Location: Mirage Facility – Sublevel Alpha, Restricted Archives
Time: 4:03 AM
Vashti stood alone in a room colder than ice.
Steel walls. Screens blinking with static. A familiar voice played overhead on loop—her voice, from her childhood… giggling, screaming, crying. Taped. Monitored. Studied.
A female figure stepped from the shadows—lab coat, no name tag, eyes that looked like they'd seen the beginning and the end of too many things.
> "Vashti Dhiman. Age: 24. Genetic ID: VX-7A. Alias: Subject V."
Vashti's fists tightened.
"I'm a person. Not your damn science project."
The woman didn't flinch.
"You were never supposed to survive the trials. You and five others were the control group. The disposable batch."
Vashti's breath caught.
"What…?"
The woman walked over to a glass table and tapped it.
A list blinked to life:
PROJECT HELIX — DECOMMISSIONED SUBJECTS
V-1: Terminated
V-2: Terminated
V-3: Terminated
V-4: Missing
V-5: Terminated
V-6: Arya
V-7: Vashti
Status: UNEXPECTED SURVIVORS
> "You and Arya were the anomalies. We stopped the project, but you kept evolving. Learning. Fighting."
Vashti's knees weakened. Her whole life—her parents, her school, her dreams—had been placed on a board like chess pieces. Nothing was coincidence. Not even her goal of becoming a neurosurgeon.
> "Why?" she asked hoarsely. "Why me?"
The woman tilted her head.
"Because you weren't meant to be a surgeon, Vashti. You were meant to be a weapon."
---
Meanwhile — Mirage Sewer Access, 4:12 AM
Shabd and Arya were crawling through a drainpipe that smelled like death and sounded like hell.
Shabd's pendant still blinked red—tracking Vashti's location.
Arya kept coughing. "They're going to kill her if we don't get there in time."
Shabd's eyes burned.
"No," he said, voice like steel. "They'll try."
---
Back Inside — Vashti's POV
Vashti stared at the screen.
Her whole medical file. Her birth certificate. Photos of her in Rainbow International School—taken through mirrors. A folder labeled "Vivek Dhiman – Parental Asset Report".
Her father knew.
Her mother—Miafel Amor Dhiman—was listed under Project: Emotional Stabilizers.
Her entire life was a beautifully crafted lie.
A voice came from the shadows:
> "You should be proud. You survived what was designed to break you."
Vashti stepped forward, trembling with rage.
> "Then let me show you what happens… when the experiment fights back."
She lunged at the console—yanked every wire, smashed every screen. Sparks flew, alarms screamed.
And just then—
BOOM.
The wall behind her exploded open.
Shabd.
Covered in dust. Bleeding. Alive.
He reached out his hand, breathless.
> "Vash. Come home."
And she did.
--