Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 88: Chapter 88

Bogotá – Safehouse Echo – 11:17 PM
The rain returned.
It tapped against the windowpanes like a countdown. Inside the dim safehouse, Adrian stood by the wall of monitors, watching footage of the Zurich explosion on a loop. His jaw was rigid. Every frame showed a piece of his past unraveling.
“She blew the vault?” Elena asked from the doorway, still in a blood-streaked jacket.
“Yes,” Adrian said. “Julia made the call. She sacrificed the archive… and herself.”
Liana stepped in behind them, voice tight. “We got a data ping before the system went offline. A partial sync. Whatever they were waking up… it didn’t finish.”
Elena narrowed her eyes. “You think that stops them?”
Adrian turned. “No. It delays them.”
He tapped a key. Onscreen, the biometric signature from Zurich pulsed faintly.
Adrian Blackwood. DNA Match: 97.8%
Status: Conscious. Locating…
Elena’s breath caught. “He’s alive?”
Adrian met her eyes. “He’s awake. But he doesn’t know who he is yet.”
Liana stared between them. “Then we have a window.”
Elena nodded. “To do what?”
Adrian’s expression hardened. “To kill the version of me they’ve turned into a weapon before he remembers why he was created.”
Munich – Underground Lab Facility – 3:02 AM
The cryo-chamber was gone. Replaced by a dark room, humming with life.
Adrian II sat slumped in a steel chair, wrists still strapped, eyes flicking open for the first time. His breath came shallow, mechanical. Sensors tracked his vitals. Neural pathways blinked on and off as if someone was flipping switches inside his skull.
CR-03 crouched in front of him, a cracked data tablet in hand. “Can you speak?”
The man blinked once. Twice.
Then whispered, “What am I?”
Her smile was slow. “You’re the next phase. Not a man. A message.”
He tried to rise, but the straps held.
“Where is he?” he asked. “The original.”
“Gone. Broken. You’re all that’s left of him that matters.”
His eyes flashed—green and cruel. “Then let me finish what he couldn’t.”
CR-03 smiled. “Welcome to the world, Blackwood.”
Safehouse Echo – Armory – 5:26 AM
Elena loaded a weapon she never thought she’d touch again. Her hands were steadier than expected. Maybe because she knew the end wasn’t far off.
Liana studied her from across the room. “You’re thinking about what you’ll do if you come face to face with him—aren’t you?”
Elena didn’t answer.
Liana stepped closer. “He won’t hesitate. Not if they turned him into what I think they have.”
“I know.”
“And you?”
Elena’s eyes burned. “I’ve already lost the man I loved once. I’m not losing the world we bled to protect.”
The lights above flickered.
A system alert echoed from the other room:
INCOMING TRANSMISSION – NODE 7
MESSAGE: I’M COMING HOME.
Adrian’s eyes locked on the screen.
“He remembers.”
Safehouse Echo – Operations Room – 5:29 AM
Adrian stood motionless, staring at the transmission.
I’M COMING HOME.
Not encrypted. Not hidden.
Deliberate.
“He’s taunting you,” Elena said, voice sharp.
“No,” Adrian replied quietly. “He’s tracking me.”
Liana tapped furiously on her tablet, trying to triangulate the source. “The signal bounced through seven countries, but the last ping hit Medellín—three hours ago.”
“Close,” Adrian murmured. “Too close.”
Elena stepped forward. “We need to leave. Now.”
“No,” Adrian said. “Running gives him the upper hand. If I were him, I wouldn’t waste time. He’ll hit us while we’re still trying to make sense of it.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Liana asked, eyes flicking toward the weapon rack.
Adrian’s gaze was stone. “We set a trap.”
Medellín – Abandoned Courier Hub – 5:41 AM
CR-03 stood with her hands behind her back as Adrian II stalked the hollowed remains of the courier hub—a forgotten relic from Blackwood’s early days.
“What are you searching for?” she asked.
“Patterns,” he said. “The original always left them. Hidden redundancies. Backdoors.”
“You think he left one here?”
“No,” Adrian II muttered. “I think I did.”
He stopped at a steel panel behind a rusted file cabinet. Ripped it open. Inside was a black lockbox with a biometric scanner. His finger hovered over it for a long moment, then pressed.
Scan accepted.
Welcome, Blackwood.
Inside the box: a single photograph.
Adrian II stared at it like it burned.
Himself—standing beside someone.
Elena.
“You lied,” he whispered. “You said she betrayed him.”
“She did,” CR-03 replied. “Eventually.”
His jaw ticked. The image was clearly taken years ago.
“If I’m the weapon… why do I feel like I lost something I never had?”
CR-03’s expression faltered.
“You’re not supposed to feel,” she said. “You’re supposed to win.”
He looked up, and for the first time, his eyes weren’t just cruel. They were haunted.
“Then why does it feel like I’ve already failed?”
⸻
Safehouse Echo – Roof Perimeter – 6:03 AM
The wind howled as Adrian climbed to the rooftop alone. He scanned the cityscape with binoculars—nothing yet. But his instincts screamed louder than any radar.
Below, Elena stood near the stairwell, watching him. Liana joined her, sipping cold coffee from a tin cup.
“He won’t ask for help,” Liana said.
“He never does,” Elena replied.
“But you still love him.”
Elena nodded slowly. “That’s the problem. I’m afraid I’ll see him… and hesitate.”
“You won’t,” Liana said firmly. “You’ll see the man you love… and you’ll protect him. Even if it means protecting the world from him.”
The door creaked behind them.
Adrian stepped down, his voice low. “He’ll strike before sunrise.”
“Then we get ready,” Elena said.
But just as they turned—
The screen behind them flashed with a new message:
SLEEPWALKER PROTOCOL – PHASE TWO: MIRROR ACTIVATED
SUBJECT IDENT: CR-01… ONLINE.
Elena froze.
That wasn’t Adrian II.
That was… her.
Safehouse Echo – 6:06 AM
Elena stared at the flickering screen, the weight of her breath caught in her chest.
SUBJECT IDENT: CR-01… ONLINE.
“What the hell does that mean?” she asked, stepping toward the console.
Liana’s fingers flew across the interface. “It’s a live sync. Not just activation. Full neurological mimicry. The program doesn’t just copy you anymore…”
She turned, eyes wide.
“…it can override you.”
Adrian moved toward Elena, his voice sharp. “When was the last time you blacked out?”
Elena blinked. “What?”
“Unexplained fatigue. Headaches. Gaps in memory. Anything—anything—that didn’t make sense.”
She stepped back. “No. I’ve been… I haven’t—”
She stopped.
The reflection. In the mirror. It smiled first.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
“You’re telling me the clone isn’t just out there…” Adrian growled. “She’s been inside the whole time.”
Liana’s voice was low. “They built a sleeper inside the real you. A control switch. And now they’ve flipped it.”
Elena’s knees nearly gave out. “So I’m a time bomb.”
“No,” Adrian snapped, stepping closer, gripping her shoulders. “You’re still in control. You’re you. That program—whatever it is—it hasn’t taken over. Not yet.”
“But for how long?” she rasped.
Suddenly, a second terminal came to life.
Incoming transmission: NODE 07 ACTIVE. LIVE VISUAL LINK.
The screen blurred… then cleared.
It was her. CR-01. Identical in every way—down to the scar on her wrist from a childhood fall. Same eyes. Same defiant chin.
But this Elena wore no pain. No hesitation.
She smiled, slow and cruel. “You’ve done well with my face.”
Elena’s voice was barely a whisper. “Why now?”
CR-01 leaned forward. “Because it’s time to stop pretending you’re the original.”
Liana inhaled sharply. “Oh God…”
CR-01’s gaze swept toward Adrian. “You look tired, Blackwood. But don’t worry—this version of her? She won’t betray you.”
The feed cut instantly.
Silence.
Adrian turned to Elena. “That wasn’t just a message. That was a warning.”
Elena stared at her trembling hands.
“I’m not the clone,” she said.
“No,” Adrian said. “But they’re making you question that. And once doubt takes root…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Liana looked between them. “We need to shut her down. Now.”
“But how?” Elena asked. “If she’s tethered to me, any attack on her could—”
“Kill you?” Liana said. “Yes.”
Elena turned to Adrian. “Then we need to find her first. And fast.”
Adrian nodded. “And hope she hasn’t already found us.”
Elsewhere – Unknown Location
CR-01 stood in a room of mirrors, watching them all.
Not just Elena. Not just Adrian.
All of them. The Blackwoods. The Cruz iterations. The failed clones. The ghosts of a thousand simulations.
And behind her… something moved.
Something bigger. Watching too.
Safehouse Echo – Seconds Later
The silence felt heavier than the roar of the compound explosion they’d left behind. Elena’s breathing turned shallow. Her mind was a blur of doubt and fragmented memory—each one now suspect, each moment under scrutiny.
“She knew everything,” Elena said finally, her voice shaking. “She knew what I’d say before I said it.”
Liana nodded grimly. “Because she is you. Or rather, a mirrored neural imprint.”
Adrian stood motionless, but his mind was moving at warp speed. He could feel it—how perfectly calculated this play was. “She’s not bluffing. If CR-01 was activated, then someone wanted her to see us. To shake you.”
Elena looked up. “Then who gave the order?”
Before anyone could answer, a proximity alarm blared.
INTRUSION DETECTED – PERIMETER BREACH – SECTOR 2
Liana swore under her breath. “We’re compromised.”
Adrian grabbed his firearm and turned to Elena. “You stay with me. We don’t separate. Not for one second.”
Elena’s hands curled into fists. “I’m not afraid of her.”
“You should be,” Liana muttered. “Because she’s not just a clone. She’s an upgrade.”
Corridor – 30 Seconds Later
The team moved quickly, winding through the underbelly of Safehouse Echo. The walls were lined with encrypted tech—most of it experimental, most of it now rendered useless by the AI CR-01 had likely already breached.
Elena’s thoughts spiraled. What if every time she blacked out, it wasn’t fatigue… but interference? What if her actions—every bit of resistance, of rebellion—had been programmed into her, too?
What if the love she had for Adrian… wasn’t hers to begin with?
Adrian must’ve seen it on her face because he pulled her into an alcove as the rest moved on ahead.
“Elena,” he said, “you are not her. She mimicked you, yes. But she never bled for the truth. She never stood in front of a bullet. She never walked away when it would’ve been easier to run.”
She searched his eyes, heart pounding.
“And if you are her?” he said quietly. “Then I choose you. Every version of you. Every fight. Every scar. You.”
Tears blurred her vision. “You don’t even know which version you’re holding.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t care.”
Then
BOOM.
The hallway behind them erupted in flame. The shockwave hurled them forward, shielding each other as debris rained down.
Liana’s voice screamed over the comms. “They’re inside! Multiple hostiles! They look like… Elena!”
Adrian’s blood turned cold.
More than one?
CR-01 wasn’t the only one active.
Undisclosed Lab – Unknown Coordinates
Rows of pods hissed open.
Inside them?
Replicas. All bearing Elena’s face.
But only one opened her eyes.
And she whispered, “Phase Two complete.”
Safehouse Echo – Emergency Medical Bay – 20 Minutes Later
The safehouse had descended into chaos, but here, silence reigned.
Elena sat on the edge of the surgical bed, a tremor in her hands she couldn’t shake. Liana stood by with a portable neural scanner, calibrating frequencies to ensure Elena hadn’t been compromised—at least not recently.
Adrian paced the room like a storm caged in a man. “How many clones?” he asked, voice taut.
Liana’s eyes flicked up. “Confirmed visuals on six. But that’s just within this quadrant. We don’t know how far the replication spread.”
“They don’t just look like me,” Elena whispered. “They move like me. Think like me. What if one of them is already in my place?”
“You’re here,” Adrian said, gripping the table. “I don’t give a damn how many versions there are I know you.”
“But what if I don’t know me anymore?”
That quiet confession landed heavier than the bombs.
Northern Exit – 6:57 AM
Security cams blinked static, then died completely. In the wash of early dawn light, CR-01—flanked by two identical Elenas—approached the perimeter wall.
They wore stolen gear. One had a scar above her eyebrow—intentionally placed. Another had slightly different eyes—modified retinal patterns to avoid immediate biometric detection.
“They’ll be watching for my face,” CR-01 said. “So let’s give them too many to follow.”
She held out a small device a pulse detonator coded to override Safehouse Echo’s AI firewall.
“Time to reboot the narrative.”
Adrian’s Private Quarters – 7:03 AM
Adrian stared at a photo—one he’d taken of Elena without her knowing. She’d been laughing, hair blowing wild in the wind, defiant and real.
Liana entered quietly. “We have movement. Three heat signatures headed to the south wall. And Adrian… the readings are identical.”
His eyes didn’t leave the photo. “So she was telling the truth.”
“She?” Liana asked.
Adrian stood. “The one who smiled in the mirror. She warned Elena—because she was never the enemy.”
Liana’s brow furrowed. “You think CR-01 was trying to help?”
Adrian’s voice was low. “I think she was trying to warn us.”
A sudden blackout swept through the building.
Then every screen came alive—flashing the same haunting phrase.
INITIATING MIRROR PROTOCOL
SEQUENCE: FINAL AWAKENING
TARGET: PROJECT BLACKWOOD
Elena appeared at the door, eyes wide. “What the hell is Mirror Protocol?”
Liana whispered the answer no one wanted to say.
“It’s the last phase. A full-system overwrite.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Of what?” Elena asked.
His jaw clenched.
“Of you.”