All Chapters of Her kiss,His Downfall : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Damon froze the second he heard the silence.Not static.Not distortion.Just—gone.“Say that again,” he said into his earpiece.Vin was already hunched over the portable relay.“No signal. Both bands dropped. Her tracker too.”Damon didn’t blink. “Jammed?”Vin checked the feed. “Not jammed. Cut.”Behind them, Micah’s face had gone pale.“They’re inside the vault, aren’t they?”Vin nodded grimly. “Yeah. Seconds before the drop.”Micah stepped back, hands braced on his knees.“Jesus. This is what happened to the last one. The system rerouted every signal the second the baseline reconnected.”Damon turned, eyes sharp.“What baseline?”Micah looked up. “The one they built into her.”For a second, no one spoke.Then Damon pulled on his jacket and turned for the tunnel.Vin grabbed his shoulder. “Wait—what are you doing?”“What do you think?”Micah stepped between them, frantic. “You can’t just walk in! That place isn’t wired for outside support. Once it identifies you as non-looped, it wo

Damon’s fingers hovered over the terminal.Ella stood at his side, bracing the relay with both hands.Ava knelt on the ground behind them, shaking, her voice hoarse:> “Please—just do it.”Damon exhaled.Then tapped the command line:> /terminate-sequence override: manual/trueThe screen flickered.A high whine began in the walls.And Ava’s body snapped upright.Not stood—snapped.Every joint locked into place.Her spine drew vertical like it was pulled by strings.Her chin lifted.Her eyes opened wide.Blank.Dilated.> “Damon?” Ella whispered.Too late.The screen turned red.Text poured down faster than either of them could read.Then one line froze in bold, blazing white:> FAILSAFE 7.1 INITIATEDNEURAL DEFENSE ONLINEDEFEND HOST STRUCTURE AT ALL COSTSAva didn’t scream.She didn’t blink.She stood.One foot back. Balanced.Like she was in a stance.Like she was trained.> “Oh god,” Ella whispered. “It’s using her.”Damon stepped between them. “Back up. Now.”Ava’s mouth twitched.

The door to Unit 06-A groaned open on stiff hinges.Dust rolled in faint clouds around Ava’s boots as she stepped inside, the air stale with years of untouched air and cardboard silence.Old furniture.Stacked crates.One overturned lamp with its shade askew.Nothing dangerous.Nothing strange.Just… forgotten.Ava moved slowly, fingertips brushing old books and picture frames as if each item might shatter under the weight of remembering.> "Why now?" she thought.She didn’t know.Only that something had drawn her back here after the shutdown.A half-formed thought.A memory she didn’t trust—of her mother’s voice saying:> “Not everything your father left behind was meant to be found by them.”She passed the upright piano.Her hand hovered over it…then moved on.And there, tucked behind a wicker chair with a broken leg—The music box.White.Faint silver trim along the edges.Tiny ballerina on the lid, paint chipped from a decade of turns.Ava knelt beside it.Her chest felt tight.

The heavy door slid open with a hiss that reminded Ava of a long exhale, like the building itself had been holding its breath. Cold air rushed out, wrapping around her arms and sending a sharp shiver through her. She stopped at the threshold, blinking into the dim light.Rows. That’s all she saw at first. Rows of glass tubes stretching back into the dark. Each one glowed faintly from within, a pale blue light that painted the air in an almost sickly color.“What the hell is this place?” Damon muttered under his breath, voice rough, like he already knew the answer but didn’t want to say it.Ava stepped forward, her shoes clicking against the metal floor. The sound echoed too loudly, bouncing off the walls. She pressed her hand against one of the glass tubes. Cold. Inside, a man lay perfectly still, like he was only sleeping. His chest rose and fell so faintly she almost thought she imagined it.Her throat tightened. “They’re alive.”Ella came up behind them, her tablet already out, eye

The hum of the med unit was the first thing Ava heard when she opened her eyes. A low, steady vibration under her head, paired with the faint antiseptic sting in the air. She blinked, the ceiling swimming into focus—gray panels, hairline cracks, one buzzing light that flickered every few seconds.She pushed herself up too fast. Pain lanced through her chest and she sucked in a breath, falling back against the thin mattress.“You’re awake,” Ella’s voice cut in, soft but laced with relief. She was perched on a chair by the bed, knees drawn up, arms folded around them like she’d been sitting there a while.“How long?” Ava croaked.Ella shrugged, offering a lopsided smile. “Couple hours. Damon wouldn’t leave till you were stable. I practically had to shove him out.”Ava’s heart stuttered. She masked it with a cough. “He—stayed?”“Yeah. Don’t read into it,” Ella teased, though her sharp eyes didn’t miss the flicker across Ava’s face. “Or maybe do. I’m not sure anymore.”Ava ignored her, sw