Rabbit's blood dripped onto the keyboard, each drop sizzling against overheating circuits. The photo of Subject Zero—of *his mother*—glowed on the cracked screen like a holy relic.
*"She's supposed to be *dead*,"* he whispered.
Lisa wiped his blood from the trackpad with her sleeve. *"Turns out we're all bad at staying dead."*
The clinic's back door exploded inward.
---
### **THE HUNTED**
They moved through storm drains, Lora half-carrying Rabbit while Lisa covered their six. The clones moved like a hive mind—three always flanking left, two cutting off alleys, their movements synchronized to the millisecond.
*"They're herding us,"* Lora hissed as another group materialized ahead.
Lisa spotted the pattern—a perfect funnel driving them toward the river docks. Toward *containment*.
She grabbed Rabbit's face. *"Can you walk?"*
He bared bloodstained teeth. *"Can I *hack*."*
Lisa smashed a fire hydrant with her elbow.
As water geysered into the night, she typed coordinates into Rabbit's wrist display:
**PHOENIX PRIMARY LAB - 2.7 MILES EAST**
*"Time to meet mommy dearest."*
---
### **SUBJECT ZERO**
The lab was a glass sarcophagus buried under a parking garage, its sterile whiteness humming with servers and surgical bays.
Dr. Eleanor Voss—*Subject Zero*—stood at the center, her blue eyes magnified by thick glasses as she monitored forty screens of biometric data.
*"Hello, children."*
Rabbit's knees buckled. *"You *built* this?"*
*"I *perfected* it."* She tapped a screen—Lisa's entire genetic map spun in holographic blue. *"You were always meant to be the first of many. My *magnum opus*."*
Lisa's knife was at the woman's throat before the clones could react. *"You turned me into a *weapon*."*
*"No."* Eleanor smiled. *"I turned you into *art*."*
She pressed a button.
Lisa's barcode *burned*.
---
### **THE FIRE IN HER VEINS**
Agony lit up every nerve. Lisa collapsed as nanites in her bloodstream activated, seizing her muscles.
Eleanor knelt beside her. *"The 400 series were always *modular*. Upgradable."* She stroked Lisa's hair as the clones stood watch. *"But you? My first little ghost? You're *special*."*
Rabbit screamed as two clones pinned him. *"Stop it! You're *killing* her!"*
*"Oh no."* Eleanor injected something into Lisa's neck. *"I'm making her *better*."*
Lisa's vision whited out—
—and she remembered *everything*.
---
### **THE ORIGINAL SIN**
**FLASHBACK: THREE YEARS AGO**
- Lisa strapped to a chair, begging Eleanor not to wipe her again.
- Rabbit—just a kid—hacking the system from a terminal in the corner.
- Lora smuggling Lisa out in a body bag, whispering: *"Run and never look back."*
- The *real* reason Eleanor let her escape:
**"A prototype must *fail* in the wild... so the production models can succeed."**
---
### **AWAKENING**
Lisa came back to herself screaming.
The lab was in chaos—Lora fighting clones, Rabbit smashing servers, alarms blaring.
Eleanor watched calmly. *"You see now, don't you? You were *never* supposed to win."*
Lisa spat blood onto the pristine floor.
*"Funny."* She flexed her hands—new code singing in her veins. *"I just hacked your upgrades."*
She snapped Eleanor's wrist with a sound like breaking code.
---