INN SPECIAL TRANSPORT VAN – NIGHT
The van moves through darkness like a sealed confession.
No insignia.
No lights beyond what is required.
No sound except the low harmonic vibration of reinforced engines and signal-canceling systems humming beneath the floor.
Inside, the air is controlled—temperature regulated, oxygen filtered, silence intentional.
AGENT ROY drives with both hands steady on the wheel, eyes fixed ahead.
Beside him, AGENT RACHEL HARRY monitors external feeds, her voice low but alert.
[RACHEL HARRY ]:Route remains clean. No tail. No signal bleed.
Roy nods once.
ROY Let's keep it that way.
Behind them, the armored interior seats hold the rest of the team.
DR. IRIS KADE scrolls through biological telemetry projected faintly above her wrist display.
[IRIS KADE]:Vitals on the specimen remain stable. Barely. Life-support integration is doing most of the work.
AGENT RISE leans back, checking weapon diagnostics.
[RISE]:Whatever that thing is, it's tougher than it looks.
AGENT VERO glances toward the containment unit.
[VERO]:Or it's already dead and just doesn't know it yet.
Their voices are calm. Professional. This is not their first impossible mission.
At the center of it all—
MADISON CONNOR sits upright, posture rigid, a secured black file resting across her knees.
She hasn't spoken since they left.
Her eyes remain locked on the file.
THE FILE – CLOSE
The seal opens with biometric confirmation.
Text scrolls softly across the screen.
NEURAL AUGMENTATION SERIES
DIRECTED BY: DR. ELIRA CROSS
Madison's fingers still.
Not long.
Just long enough for memory to stir.
Then she scrolls.
CONTAINMENT UNIT – PROTOTYPE 2
The image fills the screen.
A body lies on a reinforced medical platform inside the van's internal vault.
Not human.
Not fully alien.
A hybrid that should not exist.
The head is partially fractured—bone structure elongated, unfamiliar.
One arm is completely missing. One leg shattered halfway down, reinforced metal visible where biology failed.
The chest rises faintly.
Life support only.
Madison leans forward slightly.
Her reflection stares back at her from the containment glass.
[IRIS KADE]:(quiet, clinical)
That's Prototype Two. Neurological integration never stabilized. Musculoskeletal failure followed shortly after.
Madison does not look at her.
[MADISON CONNOR ]:And yet it survived.
Iris nods.
[IRIS KADE]:Survived, yes. Lived? That's debatable.
Madison's eyes narrow.
On the exposed side of the creature's neck—
A symbol.
A serpent coiled within a perfect circle.
Carved deep into flesh.
Madison inhales slowly.
She lifts the physical insert from the file—older paper, worn at the edges.
Her eyes scan.
The same symbol.
Stamped.
Confirmed.
Her voice is quiet.
[MADISON CONNOR] :Ghost Serpent.
Rise straightens.
[RISE]:You're sure?
Madison holds the paper up.
[MADISON CONNOR]:I've seen that mark in three continents and two black sites. It never means anything good.
The van grows quieter.
The engine hum fades.
Not gone.
Just distant.
Madison's focus fractures—not into a full memory, but into shards.
FLASHBACK – FRACTIONED
No clear location.
No time.
Only voices.
[ELIRA CROSS] (FLASHBACK):We can't keep pretending evolution will wait for ethics to catch up.
[MADISON] (FLASHBACK):There are lines, Elira. Once crossed, you don't get to decide where you land.
Elira's voice sharpens.
[ELIRA CROSS] (FLASHBACK):Progress doesn't ask permission.
A pause.
Madison's voice, colder.
[MADISON ](FLASHBACK):Then don't ask me to sign off on it.
The memory cuts.
No resolution.
No detail.
Just tension frozen in time.
Madison blinks.
Back in the van.
The body still lies motionless.
The file still open.
Madison scrolls further.
Her eyes slow.
Fifteen names.
No records.
No identities.
No histories.
[MADISON CONNOR]:(low, disbelieving)These people don't exist.
IRIS KADE
That's impossible.
Madison turns the screen slightly.
[MADISON CONNOR]:Then explain why there's no civilian trace. No military trace. Nothing.
Iris studies it.
Her jaw tightens.
Madison scrolls again.
Status updates appear.
FAILED.
INCOMPATIBLE.
Then—
FAILED SUBJECTS TERMINATED
Madison's breath catches.
Not audibly.
Not dramatically.
But her grip tightens.
Her voice drops.
[MADISON CONNOR]:They executed them.
Silence spreads through the van.
[VERO]:That's… not standard INN protocol.
Madison doesn't respond
She already knows.
UNKNOWN RESEARCH FACILITY – ELSEWHERE
The room is circular.
Alien in design.
Technology floats where it should be mounted.
At the center—
An artifact suspended in a gravitic field.
Cracked.
Damaged.
Still alive.
A scientist studies fluctuating readings.
[SCIENTIST]:Signal resonance confirmed. Same neural frequency as the hybrid specimen.
A seconds figure stands in shadow.
Silent.
Observing.
The artifact pulses.
Screens spike.
Energy cascades.
[SCIENTIST]:This signature doesn't belong here.
A pause.
SCIENTIST:It's bleeding through.
The silent figure finally speaks.
UNIDENTIFIED FIGURE:Thensomething has already crossed.
The artifact pulses again.
As if responding.
INN TRANSPORT VAN – NIGHT
Madison closes the file.
She does not share everything.
Not yet.
She looks again at Prototype Two.
Not with fear.
Not with disgust.
But with understanding.
This was never just an experiment.
It was contact.
A first mistake.
A door opened too early.
The van continues forward through the night.
Toward INN HQ.
Toward truth.
Toward consequences no one is ready to face.
Madison finally speaks,
[MADISON CONNOR]:
(quiet, resolute)This doesn't end with Hydra.
The others look at her.
She does not elaborate.
She doesn't need to.
TO BE CONTINUED…