Flashback — Revenant Protocol
Inside a hidden lab beneath Veil Manor, young Scarlet watched through glass as a corpse twitched on a table. Her father’s voice echoed in her ears.
“Death is a weakness. We are gods now.”
Her mother’s voice, softer, trembling.
“We were never meant to wake the dead.”
A week later, her mother vanished.
Now Scarlet knew why.
The Verona lab was buried beneath a glacier.
Lit by cold blue lights and humming machinery.
They split into two teams—Kaydence and Scarlet on recon. Jasper and Miro on the explosives.
Scarlet moved like shadow through the halls. Every monitor showed tests. Every test showed something worse.
Failed revivals.
Bodies missing souls.
But one room was different.
She swiped a stolen badge and entered.
And found her mother.
The Woman in the Tank
Suspended in blue liquid. Tubes in her chest. Scars across her ribs.
Her mother.
Alive.
Eyes closed.
But breathing.
Kaydence stepped beside her. “Is it her?”
Scarlet didn’t answer.
Because she didn’t know.
Not yet.
She pressed a hand to the glass.
And the woman opened her eyes.
Jasper’s voice over comms: “We’re blown. Someone tipped them off.”
Miro cursed. “We’re pulling out now—wait—NO!”
Gunfire. Screaming. Then static.
Scarlet looked at Kaydence. “Go. Get to Jasper.”
“And you?”
“I’m staying.”
She pulled the emergency release.
The tank hissed open.
And her mother collapsed into her arms.
They didn’t make it out clean.
Jasper was shot.
Miro was gone.
And Scarlet’s mother lay unconscious on the med table.
Kaydence slammed his fist into the wall. “She knew. Lys knew we’d come.”
Scarlet stood silently.
Then reached into her coat.
And pulled out a blood-stained ID card.
It had Miro’s face on it.
“Authorized access. Verona Prime.”
She looked up, voice shaking.
“He sold us out.”
 The silence in the room cracked like glass.
Scarlet stared at the ID card for what felt like forever. Kaydence reached for it, turning it over, examining the blood.
 “He used this to walk right into the heart of Verona. Right past every biometric lock.”
Scarlet’s breath trembled. “He sold us out. He sold me out.”
Kaydence stood and punched the wall again, leaving a crack in the stone.
 “And he got Jasper killed.”
“No,” came a soft voice from the med table. “Not yet.”
They both turned.
Scarlet’s mother had opened her eyes.
Her voice was dry as paper. “Jasper… was still breathing when they took him.”
Scarlet leaned in. “Who are you?”
A long pause.
Then, “I’m what’s left.”
Elsewhere — Miro
The safehouse was dark. Underground. Reinforced.
Miro stood over a body.
Jasper.
Beaten. Bloodied. But alive.
“You never were meant to be part of this,” Miro said, pacing. “But you always ask too many questions.”
Jasper coughed blood. “What’s your angle, Queenkiller?”
“That’s not my name anymore,” Miro whispered. “Not since I realized the truth.”
He looked at a screen.
Annora’s face appeared.
A recording. Pre-recorded.
“If they find out, it’s over. Scarlet can’t know. The crown is hers by blood, but she’ll never wear it if the truth gets out.”
Jasper’s eyes widened. “You’re not doing this for her. You’re doing this for you.”
Miro smiled. “For once, yes.”
At the Sanctuary
Scarlet’s mother told them the truth.
The original Revenant Protocol had nothing to do with war.
It was about succession.
“There are things you don’t know, Scarlet. About your blood. About what your father built. Annora wasn’t just Kaydence’s first love—she was the guardian of the true heir. Of you.”
Scarlet reeled. “She knew all along?”
“She loved you,” her mother said. “In her own way. She saved you from being weaponized. But Miro—he wants that weapon now.”
They prepared for war.
Scarlet suited up—old armor, old scars, all dusted off.
Kaydence loaded weapons into a duffel. “We go in, get Jasper, end Miro.”
Her mother added, “And recover the heirloom.”
“What heirloom?”
But her mother just smiled.
“You’ll know when you see it.”
The fortress wasn’t just guarded—it was a maze of traps, both mechanical and emotional.
Scarlet and Kaydence moved like phantoms, cutting down mercs, disabling cameras.
When they reached the central chamber, they found it empty… except for a throne.
On it:
A crown.
Black. Twisted. Glowing.
Not just a symbol.
A key.
To what, they didn’t yet know.
Kaydence reached for it.
“DON’T,” Scarlet snapped.
He froze.
Because someone was behind them.
Miro.
Wearing a suit that bled shadows.
“You finally made it,” he said, stepping forward.
“Where’s Jasper?” Scarlet asked.
Miro stepped aside.
Jasper hung from chains behind the throne, alive—but barely.
“You want him?” Miro asked. “Then take the crown. Take your rightful place.”
Kaydence raised his gun. “Try me.”
But Miro was faster.
A blast of energy knocked them both back.
Scarlet’s head cracked against the wall. Blood blurred her vision. But she crawled forward, reaching…
To the crown.
And the moment her fingers brushed it—
Her mind split open.
Flashback
Memories not her own.
Her mother. Her father. Annora. Miro.
Conspiracies. Experiments.
A plan to raise a queen who could never be controlled.
But someone had betrayed them all.
Not Miro.
Not Annora.
Not her parents.
Kaydence.
He had been part of the original project.
The one who suggested splitting Scarlet’s identity.
To protect her, yes.
But also to control her.
She staggered back, screaming.
Kaydence caught her.
“What did you see?”
She shoved him away.
“You lied to me.”
“Scarlet—”
“I trusted you!”
Miro laughed, coughing blood. “Now you get it. We’re all monsters here.
Scarlet freed Jasper.
Then turned to Miro.
Shot him in the leg.
“I’m not your queen,” she said.
But she took the crown anyway.
And Kaydence watched her, silent.
Because everything had just changed.
Again.