The pod opened by itself.
No countdown.No warning.
Just a soft click.
Alex stepped back instinctively—but his body didn't listen.
His vision blurred.
"Alex?" Mia called out. Her voice sounded far away. "Don't move—"
Too late.
The floor beneath Alex's feet shifted.
Not broke.
Shifted—like it was alive.
A thin ring of red light snapped around his ankles.
Chris rushed forward. "HEY—LET HIM GO—"
The wall between them slammed down.
Metal.
Thick.
Final.
"CHRIS!" Alex shouted.
No answer.
The room sealed itself, leaving Alex alone with the pod.
Then the screen above it turned on.
A single line of text appeared:
WANPM PROTOCOL: MAIN CHARACTER SYNC REQUIRED
Alex's heart pounded.
"I didn't agree to this," he said out loud.
The system replied.
A calm, emotionless voice.
"You already did. Years ago."
His blood ran cold.
Memory fragments slammed into his mind.
—A younger Alex.—Signing something he didn't understand.—His brother watching from the shadows.
"No," Alex whispered. "You tricked me."
The pod's glass slid fully open.
Inside—
wasn't empty.
It was him.
Another Alex.
Eyes closed.Wires in his neck.Chest rising slowly.
Chris's voice suddenly burst through the speakers, distorted.
"ALEX—LISTEN TO ME—THE SYSTEM IS LYING—"
The audio cut.
The calm voice returned.
"Only one Alex can exist outside the system."
Alex backed away, panic rising. "What happens to the other one?"
A pause.
Then—
"He becomes the replacement."
The lights flickered violently.
Somewhere above, alarms restarted—but this time, faster. Louder.
Red lights.
Not blue.
Not warnings.
Execution mode.
Suddenly, Lina's voice cracked through another channel.
"Alex… I hacked a partial feed."
Her breathing was uneven. "Your brother—he's not escaping. He's watching."
The screen switched.
His brother stood in a control room, hands folded, eyes locked onto Alex.
"You always hated choosing," he said. "So I made it simple."
Alex clenched his teeth. "This isn't a choice. It's murder."
His brother's expression hardened.
"No. It's survival."
The pod began to pull Alex forward.
Invisible force.
Strong.
Alex screamed, fighting it with everything he had.
"MIA—CHRIS—ANYONE—"
Mia's voice broke through for one second—
"Alex, don't let it decide who you are—"
Cut.
Silence.
The system spoke one last time:
"Decision window: five seconds."
The numbers appeared.
5
Alex looked at the unconscious version of himself.
4
He looked at his reflection in the glass.
3
His brother leaned closer to the camera.
"Prove me right."
2
Alex made a move no one expected.
He turned—
and jumped into the pod himself.
The timer stopped.
Everything went dark.
And the final message appeared:
SYNC ACCEPTEDREALITY UPDATE IN PROGRESS
🩸 END OF EPISODE 9 🩸