Cassian took a step back as Elara's eyes snapped open.
They glowed with a strange gold hue—Lyra's hue.
"Elara?" he said cautiously.
Her gaze locked on him. But something was off. Her expression was too still, her body unnaturally still. It was like something was sharing her skin.
She blinked slowly, then spoke—but two voices came out. One familiar. One not.
"Cassian… we're not alone in here."
Marrin swore and reached for the tether device. "I'm disconnecting her."
"No!" Elara's voice snapped, forceful and clear. "Don't touch it. She's opening up. I can feel her—her thoughts, her plans."
Cassian stepped in closer, cautiously. "Then talk to me. What's she doing?"
Elara looked around like she was seeing two worlds at once.
"She's mapping the city's energy grid," she whispered. "Using the Seed tech embedded in the underlines. She's planning a full overwrite of the citadel's infrastructure. Communications. Weapons. Biometric locks. Everything."
Cassian's stomach dropped. "She's turning the entire capital into a weapon."
"She's not alone," Elara added. "She has help."
"From who?"
She shook her head, wincing. "I don't know. The signal's fragmented. I keep seeing a shadow—someone on the inside. Someone she trusts."
Marrin cursed under his breath. "A mole?"
Before Elara could respond, her body convulsed—briefly, violently. She clutched the tether port on her neck as static sizzled from the connection.
"Break it," Cassian said. "Shut it down now."
"No!" Elara gasped. "I need to see more. I—"
Her breath caught.
Her pupils dilated.
And she screamed.
Inside the Shared Mindspace
Elara was standing in an abandoned corridor—metal walls dripping with condensation. She heard footsteps behind her.
She turned and saw Lyra.
But it wasn't just Lyra this time.
Behind her stood a man. Tall. Masked. His arm glimmered with Seed code circuitry.
"You've seen him before," Lyra whispered. "You just don't remember."
The masked man stepped forward. His voice was warped, unrecognizable.
"She's almost ready. Just one more push."
Then the vision shattered.
Back in the Real World
Cassian and Marrin pulled the tether device free with a wrenching snap. Sparks flew.
Elara collapsed to the floor, convulsing, gasping for air.
Cassian caught her before she hit the ground. "You're okay. You're okay."
"No, I'm not," she croaked. "There's someone else. Someone feeding her intel. It's not just clones. It's worse. She's planning a networked consciousness. A Hive. One thought. One will. Hers."
Marrin paled.
"If she links them all at once—"
"She'll rewrite the entire human genome where it touches the Seed."
Resistance Safehouse – Later That Night
The room was dark. Only one bulb flickered above.
Elara sat on the edge of a steel cot, her hands trembling.
Cassian leaned against the far wall, watching her. She looked… shaken. Not from pain. From doubt.
"I saw myself," she whispered. "In her memories. Not just once—dozens of times. They made so many versions of me. Some didn't survive. Others were reprogrammed. She… watched it all."
Cassian walked over. "She's playing with your head."
Elara looked up at him. "What if she's not wrong?"
He crouched in front of her. "Look at me."
She hesitated.
"Look at me, Elara."
She did.
"You are not her. You made choices she didn't. That's what makes you real. Not your DNA. Not your origin. You."
She studied him.
"I need you to believe that," he said. "Because I can't lead this without you."
A long pause.
Then, softly, she asked, "Why do you care so much?"
Cassian hesitated.
"Because I was there. When they found you. When you screamed coming out of that cryotube. You didn't know your name, but you still tried to protect the scientist who pulled you out. You put yourself between him and a rogue Sentinel drone."
His voice lowered.
"You were a blank slate, Elara. But your instinct was to save someone else."
Their eyes met.
For a moment, the war faded away.
Then Marrin's voice barked through the comm on the wall.
"Both of you. Briefing. Now. We have a traitor."
War Room – Thirty Minutes Later
The screen showed a face Elara hadn't expected.
Talia.
Alive.
Captured.
And smiling.
"She walked into a Seed tower without resistance," Marrin said. "They welcomed her."
Cassian's jaw tensed. "She was the mole."
Elara clenched her fists. "No. That doesn't make sense. Talia's one of the originals. She's been fighting Lyra's operations since before I was activated."
"People change," Marrin said coldly.
"No," Elara insisted. "Lyra wanted her to join. That's different. That means Talia has something she needs."
Cassian narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Or someone."
Talia leaned forward in the recording. Her voice crackled through the audio.
"You don't know the whole truth, Elara. But you will. Very soon."
Then the feed cut to black.
Elara stood motionless.
Cassian turned to her. "What is she talking about?"
"I don't know," she said, but something in her voice suggested otherwise.
Something she hadn't said yet.
Later That Night – Outside the Safehouse
Elara stood on the rooftop, staring at the stars.
Cassian approached quietly, offering her a cup of synth-coffee. She took it without looking.
"I think Talia knows what happened to the original me," she said quietly.
Cassian stood beside her. "You think she's keeping that from you?"
"I think she made a deal with Lyra to find out."
They stood in silence.
Then Cassian said, "You still haven't told me what you saw in that memory shard."
Elara turned to him.
"I saw someone kill the original."
He stared at her.
She nodded slowly. "It wasn't Lyra."