Chapter 35 The Breaking Point
ARIA'S POV
The students' screams tore through my soul.
Five hundred voices crying out in agony as Sienna's machines pumped enhancement serum into their bodies. The amplifier pulsed brighter with each scream, feeding off their pain.
And Asher—my twin, my other half—stared at me with empty black eyes.
"Asher, please!" I fought against the enhanced subjects holding me. "I know you're still in there! Fight it!"
But Subject 247 didn't respond. Didn't even blink. He just lay on that table, connected to the amplifier, helping Sienna turn five hundred innocent people into weapons.
"It's useless," Sienna said, checking monitors. "Your brother is mine now. And in three minutes, so will everyone else." She gestured to the screaming students. "Then the real fun begins. I'll broadcast the control signal worldwide. Every Alpha will become susceptible. I'll have an army of millions."
My heart hammered. Where were Kael and Luna? They should've reached the control panel by now. Should've disconnected the students and planted the explosives.
Unless something had gone wrong.
No. I couldn't think like that. Had to trust them. Had to believe the plan would work.
But watching Asher's blank face made hope feel impossible.
A explosion shook the building.
Everyone froze.
"What was that?" Sienna demanded.
Another explosion. Closer this time. Then the lights flickered.
The ventilation grate above crashed down. Kael dropped through first, landing hard on his already-injured leg. He didn't even flinch. Just pulled out a makeshift weapon—a metal pipe—and started fighting.
Luna came next, laptop bag swinging. She ran straight for her mother at the control panel.
"Mom, stop this!" Luna's voice cracked. "Please! These are children!"
Luna's mother hesitated. For one second, I saw regret in her eyes.
Then Sienna shot her.
The gun's crack echoed through the auditorium. Luna's mother collapsed, blood spreading across her white lab coat.
"MOM!" Luna caught her as she fell.
"I'm sorry," her mother whispered. "So sorry. The override... code is... your birthday..."
She went limp.
Luna sobbed, cradling her mother's body. But her fingers were already flying across the control panel's keyboard, typing through tears.
Kael fought toward the amplifier, taking down enhanced subjects with brutal efficiency despite his broken body. But more kept coming. Too many.
"Aria!" He threw me a key card. "Free Asher! It's the only way!"
I caught it and immediately understood. If Asher was the primary amplifier, disconnecting him might disrupt the whole system. Give us the seconds we needed.
I kicked the enhanced subject holding me—caught him off guard—and ran for Asher's table.
Sienna moved to intercept me, but Kael tackled her. They went down hard.
I reached Asher and swiped the key card. His restraints unlocked.
"Asher, come back to me," I begged, ripping electrodes off his head. "Please. I need you. We all need you."
Subject 247's hand shot out and grabbed my throat.
I couldn't breathe. My vision blurred. This was it. My own brother was going to kill me.
But then I saw it—a flicker in those black eyes. A spark of recognition.
"Aria?" His voice was barely human. Like two people speaking at once.
"Yes!" I choked out. "It's me. Your twin. Your sister. Remember? We built blanket forts. Fought pretend dragons. Promised we'd always protect each other."
His grip loosened slightly. "Sister..."
"That's right." Tears streamed down my face. "Come back to me. Fight the programming. You're stronger than Sienna's control. You're stronger than anything."
Asher's whole body shook. His eyes flickered—black, then gray-green, then black again. He was fighting a war inside his own head.
"Can't... hold on..." he gasped. "Too strong..."
"You can! You're Asher Sinclair! You infiltrated Cross's conspiracy! You survived months of torture! You protected me our whole lives!" I gripped his face. "Don't you dare give up now!"
Something broke inside him. I felt it through our twin bond—that connection we'd had since birth. The programming shattered like glass.
Asher's eyes cleared.
"Aria," he said in his real voice. Then louder: "Get down!"
He shoved me aside just as Sienna fired her gun. The bullet meant for me hit the amplifier instead.
The machine exploded.
Energy erupted outward in a shockwave that threw everyone back. The enhancement tables sparked and died. The students stopped screaming, slumping unconscious but alive.
The control signal cut off.
For three seconds, there was perfect silence.
Then every enhanced subject in the building collapsed. The amplifier's destruction had severed their connection to the programming. They were free.
But so was Sienna.
She stood slowly, blood dripping from a cut on her forehead. Her eyes were wild with rage.
"You destroyed everything!" She pulled out a remote detonator. "If I can't have my army, nobody can. This whole building is rigged with explosives. We all die together."
"Luna!" Kael yelled. "The students!"
"Working on it!" Luna typed frantically at the control panel, her mother's blood staining her hands. "I need thirty seconds to disconnect them safely!"
"We don't have thirty seconds!" I could see Sienna's finger hovering over the detonator button.
Asher started toward Sienna, but he was weak from breaking the programming. He stumbled.
Kael charged despite his injuries, but enhanced subjects—confused and disoriented—got in his way.
Nobody could reach her in time.
Sienna smiled. "Goodbye."
She pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
Sienna pressed it again. And again. Confusion replaced her smile.
"Looking for this?" A voice called from the entrance.
We all turned.
Professor Cross stood in the doorway, holding the real detonator. Alive. Bloody. Furious.
"Did you really think I'd let you kill five hundred valuable test subjects?" He laughed. "I switched the detonators weeks ago. I've been planning your betrayal since the beginning, Sienna."
Behind him, fifty more enhanced subjects filed into the auditorium. Fresh ones. Stronger ones.
We'd stopped Sienna.
But Cross had been the real threat all along.
And now we were trapped.