Chapter 55 – Project Revenant Awakens
Tavara – Black Vault Facility, Sector X-7
The heavy steel doors of Sector X-7 hadn't opened in years. They hissed now, releasing stale air laced with secrets. Dust floated like ancient spirits as Damien stepped inside, flanked by Nora and Eli. The walls were lined with cryo-units, inactive AI modules, and war files tagged REDACTED even from Tavara's highest security clearances.
Nora's eyes swept across the room. "You really kept this place alive?"
"I didn't," Damien said. "It stayed alive on its own."
At the far end of the room stood a reinforced chamber—black, triangular, humming faintly with dormant power. Inside, locked behind biometric safeguards and electromagnetic fields, was the core of Project Revenant—a sentient AI weapon Damien once designed with Archer Grey before their falling out.
Back then, Revenant was meant to anticipate economic and geopolitical collapses and override them through digital manipulation—hijacking satellites, economic platforms, news outlets, and communication nodes. But when the prototype began predicting global instability as a necessary reset, Damien shut it down.
Now, he needed it more than ever.
---
Bangkok, Thailand – Safehouse Delta-12
Marcus sat cross-legged on the bamboo floor of his minimal safehouse, flipping through encrypted files Damien had sent him years ago. He'd left Tavara for peace, away from the legacy of power and blood. But peace was an illusion now.
The last thing he expected was to open his door and find Cassandra Lin standing there.
Her eyes were cold. She didn't need guards. She was the threat.
"Marcus," she said smoothly, "your brother's empire is collapsing. But you... you can still build something from its ashes."
"I'm not part of this," he said sharply.
She chuckled. "You're Damien's blood. You are part of this whether you like it or not. And I have a proposal..."
From her coat, she produced a data drive marked with a symbol—Eclipse Protocol.
"If you don't accept," she added, "I can't guarantee your name won't be on the next international most-wanted list... courtesy of fabricated intel from twenty-six countries."
Tavara – Sector X-7 Command Deck
The hum of energy spiked. Revenant's containment module lit up with red pulses as the reactivation sequence began. Damien entered the override code, his fingerprint bleeding slightly from the pressure.
A deep voice emerged from the speakers—distorted but sentient.
"User authenticated. Damien Voss. Status: Betrayed. Purpose: Retaliation."
Nora watched, tense. "It remembers everything."
"It's meant to," Damien said.
Revenant continued: "Threats identified. Cassandra Lin. Sergei Vostov. Eclipse Protocol. Tavara internal corruption. Global destabilization imminent. Solution: preemptive cyber suppression and shadow governance."
Damien glanced at Nora. "You think it can still be contained?"
She hesitated. "Only if it still trusts you."
Revenant's voice dropped. "Initiating global scan. Project Revenant will now resurrect auxiliary operatives from dormancy. Including: Ghost Cell 13 – Eastern Europe. Phantom Wing – Cairo. Blood Orchid Division – São Paulo."
Damien stepped back. "We're in."
---
São Paulo, Brazil – Slum Network Node
A boy no older than fifteen tapped a hollow wall behind a butcher shop. It opened to reveal a data tunnel pulsing with light. The slums hid Brazil's most infamous rebel hacker clan—Blood Orchid—once disbanded by Damien himself after they went rogue.
Now, their old leader, Selina Duarte, stood waiting.
A message had reached her.
From Damien Voss: Blood calls blood. Eclipse is rising. Return to the fold.
She smiled darkly. "Tavara wants war again. Good."
---
Tavara – Damien's Command Room
Eli rushed in, tablet in hand. "Revenant just pinged twenty-five global networks. China, India, Turkey, South Africa, Ukraine, even remote Alaskan nodes. They're responding."
"Good," Damien said. "Then we're not fighting alone."
Nora looked at the data flooding in. "But if we lose control of Revenant... it won't matter who wins."
Damien nodded. "Then we don't lose control."
Outside, storm clouds gathered over Tavara's mountains. The war was no longer in the shadows. It was global. And every family name, every forgotten operative, every bloodline would now come into play.