One minute left.
The countdown glowed on the screen like a pulse.
I stared at the pod—the real Amara. My original. The one whose memories I'd inherited, whose pain I carried, whose shadow I'd become.
Elias stood frozen beside me.
"I don't think you should let her wake up," he whispered.
"I don't think I have a choice," I replied.
The hiss of decompressing gas filled the lab.
Then—
The pod opened.
She blinked.
Coughed.
Sat up.
And stared at me.
I saw recognition spark in her eyes.
Then confusion.
Then… terror.
"You…" she rasped. "You're me."
"No," I said, voice trembling. "I'm what they turned you into. Your backup. Your fail-safe. Your shadow."
She touched her chest like she wasn't sure her heart was real.
Elias stepped forward. "We don't have much time. The system wipes in less than—"
"Thirty-five minutes," she finished for him.
We both looked at her.
She smirked. "I built it. I remember."
That's when it hit me.
She wasn't weak.
She wasn't helpless.
She was everything they tried to erase from me.
The fighter.
She climbed out of the pod, shaky but determined. Her eyes scanned the lab like she already knew its secrets.
Then she looked at me.
"You're not just a copy," she said slowly. "You're a refinement. They took the fire out of me and gave you the ashes."
I winced.
"And yet," she added, stepping closer, "you still burned everything down, didn't you?"
My jaw tightened. "I had to. To survive."
She nodded.
"I believe you."
Elias looked between us. "So… what now? Two Amaras walk out of here?"
We both turned toward him.
Then toward the terminal.
The choice was clear.
Only one could integrate the system core. Only one could shut Mason down completely. The other would have to disappear. Digitally. Physically. Permanently.
"Let me," I said.
"No," she replied. "I was the one they hurt. I'm the one who remembers."
I stepped forward. "But I'm the one who survived."
She tilted her head. "You really think they'll believe in you, once they find out what you are?"
"I'm not what I was made to be," I said softly. "I'm who I chose to become."
Her lips parted—but before she could answer—
ALERT: SECURITY BREACH.
We turned.
Doors sealed behind us.
The lab lights flashed red.
A voice echoed over the intercom.
"How poetic," Mason said, his voice oily and cold. "My two daughters fighting over who gets to kill me."
He knew.
He saw.
The countdown screen vanished.
New countdown: LAB SELF-DESTRUCT — 5 MINUTES.
Elias cursed. "He bypassed our override."
The original Amara looked at me.
Eyes hard.
Unblinking.
"We're out of time."
I nodded.
And said, "Then we decide right here. Right now."