Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 66: Chapter 66

Location: Safehouse Echo – South Wing Infirmary – 4:08 AM
The rain hadn’t stopped.
Elena sat beneath the flickering fluorescent light of the infirmary, a bloodied towel in her lap and gauze wrapped around her hand. The burns were minimal, but the sting was real. A reminder.
Liana stepped in, holding a tablet. “New satellite ping came in. We’ve got her. She’s docked on the Hermes relay ship. South Atlantic.”
Elena didn’t react. Not at first.
Then she said, “She’s coming, isn’t she?”
Liana hesitated. “She’s not just coming. She’s hunting.”
Elena nodded. “Good. I’m done waiting.”
Adrian leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “You don’t have to face her alone.”
“I’m not alone,” Elena said, standing slowly. “I’m just the only one who knows what she’s capable of.”
“You mean you,” Adrian corrected, gently. “You’re not fighting her. You’re fighting the version of you that didn’t bleed, didn’t fall, didn’t lose everything.”
“And that’s exactly why she has to lose now,” Elena replied.
⸻
Location: Hermes Relay Ship – Sub-Level Chamber – 5:12 AM
Prime sat alone in the observation chamber. The walls around her shimmered with code, maps, old footage. Simulations. She was reading Elena like an open book.
Across from her, Archivist Zero monitored the neural patterns of CR-01 Prime.
“Tell me,” he asked, “do you envy her?”
Prime tilted her head. “No.”
“Fear her?”
“No.”
“Then what do you feel when you see her face?”
She turned toward the monitor, where a still frame of Elena flashed—eyes full of fire.
“I feel… unfinished.”
Location: Bogotá – Outskirts – 6:00 AM
The team gathered around the briefing table in Safehouse Echo’s war room.
Liana traced a path across the digital map. “The Hermes goes dark at sunrise. That’s our window.”
Adrian pointed to the red-outlined section. “That’s where their signal booster’s stored. If we sever it, Prime loses real-time support.”
“And we isolate her,” Elena added. “Just her… and me.”
The team looked at her.
She held their eyes. “I’m not going in to destroy her. I’m going in to end what they built.”
Adrian stepped close. “Then we do it together.”
Elena looked up at him—really looked. “You still believe in me?”
“I never stopped.”
Flashback Fragment – UNKNOWN TIME
“She’ll always burn brighter,” a voice whispered.
“But stars that burn too hot… collapse faster.”
Location: In Transit – Nightfall Skimmer Jet – 7:45 AM
Elena watched the ocean blur beneath them as the skimmer jet soared over choppy waves. Below, the Hermes drifted like a steel ghost.
In her earpiece, Julia’s voice came through.
“We just received a feed. They’ve activated the next sequence.”
“What kind of sequence?”
“…She’s not just coming for you anymore. She’s been ordered to replace you.”
Elena’s heart stilled.
Replace.
As if her life were code to be overwritten.
Her hand tightened around her gun.
“Copy that,” she said, eyes narrowing. “Tell them they better build a new world. Because I’m about to burn this one
Location: Hermes Relay Ship – Observation Deck – 8:02 AM
CR-01 Prime stood in front of the reinforced glass wall overlooking the Atlantic. Storm clouds gathered on the horizon, and the surface of the water shimmered like steel. Behind her, technicians scurried quietly—nervous around the replica who never blinked.
She placed a single hand against the glass.
“I wonder,” she murmured, “if she still dreams.”
Archivist Zero’s voice crackled through her comms. “Dreaming is inefficient.”
Prime smiled faintly. “So is obsession. Yet here we are.”
She turned to face the terminal behind her. A playback loop of Elena’s interrogation at Safehouse Echo played silently—body language, vocal tremors, pupil dilation.
Prime mirrored the footage effortlessly.
Same posture.
Same pause.
Same stare.
Except one thing.
Emotion.
She blinked, cold. “She still hopes.”
The technician watching the feed whispered, “Maybe that’s why she survived.”
Prime glanced at him. “And that’s why I will win.”
Location: Bogotá – Blackwood Underground Hub – 8:23 AM
Julia was pacing, tablet in hand. Data streams flowed across the screen—location pings, neural spikes, residual tracking from the Nightfall implants.
“She’s locked onto Elena’s biometric signature,” Julia said. “She doesn’t want just proximity. She wants contact.”
Adrian’s fists clenched. “What happens if she makes contact?”
Julia looked up. “Prime is built to sync and override. If they cross the neurological threshold within two meters—”
“She can overwrite Elena’s memories?” Liana asked, stunned.
Julia nodded. “Or worse. Prime doesn’t just want to take her place. She wants to erase the original completely.”
Elena stood in the corner, silent.
But her eyes were blazing.
“She’s going to find out something real fast,” Elena said coldly.
“What’s that?” Adrian asked.
“That there are some memories worth fighting not to forget.”
Flashback Fragment – Project NIGHTFALL Vault 3 – 4 Years Ago
“You can’t build loyalty,” said Dr. Mara Voss, whispering to a masked observer.
“You can only break someone enough that they mistake obedience for love.
The sea above raged.
Inside the tactical submersible, silence reigned.
Elena stared at the photo on her wrist pad: a blurry scan of her and her father, years ago. The last time they smiled without armor.
Beside her, Adrian checked his sidearm. “When we board—stay close.”
“I won’t run.”
“I didn’t think you would,” he said, softer now. “But if something happens—if she gets too close—”
“She won’t,” Elena cut in. “She may have my face. But she doesn’t have my scars.”
He looked at her.
Then nodded. “That’s what makes you dangerous.”
“No,” she said, loading the final round into her pistol. “That’s what makes me real.”
Location: Hermes – Command Core – 9:39 AM
The command deck smelled of ozone and oil. Red emergency lights pulsed from above as Prime moved through the corridors like a shadow—silent, precise, unbothered by the alarms.
Archivist Zero followed her at a distance. “What happens when she doesn’t hesitate?”
Prime stopped at the edge of a sealed containment chamber. Her own face stared back at her from a data pad—Elena Cruz, real and unreplicated, walking into the trap willingly.
“She will hesitate,” Prime said. “She still believes people are worth saving.”
“And you don’t?”
“I believe people are code. Some run better than others. But all of them crash eventually.”
Zero tilted his head. “And what about you?”
“I was never meant to crash.”
Suddenly, her expression flickered—like static on a broken signal.
For half a second… her eyes shifted. Human. Confused. Haunted.
Then—gone.
She turned away.
“Prepare the corridor. I want her to see what she could have been.”
Location: Infiltration Bay – Hermes – 9:47 AM
The hull split open as the skimmer breached through.
Elena and Adrian moved first, weapons raised, boots echoing against metal and mist. Liana and Julia followed behind, locking the access point and running comm suppressors.
“Radio’s jammed,” Julia said. “We’ve got fifteen minutes before she triggers the upper deck lockdown.”
Adrian’s voice was sharp. “Then we end this in fourteen.”
Elena’s hand was tight on her pistol, but her pulse… was calm. Too calm.
“She’s near,” she whispered. “I can feel her.”
Liana glanced at her. “How?”
Elena turned her head slowly toward a reflective surface—a stainless-steel wall that warped her reflection just slightly.
“She’s inside me.”
Location: Sub-Level 6 – Hermes – 9:58 AM
Prime stood alone.
No guards. No alarms. Just one room lit by cold white light.
She placed a chair in the center.
A mirror across from it.
And another one—identical—next to it.
Then she waited.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Steady. Defiant.
Elena entered first.
She didn’t flinch at the sight.
She walked forward, gun at her side, and sat across from her own face.
Prime smiled.
“Hello, Elena.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed. “No. I’m not here for pleasantries.”
“Neither am I.” Prime leaned forward. “I’m here to show you who you were always meant to be—if you weren’t so tragically human.”
Elena let silence hang for a moment. Then she said, “And I’m here to show you what happens when you try to steal someone’s soul and mistake it for code.”
Prime tilted her head. “You think you’re strong because you suffered. But I remember your pain. I was built from it.”
“No,” Elena said, standing slowly. “You were built from a blueprint they stole. But pain isn’t something you download.”
She pointed to her chest. “It lives here. And you? You’re not real enough to bleed.”
Prime rose from the chair.
And for the first time—her mask slipped.
Just a little.
A twitch of doubt.
A flicker of something that looked like… fear.
Outside the Door – Sub-Level 6 – 10:00 AM
Adrian raised his weapon. “We’ve got five minutes.”
Liana’s voice cut through the comm. “Signal spike detected. If they touch—Prime might try to overwrite her.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Then paused.
“Don’t,” Julia warned. “She has to finish this herself.”
Adrian clenched his jaw.
Inside, the two versions of Elena stared each other down.
Two flames.
One truth.
Sub-Level 6 – Hermes Relay Ship – 10:02 AM
The air inside the containment chamber was thick—metallic, sharp, electric. A pulse rolled through the lights above, flickering between white and red.
Elena and Prime stood face to face.
Same bone structure. Same fire in the jaw. Same curve of the mouth.
But the eyes…
One held defiance.
The other—design.
“You don’t have to die here,” Prime said, circling Elena like a reflection unhinged. “They would let you live. You could be repurposed. Reintegrated.”
“Like my father was?” Elena snapped. “You want me to trade my mind for a system update?”
Prime tilted her head. “He made the trade willingly.”
Elena’s heart twisted. “He was manipulated.”
“He evolved.”
“No,” Elena said, stepping forward, every word sharp. “He chose to protect something. Someone. He chose to fight what you became.”
Prime’s smile faltered. A micro-glitch in the façade. “You think you’re special because you suffered? I was engineered from your worst moments.”
Elena’s voice lowered. “Then you should know—what happens next.”
She raised her weapon.
Prime didn’t blink.
She moved fast—too fast. Kicked the gun from Elena’s hand and sent it sliding across the floor. The echo was deafening.
But Elena didn’t stumble.
She lunged.
They collided like two storms crashing—fists, elbows, knees. No hesitation. No mercy.
It was a battle of memories. Of instincts. Of survival.
Adrian and Julia watched from the control chamber, surveillance feed glitching as the two Elenas blurred into each other.
“She’s holding her own,” Julia breathed.
Adrian’s hands were clenched. “Because she’s not fighting to win.”
He looked at the screen.
“She’s fighting to be real.”
Inside the Containment Chamber – 10:08 AM
Prime landed a vicious punch to Elena’s temple—but Elena spun with it, absorbing the blow, twisting to drive her knee into Prime’s ribcage. A sickening crunch echoed.
“Systems… compromised,” Prime whispered, backing up.
Elena retrieved her sidearm from the floor and leveled it with both hands.
“You don’t belong here,” she said.
“I am you.”
“No,” Elena said. “You’re the version of me that never chose love. Never bled for anyone else. That’s not strength. That’s hollow.”
Prime reached for something at her wrist—a trigger.
But Elena fired first.
A single round.
Straight to the command implant.
Prime jerked backward, electricity arcing from her spine. She collapsed.
Sparks danced across the floor.
And then…
Silence.
Outside – Adrian’s Voice (via comms):
“Elena—do you copy?”
She stepped toward the door, blood on her knuckles, breath ragged.
“I’m still me.”
The door hissed open.
Adrian stood waiting.
He didn’t speak.
He just opened his arms.
And she fell into them—real, raw, alive.
Hermes – Sub-Level 6 Containment Core – 10:09 AM
The floor was cracked and soaked in oil, wires sparking from the ceiling like nerves exposed in a dying machine. Prime lay motionless on the ground one eye open, but dull. Silent.
Elena stood over her.
Sweat clung to her brow. Her fingers trembled part from the impact, part from something deeper. She stared at the face that mirrored hers. It felt like looking at a future she’d barely escaped.
“She’s still running partial systems,” Julia said through her earpiece. “But the core’s fried. Her link to the network is gone.”
“Terminate remaining code,” Liana added. “Before it reroutes.”
Adrian reached Elena just as she lowered her weapon.
“I had to,” she whispered, barely audible. “It was her or”
“I know,” he said gently.
But her eyes stayed locked on Prime’s face.
“She said she was built from my pain,” Elena murmured. “All the things I tried to forget. All the things I survived. Is that all I am to them? A blueprint for violence?”
“No,” Adrian replied. “You’re a reminder that even what’s broken… can still burn brighter than what’s manufactured.”
She looked up at him.
He held out his hand.
She took it.
And in that simple act—there was choice.
Hermes Control Bay – 10:15 AM
Julia stood over the flickering terminal as the system rebooted. Liana worked beside her, isolating backup nodes.
“Prime wasn’t the last fail-safe,” Julia muttered. “There’s a secondary key in the archive—something called Ignis Protocol.”
Liana frowned. “That wasn’t in the Black Archive.”
“Because it wasn’t meant to be seen. Not by Adrian. Not by Cruz.”
“What is it?”
Julia swallowed hard.
“A last resort. Full-scale purge… of everyone involved in the program.”
Liana’s voice dropped. “Even Adrian?”
“Especially Adrian.”
Hermes Exit Corridor – 10:22 AM
The team regrouped—Adrian, Elena, Liana, Julia. Behind them, the body of Prime burned slowly as containment systems overloaded.
Elena stared into the flames. They didn’t scare her.
Not anymore.
“She’s gone,” she said. “But she left something behind. I felt it when we fought.”
“A signal?” Adrian asked.
“No. A message.”
She turned slowly.
“We’re not done. We’re just the beginning.”
Unknown Location – Time: Unknown
A screen flickers on in a dark room.
Data scrolls fast replication logs, fail-safes, contingency commands.
A masked figure leans forward.
Female voice. Calm. Cold.
“Prime is offline,” the voice says.
A second screen lights up Elena’s face, bleeding, wild-eyed, alive.
“She survived.”
A pause.
Then:
“Initiate Ignis Protocol.”