Chapter 60
Seraphina They thought they could get away with it.
That the world was too big, too busy, too distracted to notice.
But I saw it. I found it buried in layers of encrypted archives, behind firewalls even Tristan hadn’t expected me to breach so fast. I used every exploit, every algorithm he ever taught me—weaponizing his own lessons against him.
He was still crying in the chair, while I tore down the empire he helped build.
And what an empire it was.
Control. That’s what it had always been about.
They weren’t trying to build a weapon. They were the weapon.
The real project wasn’t a single implant or experiment. It was systemic. Distributed through the most mundane of means. Flu vaccines. HPV shots. Travel immunizations. Even birth control injections. All FDA approved. All under their radar.
Each one contained a dormant protein—one designed to sit idle until triggered remotely by their biotech implants. A failsafe. A leash.
Tristan had tried to bury the files under layers of misdirection, but he hadn’t accounted for my tenacity—or my rage .
Through his retinal scans, his biometrics, I unlocked every restricted access point, pulling up the full schematic.
Their end goal? Population control.
They had plans to use the protein in waves. To sedate entire cities. Heighten aggression. Subdue rebellion. They had already begun live testing in smaller populations—incarcerated groups, displaced shelters, undocumented clinics.
It made my skin crawl.
I pulled up Langston’s encrypted communication line.
“Access global override,” I commanded. A countdown began. Ten seconds.
“Callum, you ready?” I asked.
He grunted, limping over, still bleeding, but standing tall. “Aye, let’s finish this.”
The transmission went live. Michael Langston’s voice filled the air—AI-stitched, filtered through dozens of recordings I’d spliced together.
“My name is Michael Langston. I have committed crimes against humanity. I’ve poisoned populations through our medical systems, tampered with free will, and orchestrated mass experimentation without consent.”
It went on. Every sordid detail. Every connection. Every name. Government officials, pharmaceutical execs, private investors, foreign buyers. The whole corrupt machine laid bare.
And while that broadcast streamed worldwide—I uploaded a file to the FBI .
The subject line was simple: “Judgment.”
Inside: every byte of proof. A note followed.
If this is not handled with care… if a single name disappears, a single connection is ignored, we will know. And we will come. Personally.
Tristan choked on a sob as the final document loaded and transmitted. His hands were still bound, his knees bloodied.
Callum glared down at him. “Hope ye enjoyed the show, fucker.”
The facility roared to life—and then began to die.
I’d triggered a chain reaction through every connected server, corrupting the root command. The virus raced through every branch of the network, breaking their leash on the biotech, feeding a signal back through the implants to force eject and short the control nodes.
Somewhere out there, people would be waking up. Free.
But here? The walls were shuddering.
"We need to move," Callum barked, already pulling me toward the exit.
Tristan screamed from the floor, still clutching himself. I didn’t look back.
We barely cleared the threshold when the facility’s first explosion rattled the ground.
Fire bloomed behind us. Concrete split. The scream of steel rang out as the compound began to collapse inward .
We had to circle wide around the perimeter to reach the main lab’s lower vaults. That’s where he’d be.
Langston.
Callum tried to hold me back. I shoved him off.
“This is mine,” I said. “You got me here. Let me finish it.”
He didn’t like it—but he nodded.
I found Langston exactly where I expected—in the panic room he thought no one knew about. He was already trying to burn files, backup servers hissing as flames licked up plastic and metal.
He turned, startled. Then he smiled.
“You really are your mentor’s student.”
“No,” I said, raising the gun. “I’m what you made me. And now I’m ending it.”
He stepped forward. No weapon. No fear.
“You won’t shoot me.”
I did.
Twice. First in the leg. Then the shoulder. He dropped like a sack of bricks.
I walked to him slowly, knelt beside his trembling frame.
“I don’t have to kill you,” I whispered. “But I’m choosing not to save you. That’s my power.”
His eyes widened. He started to beg .
But I was already walking away.
Callum met me at the exit. Blood and soot streaked his face. Relief warred with pride in his eyes.
Behind us, the final structure groaned and collapsed.
The past was buried.
And I was free.