Episode 19
The Red Widow's words lingered like smoke in the air.
> "But first, you need to remember everything."
Iris stared at the sealed case marked Project Black Rose: Final Phase – Operation Obsidian. Her fingers trembled slightly as she reached toward it, but Red Widow slapped her hand away—hard.
"You're not opening that yet," she said, stepping in front of the case. "Not until you're ready. If you open that door too soon, you'll shatter."
"I need answers," Iris snapped. "I deserve them. That file holds the truth."
"No," the Red Widow corrected coldly. "That file holds trauma. Lies. Truths. Half-truths. Memories so twisted that even Elara couldn't handle them all. That's why she died."
"I don't care. I'm not her."
The Red Widow narrowed her eyes. "That's where you're wrong."
Dorian, silent until now, stepped forward. "Red, don't push her. She's not one of your recruits."
Red Widow crossed her arms. "She's worse. She's Alec's prototype."
The words sliced through Iris like a blade.
"What the hell does that mean?" she demanded.
Dorian sighed. "You were part of a memory implant trial. Black Rose wasn't just a facility—it was a lab. They used you and Elara to test neurological manipulation. They could implant memories, remove them, even rewrite personalities."
Iris backed away, shaking her head. "No... that's not possible."
Red Widow tapped the side of her temple. "You don't remember because you weren't supposed to. But your mind is glitching. And those glitches? They're the real you fighting back."
"And now?" Iris asked. "What do I do?"
Red Widow turned toward a glass door at the end of the warehouse.
"You undergo the reset."
---
The Procedure Room
The chamber beyond the glass was stark. A reclined chair. Electrodes. Monitors lining the walls. The hum of machines filled the space like a warning.
Iris stood frozen. Every instinct screamed at her to run.
"What's in there?" she asked.
"Your past," Dorian said. "And maybe your future."
Red Widow adjusted the controls on the panel. "We've rebuilt a cognitive recall simulator. We'll stimulate your hippocampus with what's left of your real memory fragments—encrypted files Elara smuggled out years ago. But it won't be easy. You'll relive things… and not all of it will be real."
"What if I lose myself again?" Iris whispered.
Red Widow met her gaze with brutal honesty. "Then you'll become Alec's property all over again. The perfect weapon. The obedient ghost."
Iris clenched her fists. "Then I don't have a choice."
She stepped toward the chair and sat down. Electrodes were attached to her temples, wrists, and chest. The room dimmed. A monitor blinked to life overhead.
"Ready?" Red Widow asked.
"No," Iris said. "Do it anyway."
Red Widow initiated the sequence.
The machine whirred.
Then—blackness.
---
Inside the Mind
She stood on a playground.
Children laughed in the background. Swings creaked. The sun beamed down gently, but Iris knew—this was a construct. A fabricated memory.
Her own figure sat on the swings—a younger version of herself, no older than ten. The child version hummed a tune.
Iris approached.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The little girl turned and smiled, eyes dark, too dark.
"I'm the part of you they buried."
Suddenly the scene fractured. The playground burned away like ash in a firestorm.
She now stood in a cold room.
Screams echoed from behind mirrored glass.
Her own voice.
She was strapped to a chair.
Doctors in black coats surrounded her.
Alec stood in the corner.
"You're not Elara," he said coldly. "But you'll do. You have a better baseline. Easier to manipulate. More compliant."
Young Iris sobbed, struggling.
A needle was plunged into her neck.
Darkness again.
---
Next Fragment
An office.
Polished, clinical, cold.
Iris—now a teen—stood beside Alec, dressed in a school uniform. He spoke to her gently, like a father figure.
"You did well today, Iris. You're becoming everything I hoped for."
She smiled. Obedient. Grateful.
But inside, in this memory, Iris screamed.
This wasn't love. This was grooming. Control.
The teen version of her leaned closer to Alec, trusting him. Loving him.
The present Iris turned away, sick to her stomach.
"Get me out," she whispered. "Please."
---
Reality
Her body jerked violently in the chair.
Dorian grabbed Red Widow's arm. "She's seizing!"
Red Widow's eyes were locked on the monitor. "No. She's breaking through."
Inside the screen, waves of red and gold neural signals danced erratically.
"She's about to hit the lock," Red Widow muttered.
Then—it happened.
A single word flickered on the screen.
> "BELLADONNA."
Dorian's eyes widened. "That was the original code name for the prototype subject. The first one to undergo full memory manipulation."
"Not Elara," Red Widow said. "It was Iris. She was the first."
---
Back Inside
Iris stood before a mirror.
This time, her reflection was wrong. It showed her in a black tactical suit, expression cold, eyes like steel.
She was holding a gun.
"Do you remember now?" the reflection asked.
"No," Iris whispered. "That's not me."
The reflection lifted the gun and pointed it at her.
"But it was."
Gunfire erupted.
She collapsed.
---
Reality
She woke up screaming.
Dorian ripped the electrodes off her chest as Red Widow slammed the shutdown button.
Sweat soaked her skin. Her body trembled uncontrollably.
But her eyes… they burned with something new.
"I saw it," she rasped. "I saw everything."
Red Widow leaned in. "Then say it."
Iris looked at her. "I was the original. The real Project Belladonna."
Red Widow nodded. "You weren't just a patient. You were the blueprint. Alec didn't fall in love with you by accident. He created you."
---
Later That Night
The hideout was quiet.
Dorian stood guard while Red Widow reviewed the decrypted data Iris had unlocked.
Everything matched.
Patient X: Iris Vale. Trial subject Alpha. Memory wiped and reprogrammed seven times. Modified to obey Alec Draven.
And then—Elara found out.
She had tried to free her sister. But failed.
Iris stared at the data, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"All this time… I thought I was broken. But I was built this way."
Red Widow placed a hand on her shoulder. "You were engineered, yes. But you're breaking the code. That makes you dangerous."
"To Alec?"
"To everyone," Red Widow said. "But that's exactly what we need."
Iris looked up, her voice steady now.
"Then let's burn him down."
---
Meanwhile – Draven Tower
Alec Draven stood before a large glass window, watching the city below.
A black drone hovered nearby, displaying Iris's escape footage. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"She remembers," he said softly.
Beside him stood a woman in a lab coat—Dr. Kira Langston, the neuroscientist behind Project Black Rose.
"She's activating faster than expected," Kira said. "Shall we initiate Phase Two?"
Alec turned, eyes like ice.
"No. Let her believe she's ahead. Let her gather her little rebellion. The bigger the flame, the sweeter the extinguish."
He turned back to the window.
"And when she's ready… we'll bring her home."