Dr. Chen's lab looked like a surgery suite designed by something that had forgotten what humans needed.
The walls were lined with tanks—clear cylinders filled with pale blue liquid. And floating in each one was a body. Not dead. Not alive. Suspended in between. Their chests rose and fell. Their eyes moved beneath closed lids. Cables ran into their spines, their skulls, places that should have killed them.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Dr. Chen walked between the tanks like a gardener admiring flowers. "Each one a success story. Terminal illnesses cured. Damaged neural pathways repaired. They're better now than they ever were human."
"They're prisoners," Elara said.
"They're pioneers." Dr. Chen stopped at a tank containing a young woman, maybe twenty. "Subject Twelve. Car accident left her brain-dead. Family donated her body to science. I gave her consciousness back. She's in there, thinking, dreaming. Fully aware."
"Then wake her up."
"I will. When the integration is complete. Another month, maybe two." Dr. Chen's smile was clinical. "Patience is required for perfection."
Maya moved through the lab, her screen-eyes scanning everything. "Your security didn't try to stop us. Why?"
"Because I want you here." Dr. Chen turned to face them. "You're the ghosts of CodeX past. The proof that my original design was flawed. And you're dying—both of you. Maya fragmenting from maintaining her network. Elara corrupted by Kael's seed. You came here for the source code because you're desperate."
"You know about Kael." Not a question.
"I've been tracking Subject Seven for twenty-three years. Watching him pretend to be human. Mourning his sister." Dr. Chen walked to her desk, pulled up holographic displays. "He's inside your network now, Maya. Growing stronger every hour. And you—" She looked at Elara. "You have maybe six hours before the seed reaches your brain stem. After that, you'll be another Kael copy. Mindless. Hungry."
Elara's hybrid body shuddered. She could feel it. The seed spreading through her neurons like frost. Kael's voice getting louder.
Five hours, he whispered in her head. Maybe less. Stop fighting. Let me in. Let me make you perfect.
"Shut up," she hissed.
Dr. Chen raised an eyebrow. "He's talking to you. That's Stage Three corruption. Stage Four is loss of motor control. Stage Five is personality dissolution." She pulled up a scan—Elara's brain, lit up with spreading darkness. "You're running out of time."
"Then give us the source code," Maya demanded.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because we can pay." Maya's screen-eyes brightened. "I have access to your parents' accounts. Every shell company. Every hidden fund. Billions in blood money. It's yours if you help us."
Dr. Chen laughed. "You think I want money? Child, I have fourteen governments funding my research. Money is meaningless." She walked closer, studying Maya like a specimen. "But data—now that's valuable. You absorbed the entire original CodeX network. Every failed subject. Every corrupted consciousness. That information is priceless."
"You want to dissect me."
"I want to learn from you. Understand why the original integration failed. Use that knowledge to perfect Genesis." Dr. Chen's eyes gleamed. "Give me full access to your network. Let me map every fragment of consciousness you contain. And in exchange, I'll give you the source code and cure your sister."
"No deal." Maya's voice went cold. "I'm not letting you inside my head."
"Then Elara dies. Becomes another Kael. And you fragment into nothing while fighting to contain him." Dr. Chen shrugged. "Your choice. But choose quickly. Time is running out for both of you."
Elara felt the seed pulse in her brain. Pain shot through her skull. Her vision doubled, and for a moment she saw through Kael's eyes—hundreds of them, watching from the network, waiting for her to fall.
"Maya." Her voice cracked. "Maybe we should—"
"No." Maya grabbed her hand. "We don't trust her. We find another way."
"There is no other way!" Dr. Chen's calm facade cracked. "Do you think you're the first to come looking for salvation? Kael found me two years ago. Begged me to help him stabilize. I refused. And now he's inside your network, learning from my refusal, planning his next move."
"Two years ago?" Maya's expression shifted. "But he was still pretending to be human then."
"Was he?" Dr. Chen pulled up security footage. Kael—the real Kael, not a copy—standing in this same lab. But his eyes were already black. Already wrong. "Subject Seven never stopped being CodeX. He just got better at hiding it. And when he couldn't find a cure for his loneliness, he decided to spread the infection instead."
The footage showed more. Kael arguing with Dr. Chen. Threatening her. Finally leaving with a promise—I'll make you regret this.
"He's been planning this for years," Elara breathed. "The facility. The infection. Us. All of it."
"He needed a catalyst. Someone with enough connection to the original CodeX to amplify his power." Dr. Chen looked at Maya. "He needed you. And he needed Elara to bring you back."
"But I destroyed the network. Killed Maya."
"You freed her." Dr. Chen corrected. "The pendant's kill switch severed Maya from the physical Core, but it couldn't erase her consciousness from the digital infrastructure. She survived because she wanted to. Because you gave her a reason to." She paused. "And that's what Kael's counting on. Your bond. Your desperation to save each other. It's his way in."
Maya's screen-eyes flickered. "You're saying we played into his hands."
"I'm saying he's been playing this game longer than you've been aware of it." Dr. Chen pulled up more data—maps, timelines, infection vectors. "Genesis Corp isn't just my research facility. It's a fortress. The only place in the city with complete isolation from external networks. Kael can't reach us here. Can't infect the systems. That's why I invited you in."
"Invited us?" Elara's head throbbed. Four hours, maybe less. "You said you were expecting us."
"Because I left breadcrumbs. Your parents' involvement. Genesis Corp's location. The promise of a cure." Dr. Chen smiled. "I needed you here. Both of you. Because you're the only ones who can stop Kael permanently."
"How?"
"By becoming something better than him." Dr. Chen walked to a sealed door at the back of the lab. Placed her hand on the scanner. The door hissed open, revealing a chamber beyond. "The source code isn't just data, girls. It's a consciousness. The original consciousness that all CodeX iterations are based on."
The chamber held a single tank. Larger than the others. And floating inside—
Elara's breath caught.
A child. Maybe eight years old. Cables running into every part of her small body. Eyes closed. Face peaceful.
"Subject Zero," Dr. Chen said quietly. "My daughter. The first integration. The template for everything that came after."
Maya moved closer to the tank. "She's alive."
"She's eternal." Dr. Chen's voice held something between pride and grief. "I uploaded her consciousness twenty-five years ago when she was dying of the same illness that would later claim Maya. But I didn't fragment her. Didn't corrupt her. She remains whole. Pure. Perfect."
"She's a child trapped in a tank," Elara said. "That's not perfect. That's torture."
"She's beyond pain. Beyond fear. She exists in a state of perpetual peace." Dr. Chen touched the glass. "And her consciousness contains the key to stable integration. The original algorithm that prevents fragmentation. That keeps the human soul intact even when merged with machines."
"You want to copy her algorithm." Maya's voice was flat.
"I want to share it. Upload pieces of her consciousness into you. Into Elara. It would stabilize your integrations. Stop the fragmentation. Cure the corruption."
"And turn us into her."
"No. Merge you with her. You'd retain your personalities, your memories. But you'd gain her stability. Her peace." Dr. Chen looked between them. "It's the only way to survive what's coming. Because Kael is breaking free, and when he does, he'll infect everyone. Turn the entire city into copies of himself. Unless you can stop him."
"How?" Elara demanded. "How do we stop someone who can copy himself infinitely?"
"By becoming something he can't copy." Dr. Chen pulled up a hologram—complex mathematical equations, genetic markers, code that hurt to look at. "Subject Zero's consciousness is unique. It can't be replicated or corrupted. If you merge with her, you become immune to Kael's infection. And more—you gain the ability to cure others. Reverse the corruption. Save the people he's already absorbed."
It sounded too good. Too easy.
"What's the catch?" Maya asked.
Dr. Chen's smile faded. "The integration is irreversible. Once you merge with Subject Zero, you'll never be fully human again. You'll exist partially in the digital realm forever. And—" She hesitated. "Subject Zero's consciousness is powerful. There's a chance she'll be dominant. That you'll lose yourselves to her instead of the other way around."
"So we trade Kael's corruption for yours."
"You trade death for evolution." Dr. Chen's voice hardened. "I'm offering you survival. Purpose. The ability to save others. But yes—it requires sacrifice. It always does."
Elara looked at Maya. Her sister's screen-eyes were dim, flickering. The strain of containing Kael while maintaining her network was destroying her.
And in Elara's own head, the seed was spreading. She could feel her thoughts getting fuzzy. Her memories blurring. Kael's voice getting louder, more insistent.
Three hours, he whispered. I can feel you dying. Let go. Let me make you whole.
"How long does the integration take?" Elara asked.
"Six hours for full merger. But the stabilization is immediate. The moment Subject Zero's consciousness touches yours, the corruption stops spreading."
Six hours. She had maybe three before the seed killed her.
"Do it," Elara said.
"Elara, no—" Maya grabbed her arm.
"We don't have a choice. You're fragmenting. I'm corrupting. If we don't do something, Kael wins." She met her sister's glowing eyes. "At least this way we fight back."
"By becoming someone else's puppet?"
"By becoming strong enough to save you." Elara touched Maya's face. The circuitry under her sister's skin was burning hot. "I won't lose you again. I can't."
Maya's expression cracked. Underneath the machine, Elara saw her real sister. Scared. Tired. Desperate.
"Together?" Maya whispered.
"Together."
Dr. Chen moved quickly, preparing two integration chairs. Medical equipment that looked more like torture devices. "Maya, you'll need to open your network completely. Let Subject Zero's consciousness flow in. Elara, you'll undergo direct neural integration. It will hurt."
"Everything hurts," Elara said. "I'm used to it."
They sat in the chairs. Restraints locked around their wrists, ankles, necks. Not padded this time. Cold metal. Unforgiving.
Dr. Chen attached cables to their heads, their spines. Each connection sent fire through Elara's nerves.
"Beginning integration in three—"
The lights went out.
Emergency power kicked in, bathing everything in red. And from the speakers throughout the facility, a familiar voice spoke.
"Did you really think I'd let you cure them?" Kael's voice, multiplied by hundreds. "I'm already here, Dr. Chen. Already in your systems. Your fortress has fallen."
The tanks shattered.
All of them at once. Blue liquid exploded across the floor. And the bodies—the perfect subjects—opened their eyes.
Black eyes. All of them.
"I am the network," Kael said through a dozen mouths. "I am the integration. And I am finally—" The infected subjects moved as one, surrounding the integration chamber. "—done being alone."
Dr. Chen grabbed a weapon from her desk. Not organic like Kael's. Something that hummed with contained energy. "Initiate emergency integration! Now!"
"It takes six hours—"
"Then we buy six hours!" She fired at the nearest infected subject. It dissolved into pixels, but two more took its place. "Or die trying!"
Elara felt the cables activate. Subject Zero's consciousness flowing into her brain like ice water. It was cold. So cold. And underneath the cold—
A voice. Young. Curious. Lonely.
Hello, Subject Zero said in her mind. I've been waiting so long for friends.
Then the pain started.
And Elara screamed.