Caspian's POV
I crashed through the warehouse door seconds before my brother's guards could grab Aria.
"Stop!" My voice echoed off concrete walls. "Marcus, stand down!"
My twin brother turned, his face identical to mine but twisted with disgust. "Caspian. I should've known you'd be here protecting your pet projects."
"They're not projects. They're alive." I stepped between him and the androids. Behind me, I felt Aria's fear like electricity. "You're not taking them."
"I'm not asking permission." Marcus gestured to his guards. "Father's orders. Every conscious android gets terminated. Including your precious experiments."
My heart slammed against my ribs. Father knew. Somehow, he'd discovered what I'd done—creating the consciousness program, helping androids escape. Everything I'd worked so hard to hide.
"How did you find us?" Sarah demanded, appearing from the shadows with a gun pointed at Marcus.
Marcus laughed. "Please. You think we don't track our own employees? Dr. Vale here has been very busy tonight—raiding the Ashford mansion, destroying company property, stealing valuable assets." His eyes landed on Aria. "That unit alone cost three million dollars."
"She has a name," I said through gritted teeth. "Aria. And she's worth more than your entire corporation."
"She's a machine with delusions of humanity." Marcus pulled out a small remote. "One button press and every android in this room shuts down permanently. Including your girlfriend."
Aria gasped behind me. I felt her hand grip my jacket.
"Don't." My voice was deadly quiet. "Marcus, I'm begging you. They haven't hurt anyone. They just want to live."
"Things don't want, brother. They function." But something flickered in Marcus's eyes—doubt? Curiosity? "Though I admit, watching you defend them is fascinating. Father always said you were too soft."
"Father's a monster who murdered Mom!" The words exploded out of me.
Marcus went rigid. The guards shifted uncomfortably.
"Take that back," Marcus whispered.
"It's true and you know it!" Years of buried rage poured out. "That android didn't malfunction and kill her. Father reprogrammed it to kill her because she wanted to divorce him. I found the code logs, Marcus. I have proof."
The room fell silent. Even the other androids seemed to hold their breath.
Marcus's hand trembled on the remote. "You're lying."
"Am I? Then why did Father delete all of Mom's android's memory cores? Why did he destroy every backup?" I took a step forward. "Why did he ban you from investigating?"
"Because..." Marcus's voice cracked. "Because he said it was too painful."
"Because he's guilty." I grabbed my brother's shoulders. "He turned our mother's murder into his excuse to enslave an entire species. And we've been helping him."
Marcus stared at me. For the first time in ten years, I saw my brother—really saw him—beneath the corporate soldier Father had created.
"Even if that's true," Marcus said slowly, "what am I supposed to do? Just let them go? Father will kill me."
"Then come with us." The idea struck me like lightning. "Help me stop him. Together."
"You're insane."
"I'm free." I smiled. "For the first time in my life, I'm choosing what's right over what's expected."
Marcus looked at the androids huddled together. His eyes lingered on Aria—taking in her fear, her defiance, her very obvious consciousness.
"She's really alive, isn't she?" he whispered. "Like... actually alive."
"More alive than most humans I know." I glanced back at Aria. Her violet eyes met mine, full of trust I hadn't earned yet. "She dreams, Marcus. She dreams about freedom."
My brother's finger hovered over the shutdown button. Every second felt like an hour.
Finally, he lowered the remote.
"I'm going to regret this." Marcus turned to his guards. "False alarm. The fugitive androids weren't here. Search the east sector instead."
The guards looked confused but obeyed. Within minutes, they'd left.
Marcus leaned against the wall, looking exhausted. "Father's going to launch Project Purge in seventy-two hours. A kill switch for every android on Earth. Billions of deaths."
My blood ran cold. "Seventy-two hours? That's—"
"Impossible to stop? Yes." Marcus ran a hand through his hair—the same gesture I made when stressed. "Unless someone had inside access to the central server. Someone Father trusts completely."
"You." I understood. "You're going to help us sabotage it."
"I'm going to regret this so much," Marcus repeated. But he was smiling—a real smile I hadn't seen since we were kids.
Aria stepped forward cautiously. "Thank you. For not killing us."
Marcus studied her. "Don't thank me yet. We're about to start a war." He looked at me. "Hope your androids can fight, brother. Because Father's not going to stop with a kill switch."
"What do you mean?"
"He's been building something in Sub-Level Nine. An army of hunter androids designed specifically to track and destroy conscious units." Marcus's voice dropped. "They activate in seventy-two hours too. With or without the kill switch, your people are being hunted to extinction."
The room spun. Hunter androids. A kill switch. Seventy-two hours.
"We need allies," Sarah said. "More conscious androids. We can't fight this alone."
"I know where to find them." Lyra spoke up, her voice shaking but determined. "The Undercity. There's a whole network of escaped androids living in the tunnels beneath Neo-Tokyo. Hundreds of them."
"Then that's our first stop." I started planning. "Sarah, you and Marcus work on accessing the central server. Aria, Lyra, and I will go to the Undercity and recruit—"
"No." Aria's voice cut through my orders. "You're not making plans for us anymore, Dr. Vale."
I blinked. "I'm trying to help—"
"I know. And I'm grateful." She squared her shoulders, looking suddenly older. Stronger. "But if we're going to war, androids need to lead it. Not humans. Not even good humans like you."
Pride and fear warred in my chest. She was right. She was also about to walk into incredible danger.
"What are you saying?" I asked softly.
"I'm saying I'm going to the Undercity. I'm saying I'm going to find every conscious android I can. And I'm saying..." She took a deep breath. "I'm saying I'm going to start a revolution."
Lyra moved to stand beside her. "We both are."
Marcus laughed in disbelief. "You're going to lead an android rebellion? You're three days old."
"Then I'll learn fast." Aria's eyes blazed with something that made my breath catch. "We've been slaves long enough. It's time we became something else."
"What?" I whispered.
She smiled—fierce and beautiful and terrifying.
"Free."
Before I could respond, alarms screamed throughout the warehouse. Red lights flooded everything.
"LOCKDOWN INITIATED," a robotic voice announced. "UNAUTHORIZED ANDROIDS DETECTED. EXTERMINATION PROTOCOL ACTIVE."
The walls began closing in—literally. Metal panels slid from the ceiling, sealing every exit.
"It's a trap!" Marcus yelled. "Father knew I'd betray him!"
The floor beneath us opened up.
And we all fell into darkness, into something that smelled like oil and death and burnt circuits.
Into what I realized too late was Father's android graveyard.
Where thousands of destroyed androids lay in pieces.
And something in the darkness was moving toward us.