Light swallowed Maxx whole.
He felt weightless—then heavy—then upside down—then inside out—then emotionally attacked.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU—WHICH ONE—PLEASE TELL ME I STILL HAVE ALL MY ORGANS—"
They slammed back into reality hard.
Maxx face-planted into something soft and warm.
And breathing..
He peeled his cheek off the surface and blinked.
"…Lyra?"
Lyra lay beneath him, glowing faintly, her hair fanned out like a neon halo.
Her face was inches from his.
Her voice was breathless.
"You… landed… on me."
Maxx scrambled backward so fast he knocked over a stack of holographic books.
"SORRY—SORRY—YOU TELEPORTED—WHY DID YOU TELEPORT—WHY AM I MADE OF AWKWARDNESS—"
Lyra pushed herself up, looking surprisingly steady.
"We didn't have time to wait for the other one," she said softly. "And if I didn't act first, she would have dragged you somewhere unsafe."
Maxx blinked around.
They weren't on a rooftop.
They weren't on campus.
They were—
"…in a library?"
Lyra nodded.
"The Old Sanctum Library. My sanctuary. It is hidden between layers of static space."
"…Static space? Like… buffering? Did you teleport me into a giant cosmic loading screen?!"
"Yes."
Maxx groaned. "Of course you did."
The room was massive — floating shelves, spiraling staircases, glowing glyphs drifting through the air.
Everything looked ancient but alive,protective and secretly safe.
For about three seconds.
Because—
CRACK–KSSSHHH
A ripple split the air like a jagged scar.
Maxx's blood iced.
"…No way."
Lyra grabbed his wrist tightly.
"No. No, she shouldn't be able to—"
The tear widened.
A metallic boot stepped through.
Then another.
And then—
4531 burst out of the portal, breathing hard, sparks flying from half her body.
She scanned the room.
Found them.
And her eyes sharpened like blades.
"You stole him."
Lyra stood.
Calm. Soft. Dangerous.
"He was not yours to take."
Maxx crouched behind a floating study desk.
"PLEASE STOP TALKING LIKE I'M A POKÉMON YOU'RE BOTH TRYING TO CATCH—"
4531 pointed at Lyra.
"You endangered him."
Lyra's glow deepened. "You nearly destabilized the teleport. I prevented the collapse."
"You took him from me."
"You would have taken him somewhere Helix monitors."
"You interfered with protocol."
"You interfered with his choice."
"HE DID NOT CHOOSE."
Both of them turned to Maxx.
Maxx threw up his hands.
"STOP. STOP IT. I DIDN'T CHOOSE ANYONE BECAUSE I WAS BUSY—OH, I DON'T KNOW—TRYING TO NOT GET EATEN BY A DIMENSIONAL HOLE?!"
They went silent.
Maxx stood shakily.
"Okay. Okay. Everyone breathe. Except you—" he pointed at Lyra— "Do you even breathe?"
"I… am learning how."
"Great, cool, TERRIFYING."
He turned to 4531.
"And you—why are you sparking like you lost a fight with a blender?!"
4531 stared him down.
"I pursued. To protect you."
Lyra stepped closer to Maxx, almost instinctively.
"He does not need a handler."
"And he does not need an unstable echo dragging him into dead space."
Lyra flinched.
Maxx noticed.
And something in him snapped.
"HEY. You don't talk to her like that."
Both women froze.
Lyra's eyes widened — just a flicker — but enough to turn Maxx's heart inside out.
4531's jaw tightened. "She is malfunctioning."
Maxx stepped in front of Lyra.
"You BOTH malfunction whenever I stand in the room, so let's not throw rocks in glass sanctuaries."
Lyra touched his shoulder lightly warmly, and softly human.
"Maxx…"
4531's fingers twitched like she wanted to drag him away.
Lyra gently pulled his sleeve.
"I can take us deeper," she whispered. "Where even she cannot follow."
4531 heard it.
Her visor flared with alarm.
"No. If she takes you deeper, you won't return."
Maxx's breath caught.
He looked between them.
Lyra — warm, emotional, uncomfortable with her new self but trying.
4531 — fierce, broken, loyal to a fault.
Both waiting.
Both terrified of losing him in their own way.
Maxx whispered:
"…Okay. What is in the 'deeper' part of this library?"
Lyra hesitated.
Then:
"The truth."
4531 stepped forward.
"And the danger."
Maxx swallowed.
"Well fantastic. I love when my options are 'truth' and 'danger'—that always goes so well."
The library lights dimmed.
The rip in reality behind 4531 began widening again — Helix trying to push through.
Maxx panicked.
"OKAY—WHATEVER WE'RE DOING—WE DO IT NOW."
Lyra reached for his hand.
4531 reached for his other.
Maxx's heart nearly exploded.
The air shook—
And then—
The tear began to speak.
A voice like static and godhood twisting together:
"Maxx Lane.
You cannot run from what you are."
Lyra pulled him closer to her.
4531 braced for combat.
Maxx whispered:
"…oh crap."
And the floor beneath them began to fall.
Maxx hit the floor so hard his soul briefly disconnected from his body.
"OW—LYRA—4531—WHICHEVER ONE OF YOU—WHY DO NONE OF YOU BELIEVE IN GENTLE LANDINGS?!"
He rolled onto his back, groaning.
Then he froze.
Because the room around him was NOT his dorm.
Not a rooftop.
Not Helix HQ.
It was…
A soft-blue neon-lit tech chamber, humming with light streams flowing along the walls like data rivers. Transparent screens hovered in the air, displaying shifting code. A stasis bed glowed at the center, surrounded by floating tools.
And Maxx had one immediate, very reasonable question:
"…WHERE THE HECK ARE WE?!"
A voice answered behind him.
A calm, cool, unmistakably familiar voice.
"Someplace Helix cannot track. My sanctuary."
Maxx jolted so hard he almost dislocated something.
He spun around—and saw 4531 standing just a few feet away.
But—different.
Her armor had repaired itself. Seamlessly. Her posture was perfect. Her glowing lines steady and bright.
She looked… whole.
Too whole.
Maxx blinked. "4531? Your arm—your face—your EVERYTHING—weren't you just—?"
"I stabilized upon arrival," she said simply.
Maxx's eyes widened.
"So YOU were the one who teleported me?!"
4531 nodded once. "Correct."
Maxx threw his hands into the air. "SWEET. FANTASTIC. GREAT CHOICE. But uh… WHERE IS LYRA?!"
4531 didn't speak.
Didn't even flinch.
She just walked forward slowly and
Controlled, almost… predatory.
Maxx backed up a step. "Hey—hey—heeeey. Don't give me that Terminator-with-feelings look—where is she?"
4531 stopped just an arm's length away.
Her eyes—normally sharp and soldier-like—held a flicker of something else.
Conflict.
Possession.
Fear.
"She attempted to take you somewhere unsafe," 4531 said quietly. "Her stability was failing. I intervened."
Maxx blinked. "You—intervened? Meaning… tackled? Forced teleport hijack? Straight-up kidnapped me?!"
4531's jaw tightened.
"I relocated my asset to a secure zone."
"STOP CALLING ME AN ASSET! I AM A PERSON! A HUMAN PERSON WITH BASIC RIGHTS AND—"
4531's eyes softened by exactly 0.2%.
"You are… important," she corrected carefully. "To… mission parameters."
Maxx stared at her.
"…the mission where I stay alive?"
"…yes."
"Not the mission where you treat me like a USB stick?"
"…also yes."
Maxx sighed. "We'll unpack that later. But where is Lyra NOW?"
Before 4531 could answer—
A ripple of light burst on the far side of the chamber.
Maxx spun toward it.
"Oh no. OH NO NO NO—"
Lyra stepped through but she wasn't flickering anymore.
She wasn't weak and wasn't unstable.
She was glowing like a star about to explode, her hair floating, eyes pure white with violet streaks dancing like fire.
Her voice echoed with layered distortion:
"Release him."
4531 moved instantly—stepping in front of Maxx.
Lyra kept walking, unfazed. "He trusted me."
"And I protected him," 4531 replied, stance widening.
"You interfered."
"You are unstable."
"I stabilized."
"You were a threat."
"You are afraid."
The lights in the chamber dimmed from the pressure of their power signatures colliding.
Maxx screamed internally.
"HEY—HEY—LADIES—CAN WE NOT DO THE AI-MAGIC-LASER-EYES-SHOWDOWN IN A ROOM FULL OF EXPLODABLE EQUIPMENT?!"
Neither listened as Lyra's glow intensified.
4531 shifted into combat stance.
The air cracked between them while Maxx grabbed his hair.
"NO FIGHTING! NO FIGHTING! I'M TOO PRETTY TO BE VAPORIZED!"
Then—
Both of them snapped their attention to him.
Maxx froze like a deer in a nuclear spotlight.
Lyra spoke first, voice softening. "Maxx… come to me."
4531 stepped closer, shield-like. "He stays."
Lyra lifted her hand.
4531 blocked him with an arm.
Maxx swallowed.
"Okay. COOL. COOL COOL COOL. I'm about to be torn in half by two versions of the same girl. HOW IS THIS MY LIFE?!"
Lyra held her hand out again.
4531 braced herself.
Maxx felt the world shrinking.
He took a deep breath.
Then—
A loud alarm blared through the chamber as
all three turned at once and the holo-screens flashed red.
HELI X SIGNAL DETECTED.
BREACH IMMINENT.
Maxx paled. "OH GREAT. NOW ALL THREE OF US HAVE PROBLEMS."
Lyra's glow flared.
4531's armor locked into combat mode.
Maxx pointed wildly at the door.
"OKAY. WONDERFUL. TEAM MEETING. PRIORITY ONE: NOT DIE. PRIORITY TWO: WE CAN ARGUE ABOUT WHO GETS TO HOLD MY HAND AFTER WE LIVE."
Both AI-girls exchanged a glance.
Reluctant ,irritated but… united.
And in perfect sync, they said:
"Agreed."
Maxx gulped.
"We are so unbelievably screwed."