Dante Graves knew he couldn't keep running forever. Dominion had marked him as a threat, and threats were eliminated. He needed a plan, but more importantly, he needed answers.
His first stop was an old contact—Mira Kane, an underground information broker who specialized in things the government didn't want people to know. Her base of operations was hidden beneath an abandoned subway station, a maze of tunnels filled with repurposed tech and black-market data servers.
"You've really pissed off the wrong people this time, Dante," Mira said, crossing her arms as she leaned against a rusted console. "You've got Dominion's full attention. That's bad news."
Dante smirked. "Yeah, well, I like keeping them on their toes."
Mira wasn't amused. "They don't have toes, idiot. They have algorithms. And right now, every algorithm they have is predicting your next move."
Dante sighed. "Then I need to move in a way they won't expect."
He handed her a data drive—one he had swiped from a fallen operative's neural implant during his escape. "Can you crack this?"
Mira plugged it in, fingers flying over the keyboard. Lines of encrypted code scrolled across the screen. She whistled low. "This is some heavy-duty security… but yeah, I can get in."
Minutes passed. Then, the screen flickered. Files began unlocking, revealing classified reports. Names. Locations. Test subjects.
Then Dante saw something that made his blood run cold.
PROJECT ORIGINS: PRIMARY TEST SUBJECTS
— Graves, Elias (Deceased)
— Graves, Lillian (Deceased)
Dante's breath caught in his throat. His parents' names. Listed under a classified experiment.
He clenched his fists, trying to steady himself. "What the hell is this?"
Mira scrolled further. "It looks like… an early phase of Dominion's research. Experimental power manipulation. Some of the subjects—your parents included—didn't survive the trials."
Dante's mind reeled. He had always believed his parents had died in an accident. A mission gone wrong. But this—this was deliberate.
The government hadn't just created Dominion.
They had used his parents to do it.
And now, Dominion wanted him, too.
His pulse pounded in his ears. This wasn't just about survival anymore. It was about the truth. And if Dominion thought they could erase the past, they were wrong.
Dante Graves was going to burn their entire system to the ground.