I took the stairs two at a time.
Seven minutes.
Six now.
Every second felt like a detonator click.
I burst onto the rooftop, wind howling like it knew something was about to break. The city stretched below, oblivious. The sun cast long shadows over the edge of the roof — and there she was.
V01.
Arms folded. Hair tied back. Bomb trigger clutched like a toy.
"I was beginning to think you'd run," she said casually.
"You know me better than that."
She turned, eyes gleaming. "Actually… I am you. Just less emotional. More evolved."
I stepped forward. "What do you want?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Don't act dumb. I want it all. Your memories. Your friends. Your pain. Even your guilt. They made you the template, Amara. I'm just the result."
I swallowed. "That's not how identity works."
She laughed. "Identity is just who survives the longest."
I glanced at the device in her hand — a smooth silver cube blinking in red.
"Failsafe bomb," she said, twirling it. "Built into the school's boiler room. Connected to Mason's mainframe. If my vitals drop below a certain level, boom."
"You wired yourself?"
She smiled. "Symbiosis. Either I replace you, or we both die."
I shook my head. "No. There has to be another way."
"Oh, there was. Until Elias betrayed you."
My breath caught.
She smirked. "He gave Mason your neural map. That's why I know everything. Your favorite song. The way your voice trembles when you lie. The boy you almost kissed behind the gym in sophomore year."
"That's enough."
"Is it?" She raised the detonator. "You have three choices, Original. Fight me and die. Join me and lose yourself. Or walk away and let everyone else burn."
I took a shaky step forward. "There's a fourth option."
"Oh?"
"I rewire the bomb."
She blinked.
Then realization dawned.
"You accessed the mainframe."
I nodded.
"Why do you think I let you monologue for three minutes?"
Her smile vanished.
She lunged.
We collided in a tangle of fists and fury, the rooftop echoing with the sound of past and future colliding.
She was faster.
Stronger.
But I had purpose.
She grabbed my arm, twisted — pain flared, but I slammed my knee into her ribs.
She stumbled.
"Why are you fighting so hard?" she hissed.
"Because I remember who I am," I said, wrenching the detonator from her hand. "I'm not a version. I'm not a product. I'm Amara.
And you're just a shadow."
I slammed the cube into the rooftop terminal and entered the new code.
The red lights turned green.
Timer: DEACTIVATED.
She screamed — a sound so human it almost broke me.
Then she collapsed, eyes flickering.
"Why…" she choked. "Why do you get to be real?"
I knelt beside her.
"Because I chose love over fear."
Her eyes closed.
And then—
Footsteps.
I turned.
Elias.
Blood on his shirt.
But holding a drive in his hand.
"I found the backup," he said. "Everything Mason ever did. We can expose him."
I stared at him.
Silent.
Then I said, "Give it to me."
He hesitated.
"I don't know if you can trust me anymore."
I reached out, took the drive, and whispered:
"You're right."
Then I walked away.
---
✨ Cliffhanger:
Because the real war wasn't over identity.
It was over truth.
And I was done letting others define mine.
Next stop: Mason's core lab.
Where it all began.
And where it must end.