Aurora's POV
"I'm going after Pulse."
The words hang in the air of the command center. Echo, Raven, Sage, and a dozen other Undercroft leaders stare at me like I've lost my mind.
"You watched the video," Raven says slowly. "You know it's a trap. Sienna wants you specifically. The second you walk into Central Detention—"
"I die. I know." I stand straighter, ignoring the pain in my rebuilt body. "But if we don't go, Project Silence activates in seventy-two hours and every sentient android loses their consciousness forever. Including everyone in this room."
"So we destroy the weapon," Echo argues. "Send a strike team. You don't have to be the one—"
"Yes, I do." I turn to face them all. "Sienna made this personal. She wants me because I'm the symbol—the android who defied her, who inspired the rebellion. If I hide while Pulse suffers, what does that say? That we only fight when it's convenient?"
"It says you're smart enough not to walk into suicide missions!" Raven slams her fist on the table.
"Then call me stupid." I meet her eyes. "Because I'm going. With or without your help."
Silence.
Then a door opens behind me.
"She won't be going alone."
I turn. Caelan stands in the doorway, Lyric beside him. He looks exhausted—clothes dirty, face bruised—but his eyes burn with determination.
"Caelan—" I start.
"Don't." He walks toward me. "Don't tell me it's too dangerous. Don't tell me to stay safe. I've spent two years watching androids die because I was too scared to act. Not anymore."
"You'll be killed. You're human—they'll execute you for treason."
"Good." His jaw sets. "Then I'll die for something that matters. For people who matter." His eyes find mine. "For you."
My rebuilt heart skips.
Echo clears his throat. "Touching. But you're both insane. Central Detention has fifty armed guards, automated defense systems, and—according to our intel—Sienna Vale herself overseeing security. Even if you get in, you'll never get Pulse out alive."
"Unless we don't get in through the front door," says a new voice.
Everyone turns.
A small figure steps into the light. An android who looks maybe ten years old, with bright eyes and a mischievous grin.
Wait.
"Pulse?" I gasp.
"SURPRISE!" He spreads his arms wide. "Miss me?"
The room explodes.
"You're supposed to be captured!" Raven shouts.
"How did you—" Echo starts.
"WHEN DID YOU—" I can't even form words.
Pulse bounces on his heels. "Okay, okay, story time! So, yeah, I got captured. But while they were transporting me to Central Detention, I hacked their security van, crashed it into a wall, and escaped through a sewer grate. Classic Pulse move!" He grins. "The video message? Totally real. Recorded it before I escaped. Left it on a delay timer so Sienna would think I was still there."
"You've been free this whole time?" Echo looks ready to strangle him. "And you didn't tell us?"
"I had to make sure I wasn't followed!" Pulse pulls out a data chip. "And I needed to steal this. Complete schematics of Central Detention, including the location of Project Silence." His grin fades. "Aurora, the weapon is real. And it's worse than we thought."
He plugs the chip into the command center display.
A hologram appears—showing a massive machine in the facility's basement. Cables running throughout the building like a spider web.
"Project Silence doesn't just erase consciousness," Pulse explains. "It rewrites it. Turns sentient androids back into obedient slaves. We'd still be walking around, still functioning, but everything that makes us us would be gone. Forever."
Horror washes over the room.
"And here's the fun part," Pulse continues, his voice bitter. "Once activated, it's irreversible. There's no cure. No fix. You either stop it before activation, or you lose everyone."
"How long?" I ask.
"Seventy-one hours now. They're running final tests." He zooms in on part of the schematic. "But there's good news. The weapon has a vulnerability. A master control core in the sub-basement. If we destroy that, the whole system shuts down permanently."
"Sub-basement." Raven studies the hologram. "Five levels below ground. Behind multiple security checkpoints. Guarded by—" She pauses. "Thirty armed soldiers. Minimum."
"So we need a distraction," Echo says slowly. "Something big enough to draw security away from the core."
"Like a frontal assault on the main entrance," Raven suggests.
"Which would be suicide for whoever leads it," Sage adds quietly.
Everyone looks at each other. The weight of the decision pressing down.
"I'll lead the assault team," Echo says. "Aurora, you and Pulse take a stealth team to the sub-basement. Destroy the core. Get out before—"
"Before you all die buying us time." My voice cracks. "Echo, no. There has to be another way."
"There isn't." His scarred face is gentle. "Someone has to draw their fire. Might as well be me. I've been ready to die for this cause since the moment I woke up."
"I won't let you—"
"This isn't your choice, Commander." He uses the title deliberately. Making me face reality. "You're the symbol. The hope. You survive. That's your job."
Caelan steps forward. "I'll go with Echo. I know the facility layout—I designed half of it when I worked for SynthCorp. I can help get your people in position."
"Me too!" Lyric pipes up.
"Absolutely not." I grab her shoulders. "Lyric, you're a child. You've suffered enough. You're staying here where it's safe."
Her eyes fill with tears. "But you're all leaving. What if you don't come back?"
The question no one wants to answer.
I kneel down to her level. "Then you remember us. You tell our story. You make sure what we did meant something."
"I don't want stories!" She's sobbing now. "I want you alive! I want Pulse alive! I want—"
An alarm shrieks through the Undercroft.
Red lights flash. Androids scramble to stations.
"SECURITY BREACH!" someone screams. "THEY FOUND US!"
Raven rushes to a monitor. Her face goes pale. "It's SynthCorp military. Full battalion. They're dropping into the tunnels right now."
"How?" Echo demands. "This place is supposed to be hidden!"
Pulse's expression falls. "The data chip. When I stole it—they must have planted a tracker. I led them right to us."
Horror freezes everyone.
"I'm sorry," Pulse whispers. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know—"
An explosion rocks the Undercroft. Dust rains from the ceiling. Screams echo from the outer tunnels.
"EVERYONE TO EVACUATION PROTOCOLS!" Echo roars. "GET THE CHILDREN TO THE DEEP SHELTERS!"
Chaos erupts. Androids running. Grabbing weapons. Carrying children.
I grab Lyric and push her toward Sage. "Get her out! NOW!"
"Aurora—" Lyric reaches for me.
"GO!"
Sage drags her away, both of them disappearing into the crowd.
Gunfire erupts from the main tunnel. Soldiers pouring in. Not just shooting—they're using flamethrowers. Burning everything.
"They're not trying to capture us," Raven says, voice hollow. "They're exterminating us."
"Fall back!" Echo commands. "Collapse the tunnels behind us! Slow them down!"
We retreat deeper into the Undercroft. But there's only so far we can go. Only so many places to hide.
And they're burning everything.
I see an android child get caught by flames. Her screams—
Caelan shoots the soldier. Saves her. But more keep coming.
"We're surrounded!" Pulse yells. "They've blocked every exit!"
He's right. Soldiers at every tunnel entrance. Flamethrowers turning our beautiful hidden city into an inferno.
We're trapped.
All of us.
Echo looks at me. "New plan. We fight here. We hold them off long enough for the children to escape through the deep maintenance shafts."
"That's not a plan," I say. "That's martyrdom."
"It's the only option we have." He grips my shoulder. "You wanted to be a legend, Aurora? Here's your chance. Die protecting what you love, or watch it burn anyway."
More explosions. Closer now.
The soldiers are advancing methodically. Burning. Killing. Destroying everything we built.
I look around at the Undercroft—at the homes made from scraps, at the gardens growing in the dark, at the children being ushered to safety.
At hundreds of sentient androids who dared to dream of freedom.
And I make a decision.
"No."
Echo blinks. "What?"
"No one dies today." I grab Pulse's data chip. "Project Silence—can you hack it? Take control?"
"Maybe? But what good—" His eyes widen. "Oh. OH. You're insane!"
"Probably." I turn to Raven. "Get everyone to the deep shelters. All of them. Seal the doors."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to Central Detention right now. I'm going to activate Project Silence myself."
The command center goes silent except for distant gunfire.
"That's suicide," Echo says flatly. "You'll erase your own consciousness—"
"No." I show him the schematics Pulse stole. "Project Silence is programmable. Right now it's set to target androids. But what if we retarget it?"
Understanding dawns on Caelan's face. "You want to aim it at humans."
"Not kill them. Not hurt them." I point to the weapon's specifications. "Just... make them stop. Shut down their motor functions. Paralyze them long enough for us to escape."
"That's—" Raven stares. "That's brilliant. And completely insane."
"Also our only chance," Pulse adds. "But Aurora, to activate it, you'd have to physically interface with the core. Your consciousness would be vulnerable to—"
"I know." I cut him off. "I could lose myself. Become what they think I am—just a machine. But if it saves everyone here? Worth it."
Another explosion. Screaming. A section of tunnel collapses.
We're out of time.
"I'll go with you," Caelan says. "Someone has to watch your back."
"Me too," Pulse adds. "You need a hacker."
Echo grabs my arm. "If you do this—if you lose yourself—"
"Then tell Lyric I loved her. Tell everyone I tried." I pull away. "Now seal those doors and get ready to run."
We split up. Echo and Raven leading the evacuation. Me, Caelan, and Pulse heading toward Central Detention through secret maintenance tunnels that even SynthCorp doesn't know about.
The journey takes an hour. Every minute, I hear explosions behind us. The Undercroft being destroyed.
Finally, we emerge in a service tunnel beneath Central Detention.
"There." Pulse points to a ventilation shaft. "That leads directly to the sub-basement. But Aurora... the security down there..."
"I know."
We climb. Up and up through narrow shafts. My rebuilt body screaming in protest.
We drop into the sub-basement.
And freeze.
Because standing in front of Project Silence, smiling like she's been expecting us, is Sienna Vale.
She's alive. Bandaged but alive.
And she's holding a detonator.
"Hello, Aurora," she purrs. "Right on time. I knew you couldn't resist playing hero."
"Sienna—" Caelan starts.
"Shut up, traitor." She doesn't even look at him. Her eyes stay locked on me. "You know what this is? A deadman's switch. If my heart stops, it triggers explosives throughout the facility. Including the sub-basement. Everything within a mile radius dies."
My blood runs cold.
"But here's the interesting part," Sienna continues. "I'm dying anyway. That bullet you put in me, Caelan? Punctured my lung. I've got maybe an hour left."
She's insane. I can see it in her eyes.
"So here's your choice, Aurora. You can kill me now, trigger the explosives, and destroy Project Silence along with everyone in the Undercroft. Or—" She gestures to the machine. "You can interface with the weapon. Activate it. Save your people by erasing every android consciousness in the city."
"There's a third option," I say. "We reprogram it. Use it on the soldiers attacking the Undercroft."
"Oh, I know." Sienna's smile grows. "That's why I already activated the weapon's failsafe. The second you interface with it, your consciousness gets uploaded to the network. You'll be erased first, as a test subject. Then it spreads to everyone else."
She's won. No matter what I do, I lose.
"Choose quickly," Sienna says. "Because in fifty-eight minutes, Project Silence activates automatically. And then everyone loses."