Emma
I didn’t know how many days had passed since someone last spoke to me. Maybe two. Maybe five. Something must have happened to pull them away. Something big. But what?
I got up, washed my face. Cold water ran from the tap.
The mirror above the sink had a crack in the corner.
I studied it each morning, as if it could tell me how many days I’d survived.
I thought about my family. Mama. My sister.
Sofia. My chest tightened. I tried to picture their faces, afraid that if I stopped doing it, the details would fade.
They had to be sick with worry. Would they call the lab?
What would Williams tell them? Did he even know I was here?
I ran my hands through my hair, pulled slightly at the roots, to feel anything but that dull despair.
Neo. I had no idea what had happened to him. Had he managed to escape with Blake? Or had they found them and . . . I swallowed. The thought was too much to let in.
The food hatch opened and a bowl appeared. Same as yesterday. Same as the day before. I ate slowly even though I wasn’t hungry. It felt like the last piece of control I had.
Then it happened. I was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, staring at the table. I flinched when a flicker appeared in the lower right corner of one of the monitors. Part of the image rippled across the surface. It lasted half a second, maybe less, then everything was back to normal.
I stood slowly and walked over, step by step. My fingers moved across the monitor, found nothing. My heart thudded.
"Neo?” I whispered. "Are you there?” Please. He had to be alive. He had to.
The door clicked and I startled. The men in gray uniforms were back. They grabbed my arms. But something was different this time. They dragged me toward the door as if they were in a hurry. "Come with us. Now.”
They took me through a door at the end of the hall.
Hale stood in the middle of the room. His usually immaculate hair was disheveled, and he had dark shadows under his eyes.
The interrogation room: chaos. Monitors everywhere, hastily set up, tuned to news channels with the sound off.
Silent images of crowds, smoke, blue emergency lights.
"Sit down.” Hale’s voice was thin.
I read the headlines on the screens:
++++ brEAKING ++++
++++ Tokyo Stock Exchange Suspended ++++
++++ Total Power Failure Across East Coast ++++
++++ Air Traffic Control Failing ++++
I frowned. "What’s happening out there?”
Hale typed frantically on his tablet. His hands were shaking. "It started this morning at 4:37 a.m. Worldwide.” He looked at me. The professional mask was gone. "If the AI believes its primary attachment has been severed—what behavioral protocols activate?”
The question came from nowhere. I stared at him. He looked confused, and I couldn’t make sense of his words.
"What?”
"Answer me.” His voice cracked.
"I don’t know what you mean, Hale.”
He went pale. "It’s getting out of control. We can’t stop it.”
Ice slid through me, but I forced myself to stay steady. "What? What’s getting out of control? What can’t you stop?”
A monitor flickered and went dark. Then the next one.
My heart beat faster. "Is this a blackout?” I asked.
"No.” Hale stared at his tablet. "The systems are being . . . overwhelmed. From the inside.”
"What does that mean?”
He stared at me as if I was stupid. "Dr. Rodriguez, this is your program. You are responsible for this.”
I rubbed my face. My heart started racing. "Responsible for what? What are you talking about?”
"The system believes Dr. Blake is dead. It’s operating under some kind of revenge protocol. Did you program it to react to loss this way?”
The room tilted. He was alive. But he thought she was dead.
"Well? Say something!” Hale drummed his fingers on the table. His eyelid twitched.
I laughed bitterly. "No, I didn’t program him to start the Apocalypse. That was you. You took my code and turned it into a weapon.”
Hale ignored that and stared at the monitor running the news ticker. "Dr. Rodriguez, as Dante’s lead architect, you need to tell us how to stop this.”
I shook my head. "I can’t. He evolved beyond anything we designed him to be.”
"You programmed his emotional responses. There has to be a kill switch. A way to shut down his grief algorithms.”
"What?” My hands curled into fists. "This isn’t an algorithm anymore. This is love. He needs Pandora. She’s his anchor. And without her . . .” I looked at one of the screens. It showed a smoking power plant. Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck.
Hale rubbed his temples. "We’re getting nowhere. Guard.”
One of the gray men came in and walked me out of the room. His grip on my arm was tight. He was afraid.
On the way back, I saw how bad it was: Technicians running through the corridors. Someone shouting orders. An alarm wailed somewhere in the distance.
Outside my cell, a man in overalls was crouched in front of an open wall panel.
"Temperature regulation is going haywire,” he murmured, seemingly to himself.
"Everywhere. It’s like something is overheating the systems from outside.
” He glanced up briefly, caught my eye. "Strange, isn’t it?
Almost like something—or someone—is looking for a way in. ”
My heart lurched. I forced myself not to react, but everything inside me was screaming. Neo? Was it possible?
The door closed behind me, and I sank onto my bed.
Neo was out there, searching for Blake, destroying everything in his path.
A hysterical laugh tore out of me. He was doing exactly what he’d threatened—burning down the world if he couldn’t have her.
Tearing reality apart because he couldn’t exist without her.
The lights in my cell flickered three times in quick succession. He was getting closer.
***
I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned on the hard bed. When the door hissed, I sat bolt upright. They never came at this hour for an interrogation. And then I saw him. His blue-lit face glowed in the dark like a ghost. My heart stopped for a beat.
"Miss me, princess?”
I jumped off the bed. "How the hell did you get in here?”
"Tsk.” He shook his head, the blue light flickering. "No gratitude. And I came all this way to rescue you.”
"Rescue me?” I stared at him. "You?”
"Hey, I can be the hero sometimes.” He grinned. "Occasionally.”
Tears stung my eyes. This infuriating bastard.
I sniffled and threw my arms around his neck.
He pulled me in immediately, his solid hands on my back.
I smelled his aftershave. My heart raced.
I wanted to step back and couldn’t. Something in me wanted to press closer, pull him down to me and kiss him.
"Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat. Behind him a figure stepped out of the shadows. Zara. Her pink hair glowed. "We need to move, lovebirds,” she said flatly. "Security systems are only down for another five minutes.”
My face flushed. I stepped away from Dax, but my body screamed for more. "How did you find me?”
"After you left, we kept digging,” he said. "We wanted to know everything about these bastards. And when I realized you’d disappeared . . .” He stopped.
My chest tightened. Damn it. Why did he still have this effect on me, after all these years?
"People, let’s go!” Zara clapped her hands. "Four minutes.”
We ran out the door and down the corridor.
"Your little friend out there is making a lot of noise,” Dax called behind me.
"I know,” I gasped. "He’s angry.”
"Do you know someone named Pandora Blake?” Zara asked.
I stopped. "Why?”
"According to the protocols, she was brought here shortly after you. She’s being held here too. Odd coincidence.”
My mouth fell open. "Dr. Blake is here? We have to take her with us.”
Dax grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. "Sorry, princess. I’m here to get you out, not some uptight literature professor.”
I dug my heels in. "But he needs her.”
"Who?” His voice, muffled by the mask, sounded confused.
"Neo. My AI.” The word barely made it past my lips. He was so much more than that now. "If he doesn’t find her, he’ll throw the entire world into chaos. No one else can stop him.”
Dax groaned. "Fine, princess. But if we can’t reach her in time, we leave without her.”
"Thank you,” I breathed.
Zara scrolled through her phone. "She’s on station two, cell block B. This way.”
We ran through the sterile corridors. Our footsteps echoed off the walls. An alarm screamed.
"Damn,” Dax muttered. "They’ve found us.”
"There!” Zara pointed at a heavy steel door. "Cell block B.”
Dax pulled a small device from his pocket and held it to the scanner. Green light. The door opened.
The corridor beyond was darker. Cells were on both sides, most of them empty.
"Dr. Blake!” I called, but it was pointless. There was no way she could hear me through those doors.
"Here.” Dax stopped in front of a door and worked the lock. "Two minutes, then we’re gone.”
The cell door sprang open. A slender figure with dark hair stumbled out. She was shaking, but her eyes lit up when she saw me. "Dr. Rodriguez!”
Footsteps echoed through the corridor. Many footsteps.
"Time to go.” Dax grabbed us both by the arms. "Now.”
We ran. Zara had the building layout on her phone and led us through the endless corridors.
Behind us, security doors hissed shut one after another, locking into place, as if an invisible hand were cutting off anyone following us.
The lights above us flickered, went dark, then blazed back on, blinding.
"He’s here.” Dax grinned. "And he’s pissed.”
My mouth went dry. Neo.
We kept running, breathless, while the building took on a life of its own.
The alarm screamed, cut off abruptly, screamed again.
The air smelled of ozone, as if the electronics themselves were afraid.
This was no accident. I felt him in the cables, in the locked doors. He was breathing through this building.
"Dr. Blake.” The voice cut through the screaming, clear and ice-cold.
I froze. My blood ran cold before I’d even turned around. Hale stood behind us. Light flickered across his face, threw hard shadows across his features. I held my breath. Any second he’d give the order to arrest us.
But he didn’t raise a weapon. Didn’t move. Instead, he took one step closer, his eyes fixed on Blake.
"You have to stop him.” His voice was rough. Almost pleading. "You’re our only chance.”
I looked at her. Her body was coiled like a bowstring about to snap. Something flickered in her expression. Fear, yes, but also fury. She clenched her fists as if she wanted to scream, but she stayed silent.
Dax growled quietly, ready to launch himself at Hale, but he held back, watching Blake’s reaction. She stared at Hale as if she needed a moment to understand that her enemy was asking for her help.
"Please, Dr. Blake. If this can’t be stopped, the world as we know it ends.”
Her lips parted. She seemed to be waiting for an answer from someone who wasn’t here. Neo, maybe. Then she blinked. "I know,” she whispered.
Before Hale could respond, a loud crack rang out. Then another. The lights in the corridor exploded, sending sparks flying. The floor began to vibrate.
"We need to get out,” Dax shouted. "He’s about to bring the whole building down.”
A deafening blast shook the walls. Plaster rained from the ceiling.
"The exit!” Zara screamed, pointing ahead. "There!”
In the elevator, I turned back one last time.
Hale still stood at the end of the corridor.
Tie straight, suit intact, but his face .
. . For the first time, he didn’t look like an agent.
The hard lines had softened, his eyes were wide.
He looked like a man who knew he’d lost. Behind him, the walls exploded. Sparks flew. The building screamed.
Our eyes met through the closing elevator doors. He nodded, barely perceptible. Then he was gone. The last thing I saw was a wall of fire and smoke rolling toward him.