The plan was brutal in its simplicity.
They traveled through the Northern Compound at dusk via a long-abandoned, dried-up aqueduct tunnel covered in vegetation. Ayesha went first, followed by Zayan, Malik, Ava, and Subject One.
Inside, darkness. Hiss of old pipes filled the air. They went down a rusty staircase until metal became concrete, then to silence.
"Here," Subject One breathed. "Behind this wall."
She pressed her fingers against the seam in the stone. With rapid, accustomed movements, she slid aside a panel to expose a retinal scanner.
"Mine still works," she replied softly.
She stepped in closer. Beep. Hiss. The wall slid open.
Ava's breath suspended.
The room was cold and quiet. Wall screens were off but undamaged. Rows of dusty binder shelves, hard drives, injection kits, and encrypted files lined every square inch.
Zayan whistled. "This is it."
Subject One approached one cabinet and pulled out a black box with a lock. She put in a code. It opened.
𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆: 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑫𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒔. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉.
Ava stepped ahead. Her breath was held.
Her mom. Standing next to a man in a white coat. Not her dad. Not her uncle. Someone else. A name tag, barely legible: DR. YASH MEHRA.
"Who is he?" Malik asked.
Subject One's voice was barely audible. "The real architect. The one who had us erased."
Ava felt the world turn.
"Why?"
"Because he was testing memory resistance. Seeing how much trauma a mind could endure and still return."
Ayesha blanched. "That's why they released Ava. She was the strongest."
Suddenly, the room lights flickered.
"They know we're here," snapped Malik.
Zayan headed to the entrance. "We've got company."
Footsteps pounded above.
"Grab what you can," Malik instructed him.
Ava retrieved the tapes. Ayesha loaded drives into her bag. Subject One grasped the photograph and a large file.
Zayan fired upwards as the door burst open.
"Go! Now!"
Smoke grenades came rolling in. Ava coughed, raised her collar over her face.
Malik pushed her toward the doorway. "Tunnel! Go!"
They headed back the way they had come, bullets whizzing around them.
Subject One looked back once before continuing.
When they emerged into the forest at night, Ava had trouble breathing.
Behind them, the compound erupted into blaring alarms.
They never ceased running.
Not until there was only the sound of their breathing and the empty, aching silence of truths recovered.
....................
Later, as they gathered around a flickering lantern, Ava unspooled one of the tapes.
A voice crackled over the speaker.
"𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝟰𝟭. 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀. 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁: 𝗔𝘃𝗮 𝗦."
Ananya's eyes had widened in shock. "They were interrogating her memories of you."
Ava's hands trembled.
Subject One glared into the flames. "They wanted me to forget about you. I couldn't. And for that. they put me in the ground."
Zayan inquired, "What now?"
Malik gazed into the fire, eyes narrowed.
"Now we take this public. We find Yash Mehra. We tear this whole thing open."
Ava consented.
"No more running."
Subject One smiled faintly. "Then be ready. Because now that they know we remember. they'll come harder than ever."
Ava stared into the flames, the memory of the compound seared into her mind.
Whatever followed, she would never forget.
Not again.
.....................
The room was quiet, but the quietness wasn't serene—it was oppressive. Tense.
The type of silence that comes after the truth has broken the ground beneath the feet of everyone.
Ava was curled up against the corner of the hideout, leaning on the wall, fists balled on the floorboards, still clutching the photo in her hand. Her mother, beside Dr. Yash Mehra, was smiling like it meant nothing. Like it wasn't a betrayal.
Subject One was on the other side of the room, staring out the shattered window. She hadn't said a word since they escaped the Archive. Her eyes weren't focused on the trees—her eyes were scanning ghosts.
Zayan paced. Malik was crouched over the table, staring at the encrypted drives they had stolen, half-burnt and half-brilliant.
Ananya huddled next to the younger girl—Subject Eight. Ten, perhaps eleven. Barely breathing. White as a ghost. Still hadn't uttered a word. Only stared at everything with those enormous, vacant eyes.
Malik finally spoke up. "These drives are meaningless if we can't use them."
Zayan breathed out. "Military-level encryption. Two levels. I require the original machine.
We don't have it," spat Ava. "That lab's reduced to ashes now.".
Not yet," Subject One whispered, not yet having turned around. "Not exactly.".
Everyone looked at her.
What do you mean?" Malik asked.
She stood in front of them. "They will burn it soon. But first, they will do the backup. There is one last terminal. One last place. Off-grid."
Where?" asked Ava.
"Greybridge."
Zayan stood frozen. "Greybridge was closed years ago. Dead zone.".
Right. That's where they conceal what they don't wish to be found.
There was silence thereafter which was more deafening than any scream.
Malik inched forward. "And then we hit it. Tonight.".
.................................
Greybridge town was a fever dream. Burnt window frames, sunken buildings, an atmosphere heavy with rot and rust. Nature had attempted to reclaim it, but something darker had found purchase further down.
The building stood on the border—a white steel block amidst bones.
They did not enter through the front. Subject One led them through what seemed to be a drain tunnel at the rear of a rundown garage. Cold water stuck to their boots as they entered.
Inside, the halls were spotless.
No dust. No noise.
Nothing but white walls, white light, and white hum.
"Sounds like they never shut this place down," Zayan whispered.
They traveled swiftly, aware that silence never endured.
Subject One stood in front of a locked laboratory door.
Her voice was barely audible. "This is where they tested us individually. No names. No time. Just repetition and pain."
Malik placed a hand on her shoulder for an instant before waving them ahead.
They discovered him on the lower floors.
Dr. Yash Mehra.
He sat in a closed laboratory, tapping away at a console. The same man from the picture—older, but not corrupted by guilt. He didn't blink as they entered.
"I was waiting for you," he told her, not looking back.
Malik drew his gun. "Slowly. Turn around."
He did. Looked at Ava directly, almost affectionately. "Still obstinate, I observe."
Ava stepped forward. "Why did you do this? Why me?"
"You were different. You were the only one who kept remembering. No matter what we tried. Even when we wiped you blank, you still dreamed of her."
He gestured towards Subject One.
"She recalled you, too. When we destroyed her entire life, one thing remained behind—your name. Again and again."
...........................
Ava stared at him, fury seething in her ribs. "This was what this meant to you? A study in remembering pain?"
"No," Mehra said flatly. "A study in enduring it.
Zayan was already at the terminal. "Malik, the drives—if he has the key, we can open them now."
Mehra was not struggling. "Of course. You want answers. You'll have them."
He entered the override code.
And tapped his wrist.
An alarm erupted—shrill, furious.
Malik hurried toward her. "What did you do?!"
Mehra smiled coldly. "I initiated final purge. Ninety seconds. The system collapses. All backups destroyed."
Ava yelled, leaping away from the console. "I stop what first?"
"Firewall! Mainframe!" Zayan yelled. "Hurry up!"
Subject One tossed Mehra to the floor, pinning him down with an inhuman strength. Did not struggle. Simply observed Ava at work.
You still don't get it," he growled, his eyes becoming wild. "It never stops. You incinerate one project—another one materializes. You'll never complete it.".
Ava didn't hear.
Firewall one—breached.
Smoke began to curl from the vents.
"Sixty seconds!" Zayan shouted.
Firewall two—cracked.
Final override.
"Thirty seconds!"
Her hands trembled. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
And then—download complete.
Zayan released a breath. "We did it. All the logs. All the files. All the names. All the locations."
Malik approached Mehra. "You're finished.".
But Subject One hadn't killed him. She stood up, black and impenetrable eyes.
Tell them what you're made of," she said. "Let them rip you apart.".
They abandoned him there, grinning, while sirens wailed in the background.
............................
By nightfall, the information was uploaded.
Each file, each testimony, each photo of the experiments and the people behind them—distributed to every significant journalist, whistleblower community, and investigative agency on the planet.
Some would attempt to bury it.
Some wouldn't.
But the truth no longer hid.
And this time—there was no removing it.
In the forest again, Ava sat by the flames.
Ayesha came up beside her silently. "You did it."
Ava shook her head. "Not yet. There's more."
Ayesha glanced over at Subject One, who had taken the young girl's hand, finally, as she sat beside her.
"Think it's done?" Ayesha asked.
Ava gazed into the fire.
"No. But for the first time… we're not going in blind."
Behind her, Malik was strategizing their next step. Zayan was coordinating safehouse rotation. Ananya was doodling something—perhaps the girl's narrative. Perhaps hers.
And Ava?
She shut her eyes, and for the very first time in years, she remembered the face of her mother.
Not as a jigsaw puzzle.
But as a recollection.
One, they did not erase.
Not this time.
...............................
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐯𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐯𝐚?
𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞—𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥?