Gaia Chronicles: The Integral Saga

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Deep Sublevel – Bioengineering Wing

The reinforced blast doors to Lab 04 hung ajar, half-melted by acidic ichor. The corridor beyond was a chaos of scorched ceiling panels and blackened, unrecognizable lumps—failed hybrid embryos and ruptured containment pods.

Mia clutched Lexigra to her chest as she followed Thea and Diane into the devastation. The lights flickered, revealing walls covered in thin, vein-like growths pulsing with dim ether.

"The Wretches did this," Diane said, her voice low. "But they didn't act alone. Some of these chambers were opened manually."

She motioned to a control panel whose casing had been carefully unscrewed, wires cut in precise patterns.

Cyg stepped closer, studying the sabotage. "Coordinated. And recent."

His gaze flicked over the main lab—the place where Gaia's most secret genetic research had been conducted. Mia felt a twist in her gut. They'd all stood here before, back when the lab was pristine, when she and Charlotte had believed they could use Creation Force to heal.

Now, it was a graveyard of ambition.

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Elsewhere in the Lab – Specimen Gallery

Charlotte, Harriet, and Elaine were inspecting shattered stasis pods, searching for any surviving records. Charlotte's voice trembled as she read a plaque bolted to the floor:

PROJECT: WRETCHED VERSIONS – BATCH 3INTENDED FUNCTION: Enhanced Self-Recovery and Rapid Proliferation

Her knuckles whitened as she clenched the plaque. "I never signed off on this. Never."

Harriet gently pried it from her grasp. "Then whoever did this wanted to bury us in guilt as much as blood."

Elaine's hand hovered near her rapier, tension visible in the set of her shoulders. "Someone corrupted every safeguard. Made sure these things wouldn't just escape—they'd multiply."

In the far corner, a half-crushed terminal flickered. Charlotte crossed to it, hands shaking, and connected her wrist console. The screen shivered to life, displaying error codes in cascading red.

Among them, one line burned brighter than the rest:

[REMOTE ACTIVATION: ORION NODE / SHADOW ACCESS CONFIRMED]

Harriet sucked in a breath. "They were here."

"Orion," Charlotte whispered. "It had to be."

Elaine shook her head. "Or they just wanted us to believe that. Whoever arranged this knew exactly how to fracture us."

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Upper Observation Deck

Astron had found a vantage point overlooking the labs, watching the flickering shadows below. His eyes were twin knives in the gloom. When Cyg joined him, neither spoke for a moment.

"They want to split us apart," Astron finally said. "Make us doubt each other. Make us question the very reason Gaia exists."

"They'll fail," Cyg said flatly.

"Will they?" Astron countered. "Even you…you feel it, don't you? The seed of doubt. That question you won't let yourself ask—if we are the ones who made this possible."

Cyg's jaw tightened. "I know what I've done. I know what Charlotte's done. None of us are innocent of ambition."

Astron's gaze flickered down to where Mia was moving among broken specimens, gently closing the glass eyes of each failed creature.

"But there is a difference," Astron murmured. "Between ambition and malice."

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Central Processing Core – Lower Level

Thea and Diane arrived at the final chamber—a tall cylinder of crystalline alloy. It housed the memory archives for every experiment conducted over the last decade.

Dozens of cables trailed from it, sliced by what looked like surgical tools.

Thea placed her palm on the console, her voice heavy. "If these records are gone…"

Diane said nothing. Together, they watched the screen as the system attempted to boot.

At 37%, the screen went black.

A soft, synthetic voice echoed:

"ARCHIVE CORRUPTION DETECTED. PROTOCOL: TERMINATION."

The central pillar cracked with an electric shriek. Shards of crystal erupted outward, and Thea threw up her arms to shield her face.

When the dust cleared, the archives were nothing but a crater.

Diane looked at her, unblinking. "It's like they were never here."

Thea's hands slowly lowered. "Which means any proof of who did this…is gone."

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Strategic Chamber – Return

By the time the team regrouped, the lab was collapsing in on itself. Emergency alarms wailed, and vents began flooding the corridors with neutralizing foam.

The group gathered around a flickering tactical table. Charlotte leaned heavily on her arms, her face ashen. Mia reached out and rested her hand on hers—no words, just the warmth of touch.

Elaine raised her eyes to Cyg. "We're being dismantled from the inside. And if the Wretches regroup, they'll strike again."

Cyg looked from her to the others. One by one, their exhausted faces lifted to meet his.

"Then we rebuild," he said quietly. "We hunt whoever did this. We close every breach."

"And if they come again?" Harriet asked, her voice raw.

Cyg met her gaze. "Then we remind them why Gaia was founded."

For a moment, no one moved.

Then Mia straightened, her fingers still brushing Charlotte's. "I'll help remake what was lost. Even if it takes everything."

Diane nodded. "I will stand at the gates."

Elaine drew her rapier, the blade singing as it cleared the sheath. "I will clear every corridor."

Charlotte's voice was hoarse. "I will find whoever used my work for this."

Thea stepped forward last, her gaze steady. "And I will lead."

Around them, the facility burned and shuddered—but the fracture in their circle had begun to heal.

In the darkness beyond the shattered labs, the surviving Wretches retreated into the tunnels, their shapes twisting out of sight.

They would come again.

But Gaia would be ready.

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