The basement door hadn't been opened in years.
Ash stood in front of it silently, one hand resting on the rusted handle. The house creaked around them, as if aware of what he was about to do.
Palo lingered behind him, hugging his arms against his chest.
"Do you think… it's really down there?" Palo whispered.
Ash nodded once. "If there's a core, it has to be somewhere underground. Somewhere hidden from the people who created me."
Palo exhaled shakily. "Then let's go."
Ash pulled the handle.
It groaned loudly—the kind of sound that made Palo's spine tighten—before finally giving way.
Cold air drifted up from below.
Not musty, like a normal old basement.
Cold like hospital air.
Cold like sterile rooms and metal tables.
Ash's throat tightened.
He remembered that cold.
He stepped onto the first stair.
"Stay close," he murmured.
Palo grabbed the back of Ash's sweater—not romantic, just instinct and fear—and together they descended.
---
The Hidden Lab
The basement wasn't what Palo expected.
No boxes.
No old furniture.
No dust.
The concrete walls were smooth, clean… too clean.
Like someone had maintained this room long after the rest of the house had decayed.
Ash's eyes narrowed. "This used to be a lab."
Palo swallowed. "Your mother worked down here?"
Ash shook his head. "No. This wasn't her work."
In the center of the room was a hatch built into the floor.
Circular.
Metallic.
Marked with the same symbol the intruder left upstairs.
Two parallel lines cutting through a circle.
Palo whispered, "This looks like… something from that facility."
Ash crouched beside the hatch and brushed away a thin layer of dust.
"There's a lock," he murmured. "But not a normal one."
Palo knelt. "What's wrong with it?"
Ash pointed to a small glass slot.
"It needs a biometric scan."
Palo's eyes widened. "…Like a fingerprint?"
Ash hesitated. Then:
"No. It's DNA-based."
Palo froze. "DNA? Ash… you don't think—"
"It's designed to open only for me," Ash finished quietly.
The realization hit Palo hard.
They built this door years ago—before Ash escaped.
Meaning whoever created him expected him to return someday.
Ash touched the glass slot with two fingers.
A soft hum rose from the metal hatch.
Lights flickered beneath dust-coated wiring.
Palo stepped back nervously. "Ash… is that safe?"
Ash didn't move his hand.
"If it was built for me, I need to see what's inside."
The hum grew louder.
Deeper.
Then—
click
krrrrrr—
THUD
The metal hatch unsealed itself.
A slow hiss of freezing air escaped.
Palo's breath came out shaky. "Ash… I don't like this."
Ash opened the hatch fully.
A ladder descended into darkness.
But not endless darkness.
A faint blue light pulsed below.
Something alive.
Something waiting.
Ash inhaled. "This is it."
Palo grabbed his wrist. "You don't have to go alone."
Ash met his eyes—steady, grateful, but focused.
"Palo… I can't do this without you."
Palo's face softened with fear and resolve.
"Then we're going together."
---
Down the Ladder
They climbed slowly.
Step after step.
The air grew colder the further they descended.
The faint blue glow became clearer—coming from crystalline panels lining the walls of a hidden underground chamber.
When their feet touched the ground, Palo exhaled in awe.
"Ash… this is a whole facility."
Ash nodded.
Not just a lab.
A containment site.
Every wall hummed softly with electric current.
And in the center of the room stood a tall, glass pillar—filled with swirling blue light.
The core.
Palo whispered, "What… what does it do?"
Ash stepped closer.
The swirling light inside the pillar pulsed—synchronizing with Ash's heartbeat.
Palo noticed. "Ash… it's reacting to you."
Ash reached out slowly.
When his fingertips brushed the glass—
A flash of white light burst outward.
The entire room vibrated.
Images bloomed in front of Ash's eyes like shattered memories trying to reform.
Palo stumbled back. "Ash!"
But Ash didn't move.
He couldn't.
The core pulled memories out of him—old ones, buried ones, ones they never wanted him to remember.
He saw:
A group of scientists in lab coats, faces blurred.
A small boy—him—crying inside a glass containment room.
A machine humming, creating a second figure from blue light—the copy's silhouette forming.
Notes scribbled frantically:
"Stabilize original before replication progresses."
"Subject Eleven shows emotional variance beyond predictions."
"Terminate the experiment if instability accelerates."
Ash tore his hand away from the core, gasping.
Palo rushed to him. "Ash! What happened? What did it show you?"
Ash swallowed hard, voice trembling but steady.
"They didn't create him as a duplicate of me."
He looked at the core, eyes dark with realization.
"They created him as a failsafe for me."
Palo's breath caught. "A failsafe… meaning…?"
Ash met his gaze.
"If I become unstable… he replaces me."
Palo felt the room tilt.
Not metaphorically.
The lights flickered.
The floor vibrated.
The core's blue glow began pulsing faster.
Palo whispered, terrified, "Ash—what's happening?!"
Ash's voice was barely above a whisper.
"They found us."