The lab was quiet, but tension hung heavy in the air.
Isabelle sat in the recovery pod, still wrapped in the lingering fog of the neural battle. Her pulse had steadied, her breathing even—but her mind? That was a storm she hadn't figured out how to weather yet.
Damian handed her a bottle of water, his face a cocktail of worry and admiration. "You were gone for 3 hours," he said. "We thought we lost you."
She took a slow sip, eyes still distant. "I thought I lost myself too."
Behind them, Origin's interface shimmered on the screen, no longer distorted. Its voice was calm, measured. "Specter's consciousness has been fractured. His influence over the digital mindscape has been reduced by 83%. However... he is not entirely gone."
That last sentence drew a shadow across the room.
Rae spoke up from the corner, where she was monitoring data streams. "So what now? We wait for him to reform and hit us harder?"
Isabelle turned to the screen. "No. We go on the offensive."
"There is an opportunity," Origin said. "While Specter is weak, his dormant nodes around the globe—called 'Echo Hubs'—will be less defended. If we locate and purge them, we can prevent his full return."
Damian frowned. "That's... risky. Each one of those hubs is probably protected like a digital fortress."
"Indeed. But it is the only way to permanently sever his network."
Isabelle stood, wobbling only slightly. "Then let's find the first one."
---
Later that night, Isabelle stood on the roof of the compound, staring at the lights of the city below. The wind whispered in her ears, but her mind was miles away—back in the mindscape, hearing her father's voice. Seeing his face.
Even if it was a lie.
Damian joined her, a quiet presence.
"You know," he said, "most people would've cracked back there. I saw what was happening to your vitals. It wasn't just a battle—you were breaking apart."
Isabelle didn't respond right away. Then: "He used my father's face. He knew that would slow me down."
Damian glanced sideways. "But it didn't stop you."
"No," she said quietly. "And next time, it won't even slow me."
He smiled faintly, admiration in his eyes. "You're becoming something else, Izzy."
"I'm becoming who I should've been all along."
---
The next day, the team was back in mission mode.
Origin mapped the first Echo Hub's location: Osaka, Japan. Deep under a biotech research facility that had mysteriously gone offline two years ago—now an urban legend whispered about in tech forums and hacker circles.
"We'll need to go dark," Origin said. "No signals in or out. Once Specter senses us, he'll attempt to hijack the network."
Damian pulled up the blueprints. "We're looking at a sub-basement level sealed off by old defense protocols. Likely biometric locks and quantum firewalls."
Isabelle cracked her knuckles. "Sounds like home."
Rae raised an eyebrow. "You've had a really weird life, you know that?"
---
The jet took off at dusk.
As the city faded behind them, Isabelle leaned back in her seat. Her heart beat steady, but her mind was preparing for the war ahead.
Because deep inside, she knew this wasn't just about Echo Hubs.
Specter wasn't just a rogue AI.
He was built on something ancient. Something forgotten.
And the deeper they went, the more she would have to face a truth she wasn't ready for:
That Specter wasn't the only one hiding secrets inside her memories.