83. Jonah
Jonah
N obody speaks for half a second.
Even the alarms seem quieter.
Because everybody in this room already knows one thing:
Nothing good exists in this place.
Ronan’s voice crackles again through comms.
“The chamber’s sealed behind reinforced blast glass. No visible access panel.”
Aaron mutters something dark in the background.
Then—
“…You guys should probably hurry.”
The tone of his voice hits wrong immediately.
Not tactical.
Not cautious.
Disturbed.
That gets my attention fast.
Sienna moves toward the terminal instantly.
“Show me the chamber.”
The monitors flicker.
For one terrifying second, I think Oracle is going to refuse.
Then Lily’s small voice whispers softly through the speakers.
“I can open it.”
Kade lunges forward immediately despite the blood loss.
“NO!”
Cal slams him back against the wall with his rifle.
“Sit down, Hannibal.”
Lily flinches hard at Kade’s shout.
The lights pulse red again.
Sienna immediately lowers her voice.
“Lily, sweetheart, look at me.”
The little girl’s eyes return to the screen.
Breathing shaky.
“You’re safe.”
The lights slowly fade white again.
Jesus.
This entire facility is emotionally tethered to a traumatized child.
The monitors change.
Security feed activates.
Ronan and Aaron stand in a massive underground corridor filled with vapor and flickering emergency lights.
Children huddle behind them wrapped in tactical blankets.
Alive.
Thank God.
Then the camera pans slowly toward the chamber.
And every muscle in my body locks tight.
No.
No no no—
Bodies.
Rows of them.
Human beings suspended vertically inside cylindrical containment pods lining the walls.
Some empty.
Some shattered.
Some still occupied.
Lance swears softly beside me.
“What the hell…”
The pods look medical.
Experimental.
Tubes.
Neural wiring.
Biometric monitors.
And in the center of the chamber—
One pod still active.
One figure still inside.
Sienna stops breathing beside me.
“Oh my God.”
The camera zooms closer.
Female.
Dark hair floating around her shoulders inside the fluid-filled chamber.
Thin.
Motionless.
Connected to thousands of neural interface lines.
Then the monitor beside the pod flickers.
SUBJECT S-01
The entire room goes silent.
Sienna stumbles backward.
“No…”
Kade smiles weakly through bloody lips.
“There’s the original.”
Cold crashes through me.
“What?”
Vale goes pale.
Horrified.
“She cloned the neural architecture…”
Sienna shakes her head violently.
“No no no—”
But deep down?
She already knows.
Lily wasn’t the first.
This woman was.
The pod hisses softly.
And suddenly—
The woman’s eyes open.
Gray eyes.
Exactly like Lily’s.
Exactly like Sienna’s memory.
Oh God.
Aaron’s voice drops almost to a whisper.
“…Guys?”
The woman inside the pod slowly lifts one trembling hand against the glass.
And whispers one word through cracked lips.
“Sienna.”