Chapter 8 Lockdown Protocol

The alarm wasn't strong-the frequency was a hoarse tone, a constant beating like that of a mechanical pulse. But each time, when it rippled into the walls, it struck my chest, as if it rhythmically harmonized with my own.

"We triggered something," Lira said, spinning toward the hallway. "Tripwire security maybe-motion sensors?"

"No." Kael's voice was flat, angry. "This wasn't random. Someone activated the lockdown remotely."

I turned to the console. The holograms were gone, replaced with a wall of red code and a flashing symbol I'd only seen once before-in Damon's private server archive.

Theta's seal.

"She's inside the system," I whispered. "She's hijacked the Vault."

Kael swore under his breath. "Can she access the Neural Seed?"

"No. Not without a genetic override." I paused. "Not without me."

"Then we're the last firewall," Lira said. "Which means she's coming."

A hiss echoed behind us. Not from the entrance. From the walls.

Hidden panels slid open across the chamber. Three drones dropped from the ceiling-sleek, spider-legged, glowing blue beneath their frames. Not Damon's usual style. These were newer. Sharper. Crueler.

"She brought friends," Kael muttered, raising his rifle.

The first drone launched forward.

Kael fired, a perfect shot straight through its core. It exploded in a burst of sparks.

Lira took the second-two short bursts from her twin pistols, each shot clinical. Precise.

The third skittered sideways, fast as a shadow. I dove for the console, slammed my hand on the emergency override.

Nothing happened.

The Vault was locked. We were trapped inside.

The drone came at me. I rolled to the side, barely dodging the blade that shot from its forearm. Before I could recover, it pinned me by the wrist, driving its weight onto my arm with inhuman strength.

Pain flared. My neural weave flickered.

"Calla!" Kael shouted.

The drone leaned in. Its optical lens glowed a bright, blinding white. A voice came through its speaker-calm, female, distorted.

"You shouldn't have opened the Vault."

It was Theta.

I grit my teeth. "Neither should you."

I activated my neural surge-every nerve in my body igniting with raw energy. The surge spiked through my hand and into the drone, overloading its circuits. It shrieked, convulsed, and burst into pieces.

I fell back, chest heaving.

Kael was at my side a second later. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly," I panted. "I will tell you again when the adrenaline fades off".

Lira sheathed her pistols, looking around. "This place is compromised. If she's inside the system, she could vent the air, flood the rooms, fry our minds."

"We have to move to the core," Kael said. "The Neural Seed is protected by manual vaulting. She can't touch it without physically being here."

I nodded and pushed to my feet. "Then we beat her to it."

We ran.

Through dark corridors pulsing with red light. Past glass chambers filled with prototypes-failed experiments that looked like human silhouettes dipped in static. Past security doors etched with warnings in dead languages.

The Vault was bigger than I'd imagined. It wasn't just a safe.

It was a labyrinth.

We reached the core chamber just as another klaxon screamed.

Inside, a circular vault stood like a throne-tall, seamless, with a biometric lock at its center. And behind it... I could feel it. A presence. The Seed.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Your DNA opened the door before," Kael said. "Try syncing again."

I placed my hand on the scanner.

The lock glowed blue.

Then it burned red.

Access denied.

"What?" I blinked. "But I'm-"

Kael grabbed my wrist and looked at the scanner. His eyes narrowed.

Lira stepped forward, voice sharp. "What's wrong?"

Kael said nothing.

Because at that moment, a voice echoed through the chamber.

"You didn't think I'd let her win just because she was first, did you?"

The voice was mine.

But not me.

Theta.

And then the doors behind us slammed shut.

****************************************

The Mirror and the Flame

The moment the doors sealed, the lights shifted-no longer red, but a sterile, clinical white. A silence fell over the Vault that was worse than alarms. Worse than footsteps.

It was the sound of precision. Of control.

And then she stepped through the light like she owned it.

Theta.

My double.

Her boots clicked against the steel floor, her body encased in a matte-black suit laced with faint lines of glowing white. Her eyes were mine-but colder. Deader. Her hair was braided, but it looked similar to how my mother used to braid mine.

She halted about a foot from him, smiling as if they were about to play a family reunion.

Kael raised his weapon. "Move and you die."

Theta didn't flinch. "You think that's enough to stop me, Kael? I know your aim. I know your hesitation. I know exactly how far you'll go-and where you'll stop."

Kael didn't lower his gun, but he didn't fire either.

Theta turned to me.

"Calla Voss. The original. The broken foundation they tried to build perfection on."

"I'm not broken," I said through my teeth.

She laughed. "Then why am I stronger?"

"Because they built you to be a weapon," I snapped. "I was born human."

"No. You were born unfinished."

Her words were like ice, but I didn't look away. I moved one step towards her.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"You should," she said soothingly. "Because I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to replace you."

Kael moved between us. "Over my dead body."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Theta replied-and raised her hand.

A shockwave burst from her palm, slamming Kael against the wall. He hit hard and slid to the floor, groaning.

"Kael!" I ran to him.

"I'm okay," he whispered. "Stay focused. She's baiting you."

Theta tilted her head. "How sweet. You still think love is a shield."

"I think it's what separates us," I growled.

I stood up again.

She rolled her neck. "The Vault only opens with your DNA. But did you think I didn't prepare for that?"

She stepped closer. "We share 98.7% genetic code, Calla. But that last 1.3%? That's where all the noise lives. The emotion. The fear. The weakness."

I braced as she reached into her belt and pulled out a small cylindrical device.

"This is a subgenetic amplifier," she said. "Crafted from the remains of your mother's neural thread. I only needed you to activate the Vault... now I can force it open."

She turned to the biometric scanner.

"Don't!" I shouted, stepping forward.

She didn't listen.

The moment the amplifier touched the console, the lock began to glow again-green this time. The system hesitated, confused. Between me. Between her.

Between what was real and what had been copied.

The Vault started to open.

Lira swore under her breath. "We have to stop her now!"

I charged Theta.

We collided hard-body to body, thought to thought. She fought like a soldier. Fast, brutal, calculated. I fought like someone with everything to lose.

We crashed to the floor, struggling for the amplifier.

"You don't deserve her memories!" I shouted.

"She left you behind!" Theta snarled. "She tried to erase me!"

I landed a punch that split her lip. She hissed and rolled us over, pinning me with a knee.

"You're not the real one," she whispered.

"And you're not her daughter."

Kael's voice cut through the chaos. "Calla-move!"

I ducked just as a stun blast streaked past me and hit Theta in the chest. She convulsed, falling backward, eyes wide with shock.

Kael pulled me to my feet. "You okay?"

"No," I said, "but I'm not done."

The Vault's inner core was still unlocking.

I rushed to the scanner, placed my hand on the pad.

It scanned my DNA.

Match confirmed. Neural Seed access granted.

The Vault opened with a hiss of pressurized air.

Inside was a silver chamber-and in the center, suspended in glass and light, a sphere no larger than a heart.

The code that created me. The code that could end all of this.

Behind me, Theta stirred.

And I knew this wasn't over.

Not yet.