Chapter 31 · Apex Loop: Glitch Evolution - Chapter 31: The Mirror Lie

The copy drove my head into the glass and smiled with my old mouth.

"Still think you are the real one?" it asked.

My claws scraped across the floor. The impact had cracked the black plates along my shoulder, but pain was nothing new. Pain was the lab's favorite language. Vivian had taught it to speak through every nerve she had left me.

The copy pressed harder. Its face stayed perfect. Human skin. Human eyes. My eyes, before the loops, before the deaths, before my body became a crawling weapon that did not fit inside any cage.

"Get off me," I growled.

"That is what you said the first time you saw the mirror. Then you begged." The copy leaned closer. Its breath smelled like mint and antiseptic. "You begged her to put you back."

Behind the glass, Vivian lifted one finger.

The copy stopped.

That tiny movement hit harder than the blow. The thing had my face, my voice, my memories. It even knew where Vivian kept her hand when she wanted to remind everyone who owned the room.

Vivian tapped the control panel.