The alarms were screaming, but all Rhea could hear was the pounding of her heart—and the warmth of Lucien's breath against her cheek.
"Rhea," he whispered, his voice tight with urgency, "if we don't make it out—"
"Don't," she cut him off, turning to face him. Her eyes shimmered under the pulsing red lights. "Don't say goodbye. I'm not losing you again."
Lucien's hands framed her face, his thumb brushing her trembling lip. "Then let me kiss you like this might be our last moment."
And in that chaos—amid blaring sirens, flickering lights, and the system preparing to erase them—his lips found hers.
It wasn't a kiss of desperation. It was a promise.
A storm of emotions crashed between them—grief, rage, desire, and something dangerously close to hope. Rhea melted into him, grounding herself in the only thing that felt real. The only thing that hadn't betrayed her.
But the moment shattered.
BZZZT. The steel doors slammed down behind them.
Lucien broke the kiss, his voice hoarse. "We're sealed in."
Footsteps. Echoing from the corridor. Mechanical. Inhuman.
The system had deployed enforcers.
Rhea pulled away, eyes blazing. "Then we break out. We're not dying in this lab."
"Or being captured," Lucien added, taking her hand.
The hallway beyond glowed with an eerie, unnatural light. The floor trembled under the weight of approaching danger.
But for the first time, Rhea wasn't afraid.
Not with Lucien beside her. Not after that kiss.
She squeezed his hand. "Let's finish what we started."
And together, they ran—into the fire, into the unknown, into whatever future they could steal back.
The corridor stretched before them like a throat waiting to swallow them whole. But Rhea didn't hesitate. Lucien was right behind her, steps in sync, breath ragged, but hands never letting go.
The floor panels hissed open—three mechanical units emerged, tall and skeletal, eyes glowing blue like frozen death. System enforcers.
"Rhea Lin," one of them said in a cold, synthetic voice. "You are in breach of protocol. Surrender immediately."
She stared them down. "You want me back? Then you better be ready to bleed."
Lucien reached into his coat, pulling a small EMP spike they'd stolen from the black market weeks ago. "You handle the override codes. I'll distract the machines."
"You mean we distract them." Rhea's gaze snapped to the access terminal on the wall behind the bots. "Give me sixty seconds."
Lucien's hand brushed hers again, brief but electric. "Don't die."
"I wasn't planning to. You still owe me breakfast."
With a nod, he charged—vaulting over debris, hurling the EMP into the chest of the lead enforcer. Sparks exploded. Metal shrieked. The others turned, and chaos erupted.
Rhea sprinted. Her fingers flew across the touchscreen, bypassing corrupted firewalls and encryptions. Her mind raced faster than her pulse.
45 seconds.
Lucien dodged a blade. His coat ripped. A cut on his shoulder bloomed red, but he didn't fall.
30 seconds.
One of the enforcers advanced toward her. Too fast.
"System breach detected," it intoned.
Rhea gritted her teeth. "Not yet, you bastard."
She yanked a cable from the panel and jabbed it into her wrist console. The system screamed in her head, demanding compliance.
WARNING: Cognitive Sync at 78%. Memory Trade Pending.
"Take what you want," she hissed. "But let me in."
The console flared green.
10 seconds.
Lucien tackled the final enforcer into a wall of sparks. Its eyes flickered—then died.
Rhea slammed the override.
The hallway lights burst to life. The main exit hissed open with a seismic groan.
She turned—just in time to see Lucien stumble forward, blood on his temple.
"Lucien!" She ran to him, catching him before he hit the ground.
"I'm okay," he murmured. "Just... need to lie down forever."
She almost laughed, almost cried. "We're not done yet."
He looked up at her, dazed but grinning. "You're incredible, you know that?"
Before she could answer, the hallway screen blinked to life behind them.
Kairo.
Alive. Watching.
"I underestimated you, Rhea," he said with a faint smile. "But you just gave the system exactly what it wanted."
Her blood turned cold.
Lucien stirred beside her. "What did he mean?"
Rhea's vision swam.
The system had accessed her memories.
And in that moment, she felt something leave her—a part of her past, a piece she couldn't name.
But it was gone.
And Kairo was still one step ahead.
[To be continued...]