Episode 22
Iris's eyes fluttered open.
The world around her was… wrong.
She was standing in a hospital room—but not the sterile, oppressive facility of the Draven Institute. This was warm, comforting. Sunlight filtered through white lace curtains. The scent of lavender floated in the air.
A faint piano melody played from the corner.
She turned—and froze.
Elara was sitting beside her. Alive. Smiling.
"Elara?" Iris's voice cracked.
Her sister looked up. "You're awake, sleepyhead. I brought you breakfast. Mom said not to let you skip it again."
Mom?
Iris looked down.
She was wearing a school uniform. Her hands were smaller. No scars. No callouses. No burns from restraints.
She stumbled back to the mirror.
Her reflection was that of a teenage girl—sixteen, maybe.
"No," she whispered. "This isn't real."
---
Meanwhile: The Real World
Outside, in the Red Widow's base, Iris's real body was convulsing.
"She's seizing!" Dorian shouted, pressing electrodes to her temple. "Her vitals are spiking—brainwaves in Theta Loop."
"What happened?" Red barked.
"Neural injection. Nano-level psychological override. It's a mind trap, Red. Alec pulled her into a simulation built from her memories."
"Can you pull her out?"
Dorian hesitated. "If I force-extract her, her brain could hemorrhage. But if we don't do something soon… she might never come back."
---
Inside the Trap: A Perfect Lie
Iris sat on a bench outside the fake house, staring at the pastel-colored clouds overhead.
It was too perfect.
Too calm.
Elara sat beside her, swinging her legs like a carefree child.
"You're being quiet," Elara said. "Is something wrong?"
"This isn't real."
Her sister tilted her head, puzzled.
"I watched you die," Iris whispered. "I held your body in my arms. Alec took you from me."
Elara's smile dimmed. "I don't know what you mean."
Tears filled Iris's eyes. "You were the only reason I kept fighting. The only thing he couldn't touch. And now… he's using you against me."
Elara reached out, her touch warm and gentle. "What if this is real, Iris? What if all that pain… all that fighting… was the dream?"
Iris stared at her.
"What if Alec saved you?" Elara asked softly. "What if he gave you this life… because he loved you?"
"No," Iris whispered, backing away. "You're not real. None of this is."
Suddenly, the sunlight dimmed.
The lavender scent turned metallic.
And Elara's face… twitched.
Glitched.
---
Draven Tower: Phase Two
"She's starting to reject the dream," Kira warned.
Alec watched the brain scan intently. "Then initiate Phase Two. Crank up the emotional tether. Let her feel everything."
"You're playing with fire," Kira said. "If she gains awareness inside the trap—she could reverse the simulation."
Alec smiled coldly. "Good. Let's see how strong my creation really is."
---
Inside: The Collapse Begins
The world around Iris cracked like broken glass.
Buildings shimmered and shattered, melting into black ash.
She was suddenly standing in the Draven Institute's main operating room—cold steel tables, restraint chairs, bloodied tools scattered across trays.
In front of her was another version of herself. Shackled. Crying. Screaming.
"Let me go! I don't want to be your experiment!"
Iris stepped back, horrified.
The other Iris looked up at her, eyes wild. "You let him win. You became what he made you."
"No—no I didn't—"
"You let Elara die. You ran. You survived. But you never escaped."
Suddenly, Alec's voice echoed around her.
"You're nothing without me, Iris. You were a blank slate. A perfect prototype. Everything you remember—I gave you."
"No!" Iris screamed. "You don't control me!"
The hallucination of Alec appeared, grinning. "Then why are you still trapped in here?"
---
Red Widow's Gambit
Red Widow paced like a caged animal.
"I can't wait any longer," she said. "Dorian, hook me in."
"You want to go into her mind?"
"I trained with psychic neural links during the Black Rose ops. If anyone can reach her—it's me."
Dorian hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. But I'm pulling you both out in ten minutes. No matter what."
Red slid into the neural chair and closed her eyes.
"Hold on, Iris. I'm coming."
---
In the Mindscape: The Fight for Identity
Iris was curled in a corner of her own nightmare.
Elara. Alec. Her screaming double. All closing in.
"Let me out!" she screamed.
Suddenly—a hand reached through the dark.
Red Widow.
"Iris! Look at me!"
Iris blinked. "Red?"
"Listen to me. This isn't real. It's a trap. You're in a mind prison built from your trauma."
"I can't get out."
"Yes, you can," Red said. "You've escaped worse. You survived Alec. You survived the clones. And you'll survive this."
Elara's illusion stepped forward. "Don't listen to her. Stay with me, Iris. We can be together forever. No more pain."
But Iris looked at Red.
Then at her hands.
Burned. Scarred. Real.
She stood.
"This isn't my dream. It's Alec's."
And with a scream that shattered the sky, Iris punched through the illusion.
The world shattered into white light.
---
Back in Reality
Alarms blared.
Dorian gasped as both Iris and Red shot upright in the neural chairs, gasping for breath.
Iris's face was soaked in sweat, eyes wild.
"I saw him. He's inside me. His code. His signature. It's how he keeps finding me."
Dorian's hands flew across the keyboard. "Alec embedded a bio-identifier in your spinal chip. That's how Elara tracked you. That's how he got into the base."
"Can you remove it?" Red asked.
"Not without killing her."
Iris stood, shaking. "Then I'm not running anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to Draven Tower," Iris said, her voice like ice. "I'm going to burn it to the ground."