Chapter 28 · Protocol Crash

"Step back, Kael. Now," Vera snapped, her voice cutting through the static. She didn't just step toward him; she shoved him back against the console, her palm flat against his chest. The heat of her hand seeped through his shirt, a sharp contrast to the freezing air of the terminal.

Kael didn't move. He grinned, though his lips were cracked and bleeding. "What's the matter, Vera? Scared I'm actually going to do it?"

"You're not rewriting the system," she hissed, leaning in so close he could smell the ozone and old coffee on her breath. "You're crashing it. If this core blows, there is no reset. No loop. Just a very permanent, very messy death for both of us."

Kael's fingers danced over the holographic keys, the blue light reflecting in his wide, manic eyes. "That's the point. I'm done waking up in that cell. I'm done playing your little game."

"It's not my game!" Vera grabbed his wrist, her grip like a vice, trying to yank his hand away from the override sequence. "Mord is watching. He knows you're here. If you trigger a crash, he won't just kill you—he'll erase every single iteration of you that ever existed.