Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
---
Episode 71: "Sparks in the Rubble"
---
Two Days Later — Somewhere Off Grid
The wind howled outside the steel bunker, slicing across the frozen terrain like knives. Inside, the team huddled in the flickering warmth of a portable heat emitter. Silence pressed on them, heavy and thick. The ruins of Zone Omega still smoldered in their memories.
Kara sat near the corner, her knuckles raw, her heart heavier than it had ever felt. Her eyes hadn't moved from the single scorched tracking monitor they'd recovered — the one that showed Subject Omega's signal… gone.
Or perhaps hidden.
"She saved us," Kara murmured.
Adrian knelt beside her, his breath fogging in the cold. "She made her choice. Just like you did."
Kara nodded slowly, haunted. "But she's still in there. Somewhere under all that rubble. She gave me time… a second chance. I can't leave her behind."
Tessa stood up from her cot, arms crossed. "We'll find her. After what we saw, we have to. The world doesn't know what Selene's left buried."
Ronan, still bruised and stitched from the Omega fight, scoffed. "If we're going back down there, we better be ready for war. That woman's never done playing God."
Adrian's expression darkened. "She built a clone army. Omega was just the tip of the iceberg. We don't stop her now, there might not be anything left to save."
---
Elsewhere… Deep Underground
The rubble shifted.
A soft gasp escaped through cracked lips.
Subject Omega opened her eyes in the dark. Broken cables sparked above her, the chamber caved in around her body. One leg pinned beneath steel debris, her skin pale against the dust.
But her mind was clear.
Kara… she remembered her now.
And Selene.
The pain. The manipulation. The lies.
She wasn't just an echo anymore.
She was her own flame.
She reached out, veins glowing faint blue as she channeled energy, lifting the debris with a sharp grunt. She screamed, not just from pain — but from rebirth.
She was alive.
And she would not be forgotten.
---
Back at the Bunker
Kara sat at a rusted table with a crumpled piece of old paper spread before her — the last decoded coordinates from Lazarus servers. It pointed to a hidden satellite station in southern Siberia, codenamed "The Sanctuary."
"What is it?" Adrian asked.
Kara circled the location. "A relay point for Selene's legacy project. It might have a direct uplink to what she called the 'Eclipse Protocol.' If we shut that down…"
"…we shut her down for good," Tessa finished.
Ronan cracked his neck. "Then what the hell are we waiting for?"
Kara looked up, eyes burning.
"Let's finish what we started."
---
Meanwhile — The Black Womb Facility
Selene stood before a new pod. Inside, a figure twisted in digital amniotic fluid — not a clone this time, but something worse. Something… hybrid.
Part Kara.
Part Omega.
All weapon.
Vane watched her in silence. "You're pushing the boundaries of what even you can control."
Selene turned, her lips curling.
"I'm not trying to control it. I'm going to unleash it."
She pressed a code into the panel. The pod hissed.
"This world tried to erase me. It took my children from me. Now, it will kneel to them."
---
Night Before the Mission
Kara stood alone beneath the stars, cold wind lifting her hair.
Adrian walked up, silent for a moment, then said, "You don't have to carry all of this alone."
She gave a weak smile. "I'm used to it."
"Well, you shouldn't be. Because no matter what's out there — Omega clones, burning cities, or mad scientists — I'm staying with you."
She looked at him, heart pounding.
"Why?"
He hesitated. "Because somewhere along the way… it stopped being about the mission."
He reached into his pocket and handed her a broken pendant — one from her past, retrieved from the Omega ruins.
"I thought you'd want it back."
Kara's breath caught.
She took the pendant, fingers trembling.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Then, softly, "Stay with me tonight."
He didn't answer with words — just stood closer, the distance between them fading.
No more fire. No more frost.
Just warmth.
Just them.
---
Dawn — En Route to the Sanctuary
As the armored vehicle barreled across the wastelands, Kara's mind buzzed with a clarity she hadn't felt in weeks.
This was the endgame.
And she wasn't afraid.
Selene had stolen everything from her — her memories, her past, her family, even her identity.
But what Kara had now…
Was purpose.
A team.
Love.
A reason to burn brighter than ever before.
---
To Be Continued…
🔥 Resurrection, redemption, and the storm ahead — Kara's battle is far fro
m over. A final enemy rises… and the fire must rise with her.
Vote, comment, and follow Ashes of Our Flame by RapwizzyDebaron.
The next chapter may be the fiercest yet.