Chapter 66: The Broken Node

Chapter 66: The Broken Node
The rain had stopped by the time we reached the surface.
But the world still felt drenched — heavy with the weight of everything we’d just survived.

Sebastian’s hand stayed at the small of my back as we moved through the alleyway, guiding me toward the car. I knew he did it out of instinct, out of caution…

But the warmth of his touch lingered longer than either of us acknowledged.

When we finally slid into the car, he locked the doors, checked the mirrors, and then exhaled for the first time since the fight.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded, though my hands were still trembling. “You?”

He tilted his head slightly, an almost-crooked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“I’ve been worse.”

The understatement of the century — the bruises blooming along his jaw and the angry red mark on his neck said otherwise.

“You’re hurt,” I whispered.

He met my eyes.
“So are you.”

Something unspoken stretched between us—a pull, a gravity we’d both been pretending not to feel.

But before either of us could say another word—

The car radio flickered on by itself.

Static.
A low, crackling hum that filled the air like breath.

Sebastian stiffened. “That’s not me.”

“I know,” I whispered.

The static thinned into something almost like a voice.
Then—

“Eve…”

My blood turned to ice.

“Gabriel? My voice broke despite myself. “Where are you? Are you—are you alive?

“…not…alive… not gone…”

Sebastian reached for the radio wires. “Eve, it’s not him. It’s the grid. Richard is—”

“Wait!” I grabbed his wrist. “Let him speak.”

Static roared, then cleared.

“I’m trying…trying to get through… Eve… don’t trust the facility data… it’s not what you think…”

My throat tightened. “Gabriel, I saw the copy. I saw what Richard built. He’s been using your image—your voice—your memories—”

“I know.”

A harsh crackle.
The sound of something straining, struggling to push past interference.

“He mapped me. He used me. But I’m still here. He didn’t erase me.”

My breath caught.

This wasn’t the synthetic voice earlier.
This wasn’t cold, perfect, or emotionless.

This sounded like Gabriel.
Human.
Hurting.
Trying.

Sebastian watched me carefully, jaw tight.
“Eve. Do not believe him immediately. You know how Richard manipulates emotional patterns—”

But Gabriel’s voice cut him off.

“Wolfe… you think you’re the only one who’s protected her?

Sebastian froze.

“I’ve been fighting him from the inside. I’ve been keeping him from tracking her. The only reason she’s alive is because I slowed the sync.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Gabriel,” I whispered, “where are you?

Static surged—

“…locked… below… lower grid… can’t hold the signal…”

“Tell me how to find you!

“…follow the node…the broken one…he doesn’t know you damaged it…”

The radio screeched, then—

“Eve… don’t let him rewrite me…”

And the line died.

Silence swallowed the car.

I stared at the radio, frozen, breath shaking.
My entire body felt suspended between hope and terror.

Sebastian reached out slowly, gently touching my arm.

“Eve”, he said softly, cautiously, “we don’t know if that was him.”

“You heard it,” I whispered. “That wasn’t synthetic. That wasn’t Richard. That was him.”

Sebastian looked away for a moment—not in doubt, but in conflict.

“I want to believe that,” he said quietly. “But if we chase ghosts, we’ll walk right into Richard’s hands.”

“He’s not a ghost,” I said. “Not anymore.”

Sebastian’s gaze returned to mine — and this time, it wasn’t the agent looking at me.

It was the man.

The man who’d held me when I broke.
Who’d carried Lila to safety.
Who’d fought a machine twice his strength to keep me alive.

“I need you to be sure,” he said, voice low. “Not for the mission. For your heart.”

My breath caught.

Because he wasn’t asking as an investigator.

He was asking as someone who was terrified of what my answer meant.

I swallowed hard.

“I heard him,” I said. “And I know him. That was Gabriel.”

Sebastian closed his eyes for a moment — a slow, hard exhale that looked like it hurt.

When he opened them again, his decision had already been made.

“Then we find him,” he said.

No hesitation.
No argument.

Just certainty.

“But Eve…” His voice softened. “If we go after him, you need to be prepared for what we might actually find.”

I nodded. “I am.”

He studied me for a long second — then leaned closer, his forehead almost touching mine.

“Just… don’t forget I’m here too.”

My heart stumbled.

“I haven’t,” I whispered.

And then—

A faint flicker lit up the sky in the distance.

A signal.
A pulse.
A node.

The broken one.

And whatever was left of Gabriel…
I was waiting.

The pulse in the sky flickered again—faint, almost dying—but unmistakably there.

A beacon.

A heartbeat.

Gabriel’s.

Sebastian tightened his grip on the steering wheel, eyes cutting toward the glow.
“That’s coming from below the old transit lines,” he said. “The lower grid is half-collapsed. We’ll have to go on foot once we reach the blockade.”

I swallowed hard. “Then let’s move.”

He nodded, shifted the car into gear — and the tyres hissed across wet asphalt as we sped toward the signal.

\---

Night swallowed the streets as we drove, tall buildings rising like broken teeth on either side. The world felt colder now, sharper — as if every shadow knew what we were heading toward.

When the car finally rolled to a stop in front of the rusted barricades, Sebastian killed the headlights and turned to me.

“Last chance to tell me you’re not ready,” he said.

“I’m ready.”

“Even if what’s waiting down there isn’t him?”

My pulse thudded once, painfully.

“Especially then.”

For a second, his expression softened — a flicker of something warm, almost vulnerable.
But then duty slid back into his eyes, and he pushed open his door.

We climbed over the metal barrier, our footsteps echoing through the darkened tunnels as we descended.

The broken node’s glow pulsed faintly through the cracks in the concrete.

Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.

Like a heartbeat struggling to stay alive.

\---

When we reached the lower chamber, the air changed — heavy, metallic, almost electric.

Sebastian raised his hand. “Wait. Listen.”

A soft hum vibrated through the walls.
Not machinery.

Not the grid.

A voice.

Faint. Fractured. Lost.

“…Eve…?”

My breath hitched. “Gabriel?”

Sebastian scanned the room, weapon drawn, jaw tight. “The signal’s unstable. It sounds like he’s trying to phase back in.”

“What does that mean?”

“Think of it like this…” He swallowed. “If Richard copied him, then the real Gabriel — whatever pieces are left — is fighting a digital structure that thinks it is Gabriel.”

My blood ran cold.

“So he’s trapped between himself and the copy.”

Sebastian nodded. “Exactly.”

The hum sharpened — turning into a high, painful whine. I flinched as the air rippled.

Then—

A figure flickered at the far end of the room.

Just a shape at first.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Familiar.

I stepped forward — despite every warning screaming inside me.

“Gabriel? I whispered.

The figure glitched — once, twice — then stabilised into something almost human.

“Eve—”
The voice strained, warped around the edges, like it was being dragged through a cracked speaker.

Sebastian grabbed my wrist. “Eve, don’t—it might not be him.”

But I couldn’t look away.

Because the figure lifted its head—

And I saw his face.

Broken around the edges. Flickering like a dying bulb. But unmistakably Gabriel.

His eyes — usually warm, usually alive — were fractured, shards of light struggling to form a whole.

“I didn’t leave you.”
The words strained through static.
“I tried… I tried to get back…”

Tears burnt hot in my eyes. “Gabriel, I’m here. We’re going to pull you out—just hold on.”

But then his face twisted — a glitch rippling across it like a shiver.

His voice deepened, layered with something colder.

“She shouldn’t be here.”

Sebastian’s grip tightened. “Move back. Now.”

But Gabriel’s eyes locked on me — and for the briefest moment, something human broke through the distortion.

“Don’t… let him… rewrite me…”

The lights overhead exploded into sparks.

The figure spasmed, contorting, glitching violently.

And then—

A new voice layered over Gabriel’s.

Richard’s voice.

Cold.
Sharp.
Certain.

“Welcome, Eve. You found your way to
the node.”

Sebastian cursed under his breath. “He’s puppeting the signal. Eve, stay behind me.”

But Gabriel — or the thing wearing his face — extended a trembling hand toward me.

His voice, his real voice, cracked through the interference:

“Eve—run—”

The floor beneath us shuddered.

The lights went red.

And the broken node began to wake.