Location: Amazon Rainforest – ONYX CORE Site Zulu-9
Time: 12:22 PM
The jungle screamed behind them—blazing trees, drone blasts, and one very angry ex-agent stomping through foliage like a robo-Godzilla.
Ryan held tight to the vine. "Hold on!"
"This is ridiculous!" Emily yelled as they swung Tarzan-style through the smoke. "We are not trained for vine-based locomotion!"
"We've got trust, adrenaline, and two Girl Scout cookies left in my vest pocket! That's all we need!"
The vine snapped.
They plummeted. Screaming. Tumbling. Mud greeted them like a slap to the face.
SPLAT.
Ryan emerged first, covered in moss and existential regret.
"Everyone intact?" he coughed.
"Faith is licking a frog," Emily said flatly, wiping swamp off her face. "So... define 'intact.'"
"I named him Jumpy!" Faith giggled.
"I'm calling Child Services on myself," Emily muttered.
Holly helped Ryan to his feet. "Dad, there's a thing over there. It's glowing."
Ryan turned—and froze.
A black cylinder pulsed with ONYX energy. Strange runes. A wolf sigil near the base.
HISSSSSSSSS.
The pod opened.
A shape rose.
Humanoid. Armored. Eyes burning orange beneath a cracked visor.
DuskWidow's distorted voice came through the smoke. "Not now. Not yet. It's too soon—"
Ryan yanked the girls behind him. "Holly, grab your sister. Run!"
"IDENTITY: RYAN BRUCE. AGENT: TERMINATED," said the figure in a mechanized tone.
"DUSKWIDOW: EXPENDABLE.
EMILY BRUCE: PRIORITY INTERFERENCE."
Emily pulled a sidearm from her boot. "Oh great. I'm an objective now."
"Correction," Ryan said, stepping forward, "you're my objective. And I don't miss."
Version Zero's orange eyes flared. "YOU ARE WEAK."
Ryan cracked his neck. "I'm not weak. I'm married."
Then he charged.
Location: Jungle Clearing – 12:24 PM
Ryan and his clone collided in a flash of fists and steel. Every blow from Version Zero was precise, brutal—military perfection. But Ryan had something better.
Chaos.
He rolled under a punch, slapped a mud pie into Zero's face, and jabbed his stun baton into the clone's side.
BZZZZZT.
"Pain sensors online," Version Zero said, unaffected.
"Dumb question—do you feel embarrassment?"
Ryan backflipped over a log, yanked a vine, and dropped a swarm of angry monkeys onto his doppelgänger.
"TACTICAL ERROR," Zero said, flailing as monkey claws ripped into his armor.
Ryan grabbed a drone carcass and lobbed it like a discus into Zero's chest. "Suck it, robo-dad."
Meanwhile – Jungle Hideout (Cave)
Time: 12:26 PM
Emily led the girls into a moss-covered cave—an old ONYX cache with faint blue lights.
"Stay behind me," she whispered.
Inside, humming tech and glowing crates. One flickered open.
Bella Castini sat in a makeshift chair, sipping a smoothie out of a coconut.
"Ciao, familia," she purred. "Did you miss me?"
Emily raised her gun instantly. "Give me one reason not to shoot you."
Bella held up a finger. "Because that smoothie machine behind me explodes if it's shot. And your kids are sticky enough without mango shrapnel."
"Why are you here?" Emily asked.
Bella's smile faltered. "To warn you. You've awakened Version Zero. The Phoenix Protocol... isn't about your husband."
Faith tugged on Bella's sleeve. "Are you a bad girl?"
Bella crouched to eye level. "That's a complicated question, frog girl."
"His name is Jumpy," Faith corrected.
"Terrifying," Bella said. "Anyway... you're all in way over your heads."
Back Outside – 12:29 PM
Ryan panted. Bleeding. Tired. Version Zero advanced again, only slightly dented, orange light flickering.
"Why do you protect them?" Zero asked. "They make you weak."
"No," Ryan said. "They make me dangerous."
He activated his last drone disruptor—fired it into the jungle canopy.
BOOM. A cargo crate fell from the trees—landing square on Version Zero like an ACME cartoon.
Ryan dusted his hands.
"That was for every single burned dinner I ever had to eat because of ONYX drills."
Inside the Cave – 12:31 PM
Ryan staggered in, limping.
"Good news," he wheezed. "I just beat myself in single combat. Again."
Bella clapped. "Bravo. Did you happen to notice if he's leaking ONYX coolant?"
Ryan raised a brow. "Why?"
Bella stood, all grace and menace. "Because the real problem isn't that you woke him up... it's that you weren't supposed to wake him up alone."
She tapped a remote. Holograms filled the air.
Five other pods. Five other glowing clones.
Each one tagged: Version One, Version Two… Version Five.
All of them looked like Ryan.
Only... upgraded.
Final Hook – 12:33 PM
Bella turned to Emily. "Phoenix Protocol is ONYX's last fail-safe. A replacement plan. The perfect soldier. The perfect family man—without the human flaws."
Emily whispered, "What flaws?"
Bella looked at Ryan. "Love. Loyalty. Fear. The stuff that makes him worth a damn. ONYX wants it gone."
Ryan stared at the clones.
Then down at Holly and Faith—covered in swamp, hugging Jumpy the frog.
And he realized—
He wasn't just fighting to save his family.
He was fighting for what it means to be family.
(TO BE CONTINUED...)