Hale said sharply.

But Luca didn’t move.

Because the crying sound came again.

Faint.

Somewhere inside the abandoned medical wing.

And this time

Cassian heard it too.

His face changed instantly.

“No.”

Luca looked sharply toward him.

“What?”

Cassian’s expression had gone unnaturally tense.

For the first time

Fear.

“That’s impossible.”

Then the crying stopped.

Silence swallowed the corridor completely.

And softly

A voice echoed from the darkness ahead.

“Luca?”

Every muscle in Luca’s body locked instantly.

No.

No no no.

The voice was older now.

Weak.

Fragile.

But unmistakable.

Damon looked toward the dark medical corridor sharply.

A small figure stepped slowly into the flickering light.

A woman.

Young.

Thin.

Barefoot.

Dark curls framed her pale face while faded surgical scars disappeared beneath the collar of an oversized hospital shirt.

Luca stopped breathing.

“…Mira.”

Her eyes filled instantly with tears.

“You came back.”

The words shattered him completely.

Because she sounded relieved.

Not angry.

Not abandoned.

Relieved.

Luca moved toward her before thinking.

Slowly.

Like she might disappear.

“Mira…”

She smiled weakly.

Small.

Broken.

“You’re older now.”

Luca nearly broke right there.

Because she still sounded like the little girl from his memories.

Damon watched silently nearby.

Heart twisting painfully.

Mira looked toward the others nervously before her eyes landed on Hale.

And instantly

Pure terror crossed her face.

She recoiled sharply.

“No”

Luca stepped in front of her immediately.

Protective instinct firing without thought.

“He won’t hurt you.”

The lie tasted bitter.

Because Hale already had.

Years ago.

Mira’s breathing became shaky.

“He always says that.”

Silence.

Heavy.

Awful.

Hale looked at Mira with unreadable eyes.

“You survived.”

Mira physically flinched at his voice.

Damon’s rage surged instantly.

“She’s terrified of you.”

Hale didn’t answer.

Because there was nothing to say.

Vale’s voice echoed through hidden speakers again.

Amused now.

“Well.”

A pause.

“That explains the neural instability.”

Luca’s blood ran cold.

“What did you do to her?”

Vale answered casually.

Like discussing weather.

“Mira was the original neural anchor.”

Cassian swore softly.

No.

Luca’s pulse started hammering violently.

“What does that mean?”

Vale’s tone remained calm.

“The synchronization protocol was originally built around her nervous system.”

Damon looked sharply between them.

Already hating where this was going.

Vale continued:

“When her body began failing, we transferred the architecture to you.”

Luca went completely still.

No.

That’s why the protocol recognized him.

Not because he was the first success.

Because he inherited Mira’s damaged neural imprint.

Mira looked confused by the conversation.

Lost.

“They said I was sick,” she whispered.

Luca’s chest tightened so painfully he could barely breathe.

Because she believed them.

Even now.

Cassian stared at Mira in visible horror.

“She’s still connected to the system.”

Vale smiled faintly through the speakers.

“Exactly.”

Damon looked up sharply.

“You’re using her as a battery.”

“No,” Vale corrected calmly.

“A failsafe.”

Luca’s hands started shaking violently.

Because suddenly he understood the truth.

The synchronization wasn’t centered on him.

It was centered on Mira.

And if the protocol reached one hundred percent

It wouldn’t just kill surviving operatives.

It would kill her first.

The automated voice echoed again overhead:

“Protocol synchronization at ninety-five percent.”

Mira suddenly cried out softly in pain.

Her body trembling violently.

Luca caught her immediately as she nearly collapsed.

And somewhere behind them

For the very first time

Hale looked horrified.