Silence.
A silence so complete Mara thought, for a moment, she was dead.
She floated in nothingness, suspended in a cocoon of warm white light. No walls. No Sentinels. No alarms. Just… stillness.
Her heartbeat echoed faintly, like she was hearing it from underwater.
Mara…
A voice—not spoken, but remembered—brushed the edges of her mind. Female. Gentle.
Evelyn?
No. Softer. Older. Familiar in the way a dream was familiar.
Find… me…
Before she could answer, the light fractured—
—exploding into reality.
Mara gasped awake.
The maintenance bay was a battlefield.
Black scorch marks streaked the walls. Machinery was twisted metal. Steam hissed from ruptured pipes. The floor was cracked like something had slammed into it with impossible force.
Daniel staggered up from a pile of debris, coughing.
"Mara! Mara, look at me—are you okay?!"
Ten crawled toward her, bruised but conscious. Evelyn pushed herself upright, face pale, eyes wide with awe and fear.
But Mara wasn't looking at them.
She was looking at what remained of the Sentinels.
Sentinel Three lay in a heap against the far wall—
its limbs split at unnatural angles,
its implants sparking,
its eyes dark.
Sentinel Four had been shoved into the ceiling so hard it had become fused with twisted duct metal.
Both were very, very dead.
Daniel exhaled shakily. "You… you killed them."
Mara's hands still glowed faintly, tiny filaments of light curling between her fingers like smoke. The glow faded slowly, reluctantly, sinking back beneath her skin.
"I didn't mean to," she whispered.
"But you did," Evelyn murmured. "Mara… that wasn't an energy pulse. That was a spatial displacement wave. It's impossible. No prototype—no human—should be able to do that."
Daniel steadied her as she tried to stand. "We can figure out what it was later. Voss knows we survived. He'll bring more."
As if on cue, the battered speakers crackled.
Voss's voice oozed through the static like oil.
"Magnificent."
Mara froze, teeth clenching.
"You exceeded even my most optimistic projections, Mara."
Evelyn glared up at the ceiling. "You monster."
"On the contrary," Voss replied calmly, "I am a scientist. And what we have just witnessed is evolution."
Mara's fists tightened. "I'm not your experiment."
"But you are," he said softly. "And now the entire facility understands why."
A pause.
A shift in tone—colder, strategic.
"I am initiating Omega Protocol."
Evelyn gasped. "No—no, he wouldn't—"
Daniel's face darkened. "What is Omega?"
Evelyn swallowed. "Full lockdown. Automated drones. Gas dispersal. Every exit sealed. Only Voss has override authority."
Mara felt the room tilt. "Why trap us here? He could kill us."
"Oh, he won't," Evelyn whispered. "Not you. He'll kill us."
A beat.
"And then he'll take you."
Mara's pulse turned to fire.
"Over my dead body," Daniel muttered, gripping his rifle.
Ten stood shakily, eyes wide. "He's coming."
Evelyn nodded. "He wouldn't trigger Omega unless he planned to retrieve Mara personally."
Mara felt a cold ripple along her skin—
not fear.
Recognition.
Like part of her knew Voss was coming.
And like that part didn't want to run.
Daniel grabbed her face gently, forcing her eyes to meet his.
"Don't listen to that feeling. That's programming. You're more than that."
Her breath hitched. "I know. I know. But something's… changing. Inside me."
Evelyn stepped closer. "Mara, what did you see when you blacked out?"
Mara hesitated.
Then whispered:
"A woman's voice… telling me to find her."
Daniel and Evelyn exchanged looks—confused, alarmed.
Ten's eyes widened with recognition. "The archival signal…"
"The what?" Daniel asked.
Before Ten could answer, a klaxon blared overhead.
FACILITY LOCKDOWN ENGAGED.
OMEGA PROTOCOL INITIATED.
ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE.
Daniel cursed. "Evacuate? They're clearing the facility so he can fight us alone."
Evelyn grabbed Mara's arm. "We need to move. Now."
Ten pointed toward the far hall. "We have to reach the old research tunnel. It bypasses most of Omega's barriers."
Daniel nodded. "Let's go!"
They sprinted from the ruined bay into a corridor bathed in red light. Metal shutters slammed down behind them, sealing off every path they'd taken.
Trapping them.
Driving them forward.
Voss was herding them.
Mara felt her anger building like molten metal beneath her skin.
"Why is he doing this?" she whispered.
Evelyn's voice trembled.
"Because Omega Protocol ends in one place."
Daniel slowed, realizing.
"The Core."
Evelyn nodded.
"The room where Mara was created."
Mara's breath stopped.
"He wants me to go back."
Ten's voice shook. "He wants to finish what he started."
Behind them, the hiss of gas vents starting to open filled the air.
Ahead of them, the path to the Core loomed like a throat narrowing.
Mara stepped forward, her glow rising again with every heartbeat.
"No," she said.
Daniel grabbed her hand. "Mara—"
"No," she repeated. Stronger. "I'm not going back for him. I'm going to end him."
Lights flickered violently, as if the facility itself reacted.
Evelyn swallowed. "Then you'll have to confront everything he built into you."
Mara looked down the corridor. The Core waited at the far end, buried in darkness.
"Good," she whispered. "I'm ready."
But deep in her chest, the voice returned.
Find me…
before he does.
And for the first time, Mara wondered:
What if the Core didn't just hold her origin?
What if it held someone else's?
Someone like her.