Chapter 22: The Lab Beneath the Ashes
The ruins of Facility 9-X lay buried beneath the outskirts of the old industrial zone, sealed after a containment breach scorched four city blocks.
Officially, it never existed.
Unofficially, it was where Cinder played god.
And Aria needed to know what he left behind.
The lift hissed as it descended deep below ground, passing through layers of shielding and corrupted magic. Kestrel stood at her side, tense, her palm resting on her pistol.
"Last trace of Cinder's aura came from here. This place reeks of Hollow-flame," she muttered. "I hate Hollow-flame."
"Join the club," Aria said grimly.
Damien's voice crackled through the comm. "Still no movement above ground. But your window's short — if this place wakes up, I can't pull you out fast enough."
"We'll be in and out," Aria promised, though the knot in her stomach said otherwise.
The lift stopped.
The doors opened.
And hell greeted them.
Charred walls.
Twisted metal.
Bloodstains baked into the floor.
The corridors were blackened, melted, warped — like something had screamed through every molecule of the air. Magic residue still shimmered faintly on the walls, pulsing red and violet.
"This wasn't just a fire," Kestrel muttered. "This was a breach."
Aria didn't answer.
She was already walking.
Drawn toward the lab at the end of the corridor — Lab Theta, marked by a sigil she hadn't seen in ten years.
The glyph of her mother's division.
But the files never mentioned Theta.
Theta had been erased.
Inside the lab, shattered glass crunched underfoot.
Screens flickered with static. Broken data cores pulsed. In the center stood a containment pod — cracked, burned, and empty.
Inside, bones.
Small.
Barely adolescent.
Aria's heart pounded.
Kestrel scanned it quickly. "Body's twenty percent human, eighty percent engineered. Genderless. It was… built."
Aria turned slowly.
On the wall was a whiteboard.
On it, faintly visible through soot:
"Subject E-0: Prototype breachform unstable. Failed anchoring. Reject. Begin E-1."
Kestrel inhaled sharply. "E-0… Echo Zero?"
"No," Aria whispered. "This one came before Echo."
Her eyes landed on a row of stasis pods along the wall — five of them.
All empty.
All burned from the inside.
One pod was still intact.
And still running.
Kestrel aimed her gun at it instantly. "What the hell is that?"
Aria stepped forward slowly.
Inside floated a figure — older than Echo. Maybe early twenties. Male. Muscular. With glowing veins of Hollow-flame etched across his arms and neck. His eyes were closed, but his body twitched faintly with energy.
Subject file lit up on a nearby console:
"E-3: Name – Ash. Status – Dormant. Activation pending breach signal."
"Ash…" Aria read aloud. "Cinder's second weapon."
Kestrel backed away. "You think he left him here as a backup?"
"No," Aria murmured. "I think he left him here as the main plan. Echo was never the door. She was the key. Ash is the weapon that walks through it."
Suddenly, the room's lights flared red.
Warning klaxons blared.
Damien's voice roared through the comm: "You've been tripped! Magical fail-safes just activated across the facility — you've got a breach forming!"
The pod hissed.
A crack split the glass.
Inside, Ash's eyes opened.
Burning orange.
And they locked onto Aria.
"RUN!" Kestrel shouted, grabbing her by the arm.
But Aria didn't move.
Because she saw something in Ash's gaze that shattered her.
Not rage.
Not violence.
But recognition.
He whispered, voice muffled behind the glass:
"Aria…?"
Her blood ran cold.
"No. That's not possible."
Kestrel grabbed her harder. "MOVE!"
The pod exploded outward.
Flames surged through the room.
But Ash didn't attack.
He stood amidst the smoke, breathing heavily, staring at her like a memory.
"I know you," he said.
Kestrel raised her weapon.
He held up his hands. "No. Please."
Aria stepped forward, heart pounding.
"…How do you know me?"
Ash looked down, his voice breaking.
"Because you're my sister."
The world shattered.
Kestrel froze.
"What?"
Aria stumbled back a step. "That's not… no."
"I was the first child they made with Evelyn's flame," Ash said, slowly. "Your mother tried to save me. She said I couldn't survive without balance… but Cinder took me. Altered me. Said emotion was the flaw. So he carved it out."
Aria's eyes brimmed with tears.
"They told me you died. I saw the list. Your file was destroyed."
Ash stepped closer. "They erased me because I wasn't what they wanted. Just like Echo."
The alarms still blared.
Outside, the hallway collapsed in on itself — Hollow energy seeping into the cracks.
Ash looked around, shaking.
"He's coming," he whispered. "Cinder knows I woke up."
Kestrel hissed, "We don't have time for this emotional reunion!"
Ash's gaze snapped to her. "Then take her and run. I'll hold the breach."
"No!" Aria shouted. "You just came back—"
"I'm not back, Aria," Ash said softly. "Not yet. But I can buy you a chance to stop him. To save Echo."
He placed something glowing into her palm — a memory crystal.
Her mother's voice echoed faintly from it:
"If you find this, it means Ash is still alive. Forgive me. Save them both."
Aria's throat closed.
Tears burned her eyes.
Ash smiled, despite the fire roaring around them.
"Tell her I remember her lullaby."
Then he turned.
And walked into the flames.
The lab collapsed behind them as Aria and Kestrel sprinted for the lift, memory crystal clutched tight in her hand.
Above them, the sky pulsed faintly red.
And far away, in the heart of the city…
Cinder began to move.