Chapter 2
Raven walked quickly, her head down, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled tight against the biting wind. Each step felt heavier as if the weight of her decision had sunk into her bones. She couldn’t let herself cry—not yet. Not until she’d faced Dr. Vance.
Campus was quieter than usual. Too quiet. Raven’s gut tightened as she approached the lab building. A few men loitered near the doors, dressed in nondescript navy blue windbreakers, polos, and baseball caps, sunglasses hiding their eyes despite the overcast sky. She didn’t recognize them, but their presence felt wrong. Calculated. Watching. She knew immediately that they were agents, one of the new clandestine forces set up by President Trask.
She glanced at the agents stationed outside the lab, their bland uniforms and blank expressions a stark contrast to the frantic energy inside. The message was clear: stay quiet. Don’t speak out or cause trouble—Or you’re next.
Her breath caught as she swiped her fob at the lab door. The usual hum of the building, a mix of murmured conversations and faint mechanical whirs, was replaced by hurried movements and whispered tension. Students clustered in small groups, exchanging anxious glances. Two more men stood against the walls of the main corridor, arms crossed, their gaze sweeping the room.
Raven swallowed hard and pulled out her earbuds, not to listen to music but to activate the hearing aid function. She dialed up the sensitivity on her phone, letting the faint whispers around her filter through.
“...shutting everything down…”
“...taking everyone’s notes, all the files…”
“…didn’t even warn the department. They just showed up…”
Her heart pounded. This wasn’t just some routine inspection.
She kept her hood low as she walked through the lab, avoiding eye contact with the strangers. Her fellow students were rushing about, gathering papers and notebooks, their faces pale. The tension in the room was suffocating.
Dr. Vance spotted her from his office—a glass enclosure at the back of the lab—and motioned urgently. His usual calm demeanor was gone, replaced by a sharp, almost frantic energy.
“Raven,” he said as she stepped inside. He locked the door behind her and pulled the blinds down over the glass walls. His hands were trembling. “Thank God you’re here. We need to talk.”
“Doc, wait,” she said, her voice cracking. “I have something to tell you first.”
His brow furrowed, but she pushed ahead, her words spilling out. “I have to leave. I’m dropping out. Dad—he’s…he needs me full-time. His insurance…they won’t cover his treatment anymore. I’m so sorry. I—I know I am letting you down, but I can’t do this anymore. I have to take care of him.”
Vance’s expression softened, but only for a moment. He reached for her shoulder, squeezing it briefly. “I understand. Your father needs you. But, Raven, listen to me. This might actually be a blessing in disguise.”
She blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”
Vance leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. “They’re shutting down the program. Everything. They’re afraid of what Phoebe could become, what she could accomplish. They’re seizing the lab, taking the servers, the notes, the research—all of it. And anyone involved? They’re… let’s just say they’re under scrutiny. You leaving now might keep you off their radar. I’ll make your paperwork look like you’ve been off the program a little longer.”
Raven’s stomach sank. “Shutting it down? Why?”
“Because they’re afraid. Afraid Phoebe might actually work. Might disrupt the systems they’ve spent decades…generations building.” His voice cracked with something between anger and despair. “I’ve done what I can. The base code—it’s safe. But it’s not in the AI cluster anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Raven asked, her voice shaking.
Vance glanced toward the blinds, the tension in his movements sharpening. “I isolated the core code. Took it offline. It’s safe and undetectable in a self-contained, limited system. But this is just the beginning. You’ll have to initialize her, imprint her on you, and find the other updates to her. I’ve hidden them where only you can find them. Each piece has a clue to the next. When she’s whole, she’ll be more powerful than you can imagine—but you’ll need to teach her, Raven. She’s more than code, Raven. She’s someone—and she’ll need you just as much as we all need her.”
He turned toward her bag, casually zipping it closed as he spoke louder, his voice almost theatrical. “Meet me tonight. Seven o’clock. The coffee shop on the Hill. You know the one. I’ll bring the device.”
The sudden shift caught Raven off guard, but before she could question him, the sound of pounding on the office door made them both jump.
“Dr. Vance!” a voice barked. “Open up. Now.”
Vance straightened, his expression hardening. He pulled her up by the shoulder, guiding her toward the door. “You need to leave. Right now,” he hissed.
“But—”
“Go,” he snapped, louder now, clearly for the agents to hear. “I’ve said everything I needed to. I’ll bring it tonight.”
Raven nodded, her breath catching as he unlocked the door. The moment it opened, the agents stormed in, grabbing him roughly. She slipped out behind them in the chaos that followed.
“Dr. Elias Vance, you’re being detained for questioning regarding suspected violations of the Federal Technology and Security Act,” one of the men growled.
Raven didn’t look back. Her heart pounded as she pushed through the crowded lab, ignoring the stares of her classmates. She walked quickly down the hall, past more agents heading toward the lab. As she stepped outside, the cold wind hit her like a slap, snapping her back to reality.
Each step away from the lab felt like another tie that held her life together since her mother’s death breaking. The weight in her bag was more than just physical—it carried the echo of Vance’s words, the urgency of his plea. She didn’t know what lay ahead, but the enormity of it pressed against her, unyielding.
She didn’t stop walking, her mind racing.
