Mara returned to the Elias Rowan Echo one final time.
But this time, she didn't enter it.
She watched it from the outside.
Frame by frame. Structure over sensation.
And suddenly, the pattern snapped into focus.
The Echo's emotional arc wasn't built to implicate Adrian Locke.
It was built to implicate her.
The pauses aligned with her known interpretive habits. The language mirrored phrasing she used in training simulations. Even the shooter's posture subtly echoed her own body language when standing in an Echo chamber.
This wasn't evidence.
It was calibration.
They weren't proving Locke's guilt.
They were teaching the system how to convict Mara Kade.
Her stomach twisted.
The realization landed fully formed, heavy and undeniable:
She was not being punished for discovering the truth.
She was being replaced.