The Past, Rewired

[thisDerius]

Derius couldn’t help the sideways glance. His curiosity—razor-sharp and years in the making—got the better of him as he leaned just slightly, peering toward Donagan’s terminal.

“Found something interesting?” he asked, half-distracted. The question came with a neutral tone, but his gaze didn’t linger long—his attention snapped back to his own console as another sharp ding echoed through the room.

He blinked.

Then again, eyes narrowing this time.

“This… this is not supposed to be here.”

His voice dropped lower, more to himself than to anyone else. His mechanical fingers hovered over the console, trembling for a brief second—an almost imperceptible twitch of tension.

“This was top secret. I locked this away after Liberty. After Fairbanks. After...” he stopped.

There it was, glowing in soft blue on the screen. Simple, unassuming, and yet catastrophic in its implication:

FILE: PROJECT: E.V.E.

Derius inhaled sharply, as if trying to slow the acceleration of thoughts that now raced behind his cybernetic eyes. He leaned forward, arms resting heavily over the console, his body language sinking from composed technician to weary soldier in an instant.

“Well, fuck you, McCool…” he exhaled bitterly, the name falling from his lips like venom. “No wonder the Core found me. No wonder they came so fast. This… this is what tipped them off. Not the cell. Not the arm. Not even the bold move against the Order in Delta or the setup. This.”

He didn’t look away from the screen. For a moment, it felt like everything in the room slowed around him. A faint hum of systems. The occasional blip of code scroll. But all of that faded beneath the storm that now cracked in his head.

Finally, he turned his head toward Donagan, eyes serious—worse, desperate in a way he rarely allowed himself to show.

“Can you erase this file from the Zoner database?” His tone was still level, but the gravity behind it was unmistakable. “Permanently. Not shelved, not archived, not ‘secured under lock and key.’ Gone.”

He stood straight now, eyes locked with Donagan’s.

“That project was personal. A secret buried so deep I nearly forgot it myself. If this leaks… if anyone else finds out what EVE really was...” he paused, exhaling a long breath, “It won’t just be me they’ll come for.”

His hands clenched at his sides, his voice lowering into a whisper.

“Please, Donagan. Nuke it. I can’t let that ghost walk again.”

He turned back to the screen one more time, staring at the cold, glowing letters.
And all the while, a thought echoed in his mind.

They were never supposed to find her