The storm had passed, but tension still hung thick in the night air. Hana and Seojun raced across the pedestrian bridge spanning the Han River. Below them, concealed beneath the waters and layered with sonar-masking tech, was the black site: Facility Zeta.
According to Mika, it was where the Syndicate kept Prototype 02—the failed experiment they feared most. The one Seojun once called "Brother."
"You still sure about this?" Hana asked.
Seojun, his golden irises dimming back to human brown, nodded. "If they've turned him into what they tried to turn me into… he deserves to be saved. Or ended."
The entrance to the facility was hidden in an old maintenance hatch beneath the bridge's center. Hana's multi-tool hissed as it shorted the access lock. They dropped silently into the shaft below—into the belly of the Syndicate's nightmare.
**
Inside Facility Zeta, darkness was broken only by the occasional flicker of red emergency lights. Something was wrong.
"No guards?" Hana whispered.
"Too quiet," Seojun murmured. "They knew we were coming."
As they rounded a corridor, a sudden blast threw them against the wall. Metal shrieked. Smoke billowed. From the shadows, a figure emerged—barefoot, shirtless, marked with scars and circuitry. He looked like Seojun… but not quite.
His voice echoed with two tones—man and machine.
"Seojun… little brother… you came to see me off?"
Seojun froze. "02?"
The prototype smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"They named me Thanatos. The god of death. Fitting, isn't it?"
He raised a hand—and a pulse of electromagnetic force surged toward them. Hana's jammer fried instantly. Alarms wailed.
The facility locked down.
They were trapped. With a weapon that once had a heart.