Chapter 108 Chapter 108

Chapter 108 Chapter 108
The fire was dying that evening. Nobody moved to add wood.

They had been in this mining town for three days now. Just hiding. Just waiting. Just watching the road and waiting for Helena to come back with more guards and more helicopters and more lies.

But she did not come. Nobody came.

That felt worse. Like they forgot about them. Or like they already won. Jax didn't know if he was wrong to feel that way.

Jax sat on a crate in the middle of the room. His gun was in his lap. His hands were on top of it. His fingers were cold.

The fire crackled. A log shifted. Sparks flew up.

Kenji's voice came out of the corner. Low and flat.

"I think we should use it."

Elena looked up from her papers. Her eyebrows pulled together.

"Use what?"

"The kill switch." Kenji did not move. He did not look at her. His eyes stayed on the wall. "End it. All of it."

Elena stared at him. Her mouth opened. Then closed.

Caiman turned from the door. His hand was on his rifle. "That would kill us too."

"I know."

"The kids."

"I know."

Rina's voice was sharp. "You want to kill children?"

Kenji finally turned his head. He looked at Rina. His eyes were red. Not from crying but from not sleeping.

"I want to end this," he said. "They are going to kill us anyway. Helena. Younger Evelyn. The investors. They are going to kill everyone we love and then they are going to kill us. This way we choose."

Mira lifted her head. Her face was wet. "Viktor did not get to choose."

Kenji looked at her. "I know."

"Daria did not get to choose too."

"I fuckin know that."

"Niko did not get to choose."

Kenji was quiet for a minute. Then he said "They would not want us to suffer."

Mira shook her head. "They would not want us to die."

"Same thing."

"No. It's not." Mira stood up. Her hands were shaking. "It is not the same thing!" Her voice went up. "It's not. If we end our lives now, it means they died for nothing. Borealis died on this mission. So I was told. Remember?"

The room was quiet.

Elias turned from the window. His face was pale. "What about the kids? They are not clones. They are Gen-2s. The kill switch would kill them too."

Kenji looked at the floor. "I know."

"So you want to kill Leo?"

Kenji did not answer.

"You want to kill the boy who calls you uncle?"

Kenji's jaw tightened. His hands curled into fists. But he did not answer.

Elena slammed her hand on the table.

Everyone jumped.

"Stop," she said. Her voice was loud. Her face was red. "Just stop."

She stood up. Her chair scraped against the floor. She picked up the stack of papers. Her hands were shaking.

"I have been reading my mother's research," she said. "All night. Every night. Since we got here."

Kenji looked at her. "And?"

She walked over to him and knelt down in front of him. She held the papers out.

"There is another way."

Kenji stared at the papers. He did not take them.

"What other way?"

Elena's voice was soft now. Quiet. "Not a kill switch. A reset. My mother called it 'baseline restoration.' It would not kill the clones. It would make them normal."

Rina stepped forward. "What do you mean normal?"

"No enhanced abilities. No healing. No strength. Just human."

Caiman frowned. "We would lose everything."

"You would live."

Mira looked at Elena. "Would we remember?"

Elena nodded. "You would remember everything. You just would not be able to do everything."

Kael spoke for the first time. His voice was rough. Like he had not used it in years.

"Would we still be us?"

Elena looked at him. "Yes. You would still be you. Just slower. Weaker. Like everyone else."

Kael was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. "Okay."

Lena stepped out of the shadows. Her knife was in her hand. She was turning it over and over.

"Would I still be able to fight?"

"No."

"Would I still be able to protect myself?"

"You would have to learn. Like everyone else."

Lena looked at her knife. Then at Elena. Then at Jax.

"I do not know how to be normal," she said.

Elena stood up and walked over to her. Put her hand on Lena's shoulder.

"None of us do," she said. "But we could learn. Together."

Lena looked at the floor. Her hand stopped moving. She put her knife away.

"Okay," she said.

Kenji stood up. His face was hard.

"You are all just going to agree to this? Just like that?"

Jax stood up and walked over to him.

"What is wrong with it?"

"It makes us weak."

"It makes us alive. Or would you rather die?"

Kenji stared at Jax. His eyes were burning. "We have been running for years. Fighting for years. Dying for years. And now you want to just give up?"

"It is not giving up. It is choosing to live."

"Without power? Without strength? Without anything that makes us who we are?"

Jax stepped closer to him and looked him in the eye.

"You are not your power, Kenji. You are not your strength. You are not your healing. You are the man who came back for Leo. You are the man who held Maja when she was scared. You are the man who stood between the kids and the guards. That is who you are. Not the knife. Not the kills. You."

Kenji's face twisted. His hands were shaking.

"I do not know who I am without the fight," he said. His voice cracked. "I don't ever want to be that person."

"Then we will figure it out together."

He stared at Jax for a long moment. Then he looked away.

Elena walked over to the table and spread the papers out.

"The reset would need to be broadcast. Same as the kill switch. Same as the therapy. We would need access to a transmitter."

"The Odyssey?" Jax said.

Elena nodded. "The Odyssey. It is the only one powerful enough."