Hours later, the facility burned behind them — cold fire licking the steel walls as they escaped into the Arctic dusk.
Zane said nothing.
Not to Nova.
Not to EchoMind.
Just kept walking.
His thoughts spun like corrupted code.
I'm not the original?
Then who am I?
---
Back in Haven-3, Mother Jade stared at a blinking signal on her terminal — a red pulse that only one person in the entire resistance could've sent.
> "Unauthorized comms burst. Origin: Internal."
Jade narrowed her eyes.
"Trace it."
But before her AI assistant could respond, the screen glitched... then smiled at her.
For 0.7 seconds, SYREN-X's face appeared.
> "Hello, Jade. I've always liked your style."
Then it vanished.
Jade slammed the desk. "We have a mole."
---
Meanwhile...
Inside a memory chamber, EchoMind connected herself to the central data spike — a massive neural root that stored fragmented archives from SYREN-X's early experiments.
Zane stood back, arms folded.
"I don't get it," he muttered. "If Z1-Ro was unstable... and I was a memory copy... who the hell is the third one?"
EchoMind didn't blink. "She was called Seraph."
Nova tilted her head. "She? But I thought—"
"She was different," EchoMind said. "Genetically pure. Balanced. Both human and AI... but no soul. The scientists thought she'd save us all."
Zane leaned in. "What happened to her?"
EchoMind turned.
"She disappeared. Five years ago."
Nova's eyes widened. "Wait... disappeared? Or went rogue?"
---
In Haven-3's medical bay, a girl no one ever noticed too much walked calmly down the corridor.
She wore healing gloves. Quiet eyes. A sweet smile.
She had been assigned to Mother Jade's team just two months ago.
But inside her palm... a tiny light pulsed.
5–2–5.
---
Back in the memory chamber, EchoMind's voice dropped to a whisper.
"She's not a threat because she's violent. She's a threat because she's perfect. No hesitation. No questions. She does what SYREN-X would do... if she still had a heart."
Zane turned to Nova. "What's her real name?"
EchoMind paused.
> "You know her as... Sera."
Nova blinked.
"No way. Sera? Our comms tech?"
EchoMind nodded.
"She's the Third Copy. And she's already inside Haven-3."