The briefing room was too bright.
Jack blinked against the harsh overhead lights as the doors sealed shut behind Maya and Rafael, leaving the three of them alone with Director Olivia Ward. The room felt sterile, clinical—nothing like the chaos of the training hall or the humid darkness of the alley where Jack had fired his first shot.
This room didn't smell of gunpowder or sweat.
It smelled like truth waiting to be served cold.
Ward tapped a console, locking the room with an authority that crackled. The lights dimmed to a low, cold blue, and the walls shifted to display encrypted projections, forming a ghostly frame around them.
"Jack," she said, "sit."
He didn't want to. He wanted to stand, to pace, to pretend he was someone who wasn't one breath away from falling apart. But Maya gave him a small nod—steady, grounding—and Jack sat.
Ward moved around the table with the measured calm of someone used to delivering world-shattering news.
"This will not be easy to hear."
Jack swallowed. His throat felt dry. "I already know something's wrong."
Rafael crossed his arms. "Something's very wrong."
Ward ignored him and tapped a hologram to life.
A familiar image appeared.
A baby—wires taped to his arms, monitors blinking beside a tiny crib.
A facility white and cold.
The child's face blurred with static.
SUBJECT: ALPHA-01
PROJECT: HELIX — BLOODLINE INITIATIVE
STATUS: UNRECOVERED
Jack stared.
His skin went cold.
"What… what is this?" he asked.
Ward spoke softly. "This is you."
Jack recoiled like she'd struck him.
"No. No way. My parents raised me in Virginia. We lived a normal—"
"Your parents," Ward said carefully, "were not your biological parents."
It felt like the room tilted. Jack grabbed the table edge to steady himself.
Rafael exhaled, murmuring a curse under his breath.
Maya stayed silent, watching Jack with unreadable eyes.
Ward continued in that deadly calm voice:
"You were part of a covert enhancement program—Helix's first attempt at genetically augmented intelligence and reflex development. They called your group the Bloodline Cohort."
Jack shook his head. "That's insane. I'm just… I'm no enhanced anything! I faint at needles!"
"You faint at needles because your body metabolism spikes rapidly under stress," Ward said. "That's not fear. It's a side-effect of the early serum trials."
Jack stared. "No. No, that can't be right, I—I'm just a data analyst. I'm nobody."
"Your skills are not accidental," Ward said. "Your pattern recognition, your intuitive code-breaking… the way you processed that anomaly packet? No analyst alive should've been able to detect it."
Jack's pulse hammered in his ears.
"So you're saying I'm some kind of lab experiment?"
Ward didn't flinch. "Yes."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Jack's heart pounded so loud he could barely hear the next words.
"Your biological parents," Ward said, "were part of Helix. They fled when they realized what Mercer planned to do to you."
Jack swallowed hard. "What did he plan?"
Ward paused.
Then she whispered:
"He wanted to raise you as his heir."
Jack's stomach dropped. "Mercer… wanted me?"
"Wants you," Rafael corrected. "Present tense. That man sent an enhanced soldier today to take you. Not Maya. Not me. You."
Jack shook his head violently. "Why me?"
Ward tapped another projection.
Mercer's face appeared—cold, calculating, predatory.
"MERCER'S NOTES — PROJECT ALPHA"
— "Subject shows rapid assimilation capabilities."
— "Reflex latency: exceptional."
— "Neural adaptability: ideal for leadership."
— "Potential: successor."
Jack stared, his breath catching painfully.
"No," he whispered. "I'm not him. I'm not his—whatever he wants me to be. I don't want any of this."
Maya stepped forward, voice softer than he'd ever heard it.
Jack looked up at her.
Her eyes held something fierce—anger at the world, at Helix, maybe even at Ward for keeping secrets. But beneath the steel, there was something else.
Something warm.
"You get to choose who you become," Maya said.
Her words should've helped.
They didn't.
Because Jack's life—his entire identity—was collapsing like a building with its foundation cut.
He shot to his feet, pacing, running a hand through his hair.
"Everything I know… my entire life… was a lie?"
Ward answered with silence.
That silence was louder than any truth.
Jack clenched his jaw. "You knew?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"You were not ready."
"I'm not ready now!" Jack snapped. "I don't even know who I am!"
Maya stepped closer.
Jack took a breath like he might drown.
She said quietly, "You're Jack Williams. The man who pulled me out of an alley under fire. The man who saved lives yesterday. The man who didn't run even when he was terrified."
Jack's eyes burned.
"I'm not a soldier," he whispered.
"You're becoming one," Rafael said gently. "Whether you like it or not."
Jack turned away, unable to face any of them.
Helix Will Come Again
Ward continued:
"Mercer has initiated Stage 3. That means retrieval—forceful retrieval. Enhanced soldiers, bio-synthetic agents, and yes… Mantis."
Maya stiffened.
Rafael's jaw tightened.
Jack frowned. "Who's Mantis?"
Maya's voice hardened into something lethal.
"A Helix assassin," she said. "Fast. Silent. Sadistic. She kills for sport."
Ward nodded. "Mercer will send her after you."
Jack felt his chest tighten. "Why me? Why not kill me instead of trying to 'retrieve' me?"
Ward powered down the holograms. "Because Mercer doesn't want you dead. He wants you back."
Jack recoiled.
Like the word itself was poison.
"He sees you as the only surviving success of Bloodline Alpha," Ward said. "And if he awakens whatever dormant traits your body carries… he'll make you the centerpiece of Helix."
Jack's pulse spiked.
"So I'm a weapon."
Ward didn't deny it.
Maya clenched her fists.
"You're not a weapon. You're a person."
Jack laughed bitterly.
"Tell that to the people who made me."
Maya took a step toward him.
Jack took a step back.
"Maya," he said quietly, "I can't… I can't breathe."
She froze—because she understood that kind of fear.
Rafael cut in, voice firm but calm.
"Ward. Give him space. You're dumping this too fast."
Ward's gaze softened—just a fraction.
"Jack, everything we do now is for your protection."
Jack shook his head.
"No. You protected a lie."
Ward didn't look offended.
She looked regretful.
"There is more you need to know," she said.
"No," Jack said, shaking. "I'm done hearing things. Not now."
"Jack—"
"No!"
His voice cracked.
The room went silent.
Jack's breathing grew unsteady, his vision blurring at the edges. He felt the walls tilting again, like his mind couldn't hold the truth without fracturing.
Maya moved fast—faster than he expected.
Her hand caught his wrist.
Warm. Steady.
"Breathe," she whispered. "Just breathe."
Jack squeezed his eyes shut.
Maya lowered her voice.
"You're not alone in this."
He shook his head. "I don't know who to trust."
Maya leaned in.
"Start with me."
His eyes opened.
Hers were close—closer than they'd ever been.
Dark. Fierce. Human.
He felt something dangerous shift inside him.
Something he wasn't ready for.
Rafael cleared his throat loudly.
Jack jolted back, breaking the moment.
Ward straightened her suit.
"This emotional destabilization is what Mercer wants. We need to move forward."
Jack glared.
"You think I'm going to process a lifetime of lies in ten minutes?"
"No," Ward said.
"But Helix won't give you ten minutes."
A New Directive
Ward pressed a final command on the console.
A new file appeared.
DIRECTIVE: PROTECT ALPHA-01
ASSETS ASSIGNED: AGENT MAYA RIOS, AGENT RAFAEL RIOS
Maya frowned. "Assigned?"
Ward nodded.
"Maya, Rafael — you are now Jack's primary security and training detail. Effective immediately."
Jack's heart skipped.
Maya looked at him, then back at Ward.
"For how long?" she asked.
Ward answered without hesitation.
"Until Helix is destroyed."
Rafael whistled low. "That's… ambitious."
Ward closed the hologram.
"We begin tomorrow. Jack, you will undergo cognitive stress testing and reflex conditioning. Maya will begin close-quarters combat with you. Rafael will handle tactical movement and firearm proficiency."
Jack swallowed.
"Tomorrow? After all this?"
Ward's voice softened.
"Jack. You can break down later. But right now… Helix is already preparing their next move."
Maya glanced at Jack.
He looked pale.
Lost.
Angry.
But beneath all of it… there was a spark.
Something raw and unshaped.
Something Helix wanted.
Something Ward feared.
Something Maya recognized.
After the Meeting
Jack walked out of the briefing room first, pushing the door open so hard it nearly slammed into the wall. Maya followed quietly. Rafael lingered, giving them space.
Maya found Jack in the hallway, leaning against a steel pillar, head lowered.
"Jack," she said softly, "look at me."
He didn't.
She stepped closer.
"You're allowed to be scared. You're allowed to be angry. You're allowed to break. But not alone."
Jack finally raised his head.
His voice trembled.
"Maya… what if I'm not the person I thought I was?"
She reached out and touched his chest—over his heart.
"Then become the person you choose to be."
Jack stared at her.
"Maya… why are you helping me?"
She hesitated.
Then said:
"Because I refuse to let Helix define anyone ever again."
Jack breathed slowly.
Then nodded.
And Maya saw it:
The moment he chose to fight.
Not because of truth.
Not because of destiny.
But because he refused to belong to Mercer.
Maya released his wrist gently.
"Come on," she said. "Rafael's waiting."
Jack inhaled deeply.
"Yeah," he whispered.
"Let's get to work."