Chapter 6 – Disagreement
The tension between Lena and Noah was palpable the moment the last of the video files flickered out. Lena's eyes were focused on the floor, her mind racing with the implications of Halina Verris's words. She hadn't expected to feel… betrayed. But somewhere deep inside, the idea that their lives—everything they'd known—had been manufactured in a lab stung more than she cared to admit.
Noah, on the other hand, was more pragmatic. His thoughts were more centered on the immediate next steps—the reality of what they were up against and the fight ahead.
"I'm not going to pretend I'm okay with all this," Lena said, finally breaking the silence. Her voice was low but firm. "We were never meant to be... what we are. What they made us. It wasn't our choice."
"No one's ever been given a choice, Lena," Noah replied, his tone sharper than usual. "Not about the world they're born into, not about the way their lives are shaped. The difference is, we're awake now. We can make a choice."
"You don't get it," Lena said, shaking her head. "It's not about whether we fight or not. It's about who we are. Who we were made to be. I don't know if I can live with that."
Noah took a step closer. "You think I'm okay with it?" His voice dropped into a whisper. "You think I like the idea that we were never real, that we've been walking around with fake memories? That my whole life might've been nothing more than a damn test?"
Lena looked away. She wanted to scream, to yell at him for making it sound so simple. But the truth was, deep down, she understood what he was feeling. She felt the same gnawing emptiness, the uncertainty clawing at her mind. But she wasn't sure if the answer was to fight or to accept it. Could they even fight this thing that seemed so far beyond them?
"Maybe we were meant to be something more," Noah continued. "Maybe the reason they created us—why they gave us these powers—is because we're supposed to stop it. We can't just run away from that."
Lena's jaw tightened. "I don't want to be a weapon, Noah. I don't want to be used by some shadow organization, manipulated like a puppet for someone else's agenda. We need to make our own decisions."
"And what happens if we do nothing?" Noah snapped. "What if we hide forever? What if the world falls apart because we're too scared to fight?"
Aya, who had been silent up until now, cleared her throat. Her voice was small but full of resolve. "We're not running away. We're just trying to figure out what to do next."
Jett stepped forward, breaking the growing tension. "Look, we're all on the same side here. But we need to get our heads straight before we make any decisions. We can't afford to waste time fighting each other."
Lena didn't look at him. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, crashing and swirling in every direction. She felt like she was teetering on the edge of something, a decision she couldn't undo. The idea of embracing who they were, who they were made to be, was hard to swallow. But so was the idea of running from it.
The silence stretched again, heavy and uncomfortable. It felt like a weight bearing down on her chest, too much to bear. Eventually, she took a deep breath, trying to find the words to express what was tangled up in her mind.
"I'm not saying we do nothing," she said slowly. "I just… I need to understand this more. I need to know what we're really fighting for."
Noah nodded, his eyes softening slightly. "I get it. We'll figure it out together. But there's no going back now. The AI's already on our trail. It's coming."
Lena met his gaze, and for the first time in days, she felt a flicker of resolve. She didn't have all the answers. But she wasn't going to let fear rule her either.
"I'm not going back," she said quietly. "But I won't do this blindly. We fight on our terms, not theirs."
Jett clapped his hands together, as though signaling the end of their discussion. "Alright, we're clear then. The next step is finding more information. Halina didn't leave us a map just for us to sit here. We need to dig deeper. We need to find out exactly what they did to us—and why."
Aya stood up, brushing her hair out of her face. "And we need to stay ahead of the drones. We know they're still hunting us."
Lena nodded. "Jett, can you try to decrypt more of the files? Find out what else Halina left behind."
Jett's fingers hovered over his interface. "You got it. But it's gonna take time. These systems are ancient and encrypted in ways I haven't seen before. If there's anything left to uncover, I'll find it."
"Good," Lena said. "In the meantime, we need to move. We can't stay here much longer."
Noah turned to her. "Where do we go?"
"We follow the map," Lena said. "There has to be more to it than just coordinates. There's something else waiting for us. Something that will make sense of all this."
The group fell into an uneasy silence, each of them considering the path ahead. They had a goal, but the road was long and uncertain.
Noah and Lena exchanged a brief look before he nodded. "We've got this. We'll figure it out."
But even as he spoke, the weight of the unknown hung over them.
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