Chapter 237: Directorate Archives

Dusk had swallowed the reviving Grefort City.

Scattered lights had begun appearing beneath the darkening sky. Small communities were taking shape again between the cleared districts.

Up north, inside one of the secured storage buildings, an armored SUV entered through the guarded gates and stopped in front of the entrance.

Hans stepped out of the vehicle and adjusted his coat. Dianne followed beside him with a folder tucked under one arm.

"How’s the recovery progress?"

"Our soldiers had retrieved several batches of storage devices and intel from the Directorate building. There are missing modules according to a few reports. As for the specifics, you would have to ask the SAS agents for that."

"Good thing I’m here then."

Hans entered first.

Several sealed containers occupied one side of the room. Others had been opened across a row of tables where Johannes, Marcus and Evelyn were sorting through what remained.

Paper files took up almost as much space as the recovered storage modules.

Hans stopped beside the nearest table.

"You’ve gotten a good haul."

The three agents were drawn by his voice.

"That is more than what I had expected."

"Commander!"

Hans gestured. "Drop the formalities. Continue what you’re doing."

Johannes looked up from a folder. "We tried to get what we can. A few bits are still missing."

"So I’ve heard. Are they important?"

"Unless we crack what’s inside," Marcus interjected, "we won’t know how important they are."

"Another data wipe caution?" Hans frowned. All these digital security measures had been tampering with his progress for a while now.

Marcus placed several identification cards beside a personnel roster.

"We’ve changed our focus into matching people we found inside. Might get a lead on something."

Hans picked up one of the paper files. Photographs, signed reports and handwritten notes remained inside.

"At least these don’t need a password."

"Problem is, they probably had what we need for the passwords," Marcus added.

Hans dropped the files and pointed toward Evelyn. "And her?"

"She’s reading through the letters and reports. SAS Cells may be cryptic individually, but Directorate communication usually translates that into something meaningful."

"Will this end our Cell hunting?"

"As much as we want to, that’s not possible." Johannes arranged another stack of files. "The Directorate received reports from the Cells, but that doesn’t mean everything made it here. Some investigations were still ongoing. Others only make sense when you compare them with what the local Cells kept."

Hans looked over the tables. "The hunt goes on then, huh? Do you think there are still other Cells alive out there?"

"That’s a possibility," Johannes answered. "They could be part of those enclaves that your soldiers met."

"Or they migrated somewhere. Like Cell Seven."

Dianne placed her folder beside Hans.

"There is something else."

Johannes looked toward her.

"Recovery finished identifying several of the bodies."

Marcus stopped sorting the cards.

Dianne opened the folder.

"Most matched Directorate personnel. Security, analysts, technical staff. A large number were also HELIX-enhanced."

That did not surprise Johannes. What caught his attention was another section of the list.

Several senior personnel had been recovered near the archive rooms. One name appeared beside the storage compartment where the missing modules had been found.

------

John Karlston Vaughn

------

Johannes pulled the folder closer.

"I remember this guy. He had access to restricted records."

Hans looked at him.

"High enough to move them?"

"Yes."

Marcus glanced toward the missing-module inventory. "Then where could he have possibly moved them?"

"Should be somewhere safe." Johannes replied.

"Could be anywhere. A hidden compartment in the wall. Under the floor. Somewhere nobody would search quickly."

The room turned silent. Johannes looked at Hans, the words remained stuck on his mouth.

"Do you have something to say, Agent?"

"Yes. I hate to say this but can we ask for Ms. Young Star-Blood to help?"

"She’s more than willing to help," Hans chuckled. "You and I both know that."

"I don’t want to sound like as if we’re using her. I get it, she has her powers—"

Hans tapped Johannes on the shoulder. "I’ll take care of it. If she doesn’t want to, my soldiers can handle the search."

"Thank you, Commander."

"Alright, you’re about to get busy. I’ll leave you be for now."

Hans turned toward Dianne as they left the tables.

"Ask Kimmy if she’s willing to help tomorrow. Don’t tell her she’s needed."

Dianne looked toward him.

"Difference?"

"One sounds like an order."

"Understood."

Hans glanced back once at the recovered archive.

Cell Twelve had enough work without him standing over them.

The armored SUV left the storage compound several minutes later.

"Any other findings aside from those?" Hans asked.

"Overseer Kordula has shown interest on several security units inside the Directorate. She have suspicions of a nearby DAEDALUS research site."

"That’s strange," Hans frowned. "Johannes frequented that area. He should have known of DAEDALUS with those units around."

"The security units had no markings. Perhaps that’s one reason why."

"Probably. Extend the search area, but do not excavate the entire block."

Hans shifted back to the window, watching the darkened buildings pass by.

The Directorate alone had already proven that the Core held more than what appeared on old city plans.

Johannes had visited the place before the Event without knowing that parts of its security and construction came from DAEDALUS. If Kordula was right about another site operating nearby, then the Directorate may not have been the only classified facility hidden beneath the district.

Grefort had already given him more than Gold.

HELIX showed how far Ashington had gone in altering the human body.

DAEDALUS had revealed automated security, advanced materials, compact energy systems and engineering that exceeded what Hans originally expected from this world.

VULCAN had shown that some of those advancements had been pushed directly toward weapons.

And TETHER—this was another anomaly.

What little Hans knew suggested that it allowed specialized teams to deploy prepared military infrastructure far faster than conventional construction should allow. If remnants of that technology still existed elsewhere in Ashington, then Golden Eagle might eventually encounter fortified positions, emergency bases or other facilities raised by people who understood far more about those systems than he did.

Every project he uncovered widened the same problem.

Hans was not the only person in Aurelia with access to technology capable of changing how wars were fought.

Some of it had belonged to Ashington. Some had already passed through foreign hands.

And after six months of collapse, he had no idea who might still be using what remained.

That was why the Core mattered.

If more facilities were buried beneath it, Hans wanted to find them while Grefort was still securely under his control rather than discover their existence later from somebody using the technology against him.