The hospital looked abandoned.
Peeling paint. Cracked glass. A flickering security light by the main entrance that buzzed like an angry wasp.
"This is where she works?" Lena whispered.
Jay nodded. "Used to. She said if I ever needed her, come to Room 6."
They pushed the doors open, their footsteps echoing through the empty corridor. Dust danced in the air like it had been waiting for years.
Room 6 was at the end of the hall.
Jay knocked softly. No answer.
He turned the knob. It creaked open.
Inside, it wasn't a patient's room. It looked more like a lab papers scattered across a metal desk, a whiteboard covered in diagrams and numbers. In the center stood a woman with silver hair pulled into a tight bun.
"You're late," she said without turning.
Jay stepped forward. "Dr. Voss?"
She turned, eyes sharp and cold. "I told you not to come back unless it was urgent."
"It is."
Her gaze shifted to Lena. "So you brought her."
"She's involved now," Jay said.
"No," Dr. Voss replied. "She always was."
Lena sat stunned as Dr. Voss explained.
"Jay was part of a memory integration trial. It wasn't cloning—not exactly. We copied neural patterns. Consciousness. Everything that made him… him."
"But why?" Lena asked.
"Because your Jay was dying," Voss said flatly. "And he volunteered."
Lena's breath hitched. "He *knew*?"
Dr. Voss nodded. "He didn't want you to know. So he gave us a backup. In case we failed to save the original."
Lena's world tilted.
"This Jay… is he the backup?"
Voss looked at Jay. "He's something more now. Not just a copy. He evolved."
Jay's jaw tightened.
"So why is the other one after us?" Lena asked.
"Because he thinks he's the original. But he's… broken. The trauma. The split. He sees you as the only thing he still owns."
Jay stepped out to make a call. Lena remained behind, hands shaking.
Dr. Voss leaned in. "You're not safe. He won't stop. Not until one of them is gone."
Lena whispered, "What do I do?"
Dr. Voss pulled something from a drawer. A sleek black keycard. "There's a storage wing below. Restricted. That's where he was held before he escaped. Maybe you'll find answers. Maybe not."
Lena took the card. It felt heavier than it should.
"Go alone," Voss said. "Jay can't follow."
Back in the hallway, Lena hid the card.
Jay walked beside her, unaware.
She didn't want to keep secrets. But part of her wasn't sure anymore
Which Jay was sitting next to her?
And if the original was broken… was the copy really whole?
As they left the hospital, the lights above them flickered again.
This time, it wasn't the power.
It was a camera.
Tracking her every move.