Chapter 72

Chapter 72

“Only one of you needs to survive for the system to continue.”

Vale’s words echoed through the chamber like poison.

The neural core pulsed brighter.

Faster.

The white light flooding the underground room until everything looked cold and unreal.

“Synchronization complete in fifty-seven seconds.”

Damon stepped toward the synchronization chair again.

Luca caught his wrist instantly.

“No.”

Damon pulled against his grip.

“Luca”

“No.”

This time sharper.

Desperate.

The entire room trembled violently around them.

Cables sparked overhead.

Warning alarms screamed through the facility.

Mira curled tighter against Luca’s chest, trembling from pain and fear.

Cassian leaned heavily against the wall nearby, barely conscious now.

“If you keep arguing,” he rasped weakly, “you’re all going to die.”

Seraphine moved quickly to the central console, trying to access corrupted system files.

“There has to be another override somewhere.”

“There isn’t,” Hale said quietly.

Damon looked at him with open fury.

“You built this thing!”

Hale’s expression remained unreadable.

But something underneath it looked dangerously close to regret.

“I built the framework,” he answered softly.

A pause.

“Vale perfected the cruelty.”

Vale laughed faintly through the speakers.

“You say that as if you objected.”

Silence.

Because he hadn’t.

Not then.

Luca felt sick.

Years.

Years these people spent destroying children and calling it progress.

And now those same children were expected to clean up the ruins.

“Synchronization complete in forty-eight seconds.”

Mira whimpered sharply in pain.

Her body arching slightly against Luca.

Luca immediately crouched lower with her.

“Hey, hey look at me.”

Her frightened eyes lifted to his instantly.

“It burns,” she whispered.

Luca’s chest physically hurt hearing it.

Damon knelt beside them too.

Gentle.

Careful.

“We’re fixing it.”

Mira looked between them weakly.

“You both sound scared.”

Neither answered.

Because she was right.

Luca had been afraid before.

Afraid of Hale.

Afraid of memories.

Afraid of becoming a monster.

But this

This was different.

This was terror.

Not of dying.

Of losing Damon.

Damon looked toward the synchronization chair again.

Then toward Hale.

“If two people share the overload,” he said tightly, “what are the survival chances?”

Hale hesitated.

That hesitation was enough.

“Arthur.”

Vale’s voice sharpened instantly.

Hale ignored her.

Again.

“The neural backlash is unpredictable.”

“Meaning?”

Damon demanded.

Hale’s eyes shifted briefly toward Luca.

“It could kill both of you.”

Luca’s grip tightened around Mira instinctively.

“No.”

Damon looked at him sharply.

“We don’t have another option.”

“You are not dying because of me.”

Damon’s expression cracked instantly.

“Why do you keep saying it like your life matters less?”

Luca opened his mouth

Then stopped.

Because deep down

He still believed it did.

And Damon knew.

The realization hurt more than anything else tonight.

Damon grabbed Luca’s face suddenly.

Not gentle this time.

Desperate.

“You listen to me.”

The room shook violently around them.

The countdown continuing overhead.

“Synchronization complete in thirty-nine seconds.”

But Damon didn’t look away from Luca for even a second.

“You are not some broken thing created for sacrifice.”

His voice shook now.

Raw.

“You are not disposable.”

Luca’s eyes burned immediately.

“Damon”

“No.”

Damon’s thumb pressed shakily against his cheek.

“I am so tired of watching you talk about yourself like surviving was a mistake.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Even Vale stopped speaking.

Because Damon sounded furious now.

Heartbroken.

“You survived them,” Damon whispered.

“You survived every horrible thing they did to you.”

A pause.

“And I refuse to let you throw your life away because you think pain made you unworthy of keeping.”

Luca broke.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

Just one sharp inhale like his lungs couldn’t hold the emotion anymore.

Mira watched them quietly through her pain.

Then softly

“He loves you a lot.”

Luca laughed weakly through tears that finally escaped.

“…yeah.”

Damon pressed his forehead briefly against Luca’s.

“So stop trying to leave me behind.”

The countdown continued mercilessly.

“Synchronization complete in thirty seconds.”

Cassian suddenly pushed himself away from the wall.

Unsteady.

Bleeding.

Everyone looked toward him sharply.

Cassian stared at the synchronization chair.

Then at Mira.

Then finally at Luca.

“There’s another way.”

Hale’s expression changed instantly.

“No.”

Cassian ignored him.

“The original architecture was built for three linked neural points.”

Vale’s voice cut through the speakers sharply:

“Cassian.”

Interesting.

Fear.

For the first time

Vale sounded afraid.

Cassian smiled weakly despite the blood at his lips.

“You should’ve erased more memories.”

Luca stared at him.

“What are you talking about?”

Cassian looked toward the neural core.

Eyes unfocused slightly now.

Like he was dragging information through layers of conditioning.

“Mira was the primary anchor.”

A pause.

“Luca was the stabilization key.”

Another pause.

“And I was designed as the absorption point.”

Silence detonated through the chamber.

Damon frowned sharply.

“What does that mean?”

Cassian’s smile turned hollow.

Broken.

“It means division two wasn’t created to replace Luca.”

Luca’s blood ran cold.

No.

Cassian looked directly at him.

“I was created to die for you.”

The words shattered through Luca violently.

Memories exploded instantly.

Young Cassian restrained in medical chairs.

Vale discussing “neural overload tolerance.”

Hale ordering additional conditioning.

And Luca

Watching helplessly through observation glass.

Cassian laughed weakly again.

“You always wondered why they pushed me harder.”

Luca stared at him in horror.

“They built you as a shield…”

Cassian nodded once.

“The absorption point survives long enough for the primary subject to disconnect safely.”

Damon’s stomach twisted.

“They turned you into a human fuse.”

“Yes.”

Vale’s voice echoed coldly overhead:

“His function was necessary.”

Cassian closed his eyes briefly.

Tired now.

So tired.

“And that,” he whispered, “is why I hated you all.”