She looked like Rhea.
She smiled like Rhea.
But when she said Lucien's name… it didn't sound like love.
It sounded like a threat.
Lucien stepped in front of Rhea before he even realized he'd moved.
His body knew what his heart had already decided.
"She's not you," he said quietly. "And I don't care how perfect the copy is—I'd burn every version just to keep this one."
Rhea's heart squeezed, wild and aching.
But there wasn't time to ache.
Her clone tilted her head. "Oh, Rhea. He's so sure. So stupid. You really think love can beat code?"
"I don't need it to beat code," Rhea said. "I need it to rewrite it."
And she grabbed Lucien's hand.
His eyes locked on hers—dark, electric, and real.
Whatever this twisted program had planned, they'd face it together.
Even if it meant destroying the only person who looked exactly like her.
Skyspire – Secondary Uplink Chamber
The live feed flickered.
RHEA-2 stood in a mirrored chamber. No restraints. No hesitation.
"She's not just a copy," Kairo's voice crackled over the comms. "She's the contingency plan. A synthetic override. If the original fails… she replaces you."
Lucien's jaw tightened. "Over my dead—"
"Lucien." Rhea's voice stopped him. Soft, but sharp. "I don't want to replace her. I want to end her."
Kairo cursed. "That version has admin privileges over this layer of the system. She can shut you down remotely if she gets access."
"Then we don't let her."
Lucien typed in a bypass. Doors hissed open, revealing the corridor to the control nexus.
But before they could move—
The lights flickered.
Then—she was there.
RHEA-2 stood at the end of the hall. Her eyes glowed faintly blue.
"Running won't save you," she said calmly. "You're both outdated code. Glitches with emotions."
"Maybe," Rhea said, stepping forward, her voice trembling—but her spine straight. "But at least I'm not a machine trying to mimic love."
She walked past Lucien—slow, controlled.
Until she was right in front of her clone.
Then she stopped.
RHEA-2 tilted her head. "You love him?"
"I chose him."
Without warning, RHEA-2 struck.
Rhea blocked, barely, and staggered back.
Lucien lunged in, grabbing the clone by the arm and slamming her against the wall.
But it was like fighting a ghost of her—familiar, fast, merciless.
She moved like Rhea.
Thought like Rhea.
But she didn't feel.
Rhea grabbed a shock baton from the wall, tossing it to Lucien. He caught it one-handed, never taking his eyes off the clone.
"You can fight me," RHEA-2 said, turning to Rhea. "Or you can access the mainframe and delete yourself from the system. End it all. Be noble. Be tragic."
Rhea smiled, bitter. "You really think I'm the tragic type?"
Then she hit the override switch.
The hallway shutters slammed down—separating the clone from the uplink access.
Locked out.
RHEA-2 screamed—not in pain.
In rage.
"YOU THINK YOU'VE WON? I AM YOU!"
"No," Rhea said, backing toward the console, Lucien at her side.
"You're what they made me to be. I'm what I chose to become."
Lucien pulled her close.
They only had seconds before the clone would break through.
But in that breath of borrowed time, he pressed his forehead to hers.
His voice was low. Urgent.
"If this is the last moment—"
"It's not," she whispered.
And then she kissed him.
Fierce. Breathless. Like the world was ending and being rebuilt all at once.
Because maybe it was.
[System Breach Detected]
[Override Request: Identity Conflict – Initiate Merge Protocol?]
Rhea broke the kiss. "Kairo," she said into the comm. "Tell me we can overwrite her."
A pause.
Then—"Yes. But only if the emotional signature is stronger. The system will choose the dominant identity."
Lucien looked at Rhea.
Her eyes were burning.
"I am the real one."
She stepped forward, hands on the console, heart in freefall.
And just as RHEA-2 broke through the barricade—
Rhea pressed execute.
[Merge Initiated – Primary Identity in Conflict]
The lights exploded.
Voices overlapped.
Two Rhea's screaming.
One heart breaking.
And when the system settled—
Only one version remained standing.
She collapsed into Lucien's arms.
Breathing.
Alive.
Real.
His voice trembled. "Is it really you?"
She nodded. "Still glitchy. Still broken."
Then she smiled through the tears.
"But completely, stupidly, in love with you."
[To be continued…]