**Part 5: The Price of Truth**
Kai's chest heaved as he sprinted through the dim corridors, his side aching with every step. The taste of blood mixed with the sharp tang of fear in his mouth. Ava was just ahead of him, her footsteps steady and purposeful, but Kai couldn't shake the feeling that everything had gone wrong. The enforcer was close, and they had just entered the most dangerous part of their mission—the part where everything would unravel.
Ava glanced back at him as they turned another corner, her eyes narrowing as she took in his condition. "You're hurt," she said, her voice laced with a rare hint of concern. "You need to slow down, get patched up."
"I don't have time for that," Kai snapped, gritting his teeth. He couldn't afford to slow down. The memory—the truth—was within reach, but only if they could escape the Vault in time.
They passed through a series of maintenance tunnels, each one darker and narrower than the last, until they reached a sealed door. Ava slid a small black card into a slot beside the doorframe, and after a soft beep, the door hissed open. Beyond it was a service elevator, a stark contrast to the sterile and cold corridors of the Vault. Ava stepped inside first, and Kai followed, casting one last glance down the hallway before the doors shut behind them.
The elevator was eerily quiet as it descended deeper into the building, and Kai felt his pulse quicken with every passing floor. His side throbbed, and the blood seeping from the wound felt like a reminder of how much was at stake. He had crossed a line tonight—one he couldn't uncross. And now, there were consequences.
Ava stood beside him, watching him closely. "You still don't understand, do you?" she said softly, her tone unreadable. "You think this is just about the memory. But it's not. It's about power. And once you see the truth, there's no going back."
Kai's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice strained.
Ava turned to face him fully, her gaze piercing. "The memory you've stolen—it's more than just information. It's the key to understanding how the system began, how the memory trade took root in this city. Whoever controls that memory controls everything. And if we don't act quickly, the system will erase it—just like they've done with everything else."
Kai's head spun with the weight of her words. He had known the stakes were high, but he hadn't realized how deep they ran. The more Ava spoke, the more the pieces began to fall into place. The Vault wasn't just a place to store memories—it was a prison for the truth.
He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the elevator jolted to a sudden stop. The lights flickered, and a low, ominous hum filled the air. Kai's heart dropped into his stomach.
"What the hell?" he muttered, reaching for the emergency panel.
Ava's eyes widened as the elevator doors slid open with a hiss. But what lay beyond wasn't the safe, forgotten basement he had hoped for—it was a chamber. A chamber he hadn't known existed in the Vault.
Inside, the walls were lined with rows of monitors and terminals. And in the center of the room, in a chair that was far too clinical, sat a person—unconscious, their head encased in a strange, helmet-like device that was connected to the room's computers by a network of wires.
Kai took a cautious step forward, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of danger. This was a place unlike anything he had seen in the Vault, and every instinct in him screamed that something was wrong.
Ava stepped past him, her face unreadable as she approached the figure in the chair. "This is why we needed you," she said quietly, not looking at Kai. "This is the person who knows everything. The truth about the memory trade. About the system."
Kai frowned, confused. "Who is this? What is this?"
Ava turned to face him, her expression hardening. "This is the person who created the system," she said, her voice cold. "And they've been locked away here, hidden from the world. For years."
Kai stepped forward, his heart pounding. He stared at the unconscious figure in the chair, the helmet obscuring most of their features. It was a woman, but beyond that, there was nothing he could tell.
"You're telling me this person is responsible for all of this?" Kai asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "They created the memory trade? They're the ones pulling the strings?"
Ava nodded grimly. "Yes. And they've been kept in this state, connected to the system, for all this time. They've been feeding the city's memory trade from behind the scenes, manipulating everything, controlling it all. And we need to wake them up."
Kai's mind was spinning. "How? How can we wake them up?"
Ava stepped closer to the chair, reaching toward the helmet. "We've been working on a way to disconnect them from the system for years," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "But the system won't allow it. The moment we try to sever the connection, it shuts down the entire Vault, locking everything down. We've tried before—dozens of times. But we couldn't do it without someone who could connect to the memories, someone who understood the system like you do."
Kai's breath caught in his throat as he realized what Ava was asking him. "You want me to... you want me to connect with them. To... wake them up?"
Ava didn't reply immediately, but her silence was answer enough.
Kai swallowed hard, feeling the weight of the decision bearing down on him. He had come here to uncover the truth, to expose the lies. But now, the truth was right in front of him—and it was far darker than he had ever imagined. The person responsible for everything, the very foundation of the memory trade, was lying unconscious in front of him, and it was up to him to make the choice.
He could connect with the woman. He could wake her up. But in doing so, he would be taking a huge risk. The moment he interfaced with the system, the Vault would be on full alert. The enforcer would be on them in seconds. The entire building would be locked down. And if he failed to disconnect her in time, the system would erase everything—the woman, the memories, the truth.
It was a risk. But the more Kai thought about it, the more he realized that it was the only option. This was what he had come for. This was the truth he had been chasing, the truth that had eluded him for so long.
He stepped forward, pulling a device from his belt. It was an interface chip, one that could connect directly to the memory streams of the Vault. He had used it countless times to extract memories from clients, but this would be different. This time, he wasn't just hunting memories—he was hunting the truth.
Ava gave him a single, encouraging nod. "Do it. We don't have much time."
Kai took a deep breath and placed the chip into the side of the woman's helmet. As the connection was made, his vision blurred, and the world around him shifted. For a moment, everything went black.
Then, a flood of images, sounds, and emotions rushed into his mind. Memories—ancient, buried memories—flooded through him. The woman's life. The creation of the system. The hidden war that had been waged in the shadows for years.
And then, the truth—the raw, unfiltered truth—came crashing down on him, overwhelming his senses. Everything he thought he knew about the memory trade, about the system, about his own role in it, was a lie.
The woman's voice echoed in his mind, clear and calm. "You wanted the truth, Kai. But now you must decide what to do with it."
The choice was his.
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