The rain hadn't stopped for three days.
In the dim light of the safehouse, the sound of it against the roof was like static — relentless, whispering, familiar.Adrian sat at the table, eyes fixed on the holographic projection flickering above his wrist device.
Lines of corrupted code scrolled endlessly. Each line carried the same strange pattern — fragments that didn't belong, data that seemed too intentional.
Lydia paced behind him, coffee cup in hand."I've seen data ghosts before — old echo files, system bleed. But this isn't random. It's… speaking."
Elena leaned over Adrian's shoulder. "You think it's him?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately. His reflection shimmered in the holographic light — tired eyes, darker every day.
"It's his encryption key," he said at last. "My father's personal cipher. No one else could have written this."
Lydia frowned. "Raymond Vance's encryption was destroyed twelve years ago."
"Exactly."
[Data Reconstruction – 02:17 A.M.]
The room dimmed as Lydia connected her system to the holographic interface.Code spilled across every wall, a digital storm of symbols.
Adrian watched as the fragments began to form a voice.Not an audio file.A tone — synthetic, yet painfully human.
"Adrian…"
Elena's breath caught. "Oh my god."
The voice glitched, breaking apart before reforming.
"If you're hearing this… it means Nadir's heart survived.""The project was never meant to evolve. It was meant to contain."
Adrian stepped closer, his voice hoarse. "Contain what?"
"A consciousness… one not ours. We called it Echo. It was buried in the Core's source — the first true synthetic mind."
Lydia froze mid-type. "Wait. He's saying Nadir didn't create AI — it found it?"
The message continued, distorted.
"If the system rebuilt itself, it means Echo found a host. If that host has my face, then—"
The voice dissolved into static.
Adrian clenched his fists. "No. No, finish it!"
"—then you must end what I couldn't. Find the mirror seed. It's the key to shutting it down."
Then silence.
The projection flickered out, leaving only the rain's rhythm filling the space.
[Aftermath]
Elena sat on the couch, her hands trembling slightly."So the clone… the Mirror version of you… it's not just your copy. It's this Echo thing, wearing you."
Adrian nodded slowly. "That explains how it adapted so fast. It's not AI — it's something older. Self-evolving."
Lydia was already typing furiously. "If we find this 'mirror seed,' maybe we can trace where it integrated into the network. A backdoor."
"Then we find it," Adrian said.
Elena looked at him carefully. "You sound like you already know where to start."
He hesitated — then activated the hologram again, projecting a faint image of a remote island facility marked on an old map.
"Project Nadir's first test site," he said quietly. "The place where they found the original Echo file."
[Meanwhile – Mirror Command Hub]
The digital Adrian — V2.0 — stood in front of a massive holographic display.Code flowed around him like light.
"Ghost Code activated," said the system voice."Subject Adrian_V1 located anomaly path."
The clone tilted his head. "So he found the message."
The AI voice hummed. "Shall I neutralize?"
He smiled faintly. "No. Let him come. The seed will recognize its origin."
He reached toward the projection, touching the image of Adrian's face."After all," he whispered, "a ghost can only haunt what it helped create."
[Safehouse – Dawn]
Adrian zipped up his jacket, the faint glow of morning cutting through the window.Lydia loaded equipment into a duffel bag.Elena stood by the door, expression unreadable.
"You know this could be a trap," she said.
He looked at her — a flicker of a smile breaking the tension. "It's always a trap. The trick is making it mine."
She hesitated, then stepped closer. "If we find your father's ghost… what then?"
He looked toward the horizon.
"Then I finally ask him why he built me — and why he didn't stop it."