Ashar Valen had killed thirty-two mutants.Not because he wanted to. Because it was what Helix demanded.
Because it was what he was made for.
He stared at his reflection in the side of a damaged personnel transport — the synthetic alloy shell warped from old battles. The cybernetic eye embedded in the left side of his skull hummed faintly, casting a red glow across the darkness. The rest of his face remained unmarked — sharp jawline, storm-grey eyes, skin too clean for a man who walked through warzones.
Somewhere deep inside, the human part of him — the part that still asked questions — whispered something soft and dangerous:
"Why didn't you kill him?"
Kael.
Subject H-7.
The boy had stood before him, gun trembling in hand, eyes glowing with fear and something stronger: defiance.
Ashar could have ended him in seconds.
He didn't.
And that decision haunted him more than any battle.
The Debrief
The Helix command center was a place of logic and power, where humans moved like machines and machines sounded eerily human.
Ashar stood before Director Sera Rauth, an older woman with steel-colored hair and eyes to match. She wore the executive insignia of Helix's Internal Asset Control — the very heart of the company's security force.
"You let Subject H-7 go," she said.
Her voice was emotionless.
Ashar didn't blink. "He wasn't a threat in that moment."
"You were the threat. You failed your directive."
Silence. The hum of servers filled the void.
"Do you remember who made you, Ashar?"
His synthetic eye flickered. "Helix."
"And do you remember what you are?"
He hesitated. "A stabilizer."
"No. You're a reminder."
She stepped forward, hand brushing the back of his neck where the Helix brand was seared into his spinal chip.
"You were our first success," she said. "You obeyed when the others broke. You were the sword."
Ashar stared at the far wall — a hologram projection of Earth's fractured surface. "And what happens when the sword learns how to think?"
Sera narrowed her eyes. "Then we file it back into its sheath."
Old Scars
Later that night, Ashar returned to his quarters. He sat silently, the lights dimmed. The room was sterile, bare — just a cot, a charging dock, and a weapons rack. No color. No scent. No sound.
Except memory.
He reached for the hidden compartment beneath the floor panel and pulled out an old relic — a photo. Faded. Cracked at the edges.
It showed a group of five children, maybe seven or eight years old, in standard Helix training uniforms. Ashar was one of them — smaller, leaner, eyes distant. To his right, a girl with bright hair and a gap-toothed smile.
Ayla.
He hadn't heard that name in years. Not since the fire.
Not since the purge.
The labs had tried to erase her — like so many others.
But she had survived.
And now Kael spoke her name.
Was she guiding him? Was she alive in the grid, a ghost in Helix's perfect machine?
Or worse — was she planning something?
Ashar set the photo down, breathing slowly.
He had been raised not to remember. Trained to eliminate emotion.
But something was waking up.
Something he thought was long dead.
A Contact from the Shadows
The encrypted message came at 03:17 hours.
Ashar was already awake.
The screen lit up with a flickering glyph — not Helix code.
Uncoded.
He should have reported it. Should have deleted it.
Instead, he opened the file.
A voice played. Glitched. Familiar.
Rhea Voss.
"Ashar. I know you're listening. You never stopped questioning. You just stopped speaking. Kael's alive. He's changing. Not just physically. He's waking up the grid — things buried too deep for Helix to reach."
"We need you. Not as a soldier. As a witness."
"Do you remember Ayla?"
"Then come find us."
The transmission ended.
And for the first time since childhood, Ashar felt afraid.
Not of the mission.
Of what he might become if he answered.
Director's Surveillance
At Helix Tower, deep within the surveillance division, Director Sera watched from her private chamber.
She leaned forward, viewing Ashar's neural pulse readings.
Elevated heart rate.
Increased delta activity.
Emotional response to name: Ayla.
She smirked.
"Even weapons rust."
She tapped a button.
Activate Watchdog Protocol: Agent Valen.Track deviation. Engage auto-terminate if breach exceeds threshold.
Memories of Fire
Ashar walked the eastern ruin fields alone.
This place — once the Helix training complex known as Redline Compound — had been decommissioned after the rogue incident fifteen years ago.
They told him it was an accident.
They told him the girl had lost control.
That Ayla had burned everyone inside — children, trainers, scientists — in a burst of uncontrolled psychic discharge.
But the story never fit.
Not with what he saw.
He remembered her screaming, yes. But not from madness.
From fear.
From betrayal.
And her last words as they dragged her away, half-conscious, blood pouring from her ears:
"They're lying to us."
He had tried to forget.
But Kael brought it all back.
And now… he couldn't let it go.
The Decision
That night, Ashar stood before a Helix transport drone.
He input an override command — one buried in his programming, never meant to be used.
Manual Re-route. Destination: Undercity Node 7-A. Authorization: Silent Protocol.
The system hesitated.
Then accepted.
As the drone lifted off, he looked back at the tower.
At what he was leaving behind.
Then he closed his eyes.
And flew into the dark.
The Uncoded React
In the bunker, Kael's pulse surged.
He bolted upright in his sleep, gasping.
Something shifted in the air — not physically, but… mentally. The grid.
A presence had entered it. Not hostile. Not unknown.
Ashar.
Kael moved quickly through the tunnels, where Rhea and Ava were monitoring old comm lines.
"He's coming," Kael said.
"Who?" Rhea asked.
"Ashar."
Ava frowned. "How do you know?"
Kael looked at her, eyes glowing faint white.
"Because I can feel his doubt."
Ashar Arrives
He came quietly, unarmed, hands visible. The guards at the outer checkpoint froze when they recognized him.
"You're not welcome here," one said.
Ashar raised a hand slowly. "I'm not here to fight."
"Then why are you here?"
"To remember who I was."
Final Scene: A Silent Meeting
Kael stood before him again — this time in the half-light of the bunker's main chamber. Not as a weapon. Not as a target.
As something... more.
Ashar took a breath. "You spoke to her, didn't you?"
Kael nodded. "She's still out there."
"Do you trust her?"
"No. But I understand her."
Ashar stepped forward. "Then what are you going to do?"
Kael looked up, calm.
"I'm going to break the loop."
End of Chapter Four
To be continued...