The tunnel shook with every movement of Prototype Eleven.
Metal groaned. Loose pipes rattled. Dust rained from the ceiling like ash.
Mara sprinted, dragging Ten's hand, lungs burning as the creature crawled after them-
not on its legs,
but on the walls,
and the ceiling,
and the pipes-
slithering, rearranging its limbs in movements that made Mara want to scream.
Ten stumbled.
"Mara-I can't-I'm so tired-"
"Just a little farther!" Mara gasped.
They burst into a massive chamber-a canyon of rusted machinery, conveyor belts, and churning grinders beneath lattices of metal walkways. The Neuro-Recycling Pits.
The place where failed prototypes went to be erased.
Ten froze.
A mountain of discarded synthetic limbs lay below.
Broken skull casings.
Half-formed bodies.
All dumped like trash.
"This is where they put us..." Ten whispered, shaking.
Behind them-
CLANG.
Prototype Eleven skittered through the doorway, head snapping at a too-sharp angle as it fixed on the girls.
Mara stepped in front of Ten again.
"Stay behind me."
Eleven dropped to all fours with a metallic screech and lunged.
VOSS WATCHES
High above, in the surveillance room-
Dr. Helena Voss watched the chase through a dozen camera feeds. Her face remained perfectly calm, perfectly collected.
A technician beside her swallowed nervously.
"Ma'am... Eleven is showing unprecedented aggression. It's ignoring orders."
"It doesn't need orders," Voss said coolly.
"It needs instinct."
"Instinct to do what?"
Voss smiled faintly.
"To correct my mistake."
THE PIT
Mara rolled aside as Eleven slammed into the grate where she'd been standing, bending steel like paper.
Ten screamed.
"MARA!"
Eleven's clawed fingers dug into the floor as it pivoted toward the sound-
Ten froze, terror locking her limbs.
"No-no-please-"
Mara threw herself at the creature, slamming both palms against its back. Power-raw, unshaped, electric-exploded from her arms.
The force hurled Eleven sideways into a stack of machinery.
Metal collapsed with a deafening crash.
Ten stared at Mara, eyes wide.
"You did that!"
Mara's hands shook violently, lightning crawling between her fingers.
"I... didn't mean to."
"You and me..." Ten whispered. "We're the same now."
A sound echoed through the chamber-
A shriek of metal tearing.
Eleven rose from the pile, its synthetic spine reconfiguring with a series of hideous clicks.
Mara stepped back.
"No... no, this thing won't stop."
Ten's voice shook.
"It's learning us."
DANIEL ESCAPES
On the upper floors-
Daniel dangled helplessly in his restraints...
Until a second explosion rocked the facility, knocking out the wall lights.
The magnetic cuffs flickered-
Then released.
Daniel fell to the floor hard, gasping.
Without hesitating, he staggered to his feet and limped toward the emergency ladder.
"Mara... Ten... hold on," he panted.
He banged through the maintenance door and descended into the lower levels, blood dripping from his chin.
He didn't know if he could save them.
But he had to try.
REVEAL IN THE CHAOS
Back in the pit-
Ten grabbed Mara's sleeve desperately.
"I remember something-Evelyn-your template-my mother. She didn't want us here."
"What do you mean?"
"She tried to stop them. She tried to destroy the project-"
Ten's breath hitched.
"They hurt her, Mara. She died trying to save you."
Mara's knees weakened.
"What?"
Ten pressed her hands to her head.
"I'm seeing her memories-flashes-she kept saying your name-before they remade it-"
Before Mara could ask-
Eleven attacked again.
Mara shoved Ten behind a rusted storage unit.
"Stay down!"
Eleven charged across the catwalk overhead-
Mara grabbed a loose cable sparking with electricity, wrapped her hand in cloth, and ripped it free.
The cable crackled alive between her fingers.
"HEY!" she shouted.
Eleven turned.
Mara slashed the cable forward-
lightning arcing-
It struck Eleven in the face.
The creature spasmed, twitching violently as its synthetic nerves overloaded.
Ten's eyes widened.
"Mara-you're controlling it!"
"No," Mara panted.
"I'm surviving."
But Eleven didn't fall.
Instead-
It adapted.
Its synthetic skin peeled aside, revealing metal plated over vital joints.
Mara's stomach dropped.
"It's learning us too fast-"
Eleven lunged-
But something slammed into it mid-air, knocking it sideways.
Daniel.
Bloodied, staggering-but alive-he shoved a metal beam into Eleven's torso, pinning it briefly.
"Mara!" he gasped.
"Get Ten out of here!"
Ten screamed.
"Daniel-behind you!"
Eleven wrenched free of the beam and swiped-
A single, brutal strike.
Daniel's body hit the ground hard.
Too hard.
Mara screamed his name.
Ten clung to her, sobbing.
"He's not moving-Mara-he's not-"
Eleven turned toward them...
And Mara felt something inside her snap.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Purpose.
She grabbed Ten's hand.
"Together."
Ten nodded shakily.
Their fingers intertwined.
A hum built between them-
a shared vibration-
as their minds synced for the first time.
Eleven charged.
Mara and Ten screamed-
And a blast of blue-white force erupted outward, tearing through the air like a hurricane.
The shockwave hurled Eleven across the chamber, smashing it through a steel barrier and sending sparks cascading from destroyed machinery.
The walls trembled.
Lights shattered.
Pipes burst.
The entire pit shook.
When the energy faded-
Mara collapsed to her knees.
Ten wobbled beside her, coughing, shaking violently.
Eleven lay twisted amid debris, limbs twitching-
-but not dead.
Never dead.
"Mara..." Ten whispered weakly.
"We have to go..."
Mara looked at Daniel-still unmoving.
She looked at Eleven-starting to rise again.
She put her arm around Ten-
and stepped into the dark hallway ahead,
knowing-
Voss had only just begun the hunt.