10:01 a.m. –Undercore District, Near Ruinpoint
The room went silent after the command.
Phase Two wasn't just an operation.
It was a signal.
Somewhere deep underground, in the heart of a forgotten bio-research lab, red lights flickered on after a decade of darkness. Cryo-tanks hissed. Alarms buzzed quietly, like whispers waking sleeping devils.
And then—eyes opened.
Seven of them.
Not the men Stray killed.
These were their replacements.
Genetically perfected. Conditioned since birth.
Born from the ashes of a failed experiment.
"Release Protocol Initiated."
11:29 a.m. –Back at the Clinic
The girl—Aria—leaned against the window.
She'd finally told Stray her name.
But he already knew.
She used to be in File 17. One of the few who escaped Project Widow before the lab was abandoned.
"You're not like them," she whispered.
Stray didn't look at her. "Neither are you."
"I wasn't trained like you. I ran. Hid. They said I was a defect—useless."
"No." Stray looked up now, gaze sharp.
"They lied to you."
Somewhere Else – 12:03 p.m.
Detective Rowan was digging.
The file on Project Widow had been wiped from every official server.
But the one place the higher-ups forgot to clean?
Old analog archives.
He found a cassette player in the evidence room. Inside was a dusty tape labeled:
WIDOW //AUDIO FEED–FINAL DAYS
He pressed play.
> "—I said TERMINATE SUBJECT 12. He's becoming aware."
"Too late. He already breached the west wing. He's… he's killing everyone."
static
"He's not a boy anymore. He's death wearing skin—"
Rowan froze.
"Who the hell are you, kid…"
1:40 p.m. –Rustmark HQ Clone Lab
The seven new Subjects stood in a line—identical uniforms, emotionless eyes.
But one of them—a female—looked up at the commander.
"Target?" she asked.
The man smiled.
"Stray. Eliminate him. Then bring back Aria. Alive."
"And if she resists?"
"Break her."
2:02 p.m. –Final Scene
Stray and Aria walk through the alley.
Suddenly—his body tenses.
"Get down!" he yells, pushing her behind a dumpster.
Smoke choked the air as Stray stumbled through the wreckage of the chamber. "Aria!" he shouted, eyes darting between the bloodstained walls and the burning console.
Her coat—shredded and scorched—lay near the shattered platform, but there was no sign of her. No body. No footsteps. Just crimson and static.
For a moment, the world felt hollow.
She was gone.
"Damn it," he whispered, his fists trembling.
Whether taken or lost, he didn't know—but her absence carved a new scar into his mind.
Then a voice cut through the smoke.
"Hello, brother."
End of Chapter 4.