"YOU HAD ME AT HELLO"

Saturday – 9:00 A.M. | Abandoned Freight Tunnels – Nevada Border

It was cold, damp, and eerily silent.

Rick moved ahead with his flashlight, gun at the ready. Echo followed close, tracking the signal from the cybrid's remains.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Ava asked, her voice echoing through the tunnel walls.

Echo nodded. "Multiple encrypted signals match the prototype's frequency. We're close."

Kael pulled a rusted lever on the side of the wall. A low hum buzzed through the metal. Suddenly, a wall shifted—and a narrow staircase spiraled downward into darkness.

Rick took the lead.

10:45 A.M. | The Residence Base

What they found wasn't a hideout.

It was a sanctuary.

A wide underground chamber unfolded before them. Makeshift walls, repurposed tech, and people — dozens — young, old, some with visible cybernetic enhancements, others with none.

One man stepped forward.

Broad-shouldered. Bald. Scar across his temple. His gaze locked on Rick.

"The face from the broadcast," he said.

"Welcome to The Mirror."

11:00 A.M. | The Leader – Mara Voss

The leader wasn't the man. It was the woman who stood silently behind him.

Tall, imposing, with silver hair tied back and cybernetic eyes that glowed dimly.

"I'm Mara," she said. "First generation. Test subject #01."

Rick's expression sharpened.

"You were part of the project?"

She nodded. "We all were. Everyone here was built, broken, or erased. But we survived."

Echo looked around in awe. "There are more of us…"

Mara continued. "We formed The Mirror to reflect the truth back to those who buried it. But your broadcast? That did more in one night than we've done in a decade."

12:30 P.M. | Hard Truths

Mara led them through the archives — shelves filled with blueprints, files, failed identities.

Rick picked up one labeled "FYR-0.1X: Override Candidate."

"They were building backups," Kael muttered. "If one Rick failed, they'd activate another."

Mara added, "And each time, the bar was raised. Stronger. Smarter. Less... human."

Rick clenched the file.

"They didn't want someone real. They wanted a weapon with a smile."

Mara looked at him carefully.

"You weren't supposed to find yourself. You were supposed to obey."

2:00 P.M. | The Offer

That afternoon, in the command chamber, Mara gathered the core team.

"We have bases in South America, Eastern Europe, parts of Africa. If we unify under one banner — you — we might turn the tide."

Ava looked to Rick.

"They want you to lead."

Echo's eyes widened. "An army of survivors..."

Rick hesitated.

"I didn't come here to build a rebellion. I came to live a life I promised my mother I'd have. Not this."

Mara replied softly.

"You may not want a war, Rick. But you're already in one."

5:00 P.M. | The Vote

Later that evening, Rick walked alone through the dim-lit hall of faces — portraits and data logs of those lost to the program.

He stopped at one labeled:

"Candidate: Eleanor Fyer – Behavioral Analyst | Deceased."

His mother.

Tears welled in his eyes. Even in their darkest experiments, they'd recorded her—used her to study him.

Ava found him there.

"You okay?"

Rick nodded slowly.

"No. But I know what I have to do."

8:00 P.M. | A New Alliance

The Mirror gathered in the central hall. Rick stood at the center, quiet.

Then, finally, he said:

"I'm not your commander. I'm not your savior. I'm just someone who was broken and decided not to stay that way."

He looked at every face.

"But if you're tired of hiding, tired of being afraid... then let's stand. Together."

Silence.

Then Mara clapped once. Others followed.

And in that moment, a resistance was reborn — not from rage, but from resolve.