Heartbeat Protocol

I wake up with a metal heart beating in my chest and a voice in my head that says, "Kill the bugs, or they'll eat this city alive." The family that calls me a dropout doesn't know I'm the one tearing apart the crystal monsters in the dark—especially not my perfect sister, who's hunting me on government orders. By day I'm Iris, the screwup who delivers food while my genius sister Vera saves lives at the National Defense Lab. By night I'm X-07, the glitch in their system, the only weapon that works against the invasion. My mechanical arm rips through creatures she's trying to capture. My AI whispers kill counts while she tracks my heat signature six blocks away. She wants to dissect the vigilante. I want to keep her alive. Then I find the file: this heart was meant for her. Our father chose me instead—the expendable one, the experiment he could afford to lose. Now Vera's coming closer, and the bugs are multiplying faster, and the AI in my chest just unlocked a memory it wasn't supposed to show me. My father didn't just invest in the company that made the monsters—he gave them the blueprint. Do I let my sister capture me and learn the truth, or do I let her keep hunting the weapon that's keeping her alive?