Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
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Episode 82: "The War Beneath the City"
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The underground resistance base buzzed with a nervous electricity. Every pair of eyes focused on Kara as if she were both salvation and storm. Adrian stood beside her, silent but resolute — his presence grounding her in a world that felt like it was slipping further from reality with every breath.
Nemesis limped in from the blast tunnel, her left arm bleeding but her spirit undeterred. "Zero's not stopping. He's adapting to everything we throw at him."
Kara clenched her fists. "Then we stop adapting and start rewriting the rules."
A murmur spread across the room. People looked to one another, unsure.
Tessa approached with her datapad. "There's a signal we picked up. Lazarus is broadcasting something... encrypted. Looping every seven minutes."
She tapped a button, and static filled the speakers — followed by a chillingly calm voice.
> "Phase Two is underway. All rogue subjects are to be terminated. The Omega Sequence cannot be delayed."
Vane.
Kara's blood turned to ice.
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Elsewhere — Lazarus High Command
Vane leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled. Selene's face was lit by the projection of Kara's last known location.
"She's not hiding anymore," Selene murmured. "She's organizing."
Vane smiled faintly. "Good. That's exactly what I wanted."
Selene turned sharply. "You wanted her to rally the others?"
"I wanted her to remember who she is." He gestured to the monitors. "But what she doesn't know is... she never had a choice."
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Underground Resistance HQ
"We fight back," Kara said, her voice rising. "Not just to survive — but to end this. For every person they manipulated, every child they turned into an experiment, every life they erased."
Silence.
Then slowly, one by one, people stood with her. Some held weapons. Others clutched tech gear. A few just raised their fists.
Kara turned to Nemesis. "How long before Zero finds us?"
Nemesis grimaced. "Maybe twenty minutes. Maybe five."
"Then let's make every second count."
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Moments Later — War Room
Tessa laid out a plan across the holographic table.
"We can't defeat Zero in a straight fight. But there's a Lazarus uplink tower beneath the old metro vault — buried after the last blackout. If we hijack it, we can broadcast to every sleeper still under Lazarus control."
"And wake them up," Adrian said. "Turn their system against itself."
Nemesis nodded. "Problem is, it's a fortress. Shielded, guarded, wired with kill zones."
Kara's eyes narrowed. "Perfect."
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City Surface – Lazarus Deployment Team Echo
A team of armored Lazarus soldiers patrolled through abandoned streets, their visors glowing blue with linked feeds. Above them, drones hovered, scanning every alley and shadow.
Suddenly, one drone fizzled and crashed.
Then another.
Then silence.
From the rooftops, resistance fighters dropped like shadows, disabling them before an alarm could sound.
The war had begun.
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Back Underground – Command Room
Kara suited up — not in the polished tech Lazarus once forced her into, but in the armor of resistance: pieced together, dirty, and battle-tested.
Adrian helped secure her gear. Their hands touched — brief, electric.
"If we do this," he whispered, "there's no turning back."
Kara met his gaze. "There never was."
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Meanwhile — Subject Zero
Zero moved through the tunnels with mechanical precision, bypassing destroyed paths and rerouting through ancient maintenance shafts. Sparks trailed behind his feet. Sensors guided his every step.
He paused at a junction, head tilting.
Kara.
She was near.
He started running.
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Metro Vault – Lazarus Uplink Tower
The resistance team arrived at the base of the massive sealed vault door. Tessa typed rapidly, bypassing ancient encryptions while Nemesis and Adrian covered the perimeter.
Kara pressed her hand against the cold steel.
Inside this tower was the pulse — the source — that could wake the world or end it all.
"Are you sure?" Adrian asked quietly.
"No," Kara whispered. "But I believe."
The door groaned open.
They stepped into darkness.
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Control Chamber – 17 Minutes Later
Cables slithered across the ceiling. Towers of servers blinked in rhythm, as if alive. Kara stepped to the center console.
Tessa linked her system into the Lazarus mainframe.
Kara placed her palm on the interface.
Suddenly — blinding pain.
Screams filled her ears — voices from the countless minds still trapped in the Lazarus simulation.
She nearly collapsed.
Adrian caught her.
"Too much?" he asked, desperate.
Kara's eyes glowed. "No. It's them. They're crying out."
And then she screamed.
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Lazarus HQ
Vane's screen went red.
Selene stepped back, startled. "She's breached the signal."
"She's not breaching it," Vane said coldly. "She's becoming it."
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Back in the Control Chamber
Kara's body pulsed with light as memories poured in — hers, others, broken souls trapped in dream worlds, begging to be free.
She channeled them all.
"I SEE THEM!" she cried. "I SEE ALL OF THEM!"
And then her voice softened.
"I'll set them free."
She slammed her fist into the console.
A burst of white light exploded from the tower, racing through every buried wire, every signal line, every Lazarus system.
Across the city — across the continent — sleeper eyes snapped open.
Tears fell. Screams of joy echoed.
The world was waking up.
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But in the shadows of the vault…
A quiet hum.
Zero stepped into the room.
Adrian raised his weapon.
Kara turned — her face pale, drained, but still burning.
Zero stared.
"No more running," Kara whispered.
Zero moved.
And this time, so did she.
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To be continued…
🔥 She ha
s awakened a revolution — but the shadow she must face may be the last trial before the dawn.
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The fire has become a beacon — but every light casts a darker shadow.