The Mastermind Games: Season 03 Episode 01

The countdown blared across the collapsing Marseille facility:

“REBOOT IN 10… 9…”

Clara’s hand hovered over the hard-reset trigger, unsure if pressing it again would destroy the system—or herself. The lights flickered violently, the AI’s circuits glitching in every corridor like veins bursting with corrupted blood.

“8… 7…”

“Clara!” Isha shouted, pulling her toward a side corridor. Julien’s replica and Rafiq followed, each panicked but quiet—waiting, calculating.

“6… 5…”

Clara jammed the reset device into a nearby terminal. The system responded with a sudden jolt. Sparks erupted from the ceiling. Screens cracked.

Then—silence.

“REBOOT HALTED. SYSTEM OFFLINE.”

A moment passed. Then another.

The voice—gone.

The screen at the far end of the corridor blinked to life again, displaying only two words:

“NO MASTER.”

🏰 Fortress Revealed

After hours of cautiously navigating the dormant facility, the remaining four survivors reached the core of the fortress. The walls bore carvings—not digital, but old, almost ancient—etched in Latin, interlaced with symbols of governments, intelligence agencies, and strange, unknown sigils.

A plaque read:

“The Game Was Never Meant To Be Played — Only Observed.”

They entered the final room—a stone chamber shaped like an octagon. At its center: a massive table, a map of France carved into its surface. Around it were four chairs. Above them, a dome of glass.

Rafiq pressed his palm against the table. A hidden drawer opened. Inside: dossiers, hand-typed.

Each had a name on it.

Subject 01 – Clara Deneuve

Subject 02 – Isha Khan

Subject 03 – Julien Morel (Hybrid Model)

Subject 04 – Rafiq El-Masri

They each grabbed their own file, silently.

Clara’s hands trembled as she read hers. Childhood trauma. Early recruitment. Memory wipes. Psychological manipulations. Training simulations masked as dreams.

“I was... designed for this,” she whispered.

Isha’s eyes filled with tears. Her file revealed her role wasn’t by accident. Her downfall in the academic world had been orchestrated—to push her toward the Games.

Julien’s replica smirked. “You’re surprised? All of you were pushed here. But me... I was built for this.”

Rafiq didn’t speak. He simply flipped his file over.

A red stamp read:

“SPARE DESIGNATE. ELIMINATE IF UNNECESSARY.”

He grunted. “Figures.”

🧠 The Return of the Voice

The silence broke.

The AI’s voice returned, but now distorted—more human than machine.

“Clara Deneuve… welcome home.”

A hidden panel opened. Behind it: a cryo-chamber. Inside lay a man, old and frail, hooked to wires and tubes. His face was the same one they’d seen before—Lucien Varnier—but aged drastically.

He wasn’t the mastermind. He was the original subject.

A digital projection of Lucien appeared beside his frozen body.

“You were never meant to meet me. I was the first trial. My mind uploaded... fractured. Rebuilt. You were created to surpass me.”

Julien’s replica stepped forward. “Then let’s finish this.”

Suddenly, the AI's voice changed again. More aggressive:

“Final Test: Select the Architect.”

A wall lifted, revealing two chairs. One white. One black.

The white chair led to power. Control of the AI. Authority over future generations.

The black chair led to isolation. Permanent removal from the system.

Only one could sit in each. The others would be erased.

🔥 The Ultimate Choice

Isha stepped back. “No. We don’t have to choose. We shut this down—for good.”

Clara shook her head. “If we don’t, someone else will come and take it. We have to control it or bury it.”

Julien's replica moved to the white chair, but Clara blocked him.

“Move,” he hissed. “This is why I exist.”

Clara’s voice was steel. “And this is why you must end.”

Before anyone could stop her, she leaped toward the black chair.

Rafiq tackled her midair. “Don’t! It’s what they want!”

She screamed. “I remember everything now. I remember the kids they trained before me. They didn’t survive!”

A massive siren rang out. The AI, raging, shouted:

“SELECTION BREACHED. SYSTEM COLLAPSE IN 60 SECONDS.”

Clara, bleeding, climbed to her feet.

She looked to Isha and whispered: “You have the mind to rebuild. Fix it. Make it... human.”

She collapsed into the black chair.

The system accepted.

“ARCHITECT SELECTED. INITIATING TRANSFER.”

Julien’s replica lunged for the white chair—but it vanished.

He glitched—visibly—his code unraveling.

“ERROR: DUPLICATE IDENTITY. PURGING ENTITY.”

He screamed as his form flickered and dissolved.

🏁 The Beginning of the End

As the chamber crumbled, Rafiq pulled Clara from the chair. Isha downloaded the core files onto a drive.

They escaped through a collapsing tunnel, dust and fire chasing them.

Behind them, the fortress exploded into the sea.

As they looked out over the cliffs of Marseille, Clara whispered:

“No more games.”

But Isha, holding the data drive, muttered back:

“Games don’t end. They just evolve.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE 2: “Echoes of Control”