She couldn't stop staring.
The woman in the image was her — down to the scar just beneath her left collarbone. The only difference was the eyes. Cold. Mechanical. Devoid of soul.
Dominic's expression was grim. "They called her Subject Echo. Not a clone. A synthetic."
"Synthetic?" Amelia whispered.
"She's not flesh. She's code. Grown around your neural blueprint. All your skills, but none of your memory. None of your choices."
Amelia's heart thudded so hard it echoed in her throat.
"How long have they had her?"
"She surfaced two months ago. But based on the comm data…" He hesitated. "She's been in development for over a year."
A year.
A full year of building a version of her that was perfect, obedient, and deadly.
"And now she's activated," Amelia murmured. "Why now?"
Dominic didn't answer. Because they both knew.
Because she was awake now.
Because Kael had triggered something in her — and Kairox couldn't risk letting that unfold unchecked.
"They're sending her to erase me."
He nodded. "To replace you, permanently."
Amelia turned away, pacing the room.
The monastery felt colder suddenly. Its stone walls like a crypt.
"I should've destroyed that comm," she muttered. "I let them find us."
"You were right to keep it," Dominic said. "Now we know what's coming."
The message had one more line. It hadn't been there before. Just three words:
SHE'S ALREADY CLOSE.
Amelia's blood ran cold.
They set traps throughout the monastery. Motion sensors. Laser tripwires. Non-lethal rounds to stall her if she got too close.
But deep down, Amelia knew none of it would work.
Subject Echo wouldn't walk through the door.
She'd slither in like a phantom — with her face, her voice, her reflexes.
She wouldn't knock.
She'd become the knock.
"You trained me to fight," Amelia said softly, strapping a knife to her thigh.
Dominic checked the chamber of his sidearm. "You trained yourself."
"But she thinks like me. Anticipates like me."
"She doesn't feel like you."
He stopped in front of her, resting his hand on her jaw.
"That's her flaw. And your weapon."
They stared at each other for a heartbeat too long. Then Eris stormed in, breath ragged.
"I found tracks," she hissed. "North side.
Barely visible, but fresh. She's already breached the perimeter."
"Alone?" Dominic asked.
Eris nodded. "No signal interference. No backup. She wants to do this clean."
A personal kill.
Amelia's stomach twisted.
She grabbed her weapon belt and followed them out, heart thudding.
But as they reached the corridor, the candles blew out.
All of them.
At once.
Darkness fell.
And with it — footsteps.
Not loud.
Not clumsy.
Graceful. Barefoot. Echoing.
Then a voice — soft, gentle. Her voice.
"Why do you resist… when you could evolve?"
Amelia spun, gun raised, but nothing.
Just shadows.
Then the candles lit themselves again — one by one — and she was standing there.
Subject Echo.
Amelia gasped.
It was like looking in a mirror if the mirror was dead.
Her twin stepped forward slowly, hands
raised.
"I'm not here to kill you yet," she said. "I want to understand why you fight."
Dominic aimed his gun at her, finger tightening on the trigger.
But Echo didn't flinch. Her eyes were locked only on Amelia.
"I watched you break free," she said. "I studied the rupture in your code. I want to know what it felt like. When did you stop obeying?"
Amelia stepped forward. "When I realized obedience wasn't survival. It was surrender."
Echo tilted her head. "Surrender is peace."
"No," Amelia said softly. "Peace is choosing."
They circled each other now, a slow and dangerous dance.
"You were made to be better," Echo said. "Cleaner. Quieter."
"Then why are you hesitating?" Amelia challenged. "Why aren't you pulling the trigger?"
Echo blinked.
She hadn't brought a weapon.
Just knives. And a glass vial — identical to the one Amelia carried.
"You have the code," Echo said. "So do I. But only one of us is the origin."
She held up the vial. "I came to compare."
Before anyone could react, she uncorked it and drank the contents.
Amelia's hand went to her own vial protectively.
Echo's body twitched.
Not in pain — but awakening.
As if the code had unlocked a second layer of consciousness.
She dropped to her knees, eyes wide, mouth trembling.
"I feel it now," she whispered. "Emotion. Fear. Rage."
Her head snapped up.
"But it's too much."
She lunged.
Amelia was ready.
The two collided in a blur of fists and sweat and speed. Blades sliced through fabric and skin. One scream echoed — no one could tell who it came from.
Dominic fired a warning shot into the air.
"Enough!"
Both women froze.
Blood dripping. Breath heaving.
And in Echo's eyes — for the first time — a flicker of doubt.
Amelia stepped back.
"You want to feel? Then live with it. That's what being human means."
Echo stood shakily.
She didn't speak.
Just turned and fled into the shadows.
Hours later, Amelia sat alone near the fire, wrapping her wounds.
Dominic joined her, quiet.
"She didn't finish the job," he said.
"No," Amelia said. "She couldn't."
"She'll be back."
"I hope so."
He looked at her sharply.
"She's part of me," Amelia said. "But she's incomplete. If we can reach her — we might destroy Kairox from the inside out."
Dominic nodded slowly. "That's dangerous thinking."
"I know."
A pause.
Then she leaned in and kissed him — harder this time. Raw. Unfiltered.
"I want to feel everything," she whispered.
And for one night, they did.