Chapter 55: Curiosity Kills The…
Dr. Naomi Wells sat at her desk, her fingers drumming absentmindedly on the surface as the cool glow of the computer screen reflected off her glasses. The training session with Elias Hale had left a lingering unease in her. Not the usual guilt she often felt when dealing with rebellious subjects, but something else. Elias had that look again, that subtle smirk as though he knew something she didn’t. It stayed with her. Rebellious subjects used to slightly annoy her, but now…
She leaned back, staring at the screen. The reports were done, the data filed. There wasn’t much left to do for the day, but something kept pulling her back to the files she had stumbled across the previous week. Those innocuous letters: I.O.
Naomi had only glimpsed the file briefly before it was locked behind a clearance level she didn’t have access to. It had bothered her since then. She had seen classified files before, but the way this one had been hidden away was different. Subtle, almost as though someone had tried to bury it under layers of bureaucracy.
Her curiosity got the better of her. She leaned forward and tapped the keys, pulling up the system’s search bar. I.O. She typed it in again, the same way she had the first time. The system hesitated, the cursor blinking as if considering her request. But the result was the same—classified, requiring Level 7 clearance.
Naomi frowned, leaning back in her chair. She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much. After all, she had level clearance, she wasn’t exactly new to secret projects.The Academy had dozens of them, many of which were above her pay grade. But this one… something about it felt different.
Maybe it was the timing.
The I.O. file had appeared right around the time when Naomi, despite herself, had started to look at the Academy’s practices with a more critical eye. Something about how the Academy treated its subjects—especially the ones like Kali, who never even had the chance to know a life outside of these sterile walls—was starting to grate on her in ways it hadn’t before.
She clicked her tongue against her teeth, closing the restricted file window. It was useless to keep pushing, but she couldn’t let it go.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Her eyes wandered to the small door panel at the back of her office. The storage room where physical records were sometimes kept, documents that hadn’t yet been uploaded to the digital system. The Academy’s leadership had grown comfortable with digital security, but the old physical archives still held some secrets that weren’t so easily erased.
She stood, brushing the wrinkles from her lab coat, and made her way to the back of the room. The door slid open with a soft whoosh, revealing rows of old filing cabinets and dust-covered shelves. The scent of aged paper and metal hit her as she stepped inside.
Naomi wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she started at the top left drawer, pulling it open and running her fingers along the files inside. Most of them were marked with nothing more than subject names, project titles, dates. She skimmed the labels quickly, her eyes searching for anything that might be connected to I.O.
Halfway through the second drawer, she paused. A folder sat slightly apart from the rest, its label faded and barely legible: Ortega, Isabella.
Naomi’s pulse quickened. She hadn’t seen that name in years. Not since…
She pulled the folder out, carefully laying it on the small desk beside her. Her fingers hesitated on the cover before flipping it open. Inside were documents—test results, progress reports, notes from various researchers. Naomi scanned the pages quickly, her eyes narrowing.
Isabella Ortega had been one of the most powerful metahumans ever studied at the Academy. Elemental manipulation on a level that was unparalleled, her abilities far beyond what even the Class 4s could muster. But she had disappeared publicly years ago, with only vague rumors left behind. Some said she’d run from the Ortega family. Others whispered…darker stories.
Naomi had never given the rumors much thought. But now, seeing Isabella’s name tied to a project labeled I.O., it all started to click into place.
She continued reading, her stomach twisting as she came across a set of lab reports. These weren’t just routine progress notes—these were genetic samples, sequencing logs, attempts to replicate Isabella’s abilities. The Academy had been trying to harness her power, to copy it.
And they’d succeeded. Naomi could see the proof in the data in front of her. They had found a way to replicate her meta-sequence. That meant… they might have the ability to give Isabella’s abilities to others.
Her mind raced. This was more than just research. This was weaponization.
Her thoughts immediately flickered to Talia Reed, one of the agents known for her precise control over fire. Naomi had always assumed Talia’s abilities were natural, like any other metahuman’s. But now, she wasn’t so sure. Could they have given her powers? And if they had, what had happened to Isabella herself?
Naomi’s hands clenched as she flipped through the final pages of the file. There was no mention of where Isabella was now, but the experiments had clearly continued long after she had supposedly “disappeared.”
Naomi closed the folder, her mind spinning. She knew she couldn’t just leave this here. She wanted to find out more, to figure out what had really happened to Isabella. But the Academy’s web of secrets was thick, and if she wasn’t careful, she could easily become caught in it.
Still, she couldn’t walk away from this now. Not after what she just found.
She carefully replaced the folder, making sure it looked undisturbed. As she left the storage room, her thoughts were racing ahead, trying to figure out her next move. She had stumbled onto something far bigger than she had expected, and she wasn’t sure how deep it went. But one thing was certain: the Academy was hiding more than she had ever imagined.
And Naomi Wells wasn’t sure she wanted to look away any longer.