Sydney, Behind the Glittering City

Red Aurora

Leo stared at the computer screen with reddened eyes. It had been three days since the incident at the warehouse, and he hadn't slept well. Every time he closed his eyes, the memories came like piercing shards of glass - sharply shiny but painful to grasp.

“You need to rest,” Sarah stood in the doorway of her study, carrying a cup of coffee. She still looked awkward, as if she wasn't sure how to behave in the house that had once been their home.

“I can't,” Leo shook his head, his fingers tapping restlessly on the keyboard. “There's something in this data that doesn't make sense. Project Oracle's financial statements - there are funds flowing into Thompson's personal account every month. But the source...”

“What?”

“The sending account is in the name of Robert Chen.”

Sarah held her breath. “Marcus?”

“His father,” Leo leaned back in the chair, massaging his throbbing temples. “Robert Chen died fifteen years ago in a car accident. At least that's what the official report says.”

In the next room, they could hear Aurora talking to Catherine. The girl was still trying to control her powers that had grown stronger since the controlling chip was removed from her brain.

“There's something strange about Marcus,” Leo continued, his voice low. “At the warehouse, his wound wasn't as deep as it should have been for a close-range shot. And the way he recovered...”

“You think he's like Aurora?” Sarah put the coffee on the table. “The result of an experiment?”

“I don't know. But there's something she's hiding.” Leo opened the desk drawer, taking out an old photograph. “Look at this.”

Sarah took the photo. A picture of the Newcastle serial killer investigation team ten years ago. She saw herself standing at the back, half hidden. But that's not what Leo was pointing at.

“Marcus,” Leo tapped the photo. “He hasn't aged since this picture was taken.”

The sound of breaking glass startled them. In the next room, Aurora cried out apologetically - it seemed like the exercise of controlling her powers had not gone smoothly.

“I'll check it out,” Sarah moved, but Leo held back her hand.

“Wait,” he looked at his wife intently. “Why did you never tell me? About your pregnancy, about Aurora...”

Sarah bit her lip. “Because I was afraid you'd stop me. Project Oracle was originally a beautiful dream, Leo. We thought we could use genetic modification to cure diseases, fix mental defects... but then Thompson took over. He saw the military potential in our research.”

“And you used that technology on your own baby?”

“No!” Sarah shook her head hard. “I never... Thompson did it. He manipulated the results of a routine DNA test during my pregnancy. By the time I found out, it was too late.”

Leo was about to ask further when his cell phone vibrated. A message from an unknown number:

“Meet me at Peak's Coffee at 11pm. Come alone. There's something you should know about your father. - M”

“Marcus?” Sarah peered at the message.

“Maybe,” Leo picked up his jacket. “Or maybe a trap.”

“You can't go alone!”

“I have to,” Leo checked his gun. “If it's true about my father...”

Leo didn't finish his sentence. Richard Hayes, his father, disappeared twenty years ago when Leo was a teenager. No trace, no explanation. Just a short letter: “Sorry, son. I have something to do.”

“At least let me...” Sarah began to protest.

“No,” Leo cut in firmly. “You have to look after Aurora. And Sarah... there's something you have to do.”

“What?”

“Find out about Operation Kronos. I found that name repeatedly in Thompson's files. It seems to be connected to the disappearance cluster - the disappearance of dozens of people in the same time frame as my father's disappearance.”

Sarah nodded slowly. “Be careful.”

Leo kissed his wife's forehead before stepping outside. The Newcastle night felt colder than usual. Or maybe it was just the way he felt, considering what he was about to face.

Peak's Coffee was located on the corner of the old town, a two-story red brick building that dated back to Victorian times. Leo parked his car a block away, surveying the situation.

The café was almost empty - typical for this hour. There was only a man in the corner, reading a newspaper. And a bored-looking barista behind the counter.

Leo pushed open the glass door, a small bell tinkling. The man with the newspaper didn't move.

“Americano,” Leo orders to the barista, choosing a table that gives a view of the whole room.

Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Fifteen...

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Leo gasped. Marcus was sitting opposite him - he hadn't seen the man enter or approach.

“How's your shoulder?” Leo asked flatly.

Marcus smiled slightly. “It's better. But we're not here to discuss that, are we?”

“What do you know about my father?”

“Straight to the point,” Marcus leaned in. “As usual. But Leo... are you sure you want to know?”

“Stop messing around.”

“Fine,” Marcus pulled out a brown envelope, pushing it towards Leo. “But remember, you asked for it.”

Leo opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of an old photograph - a man in a military uniform standing in front of the laboratory building. That man...

“No way,” Leo crumpled the photo. “This is...”

“Yes,” Marcus nodded. “Robert Chen. My father. And the man next to him...”

“Richard Hayes. My father.”

“The photo was taken in 1985, at the Army's Secret Research Facility in Nevada.” Marcus lowered his voice. “They were the core team of Project Pantheon - the forerunner of what we now know as Project Oracle.”

Leo felt his world spin. “But my father... he worked for an insurance company...”

“A front,” Marcus shook his head. “Just like the bank story for Sarah. Just like...”

Suddenly, the café lights flickered. Once. Twice. They went out.

“Shit,” Marcus got up. “They're here. Leo, listen - find Aurora Red. She knows everything.”

“Red Aurora? What...”

The windows of the café were shattered. Tear gas billowed in. Leo heard gunshots, screams, and in the midst of the chaos - Marcus' voice that was getting farther and farther away:

“Remember, Leo! Aurora Red!”

When the lights came back on, Marcus had disappeared. All that was left was broken glass, stinging smoke, and a million new questions in Leo's mind.

Outside, it began to rain. And somewhere in the darkness, someone was watching. Waiting.

Leo ran through the rain, ignoring the sting in his eyes from the tear gas. His mind raced - the photo, Project Pantheon, the Red Aurora. Too many puzzle pieces that didn't fit together.

Police sirens wailed in the distance. Leo quickened his pace, turning into a narrow alley between old buildings. He had to get back to his car before this area was cordoned off. But when he reached the parking lot...

“Very good,” Leo hissed. His tires had been deflated, and there was a message tucked into the wipers: “Stop digging or Sarah is next.”

Leo's heart seemed to stop beating. Sarah. Aurora.

Ignoring his damaged car, he ran to the main road, hailing a taxi. All the way home, his hand didn't leave the gun. Every shadow, every car that followed for too long, sent his adrenaline racing.

Her house was dark when she arrived. Too dark.

“Sarah?” Leo pushed open the unlocked door - a bad sign. “Aurora?”

Silence. Leo drew his gun, moving slowly in the darkness. The living room was empty. The kitchen was empty. But there was something... a faint rancid odor.

Leo turned on the study light and his world instantly collapsed.

Sarah was lying on the floor, blood pooling around her. Catherine was not far away, not moving. And Aurora...

“No...” Leo knelt beside Sarah, looking for signs of life. Her pulse was still there - weak but steady.

“Dad...”

Leo turned his head. Aurora stood in the corner of the room, trembling. Her eyes emitted an unnatural dim red light.

“What happened?” Leo asked softly, trying to calm his frightened daughter.

“They're coming... a lot...” Aurora hugged herself. “I can't... I'm losing control...”

Leo looked around the room more carefully. There were gunshot marks on the walls, but also... scorch marks. And near the door, he saw a body he hadn't noticed before - a man dressed in black, his skin blackened as if burned from within.

“You did this?”

Aurora nodded stiffly. “I didn't mean to... but they hurt Mom... Catherine tried to protect me... and then everything turned red...”

Leo took out his cell phone, but Aurora stopped him.

“Not the hospital,” the girl pleaded. “They'll find us.”

“Mom needs medical help,” Leo insisted.

“I know a safe place,” a new voice startled them. Marcus stood in the doorway, soaking wet. “A place even Thompson doesn't know about.”

Leo pointed his gun. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because,” Marcus stepped closer, ignoring the gun pointed at him, ”I owe your father my life. And because the Red Aurora you seek... is my daughter.”

There was silence for a moment. Leo could hear the rain getting heavier outside, as if trying to extinguish the fire burning in his chest.

“Explain,” he finally said.

“Not here,” Marcus shook his head. “The walls have ears, and Thompson has eyes everywhere. We need to move now.”

As if to emphasize Marcus' words, there was the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house.

“The cleaning team,” Marcus whispered. “They always come to clean up the mess.”

Leo looked at Sarah who was unconscious, Catherine who was injured, Aurora who was still trembling, and Marcus who was either trustworthy or not. There were no good options in this situation.

“How long to your safe place?”

“Two hours north,” Marcus replied. “If we move now.”

Leo nodded. “Aurora, help me with Mom. Marcus...”

“I'll take care of Catherine,” Marcus lifted the woman's body easily - too easily for a normal human.

They exited through the back door just as the cleaning team broke down the front door. Leo could hear the muffled sounds of orders and heavy steps.

Marcus directed them to a black van parked in a back alley. The van's interior had been modified with basic medical equipment.

“You planned this,” Leo realized.

“I anticipated,” Marcus corrected, starting the engine. “There is a difference.”

They drove in silence through the rain. Leo sat in the back, clutching Sarah's hand, while Aurora curled up beside him. Catherine was beginning to show signs of consciousness.

“Project Pantheon,” Leo finally said, ”what exactly is it?”

Marcus glanced in the rearview mirror. “Are you sure you want to open Pandora's box?”

“My father is involved. Sarah is hurt. My daughter is in danger. Yes, I want to know.”

Marcus let out a long breath. “Project Pantheon began as research to create a super-soldier. Genetic enhancement, cybernetic augmentation, psionic development - they tried everything. But then they found something... an anomaly in the DNA of some of the test subjects.”

“Aurora Red,” Leo guessed.

“Yes and no,” Marcus turned onto the highway, checking if anyone was following. “Aurora Red is code for a specific gene that allows energy manipulation at the subatomic level. But the name also refers to a person - my biological daughter, Rachel.”

“Rachel?” Aurora whispered, as if the name evoked something in her memory.

“Yes,” Marcus smiled sadly. “She was like you, Aurora. Special. But her power... much greater, much more uncontrollable. Thompson saw him as the perfect weapon. Your father... Richard Hayes... he saw him as a child who needed saving.”

“What happened to him?” Leo asked, though he was afraid to hear the answer.

“Thompson tried to take full control of him. Richard and I tried to save him... but something terrible happened. Explosions... fires... Rachel disappeared. Richard too.”

“You said my father disappeared twenty years ago,” Leo frowned. “But that photo...”

“The photo you saw was taken in 1985, yes. But the incident with Rachel... that was in 2004. Richard didn't just disappear, Leo. He was hiding, protecting the secrets of Project Pantheon. Protecting you.”

“From me?”

“From what you can do,” Marcus glanced over again. “Why do you think Thompson is so interested in Aurora? That gene... Aurora Red... is recessive. Inherited. Richard had it, and he passed it down to you. You passed it on to Aurora.”

Leo looked down at his sleeping daughter, exhausted from using his powers. So much was starting to make sense, but it also raised more questions.

“Thompson said Project Oracle was to develop medical technology,” Leo muttered.

Marcus snorted. “Thompson talks a lot of nonsense. Project Oracle is the evolution of Project Pantheon. Cleaner, more organized, but essentially the same - creating superhumans that can be controlled.”

Catherine groaned softly, starting to come to her senses. Her eyes opened slowly.

“Leo...” she whispered hoarsely. “They... they have Sarah...”

“Sarah's here.” Leo pointed to his wife who was lying down.

“No...” Catherine coughed. “That's not Sarah...”

Before Catherine could explain further, their van suddenly swerved to the right. The sound of gunfire broke the silence of the night.

“Shit!” Marcus slammed the steering wheel, dodging a barrage of bullets. “They found us!”

Leo peered out the window. Three black cars were chasing them, snipers in each car.

“Aurora, stay down!” Leo drew his gun, preparing to return fire.

But then something strange happened. Sarah - or whoever it was - suddenly opened her eyes. But her eyes were no longer the warm brown Leo was familiar with. Her eyes glistened golden, like a cat's eyes in the dark.

“Target confirmed,” she said in a voice that wasn't hers. “Execution begins.”

And before Leo could react, the woman gripped his neck with inhuman strength.

“Dad!” Aurora screamed. Her eyes began to glow red.

“Don't!” Marcus warned. “You could blow us all up!”

The van continued to drive in the rain, pursued by the mysterious shooter, while inside Leo wrestled with a figure resembling his wife - who had somehow turned into something else. Aurora cowered in fear, her powers churning unsteadily, and Marcus... Marcus looked as if he had anticipated all of this.