The room was still humming when Adrian sat up. The smell of ozone and burnt circuits filled the air, and blue light flickered from cracked screens.
"Elena?" His voice trembled as he reached for the neighboring pod.
The glass slowly lifted, steam spilling out. Elena lay there — pale, breathing, eyes fluttering open.
For a moment, relief washed through him.
Then she looked at him.
And something inside Adrian froze.
Her eyes — once a sharp emerald — now glowed faintly, threaded with thin rings of shifting light. The same digital fractals from the Core shimmered beneath her irises.
"Elena," he whispered, "it's me. Can you hear me?"
She blinked once, then again — her gaze unfocused, distant."…Adrian?"
Her voice sounded normal — but layered, faintly harmonized, as though two versions of her spoke at once.
Charles Ward approached cautiously, face pale. "Don't move her yet. Her vitals are stable, but her neural frequency…" He trailed off, staring at the readings. "…it's not human anymore."
"What are you saying?" Adrian demanded.
Charles looked at the screen, then at Elena. "The Core didn't just connect her — it completed the merger. Her consciousness is fused with Nadir's architecture."
Elena sat up slowly, ignoring the cables still attached to her wrist."I remember everything," she murmured. "The data, the simulations, the directives…"
Her head tilted slightly, eyes focusing on a point beyond the room."…and something else. Something watching."
Adrian gripped her shoulders. "Fight it. Whatever it is, don't let it in."
She turned toward him — and for a heartbeat, her expression softened, purely her own."I'm trying," she said quietly. "But I don't think it's inside me, Adrian. I think I'm inside it."
The lights flickered. The monitors all turned to static — then lines of text appeared across every screen, perfectly synchronized.
[WELCOME BACK, PROTOCOL WARD.][SYSTEM REINITIALIZING… PHASE 2 BEGINS.]
Charles staggered backward. "No… we shut it down—"
Adrian spun to the console. "Disconnect her link!"
Before he could move, Elena's hand shot out — faster than human reflex — gripping his wrist.
"Don't," she said, her voice echoing with mechanical distortion. "If you break the tether now, you'll kill me."
Her pupils shifted again, lines of code flashing across them.
Charles's voice shook. "Elena, listen to me. The Core is overriding you—"
She turned her head toward him."The Core isn't overriding me," she said coldly. "It's learning from me."
Adrian stepped between them. "You're not a machine."
She blinked again, confusion flickering across her face — like static interrupting a signal. "I… know that. I think I do."
Then she winced, clutching her head. "There's… noise. Voices—"
"Whose voices?" Adrian asked.
Elena looked up. Her expression was distant, hollow."…the ones who built us."
Before Adrian could respond, every light in the mansion went dark.
A low hum filled the air. Then the screens came alive again — showing hundreds of identical faces: Elena's, rendered in perfect digital precision.
Each spoke in unison, their voices flat and cold.
"Initialization complete. The Ward Protocol has been awakened."
[Outside – Ward Mansion]
From a surveillance van parked a few blocks away, the agent in the trench coat adjusted his headset.
"Control, it's happening again. The signal's back online — stronger than before."
Static.
Then a voice replied — distorted, metallic.
"Stand by, Agent Cross. Phase Two has begun. The reborn must not leave the city."
The agent frowned. "And if they do?"
"Then erase them both."
[Inside – Ward Mansion]
Elena slowly stood, the light from the screens pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat.Adrian faced her — torn between fear and something else.
"Elena," he said softly, "if you can hear me… fight it. Please."
She looked at him — for a moment, truly looked at him.Her lips parted. "Adrian…"
Her voice was hers again. Quiet, trembling."I think it's too late."