"YOU HAD ME AT HELLO"

Thursday – 10:43 A.M. | Industrial Outskirts, South Borough

The sky was overcast, swallowing the sunlight into gray haze. Rick sat alone atop a decaying overpass, his jacket torn, blood drying on his forearm. His knuckles ached — not from fighting, but from holding back everything inside.

Ava approached quietly, handing him a bottle of water.

"She stayed behind."

Rick didn't look at her.

"She's still one of them."

Ava shook her head.

"No. She's one of us now. She just doesn't know how to be free yet.

Behind them, Kael tapped into a damaged comms terminal ripped from the Hollow Bridge node. Static flared. Then something clear emerged:

> "ECHO PROTOCOL ACTIVATED – PHASE ONE COMMENCING"

Kael froze.

"That's not just a lockdown."

He turned to them, eyes wide.

"It's a reset command."

Inside Hollow Bridge| Lower Deck 5 – Mara's Holding Cell

Mara sat on the floor, eyes closed, wires still embedded in her back. The walls pulsed faintly.

A synthetic voice echoed through the chamber:

> "Initiating Echo Protocol. Genetic carriers must be neutralized. Project Phoenix will be purged."

Her body convulsed. She grabbed her temples — flashes surged through her vision:

A boy in flames.

A woman's final smile.

A code buried in her brain.

Rick.

"I'm not your weapon anymore," she whispered.

The walls shifted.

Mara opened her eyes — and broke the restraints.

10:57 A.M. | South Borough Hideout – Kael's Interface Screen

A hologram flickered alive. A mechanical voice read from a classified log:

> ECHO PROTOCOL — INITIATED ONCE PHOENIX-X SUBJECT BREAKS BARRIER LIMIT.

Mission: Erase subject and clones. Reboot synthetic line. Destroy carriers.

Authorized by: DR. HOLLOW (deceased)

Enacted by: DIRECTOR WIDOW

Kael slammed his fist against the desk.

"They're going to wipe everyone tied to Phoenix. That includes Mara… and you."

Rick stood.

"Then we go to the source."

Ava blinked.

"You mean…"

Rick nodded.

"Hollow's original lab. The one no one's supposed to find."

11:12 A.M. | Flashback – Twelve Years Ago | Hollow Bridge Primary Facility

A younger Rick, maybe five years old, sat in a white room with black panels. His mother was beside him, running her fingers through his hair.

Alyra:

> "If anything ever happens to me, you go to The Echo. You remember that word, okay?"

"It's where the truth is buried. Where they can't find you."

Rick, confused, nodded.

> "Echo…"

Present

Rick looked up at Ava.

"We find the place called Echo. And we burn the rest of Hollow Bridge from the inside out."

Meanwhile – Hollow Bridge HQ | Widow's Private Office

Widow stood before a massive screen showing three live feeds: Rick's location, Kael's system trace, and Mara's chamber — now empty.

Her assistant entered.

"Director, the girl's breached protocol. Shall I trigger Phase Two?"

Widow raised one hand.

"Not yet. Let them run. Let them dig."

A smile curled on her lips.

"That's the only way the trap works."

Final Scene – Road to the Echo

A long highway stretched ahead, broken and empty.

Rick, Ava, and Kael sat in a stolen black cruiser, speeding into the horizon.

Wind in their faces. Silence in the car.

Rick's thoughts were a storm.

A voice whispered in his head — not his own.

> "Find me, Rick. And finish what we started."