Vatnajökull Glacier, Iceland
The wind screamed across the glacier like a wounded god, carrying shards of ice that cut through layers of reinforced thermal gear. Damien stepped off the helicopter onto the frozen plateau, his breath fogging instantly in the air. This wasn't a place people stumbled upon. It was a graveyard of secrets.
Beside him, Nora adjusted her visor, her gloved hands gripping a sealed containment case housing the Heart of Kimbala. "The signal's coming from beneath the glacial shelf. At least 300 meters down."
Kiyomi checked her tablet. "That facility... it's not on any map. No digital trace, no satellite signature. Someone buried it on purpose."
Damien's eyes narrowed. "And I know exactly who."
---
In Subglacial Cavern – Former Blackridge Outpost, Iceland
They descended using a high-tension pulley system, drilling through compressed centuries of ancient ice until they hit steel. A door revealed itself—rusted but sealed, with a biometric lock coded in both Norse runes and modern DNA.
Damien placed his hand on the panel. The scanner blinked… then hissed open.
Inside, lights flickered to life, illuminating a sprawling underground lab—frozen in time. Cryogenic tanks lined the walls, containing genetic samples, some human, others... unknown.
Then, a shadow moved beyond the frost.
"Nora—down!"
A bolt sizzled past them.
From the upper balcony, a figure emerged—dressed in arctic black, her face hidden by a thermal mask.
"I warned you never to come back here," she said coldly.
Damien's voice dropped. "Evelyn?"
The woman froze. Slowly, she removed her mask.
The same gray eyes. The same scar across the brow.
Evelyn Cross—Damien's older sister, presumed dead in the Minsk riots fifteen years ago—stood before them. Alive. Hardened. Changed.
"You're not supposed to be here," Evelyn hissed, descending the stairs. "You'll ruin everything."
Damien stepped forward cautiously. "I buried you myself. How are you alive?"
She glanced at the cryo-chambers. "Because I traded my life… for the Codex."
Evelyn explained everything. She had infiltrated Blackridge under deep cover, faking her death with the help of an internal defector. She discovered the Seraphim Codex before Archer ever touched it—an ancient genetic language capable of either rewriting human evolution… or extinguishing it.
"The Codex is incomplete," she warned. "And if Archer finds the missing fragment, he won't just alter bloodlines. He'll erase them."
Nora frowned. "But you've protected it all this time. Why contact us now?"
Evelyn looked directly at Damien. "Because someone else found the last fragment. And they're headed for Russia."
---
Location; Hidden Glacier Chamber
As they explored deeper, Nora found a sealed room filled with data cores, old Blackridge journals, and holograms of ancient DNA maps. One core activated, revealing coordinates in northern Siberia—deep within the permafrost where no living being should survive.
"Someone's been digging there," Kiyomi muttered. "And if I'm reading this right… they're using seismic pulses to extract living DNA from extinct species."
Elijah's voice came through comms: "And I've got a new problem—satellite feed just picked up inbound jets from Belarus. Archer's strike team."
Damien's jaw tightened. "They found us."
Location; Vatnajökull Surface – Emergency Extraction Point
With Evelyn now fully part of the team, the group raced back to the surface. As rotor blades sliced through the frozen air, the sound of distant explosions echoed behind them—Blackridge's jets obliterating evidence as they advanced.
Evelyn looked at Damien from the helicopter bay. "I've kept secrets long enough. It's time you knew what Archer really wants."
"And what's that?" Damien asked, blood pumping cold.
Evelyn leaned in.
"He doesn't want to rule the world, Damien. He wants to end it—and start from scratch."